I shall give it a try and see what happens. Is what you mention
the reason some homebrewers build there own matching networks?
Man, in the old days I remember there were a lot of those large
var. caps. in the ham shacks, but not anymore.

Palstar has a nice unit, but we are talking much bigger
investment. Basically, I am just putting up the antennas which
I can get away with given the boundry conditions at the qth.
Whatever I get, I am sure will be interesting. At this point, I
can, at various points here put up the loop, and up on the hill
in another "shack" I can probably fit in a double extended Zepp
(again with the ladder line). If I can get my archery chops
perfected there is still the possibility of a 160M OCF into a
tall Eucalytus tree and spanning to a mast on the side of
another chicken house. Each antenna situation, will be like an
expedition to another little shack on the property, could be
fun.


Bill K6TAJ

'Doc wrote:

Bill,
Unfortunately there are no 'magic' lengths for your
loop. Something in the neighborhood of 520 feet should
work well on 160 meters, 250 - 260 feet for 80 meters.
The limiting factor is the 'MatchBox', it doesn't have
the impedance tuning range other tuners have because of
the small number of inductance taps it uses. (It's 'big
brother' has the same limitations, by the way.) The
'MatchBox' being a real 'balanced' tuner is nice, but just
not that big'a deal for all practical purposes.
In general (meaning that there are always exceptions) the
largest loop you can get into the air is the way to go, if
you cn 'match' it...
'Doc