I find that Jim's thoughts and findings are similar to mine. SWR is
really not a good indication of how well an antenna works. One of my
coax lines has a 1:1 SWR from 160M through 6M. It doesn't receive well
nor transmit well. It' has a dummy load on the distant end.
Along the same line, I have a home brew variable L network consisting of
a tapped inductor, about 24 taps, and a 500 pf variable capacitor. I
find it will match about anything that is hung on one end. If it
doesn't match, simply turn it around and most likely a suitable match
will be found. In all cases, my random wire is not a resonant antenna
but a length of wire tossed over a tree limb. With this, the SWR
indication on the radio is all that's needed.
73
Bob, K4TAX
On 12/1/2017 1:09 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
On 12/1/2017 4:49 AM, w5...@comcast.net wrote:
But it struck me that it might be nice to add a small antenna
analyzer to my kit.
Why must every perceived problem be resolved by buying something? All
Elecraft rigs, including the KX2, have an indicator for SWR that the
rig sees. Resonance can be clearly seen by moving up and down the band
to find it.
SWR is NOT an indicator of how well an antenna works, and antennas
don't necessarily have to be resonant to work well! That depends on
how we use the fundamentals of how antennas work. Especially when
using improvised wire antennas with little or no feedline, the only
thing that matters beyond the fundamental properties of the antenna is
whether the rig can match it.
I'd be far more likely to drag along more "stuff" with which to rig
improvised antennas in whatever surroundings I find myself, and to
study the ARRL Handbook and Antenna Book to understand those
fundamentals.
73, Jim K9YC
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to rmcg...@blomand.net
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
