[FARC] Antenna Tuner

[Bob Moroney]

OK, Kirk, now it sounds more as though you're simply working through 
typical problems that often confront Hams, whether they're new, old or 
somewhere in between.   If your TS2K internal tuner can coexist happily 
with the vertical's input impedance, things are probably "OK", at the 
very least.   That's not to say that things couldn't be made better, 
but, if you can put a decent signal on the air, external to your abode 
and without driving all  of your and your neighbors' telephone and 
electronic equipment bonkers, consider it a major plus.

As an aside, please keep in mind that ALL verticals are notoriously 
narrow band antennas by nature, and can be pretty damn finicky as to 
their "counterpoise" (ground screen) requirements as well.  And on top 
of that, their radiation patterns can be all over the map, depending on 
terrain, installation and counterpoise.  Again,  if you're getting a 
signal on the air in the bands you want, you probably want to count your 
blessings and be happy. 

I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing that your vertical antenna is 
happy that you rescued it from its overhead perch in Phil's garage, and 
has quite simply deigned to bless you with Good Propagation (within, of 
course, its design and installation limitations). 

Bottom line is, don't despair, don't get too frustrated, and within the 
bounds of safety and common sense (i.e., try not to fry your self or 
your gear), keep trying to tame the RF beast in YOUR particular 
operating environment.  Believe me, there's a lot of "magic" involved in 
operating an effective Ham Radio station in a residential area, but 
there's no "magic bullet" to solve the myriad of problems that can crop 
up, some even after you think you've run them all to ground, so to speak. 

If you poll the folks who have succeeded in doing this, you will 
probably find that words like "try", "experiment", "search", 
"persevere", "ask", "read" and any number of other "inquisitive" verbs 
crop up again and again.  Basically, that's the key to success, and as 
usual, the entryway to still more discoveries and knowledge.

Gosh, that was inspiring!  But on the other hand, it is getting close to 
bedtime...

73, Bob K9CMR
====================
Kirk Talbott wrote:
> Bob,
>
> Yes, it's a cheap tuner.
>
> Yes I have the vertical antenna outside grounded (8 ft. ground rod) and the 
> ground wire connected to an MFJ window unit, but no the radio equipment 
> isn't ground connected to the window unit. Kind of a waste of time, huh.  I 
> had every intention of running a ground strap to the window unit, but the 
> window unit is at one end of the room and the radio equipment at the 
> opposite end.  Computer desks, chairs, sewing machines, and bookshelves 
> necessitated that antenna leads and ground wires meander around or behind 
> furniture, meaning there would have been a very long ground strap (over 25 
> ft) from the equipment to the window unit.  From the ham books long ground 
> wires are a no no, so I didn't know quite what to do there.  Which is worse, 
> no ground or too long of a ground?  You get "burned" either way.
>
> Connectors are fully seated, tight, and brand new, though the antenna leads 
> are over 25 ft. long as described above.  I realize I'll have to rearrange 
> the room but I haven't gotten around to it yet.  It was only two months ago 
> that I had a 2 meter mobile unit for a radio and an 18" mag-mount antenna 
> sitting inside the room on top of a stainless-steel mixing bowl.  Compared 
> to now, those were the good ole' days, happy in blessed ignorance.
>
> I figured out the SWR meter on the radio, with the help of W3ICF, so that is 
> actually ok now.
>
> Yes, the antenna is marginal, sort of.  It actually was an experiment from 
> W3ICF as he had this old antenna in his garage and never used it and he just 
> wanted to see how it would work.  The antenna is ground mounted on a 1 ft. 
> pipe, but there are no RF ground radials; supposedly it didn't need any. 
> W3ICF put his antenna analyzer on it and got acceptable (barely) SWR on 40, 
> 20, 15, and 10 meters.  Using it with my Kenwood TS-2000 and its automatic 
> antenna tuner, it works fine on these bands.  "Works fine" is my term for 
> 1:1 or 1.5:1 SWR and making contacts in the North East, South East, Mid 
> West, and far western USA. I can hear plenty of DX international stations on 
> 20 meters, but due to traffic pileups and propagation haven't been able to 
> contact any.  So, does a radio and antenna work with no ground, long antenna 
> leads, and a marginal antenna? Sort of.  Would it work better if everything 
> in the shack was set up by the book? Absolutely.
>
> So, if the antenna and a radio with an automatic antenna tuner sort of 
> works, why did I purchase an antenna tuner?  Well, it all stemmed from 
> buying the wrong radio in the first place.  The Kenwood TS-2000 is too much 
> radio for a rookie ham operator like me.  Sure I can use it fine on 2 meters 
> and 440, and on some HF bands, but I'll never, repeat never, be able to 
> realize the capabilities built into the Kenwood TS-2000.  There is so much 
> to learn and the manual so intimidating, it just isn't fun.  So, with this 
> in mind I bought a bare-bones Icom 718, which is a basic HF rig designed for 
> beginners. Since I wanted to experiment with dipole antennas I thought I 
> needed a manual antenna tuner, and there you have it.  I guess this 
> situation is analogous to a newly licensed driver getting a Ferrari for the 
> first car.  It just won't work.  I'll keep the Kenwood and learn bits and 
> pieces as I go and maybe if I live long enough the Kenwood TS-2000 will 
> actually appreciate in value, like a Ferrari.
>
> Thanks for the info and the help.
>
> KB3ONM
> Kirk
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bob Moroney" <windbrkr at erols.com>
> To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 7:02 PM
> Subject: Re: [FARC] Antenna Tuner
>
>
>   
>> Kirk,
>>  From the sound of it, you could have a screwed-up tuner, you could have
>> a screwed-up antenna, you could have some station grounding problems,
>> you could simply not be using the tuner quite as it's meant to be used,
>> or you could have some combination of the above.
>>
>> Does that make you feel any better?  Probably not.
>>
>> Basically, you need to deal with one problem at a time, starting with
>> the antenna and feedline.  If that system isn't behaving as it should,
>> you might as well be beating your head against the wall.  Have you or
>> anyone else put an antenna analyzer on the end of the coax that goes
>> into your transceiver?   That alone will tell you a lot about your
>> antenna and feedline; e.g., what its impedance is at various frequencies
>> and where it's naturally resonant.
>>
>> Is your station's grounding system solidly bonded to a real earth
>> ground, and is all your station equipment solidly tied into that
>> system?  An ohmmeter will help answer that question.
>>
>> Are all your coax connectors "good" and fully seated into one another?
>> Another job for the ohmmeter, at least as a start.
>>
>> I didn't know it until today, but I too have one of these tuners; I just
>> never fully assimilated the make or model number.  To me it was simply
>> the somewhat cheap manual tuner I bought maybe ten years ago from some
>> mail order place (Radio Works?).  It's an OK tuner as far as it goes,
>> but it's definitely nothing special.  I can't say that I've ever looked
>> at the manual.  Although I bought this tuner ten or more years ago, I
>> would doubt that the manual I have is any different or better than
>> yours, so loaning you my manual probably won't help.
>>
>> On the tuner, one thing I would say right off the bat is that the knobs
>> on the front panel (other than the "Output Select" knob) have no stops.
>> As you suggest, they will turn forever.  So just picture what they do.
>> Matter of fact, it wouldn't hurt to unscrew the cover from the tuner and
>> view what lies beneath to help you visualize.
>>
>> You'll see two variable capacitors and a coil.  The two variable caps,
>> one "transmitter" and one "antenna" are just plates that twirl around,
>> interleaving (or not) to various degrees, depending on how much they've
>> been twirled, then start it all over again.  The "inductor" (coil) has
>> taps off of it that are connected to the "inductor" switch.  You can
>> turn this switch forever as well, but in reality you are just cycling
>> through the same tap points over and over, adjusting the impedance of a
>> capacitance/inductance bridge in various combinations until the antenna
>> is "tuned".  Unfortunately, though, an antenna can't really be "tuned"
>> without increasing or reducing the length of its radiating elements to
>> match the frequency desired.
>>
>> So the idea of an "antenna tuner" is to achieve a reasonable impedance
>> between whatever radiating contraption you hooked up to the "tuner" and
>> the transmitter, so you don't wind up releasing the smoke from your
>> transmitter's output transistors.  The transmitter finals are happiest
>> when they sense a 50-ohm impedance on their output; thus you need to
>> fiddle with the tuner controls until the radiating contraption
>> (antenna)  "matches" what the finals want to see.  So you could view a
>> tuner as a "pacifier" for your transmitter finals, more than anything
>> else.   It may or may not really increase the power that winds up going
>> to the antenna, but it will help to keep the transmitter output stage
>> happy and smoke-free.
>>
>> Put the inductor switch into the position recommended by the "manual"
>> for a given band, then tweak the transmitter and antenna variable
>> capacitors within their range, until SWR is minimized.  Make sure you've
>> got the "Output Select" switch set to the "Tuned" segment so you're
>> getting the correct meter readings, and make sure you've got the
>> "Peak/Avg" push button "out", so that you're getting average readings
>> instead of peaks that depend on your voice modulation.  Also, if you can
>> get your transmitter to key in CW mode, do that instead of using SSB,
>> which as you note, various according to the volume of your voice.  I
>> don't know your rig, so I don't have any suggestions there, other than
>> plugging in a key.
>>
>> Well, I'm tired of typing, and I've got to make some cole slaw for
>> supper, so hopefully all these words may help you a little.  Feel free
>> to write or call if they don't, or whatever.
>>
>> 73, Bob K9CMR
>> ======================
>> Kirk Talbott wrote:
>>     
>>> I recently bought a Vectronics VC300DLP antenna tuner and I am using it 
>>> with
>>> an ICOM 718 transceiver. My antenna is a hy-gain model 18 AVT/WB-S 
>>> vertical.
>>> I bought an antenna tuner based on a consensus of other experienced hams
>>> that if I used the ICOM 718 I would probably need an antenna tuner
>>> regardless of what antenna used.
>>>
>>> I am new to ham radio, HF, and antenna tuners in general and that is 
>>> mostly
>>> the problem,   however I am having specific problems with the tuner and 
>>> am
>>> ready to pitch it into the street!
>>>
>>> The instruction manual for the tuner is essentially useless due to many
>>> typos and obvious errors in English translation.  I was able to divine 
>>> how
>>> to hook it up to the transceiver and to set the defaults for the
>>> transmitter, antenna, and inductance controls on the tuner for a 
>>> particular
>>> band.  Since the labels on the tuner's controls didn't match the labels 
>>> in
>>> the manual, it's a toss-up as to whether I had things set right from the
>>> get-go.
>>>
>>> Now to transmitting.  Do I have it tuned?  Probably not.  Both the 
>>> forward
>>> and reflected power needles dance back and forth wildly to the lows and
>>> highs of my voice during SSB transmission, making it nearly impossible 
>>> to
>>> read the SWR at the intersection of both needles. The tuner has a dummy 
>>> load
>>> built-in which is convenient, but remember, there is no carrier in SSB
>>> transmission, so you can't just hold the PTT switch down while you
>>> simultaneously fiddle with the three tuner controls.
>>>
>>> Put the transceiver in FM or AM mode so you have a continuous carrier 
>>> you
>>> say?  Nope, I tried that.  The transceiver has no FM, and using AM pegs 
>>> both
>>> needles to their stops on the tuner with some erroneous indication.
>>>
>>> After much fumbling I was able to finally coordinate mike, talking, and
>>> twiddling the controls but to no avail, adjusting the controls did 
>>> nothing
>>> to change tuner meter needle indications.  As a matter of fact, the 
>>> controls
>>> on this tuner will turn past their stops  infinitely, giving you what 
>>> tuner
>>> setting as a result?  One ham said, "After you tune, write down the
>>> settings."  So I would write down, 20 turns to the right past "6" on the
>>> antenna knob?  Or 5 turns to the left past "1" on the transmitter knob?
>>> This can't possibly be the way it works.
>>>
>>> Now, fortunately the transceiver has an SWR meter so I could use that 
>>> maybe
>>> as an indicator of getting close to doing something right, and not burn 
>>> up a
>>> transmitter in the process.  Nope again. The transceiver's SWR meter 
>>> varied
>>> between 1:1 to 9:1 depending on the highs and lows of my voice during
>>> transmission.  If I spoke softly, it would read 1:1 all the time.  Raise
>>> your voice, and it would peak out at 9:1 then drop back to 1:1.
>>>
>>> Anyone up for some antenna tuner 101?  Or better yet, would someone like 
>>> to
>>> purchase an antenna tuner, cheap, that is before I reduce it to its
>>> elemental parts with a sledgehammer? You don't have much time.
>>>
>>> Plodding along blind
>>> KB3ONM
>>> Kirk