I'm considering building a continuously loaded / helically wound 160 meter ground plane vertical to hide in some trees at home. The overall length would be probably be somewhere around 25-30 feet tall. The idea is similar to the one shown by K6MM at K6MM 160 Meter Vertical - A Restricted Space Helical Vertical! and also discussed in some detail in the ARRL Antenna book under the Short Antennas section of the Low-Frequency Antennas chapter. The book shows constructing a matching network consisting of a couple of variable caps and an inductor (coil), although K6MM omitted that from his antenna. It's just a simple L network and looks like a basic antenna tuner to me.
So here are my basic questions. Is there really any benefit to adding the matching network at the feed point if I already have a good manual tuner in the shack other than mitigating coax loss? If I do go with the matching system, what variable capacitors should I use and where can I get them from?
I'm sure I'll probably have a few other questions when I start building this thing.
So here are my basic questions. Is there really any benefit to adding the matching network at the feed point if I already have a good manual tuner in the shack other than mitigating coax loss? If I do go with the matching system, what variable capacitors should I use and where can I get them from?
I'm sure I'll probably have a few other questions when I start building this thing.