[1000mp] Sloooow MKV Antenna Tuner: A Modest Success!

[David Inger]

I received a number of helpful e-mails regarding the tuner capabilities of the MKV.  My antenna is a 102-ft doublet feed by 450 ladderline into a 4:1 balun outside the radio room.  About 12-ft of RG-213/U runs from the balun to the radio.  The antenna is obviously on the short side for 80/75-m and may have some issues on 40-m as well.  Since the tuner did quite well on 20 and up, I concluded the problem was possibly in the antenna/feedline.  A simple fix was to splice in an additional 10 feet of ladderline.  Back at the radio, I hit the tuner button, and the radio found quick matches on 80/75 as well as 40 and above.  Settings stayed in memory as well.

The moral of the story:  try adding some additional footage to your ladderline-fed attenna.  Don't assume that the problem is the limited tuning range of the MKV's autotuner.

73 de K6SBA
David in (sunny) Santa Barbara, CA