[TowerTalk] SteppIR DB18 Increased SWR

[Steve Dyer W1SRD]

Join the SteppIR forum on groups.io. You will find plenty of 
troubleshooting history there with a quick search. Also plenty of 
SteppIR experience to tap into.
I am assuming you've done an calibrate....
73,
Steve
W1SRD
> I have a SteppIR model DB18 that I put up in mid-January.?? It's 
> 3-elment 6-40 meters.?? Controller is an SDA 2000.?? It was working 
> great for two months until the SWR increased recently, increasing to 
> the 1.5-2:00 range.?? For example, the best I can do on 20 meters is 
> 1.98:1 .?? I use a RigExpert AA-55 antenna analyzer to sweep over the 
> band plus a little more on each end.?? It's odd that the SWR dip is 
> usually around 500 kHz away.?? ??Clarifying that, I set the Controller 
> to 14.500 and the best SWR is 1.98 at 14.020 on the analyzer.?? 
> ??Setting the Controller to 14.600 results in the lowest SWR of 2.00 at 
> 14.100.?? it was never like that before.
>
>
> I used to be able to get it down to 1:1 by using the SDA 2000 
> Controller to tweak its frequency a little thus matching the antenna 
> element lengths to the transmit or analyzer freq.
>
>
> It has rained recently, and that is a thought.?? But it rained several 
> time before, and even iced several times, without any impact.
>
>
> I was very careful when building the antenna to securely wrap all of 
> the connectors to waterproof them,.?? The coax is new RG-213 purchased 
> from DX Engineering.
>
>
> Could it be the Controller, or some part of the coax/antenna combo?
>
>
> Would appreciate your opinion to help me troubleshoot and solve the 
> problem.
>
>
> tnx es 73
> Fred w3ICM
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