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SWR climbs as Radio warms up.

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gary123

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Sep 11, 2002
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2,200
Assuming all 3 sections are clean and secure. Its moisture in the antenna. The lower section fiberglass has a crack in it. The RF is heating the water and causing the impedance of the antenna to change. That gives a higher swr. if you measure the swr early in the morning and at the hottest time of day you will see a similar although not as dramatic increase.
 

DavidZak

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I switched out radios when I got home. Swr started at 1.4 and ended up after 10 minutes of talking at 2.7. I hooked up the car antenna and wala 1.2 steady swr. So now it's time to troubleshoot or buy a new antenna. It has not rained here for a good 5 days. The antenna has been inspected for physical damage. Can water stay trapped not escaping the drain hole for 5 dry days? I will also hook the Lil wil antenna on the roof connected to the existing coax cable just to test the cable again. Any recommendations would be helpful. Thanks
 

prcguy

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Water trapped in coax connectors, barrel adapters and inside parts of an antenna can cause this. I have not heard the A99 having a problem with water build up but anything is possible. I have seen many connectors full of water due to inadequate weatherproofing and even on my own tower. I had a double female N adapter were I did a lousy tape job and it filled up and caused me all kinds of trouble over the years. When I finally inspected the entire cable path removing all weatherproofing and checking all connectors, water poured out and the inside of the adapter was black with carbon and corrosion.

Check all your connectors first and it would be good to stick a dummy load at the end of your cable at the antenna and test for stable SWR. If that checks out then your antenna is the last thing in chain.

I switched out radios when I got home. Swr started at 1.4 and ended up after 10 minutes of talking at 2.7. I hooked up the car antenna and wala 1.2 steady swr. So now it's time to troubleshoot or buy a new antenna. It has not rained here for a good 5 days. The antenna has been inspected for physical damage. Can water stay trapped not escaping the drain hole for 5 dry days? I will also hook the Lil wil antenna on the roof connected to the existing coax cable just to test the cable again. Any recommendations would be helpful. Thanks
 

DavidZak

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Joined
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Messages
35
Location
Bunnlevel NC
Water trapped in coax connectors, barrel adapters and inside parts of an antenna can cause this. I have not heard the A99 having a problem with water build up but anything is possible. I have seen many connectors full of water due to inadequate weatherproofing and even on my own tower. I had a double female N adapter were I did a lousy tape job and it filled up and caused me all kinds of trouble over the years. When I finally inspected the entire cable path removing all weatherproofing and checking all connectors, water poured out and the inside of the adapter was black with carbon and corrosion.

Check all your connectors first and it would be good to stick a dummy load at the end of your cable at the antenna and test for stable SWR. If that checks out then your antenna is the last thing in chain.
I was having this issue so I put new coax cable in line. I set the swr and raised it another 13 ft. The cable is not the culprit. No connectors. Cable ohms out fine also. But I will definitely triple check it. I have no dummy load so the car antenna will have to do.
 

DavidZak

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Location
Bunnlevel NC
Do any base antennas in the price range of an antron 99 have better performance? I have a mast that is about 37 ft from the ground.
 

sfd745

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Southern Maine
It could be part of the antenna, or it could be some bad resistors and capacitors. When they are getting warm, they could be causing output drift.
 

DavidZak

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Mar 19, 2020
Messages
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Location
Bunnlevel NC
It could be part of the antenna, or it could be some bad resistors and capacitors. When they are getting warm, they could be causing output drift.
After about ten minutes of use the swr climbs up to almost 3. I put another antenna on it and swr is 1.2 all day long. Not getting warn either.
 

DavidZak

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Joined
Mar 19, 2020
Messages
35
Location
Bunnlevel NC
Assuming all 3 sections are clean and secure. Its moisture in the antenna. The lower section fiberglass has a crack in it. The RF is heating the water and causing the impedance of the antenna to change. That gives a higher swr. if you measure the swr early in the morning and at the hottest time of day you will see a similar although not as dramatic increase.
Is there a way to troubleshoot or fix this antenna?
 

kruser

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Nov 25, 2007
Messages
4,987
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West St Louis County, MO
Is there a way to troubleshoot or fix this antenna?
Google Antron 99 problems or Antron 99 internal solder joint or something along those lines.
I remember reading a thread on some board or forum where users were finding poor solder connections in the base of the antenna.
If my memory is half good, it was several users who found the same problem with Antron 99 antennas.
I remember the thread having pictures of the poor solder job in the base of those antennas. I don't recall if it was a poor solder joint at the inside of the SO239 jack or a poor joint where it fed a coil.

The thread was very likely here at RR as I don't frequent many other radio related boards. It could have been in one of the amateur forums here also as some use the 99 for 10 meter work.

Good luck!

I just searched for antron 99 internal solder joint problems and saw several hits and sites about this problem.
I also saw reference to a pdf that said it showed how to get the antenna apart to fix the solder joint without ruining the antenna but the link was a dead link. I did not try searching for the pdf by name but chances are that it can be found.
It did seem like you may trash the antenna trying to open one up for repair.

I had a 99 back in my CB days and it always worked well with no SWR issues but maybe quality control was lost in newer builds.
 
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