🔍 Key Concepts

• Base-loaded / shunt-fed antennas and how they look to a DC ohmmeter • Difference between DC continuity (ohms test) and RF performance at operating frequency • Normal readings you might expect when checking a VHF antenna/coax with an ohmmeter

💭 Think About

• When you put an ohmmeter across the antenna feed, what are you really measuring at DC in a base-loaded or shunt-fed design? • Could a low or near-zero resistance path in the loading coil be part of the normal feed arrangement, or must it always mean a fault? • Which answer choices assume that a "short" reading automatically means a problem, and which recognize that some antenna systems are designed that way?

✅ Before You Answer

• Check how a loading coil or shunt feed is connected between the feed point and the mast/ground. • Verify whether VHF marine antennas with base loading coils can show DC continuity (near zero ohms) yet still be properly tuned at RF. • Make sure you distinguish between a shorted PL-259 connector or coax and a design that simply looks like a DC short due to the coil or shunt path.