On Fri, 28 Apr 2006 22:57:40 -0400, Buck wrote:
I would like to use it for 75-6
meters as I am not worried about 160 meters. I would like to use it
on 75 meters, as it is the band most likely to meet the coverage I am
interested in,

Hi Buck,

All reports of short, mobile antennas on 80M generally cry crippled.
That is, unless, they are augmented by center loads under top hats a
dozen feet high or more. Even then, hardly remarkable unless you can
stand to be down 2 S-Units out the gate. For some, this knowledge is
a killer. For others who ignore it, they simply work those who can
hear them.

but also to operate all bands as I would like not to
change antennas all the time. I have loaded the 20 meter and 40 meter
antennas with it to see how it works on other bands, but they really
suck!.

Well, again, you are short on details. These two antennas (I presume
you have introduced two more to the discussion) may be air cooled
resistors for all their qualities you suggest. You might find an
object lesson here.

I don't know if it is the way they are wound or what, but
tuning the 20 for six works well, but not with other bands. Going
lower doesn't help.

Barring details....

As for the mobile vs base antennas, there may be some difference. The
problem occurs when using a quarter wave or shorter dipole.

Mobile quarterwave dipole?

However,
a quarter wave vertical is a match! This is part of my questioning.

Aside from this being natural, what could the question be?

Also, the fact that the tuner will be virtually at the antenna rather
than the coax, may make some difference, although, technically, I
think the coax would lower the reflected power to the tuner.

Many antennas are designed with a match external to them, but quite
close by. Why would this be detrimental? Even more, many antennas
are built with the match as part of them. They go by many names,
Gamma being one. Certainly nothing is lost in their use.

The theory i was hearing was that the loading coil takes all the
missing length of antenna and heats up.

Dare I say you can't trust everything you hear (read here)?

Myself, I taught RF communications in the Navy and had no trouble
whatever with the concept that a coil replaces the electrical length
missing in a short antenna. However, the Navy was never a slave to
fashion nor strict interpretation in this matter, and it was enough to
observe this quid-pro-quo as symbolic, and not literal.

I can't imagine auto-tuners
having as large a coil as this manual tuner. (It uses a wire wrapped
around a toroid of some sort. ) I imagine an autotuner uses much
smaller inductors tied together thru relays.

Indeed.

I am trying to think of a type thurmometer that I could use that
wouldn't interact with the tuner to see if it heats up.

Yuri might suggest aquarium thermometers (Liquid Crystal) - but you
would have to make sure the entire surface fit the entire strip (or
versa vice). If you have a very old digital camera, then they were
sensitive to IR. You could take a picture in the dark and resolve hot
spots.

I will probably test the antenna this weekend if I can get the parts
and time....

Further reports would be interesting.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC