Dear Antenna Experimenters,
For the 160 meter Contest in December we install a 1/4 wave balloon
vertical on a ridge in southern MS. We feed it with open wire line. A run
of about 700-800 feet. We have been using a Nye Viking tuner, but it isn't
real happy at times. Two years ago we had to add a small coil to tuner to
get it to work. Last year one of the fixed capacitor plate insulators
failed, and we repaired it with some sort of plastic we found. We have been
running 500 watts, but may be able to run 1500 watts this year and I don't
know if the tuner is going to take it.
So, is it possible to match this arrangement so we can eliminate the
tuner?? If so will we be able to have a broad enough match to accomodate
how spread out the band gets during the contest??
If we continue to use the tuner, can we do anything to make the match
closer to what the tuner can handle?? We usually have 40 60 radials of
various lengths for ground, and I think the soil in southern missiissippi
would be poor ground, although we are only about 15 miles from the
mississippi river, but I am not real sure of ground conductivity.
Would a balun at the vertical do any good as far as matching. The feedline
is usually about 6 inches apart so I am guessing about 500-600 ohms for it,
but we can space it closer if necessary or beneficial.
Mike Michon
AB5XP
44033 Hwy. 42
Prairieville, La 70769
michon@eatel.net
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