[TowerTalk] Adjusting an Instrument

[Joe]

Not quite about towers, but....hopefully, you guys can enlighten me a tad!  Heh.

I just purchased a used MFJ 259B antenna analyzer.

It has me a bit puzzled....when I connect it to my dummy load, all reading are correct...50 ohms, 1:1 ratio.

When I connect it to my 6 meter Super Ringo, it read the SWR a little high, when compared to the SWR meter in my radio (TS-2000 Kenwood)  2:2 in the 259, 1:3 in the radio.

But when it is connected to my 80-6 meter Windom (Not Carolina)...I have a 4:1 balun and RG-58x feed, It shows a 3:1 almost everywhere from 75 to 10 meters.  Yet, SWR in radio shows almost flat match and Bird shows very little reflected power...and the antenna 'talks' just fine.

What confuses me is the two seemingly correct readings, but conflicting with each other.

Also, when I use it to match my tuner (TenTec 229) to channel 4 or 5 in 60 meters, no SWR issues present themselves in the radio (Yeasu FT-857D)

Oh yes, the reflected power meter in the TenTec agrees with the Bird.

I checked all the solder connections in the 259...all appear to be good..took a couple of hours to do that..

So...is there a way to calibrate the analyzer?  Or will I need to send it in to MFJ?

Thanks for the help!

Joe Wolfe
WA6RKN
Reno, Nevada