[TowerTalk] Adjusting an Instrument

pfizenmayer pfizenmayer2 at q.com
Thu Aug 13 20:50:53 PDT 2009


http://www.w8ji.com/mfj-259b_calibration.htm  - 73 de hank K7HP


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe" <wa6rkn at gmail.com>
To: "Tower Talk" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 5:43 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Adjusting an Instrument


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



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