John,
To answer your question, is it the O II, the Tuner, the amp and as everyone
has suggested, the antenna, I suggest you look for the biggest coil you can
find and insert it at the feedpoint.
It doesn't matter that it doesn't bring the antenna into resonance; you just
need to shift the impedance significantly to see if the problem is at the
antenna.
This will at least move the impedance far enough in the right direction that
the problem of being intermittent will probably stop.
You will need to switch this coil in for 160m and out for the other bands.
If you wrap your own coil, look for a 3 to 6 inch form, and then space the
windings with nylon rope.
The rope should be about the same size as the diameter of the wire.
This will give you the spacing you need between turns, while keeping it
pretty symmetrical.
It doesn't have to be exactly the right inductance since you do have a
decent high power tuner, but the closer you come to the right value, the
better.
If the SWR still jumps around after inserting a big coil, then the problem
is probably inside the shack.
Try another transceiver.
Try another amp.
Try another tuner.
Surely you have a local ham that can help you substitute.
But, I think you will find the trouble is the antenna, and the tip to look
into the Phil's matching methods was a good one. Here's his home page:
http://www.ad5x.com/
He described two different approaches to matching a 43' vertical on the low
bands in QST issues, earlier this year.
Good luck.
73
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of John Molenda
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 7:03 PM
To: TEN TEC DISCUSSION
Subject: [TenTec] swr
Hi All , I have a TT Orion II and when I use it on 160 with a palstar
auto tuner , TT Titan III 417Amp and a new zero five vertical antenna
The swr runs a muck. This only happens with 250 watts or more , the swr
will read on the radio or tuner say 3.1:1 the Palstar auto tuner
knocks it down to 1:1 and all is fine then all of a sudden maybe in the
middle of a qso the swr will rise to 3 .1:1and I have to re tune and of
course this will send the amp into a fault position . It is almost like
the tuner just stops working . I can't remember if this has happened on
other bands but it will happen on 160 . to answer some questions , no
the tuner in the OII is not on when I use the palstar tuner . And Yes I
have 48 radials down at 45 foot each. I use no grounding inside the
shack but my antennas and coax are grounded outside the shack . Is the
problem the radio , tuner , amp or what .And by the way the antenna
plays real nice on all other bands . thanks for your input in advance
. all the best ! John kb2huk
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