Well thank you guys for all of your help.
I thought that the number I was getting did not make much sense to me so I got ahold of another SWR Watt meter and this is what I got.
@ 144.700 SWR 1.25 @ 5 Watts
@ 147.900 SWR 2 @ 5 Watts
@ 440.100 SWR 1.5 @ 3 Watts
@ 449.900 SWR 1 @ 5 Watts
These are much better numbers.
Now on to my next project, to mount a Little Tarheel II for the HF side of the IC7000. Lets see how much trouble I get into with that!!!!
I was going to jump in with a few suggestions here, but it looks like you've found your culprit!
What I would suggest though, is to invest in a good dummy load. Get one suitable for at least the maximum power you are likely to use. This would have saved you time with this problem, as a quick test into the dummy load would likely have showed up the bad meter.
I keep a 250w rated load in the boot (trunk) of my car alongside the radio, as my HF antenna isnt always fitted. When I dont have a HF antenna fitted for a while, I switch the radios HF antenna port to the load. That way I cant inadvertantly transmit on HF into an open port. (the VHF/UHF antenna is a permanent mount)