Simple Ham Radio Antennas--A Simple Wire Antenna Tuner. Post #325.

If you're looking for a basic, simple antenna transmatch ("tuner") for that "long wire" or random length wire connecting your transceiver to the "ether", you've found the right place. Stan Gibilisco (W1CV) provides an easy to understand tutorial on how to build a random wire antenna "tuner" for your QTH or for that portable operation on the weekends. The "tuner" can also work with end-fed half-wave antennas. It's important to have a good ground or radial system with this type of antenna. I built a similar antenna transmatch during my Novice License years (1977-1979) and got a lot of enjoyment and contacts with it. As I recall, I was using a Heathkit HW-101 transceiver attached to a 100-ft/30.48 meters wire strung up in a tall Norfolk Pine Tree. My radial system consisted of an 8-ft/2.43 meters copper ground rod with four, 33-ft/10.06 meters radial wires attached and buried about 1 inch/2.54 cm below the lawn. My feed line was 10-ft/3.04 meters of RG-8 coaxial cable. The "tuner" worked well on 40 through 10 meters with no rf feedback "sitting" on the Astatic D-104 microphone. In those days, I was able to get most of my parts from Radio Shack and a few old AM radio receivers. Stan does an excellent job of explaining the theory and math needed to make this basic tuner. You can build one over the weekend and try it for yourself. This "tuner" does the job at minimum cost. For the latest Amateur Radio news and events, please check out the blog sidebars. These news feeds are updated daily. You can follow our blog community with a free email subscription or by tapping into the blog RSS feed. Thanks for visiting us today! Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).