[Elecraft] Antenna Tuner versus Antenna Analizer ?

[Don Wilhelm]

Paul,

Since you find antennas confusing at this point, you may want to look at 
the Antenna article on my website http://w3fpr.qrpradio.com.  It tells 
about antenna concepts in layman's language as much as possible, and no 
math.

Second comment is that you may want a wire antenna instead of the 
Buddypole for your home station.  A half wave dipole at the lowest 
frequency of interest fed with ladder line will receive and radiate much 
better than the Buddypole in most situations.   One cannot defeat the 
laws of physics.  An antenna shorter than 1/2 wavelength (1/4 wavelength 
for verticals with a good ground system) will be inefficient by 
comparison - don't be fooled by the advertising hype - a full size G5RV 
antenna is just not as efficient on 80 meters as a 135 foot dipole.

The Buddypole *is* a very nice convenient antenna for portable work and 
likely more efficient than most portable antennas, but for the home 
station, you can likely do better with just wire.

The KAT3 with a 1:1 balun or 4:1 balun will provide all the tuning range 
normally needed to tune a wire antenna with ladder line, you should not 
need a separate tuner - and the KAT3 will remember its settings for each 
band for you - no knob twisting when changing bands.

73,
Don W3FPR

Paul Maruna wrote:
> I bought a buddipole antenna system and I want to get one of the subject units but I don't know the difference between them, and what each one does, and which one will help me with the setup with my K3 and my antenna system ?
>
> When I bought my K3 I also bought a KAT3 which I believe is an antenna tuner for the K3 -- Will this do the same thing to match the antenna to the K3, or am I better off getting another unit like a LDG Z-100 or an LDG AT-200 Pro or something else like one of the MFJ units ?
>
> Where does the "baluns" come into this play with either unit ?
>
> I am just a Technician class and am studying for the General class and I have not built the K3 that I have yet, and all this antenna stuff is pretty confusing.
>
> Can anyone help please ?
>
> Thank you,
> Paul
> (73)
> KD8HWP
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