The reason you are seeing half the swr reading at half calibration is just that you are setting the calibration to half way so thus the readings being 1/2 of the full calibration of the meter. Can you post a pic or 2 of your antenna and how it's setup. Also you might have a short in your coax. Unplug coax at both radio and mount and check for continuity between center pin and outer shield by using a volt meter set to ohms. If there is you have a bad spot somewhere in your coax. If the coax tests good, then move to mount and check for good ground at the mount as well and for any pinching or cuts on coax. Good luck and hope you get it resolved. And you're tuning might require removing the plastic cap and cutting the small wire that is wound around antenna at the tip. Cut 1/8-1/4" at a time of you're going to do this, but check the other things out first before cutting antenna tip as it may not be antenna that is the issue. With vswr that high there is a major issue and I wouldn't key up your radio for long either with the vswr that bad. Also an external swr/watt meter and a short coax jumper would be a good investment. You might find one on eBay used for cheap. New they were $40 at radio shack if you have one near you still might be worth checking out. Or get a decent swr/watt meter or some other brand and use a cheap radio as well. Buy a 10 dollar radio if you can. CL locally can be a good place to find one as well as thrift shops and garage sales. This way you don't blow up your good radio trying to trouble shoot your vswr (SWR) issue. JMHO. Again hope you get it resolved.