[600MRG] A couple of crude Antenna Matching techniques - will either one work

[Rudy Severns]

In the early days of radio Andy's problem had to be addressed by most
everyone with nothing more than an RF ammeter.  The answer is simple: tune
for maximum antenna current with the power available.  While that's very
simple advice, sometimes it takes a good deal of fiddling to find the magic
"maximum" but with some experience early hams and pro's for that matter,
made it work. 

The first step is to make sure you have enough inductance to resonate.  That
can be estimated pretty closely either from modeling or with the
calculations shown in chapter 3 of my notes.  Assuming you have enough L the
usual procedure is to have taps on the coil in two places, one set near the
top which you adjust for resonance and one set for matching maybe 10-20% up
from the bottom.  You the alternated taps, first the top taps for max
current then the bottom taps again for max current, etc, etc, etc until
there's no improvement.  As long as you have enough L to start with this
procedure usually converges.  If you don't have enough L then the procedure
should end with the tap at the top of the coil indicating more L is needed. 

The equation for inductance is also very simple: L=(D^2 N^2)/(18D+40l),
where D= diameter in inches, l= winding length in inches, N=number of turns
and L is in uH.

GL and 73, Rudy N6LF