Dear YLs and OM,
This is off topic from Ten-Tec, but still interesting to many hams:
Symmetrical Antenna Matchboxes
In light of the interest in the recent topic concerning openwire-fed
antennas, I thought I would shed some light on a topic of interest for all
of you who are interested in symmetrical antennas (and especially
symmetrical matchboxes). {Curt, you may delete now - hi}
Here in Germany we had a ham and excellent machinist living in the Black
Forest (southern Germany) who loved wire antennas.
The Black Forest is "THE" part of Germany best known for its fine mechanics
- indeed; this is where the famous German Kuku Clocks all come from.
Perhaps the source for the concept of "Made in Germany". Although his
formal business was making a living as a machinist, his hobby was ham radio
and he designed and built antenna matchboxes, both as kits and as complete
units. When I say "kits", I do not mean kits like Heathkit did them. You
got the cabinet, the components, and a schematic. You saved about 25% by
building it yourself. Most of us took this option.
I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Annecke personally, though it would be
exaggerated to call him a friend.
I had several long discussions with him, learning as I built.
He coached me thru two matchbox projects - one symmetrical and one
asymmetrical.
Mr. Annecke (Alfred, DJ6OQ) loved wire antennas and being a Schwab (one from
southwestern Germany), he was very practical, paid very much attention to
detail, and was thrifty (like the Scotts and the Dutch). He manufactured
ALL of the components for his matchboxes himself, including the coils and
the variable capacitors and even the high-voltage insulating components.
The cabinets were outsourced but pretty much all else was made in his QTH,
Boeckingen (near Stuttgart).
Mr. Annecke believed (like me) that an openwire-fed antenna was the greatest
thing since sliced bread.
He proceeded to design, build and sell, as kit or complete, what many
believe to this day to be the best symmetrical matchboxes ever built.
He also built and sold asymmetrical matchboxes - more on this later.
He made no secret of the fact that he copied the Johnson Viking matchboxes.
Johnson made two versions and Annecke also made two versions - initially.
Later he made several variants.
The Johnsons were rated 275w and 1kW (AM as my memory serves me) and the
Annecke boxes were rated 200w and 1kW and he stated SSB and CW for typical
amateur service. (My {Rick's} personal note: what Annecke calls 100w, MFJ
calls 300w).
He clearly pointed out that the Johnson's were designed in the days of
tube-based transmitters and that modern transistorized rigs required more
demanding tolerances. Thus he improved on the Johnson circuitry by adding
additional taps on the TX side, as well as a series variable capacitor on
the TX side. Yes, this added to the tuning complexity, but it enabled his
boxes to tune a very broad range of impedances while maintaining a high
efficiency (See QST Product Review September 2004 "A New Generation of
Balanced Antenna Tuners" and look at the Johnson specs). His goal was to
maintain this efficiency while using transistorized rigs.
Allow me to quote L.B. Cebik, W4RNL here from his famous paper,
"Link-Coupled Antenna Tuners":
"Despite their relative scarcity, link-coupled tuners have certain
advantages over all other tuners. First, they are inherently designed for
use with balanced feedlines. Second, they exhibit very low losses, even at
high power levels with reasonable care of construction. (MY [Rick's] NOTE:
Annecke took meticulous care of construction). Third, they can be configured
to almost any balanced line condition that might face the operator". . . .
Furthermore (in comparison to the Johnson) . . . "The Annecke design does
away with the relay, receiver tap, and other pre-50-ohm transceiver
features. Instead, it uses a larger (overcoupled) link with taps for the
various bands (80, 40, 30-20, 17-15, and 12-10) mechanically linked to the
secondary coil tap switches. In addition, it employs a series variable
capacitor to adjust coupling (or input impedance, which amounts to the same
thing). The Annecke design is superior in this regard." Again, my [Rick's]
note: It appears that Annecke has, to date, produced the best-ever
matchboxes for matching symmetrical antennas to modern 50-ohm transceivers
or amplifiers.
The biggest problem Annecke had was that he did a very poor job of
advertising. Indeed, I cannot recall ever seeing a single ad in any ham
rag. It was word of mouth and participation at the larger ham fests (e.g.,
HAM RADIO in Friedrichshafen). Perhaps this is better so, because he and
his son hand-crafted all of the components and their manufacturing capacity
was limited.
As a result, many people tend to refer to "The Annecke Matchbox" or rather
the Annecke Koppler (in English, "Coupler") as he liked to refer to his
products, as representative for this symmetrical matchbox. CAUTION, not so.
This could be a big problem. Indeed, Mr. Annecke produced many products.
To the best of my knowledge, he produced 3 totally different versions of his
symmetrical matchbox (with multiple power versions of some of these), plus
two different versions of the 160m symmetrical coupler. He also made four
versions of the "Transmatch" (i.e., W1FB) rated 100, 300, 750 and 1000
watts. Then he had a "differential T" and an "L", etc. He also produced
many accessories to help in tuning and testing antennas for these
matchboxes. All in all his platform of matchboxes was probably second only
(in scope) to MFJ with build quality being on par with Palstar and several
levels above that of MFJ.
So when someone today offers to sell you an Annecke matchbox, be sure to
ask, "which one". Unfortunately the seller will probably not know how to
describe his box properly (because Annecke failed to do that as well).
Annecke did a very poor job of naming his children.
If anyone is confronted with this situation and wishes help, please contact
me. I will do my best. I have personally owned almost every product
Annecke ever built and still own 3 different Annecke symmetrical boxes, as
well as one 160m Annecke symmetrical box. I feel confident I can identify
any of his products with the answers to just a few questions.
The death of Alfred Annecke was a tragic loss for ham radio. It is as if an
entire era passed away. For a long time there was a vast void of
symmetrical products. Recently we have seen a flood of new products which
all in their own way, especially price/performance, are good, but all of
them share one common denominator: they are no Annecke. Each has one or
more negative points compared to an Annecke. The second common denominator:
they are all cheaper which probably makes them more appropriate for today's
market.
I believe I have good product description of every Annecke Matchbox ever
built. I have it all scanned in, online, though some of the files are
large. If I ever find time, I would like to dedicate a web site to Mr.
Alfred Annecke. He certainly deserves it. Until then, anyone with specific
questions or needs can simply email me and I will do my best to help shed
some light on Annecke-related questions.
I hope this helps those of you interested to better understand the "Annecke
Matchboxes".
Long live OpenWire Feedline!
Those of you who have used openwire and had problems (i.e., with radiation),
please try again with a good (i.e., Annecke) matchbox. You may very well
change your mind over this type of antenna.
My final recommendation to all of you residing in America: As an American
residing in Europe for over 30 years, I can assure you that good stuff can
come from anywhere, not just from the states. Whereas I used to take pride
in seeing stuff "made in America", I now take the same pride in seeing stuff
"made by hams" regardless of the country of origin. It's global these days,
guys!
73
Rick
DJ0IP / NJ0IP
Munich, Germany
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