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MomnDadHams
12-05-2007, 01:43 PM
O.K. a bit of info before getting to the topic. My wife and I are new hams....went onto the FCC ULS on 11/13/07...yes BRAND NEW.

I am currently using a Yaesu 8800, 2 meter/440, as a base station with a Comet GP 6 vertical antenna. The coax is a premade, ends on, and all is done right. The antenna connection is tightly taped and not exposed to the weather.

Heres the "kicker", initially I had an SWR reading of 1.5, during and after a light rain the SWR dropped to the point of barely moving the meter.

All components are matched and correct for one another, no corners cut.

Yes, a nice low SWR is great, but why would it change?

TIA
Mike

jagco
12-05-2007, 08:02 PM
Do you have the antenna grounded?

Radio
12-05-2007, 08:10 PM
:think: Is the antenna near a surface that was wet after the rain, thus making a better ground plane??

Radio

N7OQ
12-05-2007, 08:11 PM
Very interesting problem, I usually have the opposite problem and SWR gets worse. Does the SWR go back to 1.5 when it dries off?

Richard Stouffer
12-06-2007, 05:02 AM
From the picture it looks like your TT is aluminum so I would check the Ground first.

MomnDadHams
12-06-2007, 08:37 AM
Thanks so much for the replies.

Richard: This is my "base station" and the antenna is grounded to a rod in the earth.

N7OQ: The SWR remains real good, the meter barely "breathes", near no movement.

Radio: Yes the surrounding area gets quite wet when it rains. Also the mast is attached to a large chainlink fence post with approx. 200 ft of fence attached. My "signal reports are always excellent. More rain tonight and into the weekend....lets see what happens.

Thanks again!

Enjoy the season!
Mike