I've just assembled my FA-VA5 and it is an excellent device. However, I am a bit confused about using the FA-VA5 to measure coax loss. In the "S" mode I am seeing "RL" reflection loss and also "ML," which the manual describes as "Matched Line."

If "RL" indicates the coax loss (with one end of the cable open), I am seeing more than double the amount of loss that I would expect. For example, with a calibrated wattmeter in my station I set the transmitter output to 15 W on 20 meters. With the same wattmeter at the antenna, I measure 11 W, or about 1.3 dB of loss, which is what I would expect. When measuring the same cable, with one end open, at the same frequency with my FA-VA5, however, the "RL" is indicating a little more than 3 dB and the "ML" indicates 6 dB.

Perhaps I am not using the analyzer correctly, or I may be misunderstanding RL and ML.

Steve