[Elecraft] Tuner efficiency question

[Vic Rosenthal]

al_lorona at agilent.com wrote:

> Yes, we most certainly do. Too many of us care only about the automatic
> aspect of these compact tuners, and we give up really efficient tuner
> operation. Tuners have to be really large to be really good. The components
> have to be large and the enclosures have to be large. 

This is a good point.  Many QRP operators assume that a tuner used for QRP can 
be small because one doesn't need the power-handling capability of a larger 
tuner.  However, if a tuner has x db loss, then that loss will reduce the 
strength of a received signal by x db whether the signal is transmitted at 5 or 
500 watts!

So if I were building a QRP-only tuner, I would use a big silver-plated inductor 
in a big box (although the capacitors could be smaller, since the voltage 
requirement would be less).

-- 
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco