Tuner versus resonant antenna
A resonant antenna wastes nothing. A tuner wastes a little and covers everything.
The short answer
A resonant antenna is more efficient because the feedline runs matched and nothing is reflected. A tuner lets one antenna cover many bands at the cost of the additional feedline loss caused by the mismatch, which on HF with decent coax is a few tenths of a decibel and at VHF with thin cable is most of your signal.
- Resonant antenna loss
- Feedline only
- Tuner insertion loss
- 0.2 to 1.5 dB
- Extra loss at 3:1, HF
- Under 1 dB
- Extra loss at 3:1, VHF
- 2 dB and up
- Best tuner position
- At the antenna
- Ladder line at high SWR
- Very low loss
There are two philosophies of HF antenna and both work. One says cut a wire to length for each band, feed it with coax, and accept that you need several antennas. The other says hang one wire, feed it with something tolerant, and let a tuner sort out the impedance at whatever frequency you happen to be on.
The first is more efficient and less flexible. The second is more flexible and, depending on the feedline, either almost as efficient or dramatically worse. The variable that decides it is not the tuner. It is the feedline.
Where the loss actually goes
A tuner does not eliminate reflections between itself and the antenna. Energy still bounces off the antenna, travels back down the feedline, hits the tuner and is sent back toward the antenna. Each of those trips pays the feedline loss, which is why the same tuner is nearly free on one installation and expensive on another.
The mismatch tax
Additional loss from running a mismatched antenna through a tuner
| Feedline, 100 ft | Frequency | Matched loss | At 3:1 | At 10:1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RG-8X | 7 MHz | 0.6 dB | 0.9 dB | 2.1 dB |
| RG-213 | 7 MHz | 0.4 dB | 0.6 dB | 1.5 dB |
| LMR-400 | 14 MHz | 0.5 dB | 0.7 dB | 1.7 dB |
| RG-58 | 144 MHz | 6.6 dB | 8.1 dB | 11 dB |
| 450 ohm ladder line | 7 MHz | 0.05 dB | 0.1 dB | 0.3 dB |
The last row is why the classic all-band doublet fed with open wire line and a balanced tuner is a genuinely excellent antenna rather than a compromise. Ladder line loses so little that even a very high SWR costs almost nothing.
When resonant wins
- Any VHF or UHF installation. The feedline loss penalty is severe and a high SWR is nearly always a fault rather than a design choice.
- A single band station. If you operate one band, cut the antenna for it and enjoy an antenna system with nothing in it but wire and coax.
- Anything with an amplifier. High power through a tuner means high voltages inside the tuner, and arcing across a variable capacitor is the usual failure.
- Long coax runs. The mismatch tax scales with the matched loss, so a long run makes every reflection more expensive.
- When you want to know what your antenna is doing. A resonant antenna gives you an SWR reading that means something. A tuner hides the antenna behind a match.
When a tuner wins
- Covering a whole band. An 80 metre dipole cut for the middle is 3 to 1 or worse at the edges. A tuner fixes that for a fraction of a decibel, and this is by far the most common legitimate use.
- Adding bands to a multiband wire. An end fed half wave resonant on 40, 20, 15 and 10 usually loads on 30, 17 and 12 with a tuner. That is a great deal of extra spectrum from one wire.
- A doublet fed with ladder line. The technically correct all-band antenna, where the tuner is doing exactly the job it was designed for and the feedline loss is negligible at any SWR.
- Portable operating. Field antennas shift with ground conditions and nearby objects. A small tuner absorbs that variation so you operate rather than trim.
- A remote tuner at the feedpoint. Matching at the antenna means the coax runs matched along its whole length, which removes the mismatch tax entirely and makes a non-resonant antenna genuinely efficient.
Three ways to solve the multiband problem
Three tiers
Pick your approach
Each of these covers several bands. They differ in where the compromise sits.
One support point and a preference for simplicity
JYR
JYR8010 8-band end fed half wave, 150 W
An end fed half wave is genuinely resonant on its harmonic bands, so most of your operating happens with no tuner in circuit at all. Add a small tuner only for the band edges and the in-between bands.
- Bands resonant 4
- With tuner 8
Tradeoff
Fixed length, and the higher bands land slightly off their harmonics.
An existing antenna that needs to cover more
MFJ
MFJ-993B IntelliTuner
The cheapest way to add bands to whatever you already have. On HF with decent coax the mismatch tax is small, and the memory means retuning is instant after the first pass on each segment.
- Power 300 W
- Range Wide
Tradeoff
Loss scales with feedline loss, so a long thin run makes this an expensive choice.
Sold by MFJ, roughly $400
Sold by MFJ Enterprises, not Amazon. The button searches the category.
An amplifier and a wire that is nowhere near resonant
Palstar
Palstar AT2K manual roller tuner
A roller inductor manual tuner has lower loss and far higher voltage handling than a compact automatic unit, which is what an amplifier into a mismatched antenna actually demands.
- Power 2 kW
- Type Roller inductor
Tradeoff
Slower to use, no memory, and it takes up real bench space.
Sold by Palstar, roughly $900
Sold by Palstar, not Amazon. The button searches the category.
Supporting parts
What makes either approach work
A meter you trust, a choke, and an analyser to tell you which problem you actually have.
LDG Electronics
LDG Z-11ProII automatic antenna tuner
A small automatic tuner for QRP and portable work, where field conditions move the antenna around.
Check price$225.44
GOOZEEZOO
ATU-100 EXT automatic antenna tuner
Inexpensive wide-range automatic matching that has become a standard part of a field kit.
Check price$109.99
Daiwa
Daiwa CN-501H cross-needle SWR and power meter
A cross-needle meter showing forward and reflected power at once, so you can see what the tuner is doing.
Check price$151.99
AURSINC
NanoVNA H4 vector network analyzer
Tells you where the antenna is actually resonant, which is the information a tuner hides.
Check price$89.90
Balun Designs
Balun Designs 1171 1:1 current balun
A choke behind any tuner feeding a wire, because matching a random length generates common mode current.
Sold by Balun Designs, not Amazon. The link searches the category.
YOVDA
QRP Z-match manual antenna tuner
A small manual balanced tuner for a field doublet fed with open wire line.
Check price$44.99
Common questions
Questions people ask about this
Is a resonant antenna always better than a tuner?
More efficient, yes, because nothing is reflected and the feedline runs matched. Better overall, not necessarily. A resonant antenna covers one band, and covering eight bands that way means eight antennas. On HF with decent coax the loss a tuner adds is a few tenths of a decibel, which nobody hears, and the flexibility is worth far more than that.
How much does a tuner cost me in signal?
The tuner insertion loss itself is typically 0.2 to 1.5 dB depending on how hard it is working. On top of that comes the extra feedline loss from running mismatched, which is small on HF with good coax and large at VHF with thin coax. At 3 to 1 on 40 metres through RG-213 the total penalty is under a decibel. At 3 to 1 on 2 metres through RG-58 it is several.
Where is the best place to put a tuner?
At the antenna feedpoint, because then the coax carries a matched signal for its whole length and the repeated-trip loss vanishes entirely. That is what remote tuners are for, and it is what makes a random wire into a genuinely efficient all-band antenna. A shack tuner is fine when the antenna is nearly resonant already and you are simply covering the band edges.
Why is ladder line better with a tuner?
Because its loss is so low that a high SWR costs almost nothing. Open wire line at 7 MHz loses around 0.05 dB per 100 ft matched and only 0.3 dB at a 10 to 1 mismatch, where coax would lose several decibels. That is why a doublet fed with ladder line into a balanced tuner is a genuinely excellent all-band antenna rather than a compromise.
Can I use a tuner on a VHF antenna?
You can make the reading go away, and that is usually the wrong outcome. At VHF the feedline loss penalty is far higher and a sudden high SWR on a VHF antenna is almost always a physical fault such as water in a connector or a broken element. Find and fix the fault. Matching around it wastes most of your power heating the cable.
Keep going
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