[TenTec] The Next Flagship

[Jim Brown]

> Built in ATUs are OK but remote auto-tuners work better.

I question this statement, because it seems to be built on the 
assumption that excess loss in the mis-matched transmission line matters 
a lot more than it often does. I suspect that most hams using remote 
auto-tuners have a poor quantitative understanding of that loss, and may 
also be fooling themselves into believing that their antenna "works 
better" if they see a 1:1 SWR. I also suspect that many (most?) hams 
using remote auto tuners to tune wildly non-resonant antennas would be 
better off either by making those antennas closer to resonance, or by 
using a bigger coax between the antenna and the shack, or both. To get 
that quantitative understanding, study the family of graphs showing 
excess loss due to SWR in the Transmission Lines chapter of the ARRL 
Handbook.

Another point -- how well a built-in ATU works depends a lot on its 
design. The TT rigs I've owned have not had them; the tuners in the 
Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu rigs have been mediocre, but the tuners in the 
Elecraft K2 (their first), K3, and KX3, as well as their KAT500, are all 
quite good. Again, I believe that's because Wayne Burdick has always 
been a backpacker, so he understands what a tuner needs to be.

73, Jim K9YC