Some antennas have a loading coil at their base. This coil is across
the center cable conductor and the shield, so if you use an ohmeter to
measure the resistance of the center conductor to the shield, you will
get a "shorted" indication.
A better check is to find a ham in the area, and see if he has an
'antenna tester'. This will operate the antenna at the intended freq.,
and show if there is a problem with the cable or antenna.
But first, make sure your VHF radio is not at fault, by checking the
squealch setting, and volume control as others have mentioned. You
should hear something from the VHF, even without the antenna
attached...BUT DO NOT TRANSMIT -as that would cause problems with the
radio possibly.

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Lake Superior

derbyrm wrote:
I'd certainly check to see if the center conductor is shorted to the shield.
(Near zero ohms with the cable disconnected from the transceiver.) That was
a common failure mode on the old Nike missile system. Where the cable makes
a sharp turn the center conductor would push thru (slowly) the insulation.
Wiggling the cable to detect an intermittent short is also something I would
try.

Of course, if it is shorted and you tried to transmit, you may have fried
the transmitter.

Roger

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm

"Chris" wrote in message
ups.com...

Anything I can do with the multimeter I have here?