ionagh,
Totally agree with your post. IN addition if you persist in keying a HF radio that hasnt been impedance matched ( tunned to its exact wavelength)via tunable ballun or impedance matching circuit, dammage will be done. The reason the outpower is weak is that the RF energy is reflected back into the Output power device PA or RF PA (Power Amplifier) the final stage of HF transmitter or any Transmitter for that matter. This inturn overheats and cooks the output device( not good, very expensive, unhappy avionics person resultant action). So tuning is very important unless there is an autotune function which inturn usually inhibits the PTT( press to talk) key until tuning is completed (in built protection).
Sheep
