[Elecraft] 43' Vertical and the K2 tuner

[Craig D. Smith]

Good Morning Jim ...

The internal K2 tuner should have the range to match the 43 ft vertical.  It
is a wide-range tuner as opposed to the internal tuners on many rigs which
are only good for tweaking antennas that are near resonance.

You will, of course, have feedline losses due to high SWR with this system
which can be noticeable on some bands.  You will want to use low loss
feedline and a proper current choke at the feedpoint.  The resulting
performance will depend heavily on the radial system used, and I would
recommend a minimum of 32 untuned radials.  Given attention to these
details, you can expect good DX performance on 20, 30, 40 and 80 meters.  On
17 meters and above the radiation angle will become higher than optimal for
DX.

The feedline loss issues can be resolved by using a remote tuner at the
feedpoint.  I'm doing this here using a CG-3000 tuner from Array Solutions.
Works well with my K3, and I'm pleased with the performance of the antenna
after installation of an adequate radial system.

                 73    Craig  AC0DS