[Antennas]efficient antenna tuning

[Sam Morgan]

DJED1 at aol.com wrote:
> Given that the original requirement was for QRP and low cost, I considered  a 
> small QRP tuner at the rig, which may cost less than an AH4.  In this  case, 
> the cable dissipation will be more, depending on how high the SWR of the  
> antenna is at the ends of the band.  Even with a 10:1 SWR, however, the  cable 
> loss increases to only about 1 dB, with the tuner adding another 1  dB. So this 
> is the best trade off of performance and cost.
 >
I think that sums up what I needed to know Ed. Again, I apologize for asking 
such a poorly phrased question. I had recently read an article which lead me 
to believe the tuner loses were the worse problem of the lot. SO I tried to 
ask the group, how I could tweak the, type of tuner used, in combination with, 
where I tuned the antenna's center frequency. All in the name of gaining a few 
percentile of signal output. At 100+ watts it don't matter until u get up to 
legal limits, at 1-5 watts it's a different ball game.

> Finally, I suggested detuning the antenna if all that was available for  
> tuning was a capacitor.  To answer the question about series or  parallel would 
> require some assumptions about the antenna impedance and  some transmission line 
> calculations (remember Smith charts?), which I'm too lazy  to do right now.  
> however, the added cable loss make this a poor choice.
 >
at least you can manipulate and understand those elusive (to me) Smithie 
creatures. ;-)

> So my recommendation is to set the antenna at the center of the band, get  an 
> inexpensive tuner and install it at the rig, and go have fun.
> Just my .02 based on 25 years as an Extra and 35 years as an RF  engineer
> Ed
> 
Sounds good, back to square 1, tune it, excite it, and if u make contacts, 
enjoy it. Quit worrying over the minutia.

Thanks to all for their replys.

-- 
GB & 73's
KA5OAI
Sam Morgan