On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:57:59 -0600, brian whatcott
wrote:

it is not all that easy to maintain a 50 ohm impedance AND soak up
most of the transmit power with salt water in a coax

If the coax is soaking most of the transmit power it doesn't really
matter what impeadance it is. An SWR meter will still show no
reflected power, hence a 1:1 ratio.