Topband: Beverage resistor triming

[Paul Baldock]

I put up a beverage about 600ft long today at height between 4ft. to 
6ft. I have a 1:9 transformer (although it actually measured about 
1:11) at the feed end, with both sides of the transformer to the same 
ground rod.

  I read in ON4UN's book about adjusting the far end load resistor 
for a low SWR. However I found the lowest SWR is with the far end 
shorted to its ground rod. When the ground it is shorted I get about 
1.4:1, when it is open I get about 2:1 and when it is 500 Ohm I get 
about 1.7:1. I am measuring in the SWR right at the input to the 
transformer with an MFJ259.

Is the tune for minimum SWR a flawed idea?

Paul - KW7Y.