...

Hello to the group. Recently at a local hamfest I noticed a pile of

aluminum

next to a guys truck. Asking about it, he explained it was a 5 element 6

meter

beam that he thought is an M2.He went on to tell me that he had used it

for

several years and that it had high SWR and he used it with a tuner of some

type.

Otherwise it worked very well. We worked out a deal and I am now the owner

of

this antenna. It needs some cleaning up. From some research that I found a

pdf

file from M2, it looks to be a 6M5X model. My question is why would the

SWR be

high? The T match and coax balun all look to be good. The only thing I can

see

is that the T match rods look to be long. They are 14 3/8 " each side of

the

block. This looks longer than the pictorial in the pdf file from M2. They

do not

give a length for this rod. I found some info that M2 offered an upgrade

kit for

the 6M5, could this possibly be a partially upgraded 6M5? The boom and

element

lengths all match the 6M5X. Would anyone have the T match rod length for

the

6M5X?

Thanks and 73, Randy, w5kcm



Whatever the 'trons can do to mess with you, they will do it.



I've found problems with bare metal connections that SHOULD be conducting

because they're touching but do not conduct because of tarnish, oxidation,

dirt, etc. If all else fails, loosen every connection, clean the

metal-to-metal surfaces, spritz them with a material like Crommelin Red or

Caig De-Oxit (name depends on how old you are!) and reassemble.



The tarnish lesson was relearned yesterday when I made up a 10m choke coil

from RG-58 and a pair of PL-259's. The center pins did not have DC

continuity until AFTER I gently scraped both of them with a knife-edge.



It never ends.



73,

"Sal"

(KD6VKW)

Hi Sal, very good info. Yes, I will test the connections inside the T mach block. Apparently, the M2 antennas with this T match has a lot of problems with poor connections due to using dissimilar metals. I have some chemical used in sal****er marine electrical environment called "Corrosion Block". Once, I have cleaned the connections, I will apply the corrosion block. Hopefully, that will keep it going for a few years. I did notice that it looks like M2 has gone to a different type of match. Possibly, due to the problems with the T match.
Thanks for your response & 73, Randy, w5kcm