[TowerTalk] "Antenna Tuner"

[Jim Brown]

On 5/3/2014 9:17 AM, WA3GIN in King George, VA wrote:
> Dave, with ipmost and all due respect those mentioned auto-tuners do 
> NOT adjust the resonance of the antenna... they are purely impedance 
> matching devices

I share your concern about using the correct word(s) to describe what is 
going on. That "tuner" is, indeed, an impedance matching device/network, 
whose purpose is to present to the transmitter a load with which it is 
"happy" to supply full power.

Likewise, I reject nearly all uses of the words "balun" and "ground,"  
because they have multiple meanings that nearly always lead to 
confusion, and to hams doing really dumb things. I also object to the 
phrase "ground loop," which is a totally false concept, and also causes 
hams to do really dumb (and wrong) things to solve real world problems.

Call it what it is -- that "tuner" is an adjustable matching network," 
at least a dozen different things are described by the word "balun," and 
many uses of the word "ground" have nothing to do with a connection to 
mother earth.

73, Jim K9YC