On Feb 13, 8:11*am, Jay Maynard
wrote:

Not worth a damn....

My experience runs the other way. I've tested and troubleshooted
several VHF radio antenna installations using a cheap SWR meter, and
system performance has seemed pretty uniformly inversely proportional
to the SWR reading. Of course, that's far from scientific, but it
suggests that inaccurate measurements are better than no measurements
at all.

What are you trying to find out? Unless something is corroded or broken,
whatever problem you have is probably not your antenna.

That also runs counter to my experience. Yeah, where we're talking
about classic quarter-wave whips or commercially available blade
antennas, I certainly agree. But when it comes to custom antennas,
internal antennas, copper-tape dipoles, oddly-shaped dipoles, dipole
antennas in fins and rudders, dipoles near metal parts, and carbon
fiber ground planes (all of which are common in sailplanes), radio
problems are way too often caused by the antenna or its installation.

Thanks, Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com