TopBand: QST Antenna Tuner Review

[k***@juno.com]

Anyone interested in using a tuner on 160M (or 80M) should carefully read
the reviews in the March 1997 QST.

73.....Carl KM1H

--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions: ***@contesting.com
Administrative requests: topband-***@contesting.com
Problems: owner-***@contesting.com
Sponsored by: Akorn Access, Inc. & N4VJ / K4AAA

[Ward Silver]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[Paul Pescitelli]

Post by Ward Silver
Actually, what the article in QST tells me is to AVOID tuners wherever
possible, making the antenna match the line! This is sort of
tongue-in-cheek as no antenna will ever match satisfactorily over the
ranges of frequencies we amateurs frequent, particularly on the Low Bands.
But if you depend on a tuner to do your routine matching, you are wasting
that precious RF.

If you carefully plan your antenna installations, you wont need a tuner.

SCENARIO:
I have a very modest 60ft tower with a tribander and rotatable 40 on top.
Shunt fed tower for 80 and inv-l for 160. I am active on all contest bands
with no tuner. Very little RF/TVI problems as well.

Match your antennas at the base of the antenna not in the shack, using
whatever mechanism is best for the situation.

Happy DXing.. Paul - K4UJ


--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions: ***@contesting.com
Administrative requests: topband-***@contesting.com
Problems: owner-***@contesting.com
Sponsored by: Akorn Access, Inc. & N4VJ / K4AAA

[W***@aol.com]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[GOOSE WD8LLD]

Post by Ward Silver
To paraphrase David Sarnoff (founder of RCA) who was originally
speaking about finance..."Impedance-matching antennas at the
transmitter is the art of passing RF from hand to hand until it
finally disappears."
To be sure, there are some tuners that are better than others. N4XM's
looks like the best of the bunch. But a little extra work outside
means less expensive shack heating inside.

I totally agree with Ward on this issue. Why burn up those precious
watts in the coax as heat when a little extra work done with a matching
device at the antenna will result in maximum power transfer and less wasted
power heating up the coax.


73.....de Goose W8AV (ex- WD8LLD) "***@delphi.com"


--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions: ***@contesting.com
Administrative requests: topband-***@contesting.com
Problems: owner-***@contesting.com
Sponsored by: Akorn Access, Inc. & N4VJ / K4AAA

[K4RO Kirk Pickering]

I had a Ten Tec model 229 L-net tuner here for a while. Managed to
burn up one of the padding caps with my meager AL-811 500W linear
on 160 meters. The padding caps were 2kV ceramic discs, I think 220pf.
Replaced them with 3kV ceramics and never smoked another one. Have
since gotten rid of the tuner. No more antenna tuners in this shack.

-Kirk K4RO

--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions: ***@contesting.com
Administrative requests: topband-***@contesting.com
Problems: owner-***@contesting.com
Sponsored by: Akorn Access, Inc. & N4VJ / K4AAA