Quote:
Originally Posted by budkor22
We have trees in the garden, but also power cables above the lawn, so it is very tricky to raise the antenna higher than about 7-8 metres, which doesn't help.
I don't want to bring the wire antenna near the mains power cable or touch it.
And the antenna I just put up is not too efficient. I have switched over to another ATU from the CAPCO, and it is having difficulty matching the antenna this time. Lowest SWR I get on 3.750 Khz is 3:1, and 3.510 is better at 1.5:1
So the Capco was tuning up anything thrown at it. It is a really great tuner, but that doesn't mean the antenna is radiating the power. The reflected power from antenna could have been either being soaked back into the Capco, or heating up the P.A of the rig?
Having said that, I worked HB9 near Zurich on 3.557 Khz on CW. I got 339, and he was struggling copying me.
I am waiting for 1:1 balun coming from China, and it is taking ages to arrive.
But if this antenna is not doing well (looks like it), then will maybe try adding 1:1 balun on it. If even at that, no good then, will move to Doublet with open wire feeder, or ground plane vertical, or even Loop.
What is the acceptable SWR for TXing with ATU?
3:1 on 3.750 khz sounds too high.
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What antenna have you created?, any antenna can be made resonant and the way it has been designed will get it resonant in mid of the frequency band you choose, Why are you messing with a 1-1 balun. it will do nothing.
you are doing something wrong,
Just create an antenna from one of the designs in the site I sent you,
People try for a 1-1 match, if that is achieved with coax feed something is wrong, a dipole has a impedance of 73 ohms, the coax feeder is 50 ohms, so 1.5 to 1 is the best one can get,
In practice anything up to 2-1 is acceptable.
If you create a correct antenna your tuner will not have much to do so don't try to design an antenna yourself, it has all been done successfully such a long time ago
cheers
MM0HDW