Bill that suprised me about the 756 pro not tuning up a windom.
I use an old FT990 and it tunes the windom without problems.

Les
GM4JNW


"Bill Grimwood" wrote in message
...
I have a Carolina Windom 160 up 50 feet and am using an Icom 756 Pro. The
ATU in the pro will not quite tune the antenna so I added an MFJ tuner and
am able to tune it up fine.

73 Bill W4WEG


"Pat Myers" wrote in message
...
I have posted this on eHam.com, but thought I'd try here as well.

Sorry if this story is rather convoluted, but I'm in a bit of a quandary
and
any help would be appreciated.

I am getting back into ham radio after a ten year absence, and HF
operating
has always been my favorite. In the past I lived in a rural area, and
could
put up whatever sort of antennas I wanted, and was even pretty good at
making my own dipoles for various bands.

However, I now live in a subdivision that, while antennas are not
forbidden
outright, the civic association is vicious and not to be trifled with,
hence
I wanted to go with something at once stealthy but versatile.

At first I thought to try the old stand-by, the G5RV, but in doing my
Internet research on the issue, I came across this "Carolina Windom"
multiband antenna, which seemed to give more bangs for the buck. I ended
up
purchasing one from an outfit that will remain nameless here, to the
tune
of
around $150, when you include shipping, rope and other incidentals.

It was a bear of a job to put up, since I had to threat it through tree
branches and whatnot (which is why I got the one with the insulated
wire),
but I got it up. Suspended from trees, the "matching transformer" (looks
like a balun to me) and the long segment of wire was up about 35', more
or
less horizontal. The shorter end sloped down, with the end about 10' up
(I
had no alternative in this).

After making up the 100 or so foot feed line (RG-8X) and grounding the
rig
(8' copper ground rod), I hooked up my Yaesu FT-890...and the SWR was
through the roof on all bands.

Anything more than a few watts, on 80 through 10m, made the radio shut
down.
I checked continuity all the way back to the antenna, and everything
seems
OK, except the balun shows a dead short on my VOM. However, the antenna
maker says their balun is supposed to show a dead short, and when I took
the
antenna back down I could find nothing else wrong with it (no damaged
insulation, all connections weatherproofed to the max, not that it had
been
up long enough to get wet, etc).

Except for power and phone lines running along the back property line
(and
the slinky antenna I put up later is no further away from those than the
Windom was, and I am having no problems with it), there was nothing
metallic
nearby to detune the antenna, and even if there was, I can't imagine
even
that would create the high SWR I am seeing.

I called the manufacturer up and after telling me there was nothing
wrong
with the antenna based on what I told them, they just said to send the
antenna back to them and they would "check it out".

We finally get to my question. I have been working on getting an antenna
for
weeks, and am tired of fooling with assorted vendors (have dealt with
several during this process, and none have impressed me).

Given how much I will pay out further on shipping the antenna both ways
and
the like, I am wondering if I would be better off simply buying a decent
4:1
balun, replace the existing "matching transformer" with it, and use the
rest
of the antenna components (wire, coax, RF choke), and if so, is this
more
likely to work? Based on my research, the original Windom antenna design
used a 4:1 balun, and the wire lengths of the antenna I bought look to
be
pretty close to specs per that design, which is why I suggest this
option.

Unfortunately I am no antenna guru, and even with all the information
I've
found on the Windom, the data is a bit ambiguous on this point. So,
before
I
throw any more good money after bad, I would appreciate any help you all
could give me in this matter. Thanks and 73.

PS What to take out of my email address to make it work is pretty
obvious...