Jim, I mentioned relay cut-in of L's and/or C's at the base of an antenna to help cover all of 160M. On my tuner web page I mentioned does not show this recent update I have made at my shack, but I have a relay that shunts out turns of my 160M coil to help me QSY to top end of 160M phone in contests.
Another choice that I left out, if you want to QSY all the way between 1800 and 2000 kc with a limited-bandwidth antenna, is relay-cut-in-and-out of extra length at the top of the antenna. There have been QST articles, as well as some write-ups on this mailing list, about doing this. The electrical voltages involved, as well as complications of remotely controlling relays at the top of an antenna, have made this a non-choice at my station. I'm very self-satisfied about my relays at the base of my antenna but the complications of high-voltage relays at the top of an antenna, is not something I've done myself. Tim N3QE On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 9:05 AM, Tim Shoppa <tsho...@gmail.com> wrote: > My opinions: > > All-band antenna tuners make a set of compromises to produce a tuner that > fits in one box. > > They may not be able to handle legal limit on RTTY. Or legal limits CW/SSB > on other bands, especially the "extreme bands" of 10M and 160M. > > They often have 10-turn (or more-turn) roller inductors that make it very > slow - acutally, downright painful - to QSY between bands. > > They usually have very limited choice of tuner topologies, or even worse, > they don't have the "right topology" for a given band/antenna combination. > > If you have the space available in your shack and need a tuner for every > band, you want to have a tuner optimized for each band in the shack and > relay selection for tuners. Some pictures of my setup where I have taken > this to an extreme: http://www.trailing-edge.com/tuners.html > > If your only problem is that your 160M antenna is narrow band and doesn't > cover both 1830kc and 1880kc and 1950kc, your best choice is to cut in (via > remote relays if you are into automation) some additional L and C at the > antenna base, as appropriate, to help you QSY between different parts of > 160M. This will cost you way way less and be far more efficient, than > buying an all-band tuner in the shack. > > Tim N3QE > > On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 9:30 PM, Jim Murray via Topband < > topband@contesting.com> wrote: > >> Hello all,Would you have any recommendations for antenna tuners? Have >> been looking at the automatics, Palstar, Mfj, LDG At-1000Proii etc.. Have >> been using an old Dentron which doesn't have very close markings on the >> dials and getting tired of turning and adjusting. Another option would be >> another manual such as the At2k with more precise settings. I do quite of >> bit of band hopping and even on 160 my Inv. L is perfect on 1.830 but >> doesn't like going very far either up or down, hence the need for a little >> tuner loss. The automatics look pretty appealing but would appreciate any >> opinions from the group.Thanks >> Jim/k2hn >> _________________ >> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband > > > _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband