Johnson Viking Matchbox

[VE2ITZ]

:confused:Can anyone tell me if the Johnson Viking Matchbox works with coaxial cable?

I see in the reviews that people use them with ladderline all the time but no mention of regular coax.

I hear these manual tuners from "Flash Gordon's Era" are pretty good.

I am only using a small mfj-901b tuner right now that does the job, but it is a pain to control since the knobs are so small!

I don't mind it being manual. As long as i could use it with coax cable since that is all i have got. (And i got tons of it) LOL!

[kl7aj]

:confused:Can anyone tell me if the Johnson Viking Matchbox works with coaxial cable?

I see in the reviews that people use them with ladderline all the time but no mention of regular coax.

I hear these manual tuners from "Flash Gordon's Era" are pretty good.

I am only using a small mfj-901b tuner right now that does the job, but it is a pain to control since the knobs are so small!

I don't mind it being manual. As long as i could use it with coax cable since that is all i have got. (And i got tons of it) LOL!


Johnson Matchboxes have an additional random wire feed terminal, but it's high impedance, not really suitable for coax.

The Matchbox claim to fame is that it works great in High SWR situations as you encounter in most open wire feeder setups. You don't want to be running coax in this mode in the first place.

eric

[ka5piu]

Hello.

The Johnson matchbox is ideal for high-impedance rigs, like hollow state, and 450 ohm transmission line.
I use the MFJ autotuner whenever I can, so I need not touch any "tiny knobs", not that it would matter, I have small hands.
But, like kindergarden, where tiny hands are given the largest writing instruments known to man, my first tuner was the matchbox when I first started with radio.

[VE2ITZ]

Johnson Matchboxes have an additional random wire feed terminal, but it's high impedance, not really suitable for coax.

The Matchbox claim to fame is that it works great in High SWR situations as you encounter in most open wire feeder setups. You don't want to be running coax in this mode in the first place.

eric

But i have seen pictures of the back of this device as having coax connectors.

What are those good for?


:eek:

[VE2ITZ]

Hello.

The Johnson matchbox is ideal for high-impedance rigs, like hollow state, and 450 ohm transmission line.
I use the MFJ autotuner whenever I can, so I need not touch any "tiny knobs", not that it would matter, I have small hands.
But, like kindergarden, where tiny hands are given the largest writing instruments known to man, my first tuner was the matchbox when I first started with radio.

And?


Did you use it with coax or ladderline?

[kl7aj]

But i have seen pictures of the back of this device as having coax connectors.

What are those good for?


:eek:

ITZ:
The coax connectors are for the INPUT. The steatite feedthroughs are the outputs.

[VE2ITZ]

ITZ:
The coax connectors are for the INPUT. The steatite feedthroughs are the outputs.

Thank you for the info!

[VE2ITZ]

The MAtchbox manual actually says i can connect it using coax.

I have seen one for cheap and want to substitute the mfj-901b.

I find that the 901b works perfect for QRP work since it is small and portable. (Heck i only paid 20 canadian dollars; Which by the way is higher than the american! ;) LOL!)

If worst comes to worst, i will use it with ladder line.

Thank you all for your opinions of this wonderful piece of equipment.

(I really do have a lot of respect for older radio equipment).



Cheers, 73 and God bless you all!

[W0LPQ]

If you have adobe I can send you the manual for both of them. Yes there is a coax output as well.

Send me your email.

Bill, W0LPQ/9

[VE2ITZ]

If you have adobe I can send you the manual for both of them. Yes there is a coax output as well.

Send me your email.

Bill, W0LPQ/9


it is oneosorio(at)hotmail.com

Just replace the (at) with @


Thanks!

[W0LPQ]

On its way..

[W1GUH]

Enjoy that matchbox....they're great!

Now that you've done the "hard part", acquired an outstanding balanced antenna tuner, why not go all the way and get some balanced line? That's the cheap, easy, and fun part!