QRP Random Wire Tuner

I once was in need of a random-wire tuner and just didn’t feel like buying one. I knew I would rarely use it… so I built one from junk parts. I had the air variable capacitor and some SO-239 connectors. For the box I just used a metal watch case I found at Good Will for $.50.  By the way, Good Will is an awesome place to get metal cases. The coil is just a wrap of 22g magnet wire around a 35mm film canister. The switch is a 12 position rotary contact switch I purchased from a local electronics place. Does it work… YEP!  It can tune most random lengths of wire from from 40M to 10M. I have a video of the one time I used it while in Hawaii (Click To Watch on YouTube).tuner1 tuner2 tuner5

5 thoughts on “QRP Random Wire Tuner

    • I only use it with QRZ so there is no worry about heat. I can’t comment on any losses with the coil as I never even attempted to try any measurements. However, it does work seemingly well!

      Rich
      AD7C

  1. Do you have a schematic? I wanted to make a swl receive only antenna tuner – this looks like it would work right.

    Thank you! 73′s

    Bill

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