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.