[TowerTalk] SteppIR SWR question

[john at kk9a.com]

I don't think you can check and antenna SWR this way.  If you could pull it 
up 40' or tip it so that the beam is pointing toward the sky, you may get 
more usable data.

John KK9A


To: towertalk reflector <towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] SteppIR SWR question
From: Mike <nf4l at nf4l.com>
Reply-to: nf4l at nf4l.com
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:01:02 -0400

My 4L SteppIR with the 30/40 M trombone is on sawhorses in the front yard. 
It
was
down to replace the driven element motor. The climber and crane are 
scheduled
to put
itback on the tower tomorrow morning.

After I replaced the motor, I ran an SWR check from 7.005 to 29.5. The SWR 
ot
the
lower end was 7.2, lowering as the frequency went up, til at 29.5 it was 
1.0.
Considering the proximity to ground, I can accept that range.

Today ( 10 days later) I checked again, and the SWR range had gone up to 8.2 
to
2.2.
Nothing has changed, except we had rain last night, so the ground is a tad
damper.

How concerned should I be, and what would you check? I really don't want to 
get
it in
the air and have a problem.

73, Mike NF4L