Danny Richardson wrote:
As best as I could determine the wet losses were about double those
for the dry line.

Wow, from 0.2 dB to 0.4 dB. :-) Would the following
work for measuring the wet/dry losses of 1/2 wavelength
of ladder-line shorted at one end and an MFJ-259B on the
other end? Measure the resonant purely resistive impedance
at the open end. Wet the ladder-line and repeat the
procedure. Calculate the losses.

If the line were lossless, zero ohms would be read.
The deviation away from zero ohms yields the magnitude
of the loss in the line at the 1/2 wavelength resonant
frequency. That's about 8.8 MHz for 50 ft. of ladder-line.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com