[Elecraft] Tuning Random-Length Wire Antenna with K3 Internal Tuner??

donovanf at erols.com donovanf at erols.com
Sun Dec 13 00:19:09 EST 2020


Hi Mike, 


You do have an alternative: 


Rather than using a random wire length, chose a wire length that 
produces well under 10:1 VSWR on the frequencies you intend to use. 


For end fed random wires, avoiding wire lengths close to multiples 
of 1/2 wavelength should be safe with the K3 tuner. 


73 
Frank 
W3LPL 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Mister Mike" <w1rc at near-fest.com> 
To: donovanf at erols.com 
Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2020 1:04:26 AM 
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Tuning Random-Length Wire Antenna with K3 Internal Tuner?? 


That is pretty much what I thought. I will have to read the fine manual and see how the automatic tuner works. Picked up this K3 in a swap deal a while back but I am still pretty much stuck ( happily) in the Collins KWM-2/S-Line “Stone Age” so I need time and patience (lots) to figure how to use these marvelous appliance radios. 


In any event I have a MAC-200 made by SGC who make pretty darn good tuners which I can use but that is another box to take along if I do a road trop. 


73 to all.... 


Michael, W1RC 



On Dec 12, 2020, at 6:37 PM, donovanf at erols.com wrote: 



<blockquote>
Hi Mike, 
</blockquote>

<blockquote>





Its not wise to use the K3 antenna tuner to tune a random wire. 
A truly random wire can easily produce VSWR greater than 10:1 
which is likely to damage the K3 tuner when running at full 
K3 output power. 


Its much wiser to use an external tuner with a random wire 


73 
Frank 
W3LPL 






-----Original Message----- 
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net <elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Mister Mike 
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2020 9:42 AM 
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net 
Subject: [Elecraft] Tuning Random-Length Wire Antenna with K3 Internal Tuner?? 

What is the best way to do this? I am not familiar with automatic tuners. 

</blockquote>



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