Hi Roy, Heippa Rami!
Roy, you hit the nail with that, my Finland QTH has been built literally on a rock. No possibility of banging in a ground rod- and even if you do, its of no use unless it's resonant at the op freq!
Its why i selected the loop, as its a balanced antenna....
Has anyone any experience with offset dipoles / doublets and the FC-40 to share with us Rock Hounds?

Cheers,
Clive
OH2FBK / G1WZM

- original message -
Subject: [YaesuTuner] Re: New Problem FC40 ?
From: "roycarlson12" <ny0r@...>
Date: 10/08/2007 12:54 am

Rami
Improving ground conditions can most definitely make it more
difficult to find a match. I believe that the reason is that ground
losses can attenuate the reflected signal seen by the tuner.

Whatever the underlying reason I know from my own experience with the
FC-40 that improving your ground will often increase your SWR.

Roy

--- In YaesuTuner@..., "oh6bi" <oh6bi@...> wrote:

Hi Jurgen and Clive

Only change was the rain, it was quite rainy week and
ground was much more better than during earlier tests.
Soil in my cottage is not good, it is on island where
some soil is covering rocky hill..
Radials and counterpoises will come later: the reason I am doing

this

way is to find simple and fast antenna when I am travelling.

Anyway I will make some new tests again starting tomorrow evening.
Will see what happens, I have been searching the web and found
some other HAMs who are also speaking abt 23m long wire.

Always when I am at cottage I have two radios on HF.
The Old Radio (IC 730) is mostly QRV at 3680 kHz, connected to G5RV
antenna. If You want we can try QSO... abt after 1600 GMT until the
80 band comes too noisy. (and SAT and SUN whole day)

73s de rami, oh6bi

--- In YaesuTuner@..., "dj5hd" <jurgen@> wrote:

Rami,

did your ground conditions change?
If the FC-40 does not find a match it is often due to not

sufficiant

ground. Increasing the number of radials helped me often.

A reset clears the memories and helps in some situations.
However, if you manually tune, the FC-40 should find a match if
possible, regardless whether the memory is used or clear.

If the memories are filled up with matching settings from an

earier

used antenna, you will have to rewrite them all with the values

for

your new antenna by manual tuning.
If the memories are clear, the tuner will use the next valid
"neighbour" memory, which is obviously better than using values

from a

different antenna.


I never found a wire length that worked on all bands. Your earlier
posting sounded very promising to me...

73, Jurgen, DJ5HD



--- In YaesuTuner@..., "oh6bi" <oh6bi@> wrote:

Hi All

In June I wrote here abt 23m long wire testings, I got some

good

results. Last weekend I did new tests and started with 24,5 m

long

wire, running tests all bands (160 to 10m), then shortening abt

20 cm

and running tests again. I did that abt 10 times so long that

length

22m length was reached.
I was wery surprised: antenna or tuner didnt work as it was

working

earlier! I got match only with 18, 21 and 10 m bands, not at

all

with

lower bands. FC40 telling just HSWR... I checked all

connections,

grounding etc and they where OK.
Is it possible that FC40 needs the Reset from internal DIP

switch.

Anyone done that ?

73s de rami, oh6bi

Rami
Improving ground conditions can most definitely make it more
difficult to find a match. I believe that the reason is that ground
losses can attenuate the reflected signal seen by the tuner.

Whatever the underlying reason I know from my own experience with the
FC-40 that improving your ground will often increase your SWR.

Roy

--- In YaesuTuner@..., "oh6bi" <oh6bi@...> wrote:

Hi Jurgen and Clive

Only change was the rain, it was quite rainy week and
ground was much more better than during earlier tests.
Soil in my cottage is not good, it is on island where
some soil is covering rocky hill..
Radials and counterpoises will come later: the reason I am doing

this

way is to find simple and fast antenna when I am travelling.

Anyway I will make some new tests again starting tomorrow evening.
Will see what happens, I have been searching the web and found
some other HAMs who are also speaking abt 23m long wire.

Always when I am at cottage I have two radios on HF.
The Old Radio (IC 730) is mostly QRV at 3680 kHz, connected to G5RV
antenna. If You want we can try QSO... abt after 1600 GMT until the
80 band comes too noisy. (and SAT and SUN whole day)

73s de rami, oh6bi

--- In YaesuTuner@..., "dj5hd" <jurgen@> wrote:

Rami,

did your ground conditions change?
If the FC-40 does not find a match it is often due to not

sufficiant

ground. Increasing the number of radials helped me often.

A reset clears the memories and helps in some situations.
However, if you manually tune, the FC-40 should find a match if
possible, regardless whether the memory is used or clear.

If the memories are filled up with matching settings from an

earier

used antenna, you will have to rewrite them all with the values

for

your new antenna by manual tuning.
If the memories are clear, the tuner will use the next valid
"neighbour" memory, which is obviously better than using values

from a

different antenna.


I never found a wire length that worked on all bands. Your earlier
posting sounded very promising to me...

73, Jurgen, DJ5HD



--- In YaesuTuner@..., "oh6bi" <oh6bi@> wrote:

Hi All

In June I wrote here abt 23m long wire testings, I got some

good

results. Last weekend I did new tests and started with 24,5 m

long

wire, running tests all bands (160 to 10m), then shortening abt

20 cm

and running tests again. I did that abt 10 times so long that

length

22m length was reached.
I was wery surprised: antenna or tuner didnt work as it was

working

earlier! I got match only with 18, 21 and 10 m bands, not at

all

with

lower bands. FC40 telling just HSWR... I checked all

connections,

grounding etc and they where OK.
Is it possible that FC40 needs the Reset from internal DIP

switch.

Anyone done that ?

73s de rami, oh6bi

Hi Jurgen and Clive

Only change was the rain, it was quite rainy week and
ground was much more better than during earlier tests.
Soil in my cottage is not good, it is on island where
some soil is covering rocky hill..
Radials and counterpoises will come later: the reason I am doing this
way is to find simple and fast antenna when I am travelling.

Anyway I will make some new tests again starting tomorrow evening.
Will see what happens, I have been searching the web and found
some other HAMs who are also speaking abt 23m long wire.

Always when I am at cottage I have two radios on HF.
The Old Radio (IC 730) is mostly QRV at 3680 kHz, connected to G5RV
antenna. If You want we can try QSO... abt after 1600 GMT until the
80 band comes too noisy. (and SAT and SUN whole day)

73s de rami, oh6bi

--- In YaesuTuner@..., "dj5hd" <jurgen@...> wrote:

Rami,

did your ground conditions change?
If the FC-40 does not find a match it is often due to not sufficiant
ground. Increasing the number of radials helped me often.

A reset clears the memories and helps in some situations.
However, if you manually tune, the FC-40 should find a match if
possible, regardless whether the memory is used or clear.

If the memories are filled up with matching settings from an earier
used antenna, you will have to rewrite them all with the values for
your new antenna by manual tuning.
If the memories are clear, the tuner will use the next valid
"neighbour" memory, which is obviously better than using values

from a

different antenna.


I never found a wire length that worked on all bands. Your earlier
posting sounded very promising to me...

73, Jurgen, DJ5HD



--- In YaesuTuner@..., "oh6bi" <oh6bi@> wrote:

Hi All

In June I wrote here abt 23m long wire testings, I got some good
results. Last weekend I did new tests and started with 24,5 m

long

wire, running tests all bands (160 to 10m), then shortening abt

20 cm

and running tests again. I did that abt 10 times so long that

length

22m length was reached.
I was wery surprised: antenna or tuner didnt work as it was

working

earlier! I got match only with 18, 21 and 10 m bands, not at all

with

lower bands. FC40 telling just HSWR... I checked all connections,
grounding etc and they where OK.
Is it possible that FC40 needs the Reset from internal DIP switch.
Anyone done that ?

73s de rami, oh6bi

Rami,

did your ground conditions change?
If the FC-40 does not find a match it is often due to not sufficiant
ground. Increasing the number of radials helped me often.

A reset clears the memories and helps in some situations.
However, if you manually tune, the FC-40 should find a match if
possible, regardless whether the memory is used or clear.

If the memories are filled up with matching settings from an earier
used antenna, you will have to rewrite them all with the values for
your new antenna by manual tuning.
If the memories are clear, the tuner will use the next valid
"neighbour" memory, which is obviously better than using values from a
different antenna.


I never found a wire length that worked on all bands. Your earlier
posting sounded very promising to me...

73, Jurgen, DJ5HD

Hi All

In June I wrote here abt 23m long wire testings, I got some good
results. Last weekend I did new tests and started with 24,5 m long
wire, running tests all bands (160 to 10m), then shortening abt 20 cm
and running tests again. I did that abt 10 times so long that length
22m length was reached.
I was wery surprised: antenna or tuner didnt work as it was working
earlier! I got match only with 18, 21 and 10 m bands, not at all with
lower bands. FC40 telling just HSWR... I checked all connections,
grounding etc and they where OK.
Is it possible that FC40 needs the Reset from internal DIP switch.
Anyone done that ?

73s de rami, oh6bi

Hi All !
During last month I have done many tests with FC40 / FT897
and different lengths of wires: abt 8m, 12m, 15m, 40m ...
Some has been working with several bands, some not.

Last weekend I tried 23 meter length.
Unfortunately I chosed wrong tree , it was too close and
I had to shorten wire length 1m and the wire game abt 22 m long.

It was working nicely from 160 to 10 m , including WARC bands.
Only problem was 7 MHz, wire was too near 40m half vawe.
I desided to shorten the wire 1,5 meters :
That was wrong - I lost also 160 and 20 meter bands !!!

Coming weekend I have to find another tree to get out 23m wire
I wanted ( or maybe a bit more ), I believe now I have found the
length suitable for me. If I dont get the full coverage wit 23m wire,
then I will just add one separate wire for 7 MHz..

I have had good experience with IC AH3 and abt 22m wire earlier.

73s de rami, oh6bi

bleorg3 wrote:

I am also disappointed with the fc-40. I have a random wire loop that I was using with the
Icom AH-4. It would load up half of the 160m band and every HF band from 3.5 mhz to
30mhz. This setup worked great and I made lots of contacts with it on every band I tried it
on. The fc-40 with the exact same antenna will only tune 20m through 10m. I miss the AH-4.
I now wish I hadn't traded my Icom radio for a Yeasu ft-897. Nothing changed with the
antenna. I simply swapped out the Ah-4 and Ic-718 for the FC-40 and the 897. Maybe Its
not too late to send it back.

Hi,

Do you still have the AH-4 ? If so you can get a box that will allow you to use the FT897 with the AH-4. have a look at

Regards

Andrew - G7MNS

I am also disappointed with the fc-40. I have a random wire loop that I was using with the
Icom AH-4. It would load up half of the 160m band and every HF band from 3.5 mhz to
30mhz. This setup worked great and I made lots of contacts with it on every band I tried it
on. The fc-40 with the exact same antenna will only tune 20m through 10m. I miss the AH-4.
I now wish I hadn't traded my Icom radio for a Yeasu ft-897. Nothing changed with the
antenna. I simply swapped out the Ah-4 and Ic-718 for the FC-40 and the 897. Maybe Its
not too late to send it back.

Hi Clive !
(and All)

Nice photos.

I was also thinking to make 80m loop,
I had one there abt 20 years ago, but now there is
higher trees and not yet clean space for full loop.
FC40 will get loop connection after some woodworks.

My town QTH is in flat and I have 41m long horisontal
wire between similar houses, down wire abt 21m
to balcony where AH3 (the icom tuner) is installed.
Distance between houses is 60 m and yard is 80m wide.
So, there is enough space for 160 or 80m loop. One of
this summer projects is to try 160m loop with FC40 at
cottage to see how loop works with higher bands....

How is your FC40 tuning your 80m loop in different bands?
How is the loop working ? What bands You use most?
Is the feeder windowed 300 ohms ? Your ground ?

This weekend is for end fed wires. ..I got new thought
while writing.. next wire will be "G5RV wire". It means
radiator 13,5m + 10m and counterpoise almost same,
just a bit longer. 10m comes from the open wire section.
G5RV has been my favorite since I started HAM hobby .

Last weekend test was 40m, 12m, and 8m long wires.
23m wire will match nicely to that serie.
FC40 manual is telling that with 20+ meters tuning range
is from 1,8 to 50 MHz. It will be intresting weekend..

73s es GL DX de rami, OH6BI



--- In YaesuTuner@..., "Clive Turner" <l81ker@...> wrote:

Hi Rami
i use an 80m horiz loop in Espoo, see the 'photos' pages in the

yahoo groups.

There's also an excel file someone posted with already tried and

tested wire lengths from the Icom tuner, which work!

good luck!

Cheers
Clive OH2FBK

- original message -
Subject: [YaesuTuner] First QSOs with FC40
From: "oh6bi" <oh6bi@...>
Date: 24/05/2007 12:49

Hi all,

Finally I got my boat on the sea and I was able to start
testing FC40 at my summer cottage, Cottage is in island and there
I have quite good possibilities to test different wire antennas.
Radio is FT897. Feedpoint abt 2m from ground, FC40 on cottage wall.
Grounding was not very good, it was connected to cottage electrical
earthing loop with 2,5 sqmm 5m long cabel.


first wire was abt 40m (132 ft )
(vertical part abt 8 m, rest horisontal position )

160m OK
80m NOT
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK
10m some areas OK

second wire was 8m (26 ft), mostly vertical
160m NOT
80m NOT
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK, not perfect
10m some areas OK

third wire was 12,5 m (41 ft ), mostly vertical
160m NOT
80m OK, not perfect
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK
10m some areas OK

I just made tuning testing, only one qso.

Coming weekend more testing, different lengths, better ground
and if time enough, also counterpoises for every band...

Best Regards es 73s de rami, oh6bi

Hi Rami
i use an 80m horiz loop in Espoo, see the 'photos' pages in the yahoo groups.
There's also an excel file someone posted with already tried and tested wire lengths from the Icom tuner, which work!

good luck!

Cheers
Clive OH2FBK

- original message -
Subject: [YaesuTuner] First QSOs with FC40
From: "oh6bi" <oh6bi@...>
Date: 24/05/2007 12:49

Hi all,

Finally I got my boat on the sea and I was able to start
testing FC40 at my summer cottage, Cottage is in island and there
I have quite good possibilities to test different wire antennas.
Radio is FT897. Feedpoint abt 2m from ground, FC40 on cottage wall.
Grounding was not very good, it was connected to cottage electrical
earthing loop with 2,5 sqmm 5m long cabel.


first wire was abt 40m (132 ft )
(vertical part abt 8 m, rest horisontal position )

160m OK
80m NOT
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK
10m some areas OK

second wire was 8m (26 ft), mostly vertical
160m NOT
80m NOT
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK, not perfect
10m some areas OK

third wire was 12,5 m (41 ft ), mostly vertical
160m NOT
80m OK, not perfect
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK
10m some areas OK

I just made tuning testing, only one qso.

Coming weekend more testing, different lengths, better ground
and if time enough, also counterpoises for every band...

Best Regards es 73s de rami, oh6bi

Hi all,

Finally I got my boat on the sea and I was able to start
testing FC40 at my summer cottage, Cottage is in island and there
I have quite good possibilities to test different wire antennas.
Radio is FT897. Feedpoint abt 2m from ground, FC40 on cottage wall.
Grounding was not very good, it was connected to cottage electrical
earthing loop with 2,5 sqmm 5m long cabel.


first wire was abt 40m (132 ft )
(vertical part abt 8 m, rest horisontal position )

160m OK
80m NOT
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK
10m some areas OK

second wire was 8m (26 ft), mostly vertical
160m NOT
80m NOT
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK, not perfect
10m some areas OK

third wire was 12,5 m (41 ft ), mostly vertical
160m NOT
80m OK, not perfect
40m OK
30m OK
20m OK
15m OK
10m some areas OK

I just made tuning testing, only one qso.

Coming weekend more testing, different lengths, better ground
and if time enough, also counterpoises for every band...

Best Regards es 73s de rami, oh6bi

OK sri, sometimes it can happend, should always read before making
questions..
To day is The First Touch to my new Toy...

73s de rami, oh6bi

Do a search using "extension cable".

Hi All !

Finally I bought FC40, I have used Icoms AH3 many yers and because of
good results with it I decided to by FC40 for my FT897.

FC40 will arrive to day and first I need to extend the control cable.
Anyone experience ? Is it needed to be shielded or not ? How long I can
make it ? How much FC40 needs Voltage and Current for the tuning. With
IC AH3 I have had up to 20m long cable with wire size 2x0.5 mm.

What about Ground connection ? Is it necessary to use separate ground
cable between rig and tuner when the distance is longer than 5 m ?

First I am goeing to test FC40 with my existing inv L antenna, vertical
part 21 m and horisontal part 41 m , total 62m (204 ft).
To compare existing IC706/AH3 and new FT897/FC40 with same wire + Gnd.

I am goeing to use Yaesy system at my summer cottage with long wire ,
length more than 100 meters .

Any addvises before starting the tests ?

Best Regards es 73s de rami, oh6bi

开云体育

It might be a bit of overkill seeing that the FC 40 is larger than the
FT817 and probally uses more power...

I use an FC40 at home with my 897 and then use the LDG Z11 QRP Auto
Tuner with my FT 817. Several of my friends use small manual QRP
Tuners with their 817's

The FC40 is a great tuner and it has done wonders at my QTH tuning
a "Stealth Long Wire" as I am in an antenna restricted area.

I do believe that you will insufficient drive to tune the antenna even
if you were to use one of the third party tuning adapters and also HOW
are you planning to power the tuner as the 817 does not (I believe)
have the same options for external power as the 857 and 897 has for
powering the FC40. I could be wrong on this one though and I'm sure if
I am someone will have the correct info....

Its a great tuner tho.....I love it and am looking for a 2nd one to use
with my 857 in the car with a 12 foot Stainless Steel whip.

73bob

Has anyone tried to get these two to work together or opinions?

I know the FT-817 has insufficient drive (I have a 100W amp), power
could be supplied by an adapter of some sort in the band data circuit
and the TUNE function by an external switch or possibly the W4RT OTT.

What say group?

John, VA7GG

Check out the following.



This interface in conjunction with the added YCC04 cable will give
you just what you want.

The YCC04 cable allows this unit to be used on the FT857 and FT897 as
a CAT interface for use via the mic socket. The adapter (included
with the YCC04) also allows the mic to be in circuit.

This frees up the CAT port for you tuner.

Rod N8QVR



--- In YaesuTuner@..., "Clive" <l81ker@...> wrote:

YES, you use the 8pin cat5 MIC input, and select the MIC input as
"CAT" (see the userguide).

I'm doing that... you do need to configure a different way to

connect

the audio from the mic to MIC AUDIO IN, if you are not using DIGITAL
modes, but its not a difficult thing to do either. (Simple wiring in
fact).

Cheers
Clive



--- In YaesuTuner@..., "Dave" <gm6jua@> wrote:

Hi to the group,
I am at present thinking of purchasing an ft897d plus the fc40

atu can

you tell me if it is possible to run the fc40 and at the same

time be

able to take a feed to my pc from the cat interface for frequency
readout etc for my logging and digital mode programs ,or is there

an

adapter cable available that will let me feed both .
Many thanks from
Dave gm6jus