Thanks Rob for bringing the MFJ-949E to my attention. I am new to all of this so I pay attention to what equipment I see others using. That ATU is a good choice for me as I can afford to buy a used one on my budget.

@@graywoulf Good deal! If you don't have a good ground (upper floor, portable ops, etc.) I find the MFJ artificial ground is also a good investment. It's basically an antenna tuner for the counterpoise you would otherwise connect to the "ground" post on the ATU; it tunes up the same way as the ATU. Costs about as much as the 949E, but unfortunately isn't as common on the used market (though I do see it sometimes). But it solves many feedback and RFI problems, and allows you to tune up even less promising radiators than the ATU alone. With these two things I've been operating QRP through 100W to random wires for 25 years now, and have had a blast. Best of luck!

Little late to the party here, but I'll chime in anyways because I liked what you had to say. I recently bought my first HF rig and upgraded to General, and in my current living situation having resonant antennas for every band on up to 10 and even 6m just isn't possible. I decided on an end fed random because I can use something with a bit of length to it, I just can't be putting up a tower or anything higher than 35 feet or so which I figure gives me a pretty decent length to work with if I do an inverted v, or even a sloper. I also like to experiment, building antennas specifically as well as learning about transformers and such to balance them, but I digress. Basically, my research on such a set up and knowing what my radios internal tuner is capable of (basically good for 3:1 or under), before I even set things up I knew I'd more than likely need an external tuner of some sort. Being a new-ish ham, and certainly new to a lot of the set ups used in hf, I weighed all of the options between auto or manual as I didn't want to overcomplicate things for myself. I found that I was naturally gravitating to the manual, despite a lot of folks saying they suck, autos 10 times easier, and all that. Automatic would be easier I suppose if it worked the way it was supposed to then thats all fine and good. But then I feel like I would lose a lot of control when maybe I just want to make a little tweak here and there. Plus, I don't think they're hard to tune up just about anything with on any band. I like the MFJ versa tuner with the cross needle meter and it even doubles as an antenna switch. I guess we all have different aspects of the hobby that motivate us, for me I feel like I am more in tune with how everything works together when using a manual tuner and seeing the difference in settings from one band to another. Thats my opinion on the matter anyways, and one huge factor for some folks might be that a good automatic tuner is going to cost quite a good chunk of cash. That cash could be better spent elsewhere in the shack Im sure, at least in my shack anyways. I picked up a barely used MFJ 941E on fleabay for $20 untested, luckily the gamble paid off and it is pretty much brand new and calibration is easy on them too. Guy even threw in a brand new 12v wall wart to power the light in the meter, can't beat a deal like that. My next project I think is going to be collecting up some parts, like a decent roller inductor, and a couple nicer variable air caps, and build myself a more robust antenna tuner just because I can. I'm not against automatic tuners by any means, we're all different. But, I also think there's some things a decent operator should be able to do before jumping ahead to Extra. Building at least a simple antenna, be able to build a simple swr bridge, know how to at least use a manual tuner and understand the basics of how it works, etc... seems there are a lot of "Extras" these days who memorized the answers to 3 question pools and marathoned all 3 exams in a weekend and are on Facebook a week later asking how to get his "SWR's" down. SWR's? I only have one SWR to deal with, unless I'm running more than one radio, then my advice would be to simply work on one at a time 😂.

Congrats on your upgrade! 73, Dave

Steve, congratulations on your Advanced! And thanks for the kind words. 73, Dave

+Shawn Rullens True! Thank you.

Wow, you've got some interesting stories to tell!

Ade Larsen Hi Ade, thanks for your kind words. My antenna is a full-wavelength 80-meter horizontal loop. I've put a diagram together for a future video. I interviewed a ham friend of mine on how he approached his antenna problems, and I want to interview another before putting out the video. Stay tuned!

Whoops just read other comments!

Kenwood 590

Thank you. Get on the air! Maybe I'll hear you.

I just found out I also had mine backward too cause of this video.....thanks DAVE...

"No manual" is getting more and more common.

It's hard to be impressed when we don't know that you aren't in France.

+Eric From You're welcome!

I've used it with a 100w rig. Seems to be okay.

And a good refresher. Thank you.

Yes you can put these meters in series prior to the transmatch

Other option apart of the 102" whip , could be Buy an Antena Multiband HF one of those you got to move a cable between pin connection to tune on every single band...like the Outback 2000 antena or the Proxel X1...if you have any suggestion on other good antena for Mobile Car uses...i'll be happy to pay attention to your suggestion...the idea of the 102" whip is that i already have one with pl mount and spring bought from Usa from Breedlove shop...best again 73 ciao

MFJ makes many antenna tuners, including QRP tuners. All manual tuners these days use the classic "tee" model. Two variable capacitors and a variable inductor.

Frank D Hi Frank, I'm glad you found the videos helpful. You're right - either use the internal tuner or the external one but not both. Usually you can tell a radio to turn its internal tuner off with a menu setting or something. I'm not sure on the 950. Good luck with your HF work! 73, Dave, KEØOG

Thank you for the kind words. If the antenna tuner is at the radio, there can be very large voltages and currents in the feed line, and these can create heat in the feed line. If you put the tuner at the antenna, you will avoid these the losses. Unless your antenna is way out of tune though, you not going to save that much by putting the tuner at the antenna.

All of it counts that's in a straight line. If you wrap it around a mounting screw, the distance is that from the mounting screw to the other end of the wire.

I don't have a tube type linear amplifier. My amp is solid-state and does not require tuning except to tell it which band and using. You should follow the instructions in the manual.

+richard imel Essentially, yes. Put the SWR meter between the radio and the tuner, then adjust the tuner for minimum SWR.

Yes, for any frequency even including 2m. But I'm not sure how much power it can handle. It was made for the CB market back in the 1970s. 73

The 102 inch whip is a full quarter wavelength at the frequencies you're using, so needs no loading coil. Generally if your SWR is less than 2:1, you're okay. Getting it down further could take lots of work for little gain. I'm not familiar with the products you mention, so I can't offer much help there. Keep experimenting, and, of course, an antenna tuner might help.

Thank you!

I’m setting up some experiments with the loop antenna in a horizontal position and will test 40 again.

The power drain from the tuner is small but not zero. I like my MFJ 993B.

Yes, longer cables lead to greater losses. You can find cables with the connectors already mounted from several sources on the Internet. Try usacoax.com

P.S. does the wire have to be tight or can it sag between supports- about 10’ apart and sagging about 3/4 inch between them.

There's no hard and fast answer. Simply do the best you can. Farther away from the building is better, but that might only be a matter of inches. Good luck! 73, Dave

Thanks Dave :) 73 de OH2EYS

It comes down to experimentation. Leaving the tuner on all the time is probably the way to go unless it misbehaves. Some of the verticals on the market (e.g., AV-640) are pretty spectacular when it comes to low SWRs across multiple bands, but they can be pricey. The OCFD is a popular antenna these days, but you might need a wider-range tuner than the built-in tuner. 73, Dave

That particular tuner is designed to go right at the radio. It tunes the combination of the feedline and the antenna.

You can put the rig in CW mode. You may have to use a menu setting allowing the buttons on the hand mic to act as a key, or you can simply use a telegraph key plugged in. The tuner you have has a QRP mode, so you may not have to use 5 watts, but can use a lower power. Good luck! 73, Dave

Ham radio kenwood 590

Electrically, a T tuner and a pi tuner do the same thing. They both help with harmonic suppression. Modern radios do not need any additional harmonic suppression and can be connected directly to the antenna and meet all requirements.

Connect the radio to the S meter. Connect the S meter to the antenna tuner. Connect the antenna tuner to the antenna. Tune for lowest SWR.

You're welcome!

You are correct. My bad.

Most manual tuners are the three knob type. A tuner for a long wire may only have two knobs.

If your power is high, you might get some arcing if you adjust the switch with transmitter power on. If your power is low, this won't happen. I've never had the problem myself.

+E Spizzirri Wimpy coax is lossy. Since Since SWR measures the ratio of forward power and reflected power, in lossy coax some of that forward power is lost as heat before it even gets to the antenna. And then the reflected power is similarly attenuated. So, at the SWR meter, it looks like the reflected power is less, so it reads a better SWR because there's less reflected power. 73, Dave, KEØOG

@@davecasler so, would it be good to somehow measure and compare the two temperatures of the two coax cables either side of the tuner?

Just the luck of the draw. No significance.

Maybe, but only maybe. It's generally considered best to use just one tuner--either internal or external. 73

David Thank you for the reply. I am brand new at this and currently putting together my first hf station. I have acquired a Kenwood 570d with internal tuner, and am looking at a g5rv dipole as my first antenna. Trying to save up now for tuner, but after seeing your video i believe i can get by with one of those 901b tuners, as my radio does have internal swr meter. I just got my general licence on 2-27-17. i may just wait till after Dayton though as i think i might try to make that trip. 73 KM4ZJL Eastern TN

The best tuner is the one you like the most. My MFJ-993B is an autotuner that has served me well.

The radios that have internal antenna tuners that are usually only good up to 3:1 SWR or so. If the antenna has a higher SWR, then an external tuner often can tune up to 10:1. If you do use an external tuner, such as those from MFJ, turn the internal tuner off.

Thank you very much for your thoughts, the ATU that is in my modem is internal, I have been taking steps to disable it "Specially the Inductor, that connects the active element to the ground and I just plan to make my own tuned dipole antenna dead on the 433Mhz. so I can just do with out the tuning circuit..

Perhaps one last question... what would be the dBm or mW output of perfectly tuned antenna? using a frequency of 432.629 Mhz? thank you very much for your valuable time and effort! at 1.5 watts

In theory, if there's no reflected power, all power is radiated. But there are resistive losses in the wire or tubes in the antenna itself, so an antenna can't be 100% efficient.

So... not even a dead on perfectly tuned antenna will put the 100% of the RF Power in to the air? isn't there any type of exception?

Set the knob so that the forward power is full scale. Then flip the switch to reverse and read the SWR directly.

David Casler, thank you for this answer and all of your great videos. I passed my Extra Field Day 2020. I watched your videos, studied with two books, and attended a self paced on-line course (hamtestonline, www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/). The online Circe was great at teaching and grilling, the books were also helpful, but your videos were my motivation. You are responsible for incentivizing my success.