Bruce in Alaska wrote in message ...
In article ,
(BOEING377) wrote:

Does anyone recall the so called solid state antenna tuners (no DC power
needed!) sold in great quantities a few years ago that looked like an
encapsulated Balun (coax to the center, dipole out each end) and sold for
hundreds of dollars? I think some company in Florida called MARCOM or
something
like that sold em and I heard even ICOM came out with something similar.
Published SWR v freq chart showed amazing flat 1:1 from 1.5 to 30 MHz,
curiously with no hints of resonance related bumps. I tried my best to
convince
my commercial fishing friends not to buy em, to no avail I THINK all they
were
is a lossy 50 ohm resistor. That would explain the flat SWR. Does anyone know
more? Are these still sold? Are there any peope who still believe they work?
I
guess you could make some DX contacts, QRP works when conditions are good.
Any
guess on ERP with 100 watts in? IMHO these so called tuners gave a new
definition to the term DUMMY load.


Yep, I ripped a pile of those off vessels and chucked them overboard.
(Opps, I just admitted to polluting the waterways. Oh well)
When I was a FED, I issued a pile of Pinkslips to SOLAS Vessels that
had those in Required Installations. Was one of the biggest FRAUDS
ever foisted on the Radio Public. The FCC Lab even did a complete
series of TESTing on a few of these because they got so many complaints
that Inspecters were Writing them up for use aboard SOLAS Vessels.
They are NOT allowed in any SOLAS Installation, EVER.

Bruce in alaska

Maxx-com http://www.maxx-com.com/ QST panned them a while ago.

HV