FYI
Paul, W0RW asked me to test the new Elecraft T1 mini
antenna tuner with a 10-ft. whip and 13-ft. drag line.
I didn't have that kind of whip so I tested it with a
10-ft length of thick (12-gauge) stranded insulated
copper wire taped to one of those black, expandable
plastic fish poles in a vertical position. I don't
think those poles have detrimental electrical or RF
properties (fill me in if I'm wrong).
The feed point of this vertical wire was 5 feet off
the ground. I didn't use the 6-inch feed line that
Paul said he was using -- I just connected directly to
the bottom of the 10-ft. wire.
The 13-ft. drag line consisted of the same kind of
wire, and was simply laid on the grass.
I used my FT-817 running 5 watts and the Elecraft T1
tuner. I used a CW signal for testing.
The results using an Elecraft 4:1 balun were very
good. For every band (looking at both the high and low
ends of the broad bands) from 50 MHz down through 7
MHz (excluding 60m where I can't broadcast) the SWR
was 1:1. On the high end of the 3 MHz band the SWR was
between 1:1 and 1:2. I couldn't obtain a decent SWR on
the low end of the 3 MHz band. I couldn't load on
160m.
All the above tunes were accomplished "first time."
Without using a balun, I again obtained 1:1 SWRs from
50 MHz down through 14 MHz. On 10 MHz I found an SWR
between 1:1 and 1:2. I couldn't load on the bands
below 10 MHz.
Looks like that 10-ft. vertical and the 13-ft. drag
line work very well with the T1 and the balun.
-- Bil KD6JUI
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