Issue with antenna tuner

Interest Groups Amateur Radio
#1

So last night @zmetzing and I tried using my Michigan Mighty Mite to get the antenna to ‘tune’. Being only half a watt it didn’t work.

Zach and I wondered how much RF power was needed to activate the tuner, so tonight I brought in my Yaesu FT-817ND and tried activating the tuner on 1W, 2.5W, and 5W… none worked. So I broke out the DMS Alinco, and on full power it failed to get the tuned light to turn on…

The radios were registering output on th MFJ meter. The alinco was registering about 20W of output.

#3

So the tuner is up on the roof ?

Meaning plugging in an antenna analyzer in the E-lab wouldn’t show us anything useful ?

#4

Only how the combined system of cable, current tuner settings and antenna are all behaving collectively.

#5

Is there a way to bypass the tuner from the operator position ?

#7

It’s not a power issue. Andy and I tried using his FT-897 and the antenna did not tune. It acts like it’s not working at all. The power, ground and indicator leads are still connected and seem to be good. And the coax is good for receive. I’m guessing either the control cable has been cut somewhere or connections went bad, or the unit has failed.

The alinco is a 100w box - the 200w of power was having it all reflected right back into the meter.

Andy and I also changed out the wall anchor so the whole bracket is more level and secure.

I did not try pulling the meter out of the loop to make sure that it wasn’t the meter causing the problem. Someone can try that when next at the lab, or I will.

Kevin

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#8

There are right angle brackets in a bin on the floor (?) in the “dark corner” area.