I put a mount on my Dodge pickup, bolted to the bed rail with 4 stainless
steel bolts. I placed a 20M Hamstick on the mount and the lowest I could get
the SWR to drop at my desired frequency was 1.7 to 1. So I placed a small
matching coil at the base of the antenna (also made by the same manufacturer
as the antenna). As I started trying to bring the SWR down I noticed that
anywhere that I touched the coil with the shorting wire would make the SWR
rise. At the very end of the coil - away from the mounting point, the rise
was minimal. As I moved the clip closer to the coil mounting point the SWR
rose.

The same thing happens with my 40M hamstick.

What does this tell me? Am I doing something incorrectly in the matching
process?

Thanks for any and all advice.

WB5CYS
Texas