good tuner for flex 1500 qrp

[KB2HUK]

Hello , I am looking for a good qrp antenna tuner good to 100watts .  I am using the flex radio 1500 .  my question is what do you call a tuner that matches antenna to transceiver with out transmitting rf ?  Do you call these a swl preselect-or ?  I want to match my antenna to the swl broadcast station I am trying  to listen to or any general coverage frequency outside the ham bands .  So like a antenna tuner for general coverage receive.  And if it wasen't clear this would be used for tx and rx inside ham bands with general coverage rx. thanks  John kb2huk

[W4OP]

Hi John,
If your SDR is being overloaded from out of band signals, then a preselector/tuner  may help- but as far as increasing sensitivity you are very unlikely to see a difference. At HF, the noise floor is limited by man made noise, atmospheric noise and galactic  noise. So tuning an  antenna for receive may increase signals, but it will also increase noise by the exact same amount- leaving your S/N unchanged.

Dale W4OP

[EI4GMB]

Hi John,

I agree with Dale W4OP. Matching an antenna to a transceiver will increase sensitivity but this will be sensitivity to both signal and noise leaving your S/N unchanged! My advice would be to invest in a good dedicated receiver. Best of luck!

Kind Regards

Fred EI4GMB

[W4OP]

Hi Fred,
Nice to see you active on the group. Now, a off topic but:

My question is- how does Ireland continue to crank out such great golfers? You guys dominate- and they all seem to be such genuinely nice fellows.

Dale W4OP

[EI4GMB]

Hi Fred,
Nice to see you active on the group. Now, a off topic but:

My question is- how does Ireland continue to crank out such great golfers? You guys dominate- and they all seem to be such genuinely nice fellows.

Dale W4OP

Thanks for your nice comments about Irish golfers, Dale. I think like all golfers their performance tends to drop off when they become involved in relationships or other distractions. Rory McIlroy is a case in point at the moment. Hope your own swing is going well and that you are keeping fine. Take care.

Kind Regards

Fred EI4GMB

[W4OP]

Spot on Fred,
Our own Tiger has lived that "distraction movie" all too recently and still has not found his old game.

[KQ6Q]

to KB2HUK - a manual tuner - like one of the MFJ's for under $100 - might help peak up the desired signal while reducing signals that might be causing some overload, if they're NOT close to the desired signal. If you're not going to also use it for transmitting in the ham bands, you could get a tuner without an SWR meter, just peak it on received noise or signal.

Fred, KQ6Q

[KB5UBI]

I think for QRP and SWL, I'd home brew a link coupled tuner from old receiver parts. Better isolation and acts as a preselector.