Matched antenna sounds good, but I (and a lot of others) use temporary antennas in portable settings. I just activated in a national park yesterday and there was no way to put up a matched antenna. Even if you have a 'matched' antenna in one place, who knows what it'll be like at another. And even if it's perfectly matched in a fixed location, what about the day one end falls down the night before?
So I still think a manual tuner with an absorptive bridge you can switch in/out is the way to go unless the radio has SWR protection built in. (QMX down the road?) That will take care or whatever the mechanism is for finals failure in QxX radios. ATUs just seem to be a good way to fry the finals.?
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73, Dan? NM3A
