[Update] Buddipole High SWR on 10 Meter Band

Update: Well I think I put together why my SWR was so high on 10.

The BNC not being cranked down was the first issue. The second issue was likely a result of a bad banana plug. I'll explain...

So last night I was screwin around with my antenna (no euphemism there). I saw there was a 6m opening and wanted to see if I could hear anything.  Whilst connecting it up the red side banana plug broke off in the binding post! I wasn't applying extreme pressure or anything, I think it's a manufacturer defect. A close inspection reveals scorch marks and what could be a cold solder joint.

Broken banana plug on the right

I corresponded with Chris from Buddipole about my issue. He responded quickly and said that this is a rare situation and he is sending me a fix. Very good support at Buddipole.

I think that mystery is solved.

I poked around the Buddipole User Group and found that people are able to work 10m without a tuner. So this must be the issue.

I'm replaced the banana plugs with ring connectors and nuts on the binding posts. I'm sure the folks at Buddipole will cringe if they ever see this. It just seems to me the banana plugs they use are way too small and fragile to last, especially when hanging coax from them. Even with strain relief they feel like they are too stressed to be reliable. So even if they sent me a new cable, I would fear the same thing would just happen again. Soldered ring connectors will never brake and the connection is way more solid than banana plugs. I've read other  people have done the same thing. It's easy and I already have all the parts.

Lock-nuts and ring terminals

I'll give it a go and report back what I find.