Hi Don, well I owned an ft101-e for about ten years, never replaced the
sweep tubes. Now, I am working with an ft101-z, and a ts440. The latter is
equipped with an auto-tuner. Butch, it still works, now.
The 101-z has hooked up to it a palomar tuner-tuner, which is essentially a
pre-tuned noise bridge to 50 ohms. Adjust the atu for maximum quiet. Another
problem with this little gem is, if the fuse blows, you get incorrect
readings, but no way of really knowing that your device is off the air.
So, you really need to be careful.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Bishop" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 12:16 AM
Subject: Re: tuning up an antenna


> Hi,
>
> You sure can use a noise bridge to tune an antenna tuner.  Just make
> sure you know where the 50 ohm setting is on the bridge and  then tune
> the tuner for a sharp null in the noise.  One caution:  be darned sure
> you remove the bridge from the line before you transmit or you will
> have a noise bridge that doesn't produce a sound!
>
> If you are using one of the rigs of today with an automatic antenna
> tuner you can tune by listening to the motor and when it stops, the
> antenna is matched.  You don't know how good the match is of course,
> but it's a way to do it without a lot of hightech equipment.  When you
> do this without any speech or similar readout, it isn't a bad idea to
> move up and down the band a bit just to get an idea of how much your
> swr is changing as you shift frequency.  Once you get one of these
> things tuned up on a band, it really is a good idea to check the match
> with the auto antenna tuner whenever you change frequency very much.
>
> I do remember the rigs with a sweep tube amplifier.  They weren't quite
> as forgiving with swr and it was always a good idea to tune the thing,
> regardless of how you did it, very promptly.  If you didn't, you really
> needed a good supply of new tubes.  <grin>  Those things could blow in
> a hurry if you weren't careful.
>
> Don W6SMB
>
>
>
> On Thu, 21 Nov 2002 19:17:41 -03-30, Michael Ryan wrote:
>
> >Can   a noise bridge which was once used on an old heath kit
> >HW-12 be used in conjunction with an antenna tuner for reading SWR?
> >I will try and describe it.
> >It has a switch on the lower front which slides back and forth to the
left
> >or right for turning on or off and a flat roguery knob next to the
> >switch.  The connectors for antenna and so on are on the top.  It also
has
> >a round raised speaker.
> >I would also like to know what to look for, when it comes to the power
> >supply hum, when the rig is loaded up for maximum out put.
> >
> >Thanks all:
> >Michael