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Well, my EF-Quad is here and as soon as I “engineer” a mast, or masts, to mount it, I’ll be turning to tuning it. I’ve been reading some of the forum postings trying to glean some tuning tips. I must admit, it’s a little bit intimidating to me at this point. I’ve never had a wire antenna and have no experience tuning something like this. I’m envisioning putting it up and hooking it to my FT897D and at lower power “testing” it to see what I have, then adjusting the antenna and testing again, etc. until I’m in a good place. I don’t have an antenna analyzer. I’ve thought about looking at purchasing one, but don’t have a clue about them. So, I’m looking for any tips about tuning this thing from some of you folks who have done it.
Thanks
Barney
KD4RDSBarney,
While an antenna analyzer or SWR meter make it much easier, the SET meter on the 857D will work. As you say, make the initial tests at lowest power setting of 5 watts. If you are going to be operating mostly SSB, you will need to shorten the main radiator by a substantial amount. If you operate mostly CW you will only need to shorten it a small amount. It will come out of the box tuned right at our just below the bottom end of the bands. It is manufactured so it can be used on MARS/RACES and Civil Air Patrol frequencies as well as Amateur frequencies. The trimming/tuning procedures are well covered in the manual that can be downloaded from the LnR web site.73,
QRPMEThat should be SWR meter on the 857D…..not SET meter.
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