Topband: 160m Vertical

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

On 5/16/2020 4:31 AM, Rob Atkinson wrote:
> On 5/15/2020 8:27 AM, donovanf at starpower.net wrote:
> 
> ""A more reliable approach is a tuner in your shack. The extra coax
> cable loss from elevated VSWR is insignificant on topband.""
> 
>

Another disadvantage of a tuner at the shack end is that the match
bandwidth for any given setting of the tuner becomes narrower.
I have over a full wavelength of open wire line to my 160m
vertical.  No problem with power handling, VSWR handling or loss,
but the match bandwidth is very narrow if the OWL is badly
mismatched.  There is a 450 ohm to 50 ohm balun/transformer at
the tower, so I only have to match the antenna to unbalanced
50 ohms.  There is another transformer at the shack end.

I should also point out that the charts showing "Additional loss
due to SWR" were incorrect for decades in various ham publications
and were only recently corrected, in case you hadn't heard.

See:

https://ac6la.com/swrloss.html

Rick N6RK