[Elecraft] Thanks! OT: Vertical doublets / baluns / tuners

[Darrell Bellerive]

Where is your SWR meter connected? If it is on the antenna side of the
tuner the readings will not be correct as the impedance is not what the
meter was designed to work with.

The SWR bridge should be connected between the tuner and the transmitter
where a nominal 50 ohm impedance is present.

Also, a low SWR from the tuner to the transmitter does not always
indicate power is being radiated by the antenna. Feedline loss could
easily consume some of your power. I have not seen any documentation on
speaker wire as feedline. Years ago common speaker wire was almost
synonymous with zip cord, but today there are all sorts of speaker wire.
I would be concerned about the losses.

Darrell VE7CLA K2 #1973

On Wed, 2004-03-24 at 19:57, Joe - aa4nn wrote:
> Thanks to all for the comments.
> 
> I mistakenly said I was using zip cord.  Acutally I am using 18 gauge speaker wire having the clear insulation.  For all I know it may be as bad as zip cord.
> 
> Anyway so the KAT100 does the matching.  What puzzles me is seeing the tuner get 1.0 to 1 according to its panel LEDs but then the inline SWR meter is showing much higher reflected than that.  For example:
> Band    KAT100        SWR Mtr
> 40m    1.0-1                3-1
> 20m    1.1-1                3.5-1
> 15m    1.0-1                2.5-1
> 10m    1.7-1                1.5-1
> 
> If not for the inline SWR meter (Advanced Electronics Applications WM-30) showing high SWR I would be happily calling CQ thinking most of my power was making it out the door.  I don't know, maybe the SWR meter is bad.
> 
> Thanks for you help.
>