Re: VHF question
David there are some things that concern me but overall your setup is typical, what I will tell you is that you are out matched and that you need help, My services are cheap if you are near but would be expensive for you down under HOWEVER I am open anytime you need me to come down for simply my expenses.....
some basics,
You should only leave a little bit of extra cable, too much extra does decrease the amount of RF(Radio Frequency) that reaches the Antenna, especially if it is coiled up. High quality cable and connectors are only worth the quality of workmanship of the terminating or the quality of the connector assembly, this is pretty easy but a badly assembled connector will eliminate all of the other quality aspects of your setup, low loss cable, gain antenna etc etc. There is only one way to properly check and tune your setup and that is with a SWR meter, all radio shops/guys use them and you can probably get it done at any CB or commercial radio shop near you. They can also cut out your extra cable and reassemble it properly and then tune everything to work properly, if you have it in you to get or have access to a SWR meter we can go from there, but you really need this meter to test your setup, it is possible your antenna is bad, or even wrong for your frequencies we have no idea, if you have a make and model number that would help a bunch or we can direct you to the purchase of a new setup but again even after you get new stuff I would still tell you that you should get a meter on it to tune it properly or at least verify that it works as it should.
