[Collins] "L" Tuner to Nye-Viking story...

Fri, 15 Nov 2002 07:07:02 -0800

Ed and all - I've had 3 of the Nye Vikings.  They look lovely, but that
home-made stack of fixed caps is the major problem.  I had to repair/replace
all three units.
They sure are prone to arc-thru.  I have settled on the
Drake MN2700 (a pi type) as my main tuner.  It has the best overall
ergonomics and flexibility of antenna selection
I have found.  RE: coax vs open line - coax works just fine and as
efficiently with less than 10:1 SWRs using a conjugate match.  RECCO:
Reading for all - Walt Maxwell's "Reflections".  The bible of
tuner/transmission line it is all about care and feeding of all types of
antennas;
and about dispelling misconceptions regarding tuning mis-matched antennas.
I cannot reccomend obtaining a copy and reading it for everyham strongly
enough.  Brgds, Geo
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Tanton" <[email protected]>
To: "GEORGE MORTON" <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 8:47 PM
Subject: [Collins] "L" Tuner to Nye-Viking story...


> I mostly agree with George... BUT "pretty IS as pretty DOES"... and the
> Nye-Viking MB-V ** DOES ** very well indeed. The ONE thing I ever ran into
> with it was in the 'homemade' fixed capacitors it uses. The dielectric is
> combustible. Obviously I learned this in my non-QRP days... with my Alpha
78.
>
> I was fooling around looking for the best match I could get on a G5RV that
> was being used somewhere other than the 'correct' set of G5RV bands. I
> don't really know if I tuned off, or it just arced at power, but the next
> thing I knew there was a nasty arcing sound coming from the
> more-or-less-airtight Nye-Viking case. The Alpha didn't waver. I stopped
> for a moment, figuring it was a temporary thing, and tried it again. Still
> spitting, arcing, etc.
>
> Disassembly showed that it had found an edge to arc across, that the
> polyethelene-or whatever-had melted and burned. It so happened that I had
a
> roll of thin sheet Teflon that was-as best as I could measure it-the same
> thickness. I made a pattern, cut an entire new set (leaving about 1/4"
> overlap wherever possible) and reassembled the capacitors. Took some
> effort. I also added all the HV-RIDARC paint I could find a corner, edge,
> pointy place/whatever to put it on. Lived happily ever since.
>
> So, you're right George... those capacitor insulators NOT being TFE is
> inexcusible. But it DOES work like every cent of the price.
>
> ///snip
> The Nye Viking is a great circuit, but is
> >"homemade" build quality and
> >grossly overpriced and over rated.  Foregoing all in my not-so-humble
> >opinion.  Brgds all, Geo
>
>
>
>
> 73 Ed Tanton N4XY <[email protected]>
>
> Ed Tanton N4XY
> 189 Pioneer Trail
> Marietta, GA 30068-3466
>
> website: http://www.n4xy.com
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