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I received my new amateur call sign yesterday. I was able to get my dad's call sign, WB9VLW. The photo is one of his old tags.

ya it was Rubicon's, I didn't expect a response that early and to my surprise it was there. Glad to be part of the Licensed group now, I just got my license 2 days ago.

By ‘monitor option’ are you referring to the ability to manually open squelch and monitor the frequency regardless of tone settings? If so, the radio does have that. The small button on the mic, located below the PTT button, does just that. Regarding SWR, SWR values change based on the frequency used for the test. Based on the tuning of the specific antenna, the best SWR reading may be obtained higher or lower in its operational range. A key point however is that SWR has zero to do with the radio being used and everything to do with the antenna system (coax/feed-line and antenna). So if you are using an inline SWR meter (the typical type) between radio and your antenna system, the SWR should not change whether you are using a $50 radio or $1000 radio so long as both of them are outputing the same frequency for the test. In repeater mode your radio is transmitting on 467.xxxx frequencies. In simplex mode your radio is transmitting on 462.xxxx frequencies. If you have better SWR on the simplex channels then your antenna is better tuned to those frequencies. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Ok I think I got the answer. Let me get a hold of a dummy load and test again. I am using a MFJ-894 SWR meter for the test. The meter works as I have used it on other radios with self-test functions that show the same readings. I will get a dummy load and have a look. Thanks!

That's what I was getting at with my question. I'm guessing no dummy load was used.