Rob
I agree with you that the price puts them out of reach for most hams
(including me)
but I found a way around that.... I borrowed one from a friend. My friend
finally put
up resonate antenna's and no longer needs the use of such a tuner. I on the
other hand
live in probably the worst possible conditions for transceiver operation. I
live in a single
story apartment that does not "allow" antennas. So of course I put one up,
but I did get
the managers permission. Once the manager saw what I wanted to do it was
not a problem
no holes in the roof and virtually invisible. I put up loop ( 136ft) that
just lays on the
roof - except at the feed point ( it's protected ). It is fed with 450 ohm
twin lead
(not open wire) directly into the "Matchmaster" link coupled tuner. I have
one other
advantage, I'm single and live by myself, so for "toys" I'm the only one I
have to convince.
Of course that can get you into trouble if your not careful . I will say
that for all it's
capability the tuner could be improved on. A spring loaded momentary switch
is used for
cap/coil adjustment. Well for me the motors move a little too fast so it
takes me
a couple of try's to get the best setting. So if I have one made I will
request a
different gear ration on the slow tuning knobs. I have seen the adds for
the Palstar
Link coupled tuners also, although not quite the tuning range of the
Matchmaster, they are
only about 1/3 +/- the price also. Something to consider
Don kd6hq
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Atkinson, K5UJ" <k5uj@hotmail.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Cc: <k5uj@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:27 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Bliss tuners (was: 450 Ohm feedline)
> Yes, the prices (yikes) are way out there for a tuner and probably
> unaffordable for
> most hams. He used to make a manual tuner that was much cheaper.
> The only way the cost could be justified would be to consider that the
tuner
> allows the use of a single antenna across the HF bands (cuts out the cost
> of more than one antenna) and allows the use of open wire feed which
> cuts multiple db of loss over coax when off resonance. The additional
> db in a lot of cases would equal what you'd get with an amp.
> How do you like my desperate cost justifications? A ham can figure out
> a way to justify any ham radio purchase : )
> Personally, I'd save a lot of money by getting a manual bal. tuner (or
build
> one)
> and get some exercise by getting up to adjust it. but if it's outside far
> away
> the weatherproof remote may be worth the $$$ on a nasty winter night.
>
> Rob/K5UJ
>
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