[Elecraft] Random wire lengths for antennas

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

The "antenna tuner" is part of the antenna more than it is the rig, even if
it is inside the box! 

I have a L-net tuner (a circuit like in the Elecraft ATUs) consisting of a
large ceramic roller inductor and a "transmitting" type variable (0.3" plate
spacing) that I use with my Inverted L. It works beautifully on all bands,
even where the impedance is so high a neon bulb on the shelf near the tuner
flashes when I transmit. 

Compressing a tuner enough to fit inside of an amp or a K3 means
compromising on what sort of voltages can be tolerated. That is why you
can't get too close to 1/2 wavelength, even though 1/2 wavelength is where
the antenna will be the most efficient. 

Engineering is always a tradeoff. 

73 Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Lynn
W. Taylor, WB6UUT
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2017 1:02 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Random wire lengths for antennas

Not an alternate definition, but we have to recognize that just any old
random length won't work.

If the wire is near 1/2 wavelength on a band, the impedance at the end will
be very high, and the tuner may not be able to match it.

In truth, we're really talking about non-resonant antennas, so numbers like
53' keep coming up.

It was easier before 60m and 30m and 17m and 12m because all of the ham
bands were harmonically related, and the math was simpler.

73 -- Lynn

On 1/29/2017 7:55 AM, Tom McCulloch wrote:
> I guess we need an alternate definition of "random" ;-)
>
> Tom
>
>  wb2qdg
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