Re: Ex marine AM radio equipment.
Hi,
I Use ex marine equipment on air on 160/80 Meters. For the antenna matching as you say many are quite crude being designed to run into an end fed up the rigging working against the hull or a copper plate. of at least 4 square feet, on the hull.
My solution was to run the output using a short piece of co-ax into an external capacitor box to form a pi network to get to 50 ohm. On a spectrum analyser this was effective at matching and 2nd/3rd harmonic suppression providing the pa was dipped correctly. This then leaves me free to experiment with various antennas using home brew and commercial equipment . I have used a top loaded L against a folded counterpoise for top band and various big magnetic loops 4-5 meters in dia all getting good reports on our local net. But we do have an active group within a 10 mile radius so no DX experiments here, the main challenge being to get above each others noise floor!
Pete
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