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Re: [TowerTalk] Better reading meters

To: Mark Beckwith <mark@concertart.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Better reading meters
From: "Jim White, K4OJ" <k4oj@tampabay.rr.com>
Reply-to: k4oj@tampabay.rr.com
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 17:56:06 -0500
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Certainly agreed that the meter reading better means that the linear will not protest but, if you had two options:

a) meter reads better but you do not know why (your contesting buddy substituted a dummy load)

b) there is a better match with the load and more power is coupled to the antenna

Which would you opt for?

My point is that we have all done things to make our antennas look better to the final stage and have been satisfied that at least the amp isn't faulting...

BUT, speaking for myself, if I do not grasp why this is happening I might as well be shooting myself in the foot - sure rig tunes up nice but I keep getting beat out by N5OT!

73,

Jim, K4OJ


Mark Beckwith wrote:


May make you feel warm and fuzzy because a
meter reads better than it used to but did
it fix the root problem?


With all due respect to my esteemed buddy Jim, a better-reading meter is
also appreciated by my amplifier.  The way I look at it, if most of what I
squirt in the shack end of the hardline squirts out the other end, then the
SWR doesn't matter, and doubly so if you're as loud or as louder than
competitors and you work contest QSOs at a high rate.  Or crush pileups or
whatever.

Nothing against quarter-wave matching sections, but give me a good T-network
any day.

As for baluns, you still want to keep the outside of the feedline from being
part of the antenna.  I use large toroid sleeves which fit over the coax at
the feedpoint and I'm done for about half the cost of a cheap balun, or an
even smaller fraction of the cost of an expensive balun.

Mark, N5OT


_______________________________________________


See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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_______________________________________________

See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

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