So I installed a CB a couple weeks ago. Took the XJ out with some friends and it worked great. Turned out that the mount for the antenna needed some reinforcing and needed to be through-bolted, rather than just screwed in; so the whole antenna assembly came apart, through-bolted the mount, reassembled the antenna assembly (added a spring) and figured I'd retune because of the added spring height.

Lo and behold, SWR is WAY in the red on ALL channels. Diagnosed it as a short in the system somewhere. Threw the meter on it and the center conductor had no continuity. To make a long story short, the PL-259 all but fell off in my hand because the solder on the center conductor had broken during antenna assembly removal and re-assembly.

So here is the question. Can I simply lop off 3 inches of my 18' coax, solder on a new PL-259 and be good to go, or do I really need to re-run an entirely new 18' of coax in order to fix this?

 

Cut and resolder it will be fine, then you can adjust the VSWR to where it should be.