Topband: Tuner ??? on 160

[K9AY]

>When I went over 200 watts, the tuner would start to bark and arc across 
>one of the tuning capacitors.
> Tom, K0YR
>

Tom,

Most tuners do not have sufficient capacitance or inductance range to 
provide an optimum match on 160M. You can get a match, but it's probably a 
much higher Q network that we'd like. As a result, you get arcing capacitors 
or an overheated inductor.

Even with a well-designed tuner (the Vectronics 1500 is pretty good), 
transforming the impedance of a dipole through ladder line complicates the 
matter. Unless you have carefully pruned the line length to deliver an 
impedance that the tuner can handle, you may end up with too high resistance 
or reactance, resulting in a problematic high Q match. You may also exceed 
the ratings of the internal balun.

73, Gary
K9AY