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I have a magnetic loop antenna that takes a long time to tune and of course, while tuning it, I need to be transmitting.

What is the best procedure for tuning on air? I understand I need to check the frequency and identify myself before transmitting, but what if I'm nowhere near resonant when I do this? I'll just be getting louder and louder as I reach resonance, and probably no one heard me calling that I was performing a test initially.

So I guess my first question is, what's the procedure from start to finish for tuning on the air? Keeping in mind, I can't quickly tune with my radio; due to the magloop, tuning is very specific and the SWR is too far out for my radio to automatically fix this. It's a very long process to tune it properly.

Also, is it acceptable to simply put out a carrier signal while tuning? This is definitely more accurate and quick than tuning against a phone transmission, but is it allowed?

I'm located in California in the United States in case this is a locale specific answer.

Kevin Reid AG6YO
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David VK2VXK
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    I think this is a great question in that it's answer is something that's not usually covered in the rules or the common new operator materials. And it's definitely the kind of thing this site is about. – WPrecht Dec 10 '13 at 21:12
  • It's an interesting one. I've been told several best practices by different people over the years. – David VK2VXK Dec 10 '13 at 22:21
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    Adjust it close with a noise bridge to minimize adding QRM. – Optionparty Dec 20 '16 at 04:02

3 Answers3

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I am pretty sure this isn't covered explicitly in Part 97 and probably falls under the "don't cause intentional interference" clause.

The practice I was taught is this:

  1. Tune off the pileup you found several KHz to a 'clear' spot
  2. reduce power to the either the lowest the rig will go or the least that will facilitate the tuning process
  3. Switch to CW mode
  4. key the transmitter (hold down the PTT) and tune away

When you are done:

  1. Unkey the transmitter
  2. Send your callsign to identify your transmission
  3. Go back to SSB mode
  4. Go back to full power (I forget to do this more often than I would like to admit)
  5. Tune back to where you were
natevw - AF7TB
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WPrecht
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    This procedure doesn't mention identifying anywhere...? – Kevin Reid AG6YO Dec 11 '13 at 04:45
  • Glad I'm not the only one who forgets to go back to full power;-) – PearsonArtPhoto Dec 11 '13 at 11:58
  • Once you're back on frequency, fine trim to background noise. If your "Antenna Tuner" is calibrated, build a chart of the settings for any given frequency. As you work various frequencies you will find a straight lines developing on your chart. There are daily variations caused by ground water levels and antenna length changes due to temperature changes, but your custom chart will help you get in operating range faster. – Optionparty Jan 19 '14 at 01:39
  • Should one ask if the frequency is in use (in CW, "QRL?") before tuning? – Wayne Conrad KF7QGA Feb 03 '14 at 18:13
  • Well, the first rule in ham radio is listen. Since you are going to be using the minimum power you can to tune, you should hear stations that you might interfere with even with a badly matched antenna. However, the whole point in tuning is that the impedance may not make for a happy transmitter. So I'd be reluctant to transmit until I knew what I was looking at for SWR. – WPrecht Feb 03 '14 at 18:17
  • Just now saw this posting and thought to comment. Good practice on tuning up is as described above but I say "yes" to the question to QRL? first. However, make sure you QRL with the power level you are tuning. So, if you are normally at 100 watts power and dial down to 15 watts to tune the antenna than do the QRL at 15 watts. Also, even if you do know know CW, do the QRL in CW mode as it takes less bandwidth. Most modern rigs have memory locations to store CW strings to send. Or, learn enough with a straight key to send QRL?. If busy, the answer might be just the letter "C". – K7PEH Jan 16 '16 at 19:49
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    I added an identification step to the answer above, with the assumption that the tuning process will not take longer than 10 minutes. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone actually follow this rule in practice, but it's pretty clear that they should. See e.g. exam question T1D11 or even more plainly T2A06: "What must an amateur operator do when making on-air transmissions to test equipment or antennas? Properly identify the transmitting station." – natevw - AF7TB Dec 16 '16 at 04:43
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If you are concerned about unintentional interference, then you should use an antenna analyzer. Some of them actually have a mode for that whereby the analyzer sends a tone that beeps; and the closer to a 1:1 match, the faster it beeps until it is a solid tone.

Just make darn sure you don't transmit into you analyzer, or you will damage it and I can promise you this damage will not be repaired by the mfg for free.

Mike Waters
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Poe
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Other than interference issues, the key to doing this is to follow the rules about station identification.

Every transmission should be something like "VK2VXK test"

(Really, the rules say you have to do this for the first one then every 10 minutes, but I do it with every test transmission that might radiate)

When you are finished say something like "VK2VXK out"

SDsolar
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