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.

I hate that you brought those things up again. But since you did..
Yes there are some manufacturers making similar devices I believe B&W
is one. Don't know if that original company still is or not.
Yes they were nothing more than a dummy load with antenna wires
attached. Gives a relatively flat response over a wide frequency range
and they do radiate some. If I remember right they were at least 10 db
down in efficiency from a normal dipole antenna. Maybe more.

They do work for a simple installation. They provide a pretty flat
load to your transmitter. If you don't care how much power you
actually radiate then "they work".

These things are a good example for those people that say "I installed
my tuner and antenna and didn't worry too much about the ground or
other details." "My installation works just fine."
Well so does the above device "work just fine". But what your
definition of "just fine" is may be way less than par.

Regards
Gary


On 22 Nov 2003 23:08:00 GMT, (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.

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
--
add a 2 before @

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

On 22 Nov 2003 23:08:00 GMT, (BOEING377) wrote:

definition to the term DUMMY load.

Dummy Load - Democrat in parallel with 50 ohms.....(c;


Larry W4CSC

NNNN

There was another disreputable vendor(s) also making them. They advertised
them as being sold to the US Government, FCC, military, etc. Some contained
three resistors, some only one and, some tried to pass theirs off as a
computerized tuning unit. X-rays revealed lots of components. Turned out to
be surplus PC boards with the dummy load resistors the only in circuit
components. Total rip-off...a dummy load with antenna wires attached to
radiate a bit.
Doug K7ABX

"BOEING377" wrote in message
...
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.

Some contained
three resistors, some only one and, some tried to pass theirs off as a
computerized tuning unit. X-rays revealed lots of components. Turned out to
be surplus PC boards with the dummy load resistors the only in circuit

I had to laugh out loud. Woudn't be the first time dummy active components were
used. As I recall the Judson Electronic Magneto was just an ignition coil with
dummy transistors on the outside.

On 26 Nov 2003 05:26:26 GMT, (BOEING377) wrote:

Some contained
three resistors, some only one and, some tried to pass theirs off as a
computerized tuning unit. X-rays revealed lots of components. Turned out to
be surplus PC boards with the dummy load resistors the only in circuit

I had to laugh out loud. Woudn't be the first time dummy active components were
used. As I recall the Judson Electronic Magneto was just an ignition coil with
dummy transistors on the outside.

Many years ago, one of the bigtime CB magazines had an article about a
"Butterfly Antenna", supposedly some kind of magic DX antenna the
CBers could build that would really get out.

It was all a joke, and in the next issue the CB magazine told them so.
Because so many of them were so gullible and ignorant of basic antenna
science, thousands of Butterfly Antennas were built and put on towers
across the country. The result was massive subscription cancellations
and the magazine, dispite its heavy apologies, soon went out of
business!

Cellphone antennas are the new Butterfly Antennas of the 21st Century.


Larry W4CSC

NNNN

Was the "Butterfly" antenna anything like a "Bow tie" antenna?

I have been using one for years on 10M

By the way the stick on Cell Phone antenna only cost 30 cents.
Is this what you refer to?

K7DUP

"Larry W4CSC" wrote
Many years ago, one of the bigtime CB magazines had an article about a
"Butterfly Antenna", supposedly some kind of magic DX antenna the
CBers could build that would really get out.

It was a joke, in the next issue the CB magazine told them so.
Because so many of them were so gullible and ignorant of basic antenna
science, thousands of Butterfly Antennas were built and put on towers
across the country. Resulting in massive subscription cancellations,
the magazine, dispite heavy apologies, went out of business!

Cellphone antennas are the new Butterfly Antennas of the 21st Century.



Larry W4CSC

On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 17:37:40 GMT, "Roger Gt"
wrote:


Was the "Butterfly" antenna anything like a "Bow tie" antenna?

No, this thing was totally bogus....

I have been using one for years on 10M

By the way the stick on Cell Phone antenna only cost 30 cents.
Is this what you refer to?

One of many.....

It's totally bogus, too!


Larry W4CSC

NNNN