[this thread reserved]

I have one of the early PAR end-fed 20M antennas, for 20 watts, I think. I've only used it for field work backpacking with my Elecraft K-1, but it worked great. I'm looking at those now.

Tell me more about the folded dipole, how high do you have it up, and can you work top band with it? I would think it would suck for QRP, but everything else would be OK, actually, broadbanded and quiet?

Actually, best for me if I can get some aluminum up might be a roll my own 80-40-30 parallel dipole?

Let em have their fun.... It's no worse than Berry going on about Usenet when we all know JRV and maybe Zen could take him to school in a nanosecond.

Damnation a Ham thread all our own. Everybody get yer fukken ham license and quit whining !!!!
The OCF dipole is up about 60 feet at the apex and about 10 to 12 feet on the ends. I wish it was higher but I've worked a shitpot of DX with it. It does not cover topband or 30 or 15. It would cover the last two with a good external tuner though not efficiently. People are surprised at my signal on 80 and 40 with just 100 watts. The B&W is very broad banded and of course a bit of a compromise for transmitting but both antennas suit my purposes well. I like to change bands quickly and listen more than talk. I worked both South Korea and the South Pole with the B&W so don't let anyone tell you they can't be heard.
Have you ever tried an Inverted L ? I have a friend that swears by his for the lower bands.

Oh and thank you Jeff !

Yeah, Jeff's OK, I don't care what Lou says about him...

Wow, you must be blessed with nice trees.

I don't want an L because I already have the vertical for low angle. 160, I dunno. But I want regional on 80/40/30 to go with the DX angles of the vertical, I have the hexbeam for DX on the higher bands. If I get a tower.

I need to study about Windoms, I don't understand them. But, I don't understand how you can feed a dipole directly with coax, either...

Maybe I should box up the hexbeam and put up another decent wire antenna, using the garage like in the picture, I could put another push up mast 30 feet and put a 10 foot extension on it, tie the short end to my chimney, and the long end to another mast. I dunno. Take all the shit down and be happy with my vertical?

Jiff knows what I say about him.. don't even try oldster.
Can you pick up the nascar channels on that network/current?. I'd like that.

If you want regional coverage on the low bands go NVIS !
I don't really have that many trees but I have one in the front yard and tower beside my house. There is a row of pines on the fence in the back yard with the power line for elect. coming in from the corner. Thus, the need for OCF dipoles and the shortened B&W. I really am thinking seriously about a vertical of some type. I don't want to have to put down radials but I guess that's almost a prerequisite for good performance. Ever notice no matter how many antennas you have it's never enough ?

Any horizontally polarized antenna I put up for 160 or 80 will be NVIS because of the height!

Radials were a breeze using my edger. I got a roll of wire from Home Depot, some ring connectors, and some of the big staples for staple guns and it only took a couple hours to put them down. I hammered the ends down with the staples, so they would stay in place. The radials are hard to find after a couple weeks.

Resonance counts in the city, for noise and TVI.

In the spring, an old man's thoughts turn to antennas...

The vertical needs a little tweaking, but the big Ten Tec tuner takes it from 3:1 at points on down to where it needs to be. I think 4 or 5 of those radials may have become destroyed, etc. over the years, and the feedline is marginal. But, I hear lots of stuff, once I plugged the right cable into the lightning arrestors on the copper plate in the basement.

I had a towel over all this shit, but after two years, the amp tuned up fine and I've got 800+W on 7200 kHz, but I have that "warm" 60 Hz smell and feel. I'm sure it will be fine. Oh, that was after I figured out I had the menu item on the TS570 for the amp control turned off...

TS-830 was slow to come to life, I didn't try to tune the output yet. Other fish to fry. I know if I start on the K-1, I will have the oscilloscope out trying to get that last 500 mW.

Heard some folks on 17, nothing on 15 , but I only stayed a couple seconds.

Fucked with the rotor controller and took it outside, cut the control cable, re-wired it, and it works. I had a fucked up control cable somewhere, now I gotta cobble together enough 3 lead line to get back to the shack.

Gonna get the ladder out and get the pole straight, maybe I can go up a pinch, and I need to tighten the guy lines. Give me a PM if you want to teach me how to talk.

After I get down from the ladder, I may clear off the desk and make a couple QSO's. Back in the saddle, again, but with a directional antenna hi hi

73,
n8** (it swings on CW)

2200Z 14028 kHz barefoot 559 into Algeria 7X4AN, Hexbeam @ 21', could not hear him on the vertical!



Little fucker still works, off the old 9V battery. Didn't QSO, but I heard lots of signals and it bumps the wattmeter. Should be rock bound on 7040 and about 800mW.

If you have a good tuner why not try a Zep fed with ladder line ? On another note, do you know anything about the Yaesu FT-1000 mp ? My internal auto tuner buggered out on me ?

nice rig

try

http://www.va3cr.net/1000MP/Problems/Tuner.htm

Awesome little Altoids project there, Chuck. Did you build from plans?

It's a RockMite kit.

http://www.smallwonderlabs.com/Rockmite.htm

Thanks for the links Chuck but I've tried pretty much all the tricks there. Guess it's going to the Yaesu hospital.

Popularity of HAM radio growing.

I'm hoping for an erection soon

Got 40 foot and a 30 foot Rohn masts and associated hardware to guy them, new feedline, and an Alpha-Delta DX-LB. After all is done, I'll have the Hexbeam at about 38 feet (optimal!), the dipole center at 35, one end at 28, the other at about 23, and a 6BTV with 3 dozen radials. I am going to parallel a 30M dipole on the DX-LB, and I have a Unidilla 1:1 balun to replace the A-D center thingy. Anything that's missing, I can grab at the big show in a week and a half.

I saw a Colling 32S-3 transmitter that would be a great match for that R390A receiver, too. I'm attempting to exercise restraint.

Do you still need to learn Morse code to get higher than a technician class license?? I know when they introduced the code-less class license that alot of people who took an interest were looked down upon, harassed or ignored by hams with the CW endorsements.

One of the goinks on the production floor is full on into Hams. I should shake some info outta him next time I have an office day just so I can keep up here. I know 5 wps gets you something as far as the morse thing goes.

No more morse code test.

That's some bullshit right there... who let that happen?.

I'm pretty sure you and BDM could MC the face off of people from what I know.

Shit, Lou, Morse Code is second nature to Charin. He could do it after an 18 fridgepack of Black Label beer. (And he did).

These fuckin' amateurs getting into ham now and getting all the air time on CNN for covering and reporting natural disasters are what is ruining the hobby. It's enough to drive a man to drink.

Back in the day Chuck could have probably tossed his old lady into doggy and tapped out the next 4 four positions on her hemorrhoids without saying a word. That's pretty fucken epic, that's a connection.
I respect that shit.

I read online that back in the day of the telegraph, the operators were provided whiskey. They knew then that a limited number of shots...say two or maybe three would steady their fingers and they actually could transmit much faster and with more accuracy. It was almost a requirement as it took the edge off and allowed the guys to focus on the job at hand.

Music to my ears!

I want to be a Chicken Fat Operator some day.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy

Motorcycle parking is free at the Hamvention.

The haul so far:
150' of stranded copper
3 sets of cans (old plastic headsets high impedance)
More wire antenna classics book free w/ARRL re-up
Caig de-oxit and a can of air
A pound of coffee from the blind guy
Shit load of black wire ties
Some mix 31 ferrite cores

There is a Barker and Williamson 5100B transmitter I am considering.

I'm also thinking about a bug and one of those dealies where you add extra weight to get it below 20 WPM.

Wish you were here, BDM and CQ. BTW, I saw many young guys working on old stuff, that's great. But, the homebrew display area was really empty...

-Chuck, Vegetarian ham

I wish to fuck I was there too ! Just don't have the stamina right now. It's hard to describe the ginormity of Dayton to someone who has never been. I've been talking to some of my friends on the IRLP reflector there in Dayton in the flea market on our UHF linked system from the house today. Pretty neat.

On a sour note...one of my friends had a new Yaesu VX 8DR with mic and gps stolen right off his belt today inside the arena.

Live webcam from Dayton

About ready to pound some brass...

New antennas are up. Serbia 339 at greyline, 85 watts, I heard him 579. W1AW is S9+30 on 1806 kHz right now. I like it, this is rugged stuff that should stay up for a few years. Easy to work on, anyway.



The wire and the vertical are narrow down low, so CW only on 80 and 160. <2.0:1 all other Ham bands up to 10M. Now, damnit, fix this:

this seems like it shouldve been a panzer thread.

If it was a Panzer thread the only use these antennas would get would be to steal the local cable television channel's signal.

why not both?

This is what needs to be applied daily to the condition known as Alex Panzer

QRP

I swear I'm not this nerdy !

QRQ

^ Very cool and she's adorable !

I like the irritated look when RT4F asks her to repeat her call.

I got the TS-830 up and running, I'm going to use it as my main rig for awhile. It needed some general cleanup and contact cleaner for the bandswitches and front panel pots.



I also resurrected some old test equipment I was given, hollow state signal generator and a very neat signal tracer. The green glow closes up at the bottom as the signal gets stronger. It has a very good speaker, too. Notice the modulation shown on the 'scope, from the old tube signal generator.



Tubes are fun! I might homebrew a transmitter to use with my R-390A.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy

Yeah, there's a tube inside the probe bottom left!

Went to the Knoxville ham fest today. Bought some LMR 400 flexi, a repeater directory and some connectors. Started to buy a Yaesu FT-450 but backed out. Pretty good little ham fest. Went to the gun show at Chilhowie park after. I'm fucking pooped.

" Pretty good little ham fest."

thats what she said.

I got bit by a new bug.



I am going to restore this beautiful late 50's Zenith bakelite tube radio.



Here's the innards. Pretty simple, 7 tubes, they should be good. Or maybe not, they are not that difficult to find, or I might have them on hand. I'll replace most of the capacitors, and check all the circuits' resistance before I power things up. After a good cleanup and some soft cloth/Brasso TLC, this should be a nice set, with good sound from the tubes and the nice speaker.



How'd a solid state diode get in there? Luckily, the diagram for this circuit is online. I will see if I can find a good rectifier tube, or maybe I'll let it be.

Of course, I had to get more than one. Sorry about the picture quality.





I'll let ya'll know how it all turns out. Might be a little while, I have to go back to work after Field Day this weekend.

-Chuck, Vegetarian Ham

Selenium rectifier. They never told me about these in school.

I have a friend you would like. He restores old mics ! If you get on the link I told you about you will be able to talk to him.

Free signal generator.

IRLP node 9613
Boy the CME cocked up HF yesterday something awful.

Man, I got some weird shit here, and tons of it. Prototype shit from the 70's and early 80's. I don't know where this Bubba up north got it, but I think some guy from the Air Force base must have squirreled this shit away for 20 years and dumped it on him. A lot of it I can find datasheets for, a lot of it I can't.



Upper left is a prototype TI op amp, I really want to know what the cans are with 12 leads, and the thing on the bottom, I don't have a clue. Early prototype IC's. Gobs of 8-bit microprocessors and UV-erasable ROMs. Just the connectors and switches and alligator clips and assorted hardware puts me in great shape for building and repairing.

I have a very deep junk box now. I might build something using two of the two dozen or so power MOSFETs with a power dissipation of 15W and a gain-frequency of 65 MHz. Or, back to the tubes?

Jesus, I'll be forever sorting and researching this stuff, I've spent a fair amount on storage bins already. This is going to be a fun winter.




A guy at work want me to let him melt it down for the gold. I'd rather play with it. I wonder how toxic some of this crap is?

Don't be breathing it ! I ordered an Icom 880d D-star radio yesterday . Damn sight cheaper then a 2820. With a d-star module those go for almost a grand. The 880 is under 5.

have you 2 ham'r heads seen this video....
Climbing A 1,768 Foot Transmission Tower.

apparently the vid is getting pulled a bunch of places because this guy is breaking safety rules left-right and center.

excellent training aid for teenagers looking for something to prove because, "look how easy it is." i'm talking about the ones that outgrew skinny jeans and skateboards last week but still require a punch in the face, this is perfect. it needs to go out to all points.

Homebrew tube amp, 6AB4, works great. Nice gain, the A and B scales on the scope are .1 and .5 V/div. I'm going to build an oscillator next, I'll have a homebrew Tx on 80M by the New Year.



That's the tube kinda blurry on the left.

Going to the Gray hamfest in the morning.

How was it?

Finally got the picture I wanted.

What's the point when you have nothing worthwhile to say?

Homebrew VFO works. Kinda.

I recently took my Yaesu FT 1000 mp field to a local repairman. He was aces !!! He had a homemade SDR radio sitting on his bench monitoring 30 meters. He did everything from scratch including the circuit boards !

What was the story with the FT1k?

I'm going the other direction with tube circuits. I changed things a bit in the VFO, and I am out of the dog whistle frequencies, dead in the AM broadcast band. I think I will switch gears and modulate this through a 6AQ5 and make an AM transmitter so I can listen to computer and XM radio music, etc. over the ancient history AM receivers I have.

I'll bet SDR is lots of fun to play with. You got me thinking, if I need a software project, that would be a great one.

Holy fucking shit! I just answered a CQ on 7.112 CW from W6RO and guess who it was? The fucking Queen Mary! And, I got a QSO number so I will send off a SASE and get a QSL card! Fucking luck, just trolling around with the 6BTV, first time I had the TS570 on air in months. Must be something telling me to get the wires back up (ice storm took 'em down while I was in Texas) and make some Q's.

I worked an aeronautical mobile [plane] of the coast of Spain the other day on 15. You never know what's gonna turn up on hf do you ?

Are you coming up for the big show next month?

Some assembly required.

All this to beam Gag Factor audio tracks to New Zealand.

Is there any chance you could electrocute and kill yourself?

He's gonna hook it to his dick to see how many watts it puts out while fapping to a Gag Factor.

What!?! And break my record?!?

I'm QRP.

Wow, 850W peak!

Horse laugh !

Now you are posting pics of your jizz?? Does round 2 start as your dog licks the box cover clean??

Please get back on the bottle, it is obvious you have nothing to live for.

Ohio QSO Party tomorrow.

Big QSL card from the Queen Mary.

I just replaced a shopping list of electronics. The list included a Darlington transistor and a shitload of other resistors and transistors. All this shit on some control board attached to one A/C fan blower in the Jaguar I mentioned before. Why they felt the need to put all that shit- half on one control panel in the fascia and then two quarters divided between the two fans I cannot understand. It was beyond my capability to test each component and much cheaper for me to just order replacements and resolder them all into the control board. I think it cost less than 20 bucks and now the fan works and I have a spare set of everything for when, not if, the other fan goes out.

What year Jag is this?

Why the fuck aren't you a ham ?

It's an '88 Jag. Electronics were new to them and the Brits went nuts in their use. For good measure they held onto relays and sprinkled them around the car in random places. I'd guess there are 50-60 of the modular automotive type relays in this car in about 8 disparate banks- from the trunk to the grille. Then there are the fuse panels. This car is known for the "Pac-Man" digital display that looks like an 80's 8 bit video game.

And, I'm not a ham because I have plenty of other hobbies. I have a close friend who is one, and I'm sure he'd like me to get into it so he'd have someone to give all his cast-off stuff to, but I just can't get interested. (But in the apocalypse, if you were dead and I came across your ham shit all fucked up, I could probably kludge it together well enough to get it working).

I worked several stations last weekend on a 160m contest with my DX-LB at 35 feet. As far as Texas. Not bad for a city lot.

I haven't been on 160 in a while. Been working the hell out of 10, 12 and 15 though.

My RV screwdriver is screwed. Smoked a resistor inside the control. It won't move or hear. I'm gonna get some Hustler resonators and keep things simple. I'll work enough CW with them, with the 72 inch mast. Might order Monday.

Where you spend the Holidays? On an adventure somewhere or home?

Ohio for Christmas, RV in Texas before New Year.

Ham radio is a worldwide adventure every day !

Happy Birthday (Zulu Time) to Mr. Marconi.

I just worked these guys on 7119.

I'm gonna try it again this year. You should, too, BDM. Load up the folded dipole, I guarantee you'll make several contacts.

http://www.arrl.org/160-meter

73,
N8**

I may give it a shot. Been working a lot of 15 lately !

14 contacts so far, needed the amp to do it. I am on a trapped dipole at 30 feet.

bummer

I've been having trouble receiving some FM stations on my new tuner card so I started looking for a new antenna. I've used the Terk powered antennas before and am less than impressed. In fact that is what I'm using now.

I'm also considering adding a police and fire scanner, so shortwave is a must now. This is what I've found:

Godar DXR-1000

Overkill or not enough?

I always go to eHam.net for reviews. One review of the Godar antena:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/review/93779

Several of an AM Terk unit:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/8505

Looks to me like the Godar placed outside and up a few feet would work great for FM and scanner freqs. You will want something to use as a ground plane. For $99 I might try to roll my own first, but I have whips and a deep junk box already.

I spent a night listening to the local cops ( see http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?mid=178 ) and it was boring. Most systems now are also trunked, meaning they use several frequencies, so you will probably need a trunk tracker scanner.

A Ham doesn't know what antenna overkill is...

Thanks Chuck. I have a 3' piece of rebar staked into the ground and wired to the terminal block where my coax comes into the house it grounds the cables shield.

Here's a little ham humor. Probably old news to the old-timers but was new to me

All you QRPers:

https://hackaday.com/2016/07/26/history-of-the-capacitor-the-modern-era/

A buddy of mine just put up a 900 meg antenna at my house for linking to a repeater including internet capability. Will be able to access tons of shit from one frequency and dial up linked systems. My house is high on a hill.

Due to poor propagation on 20 meters, due on part to an ongoing geomagnetic storm, the Hurricane Watch Net will be operating simultaneously on both the primary frequency of 14.325 MHz and the backup of 7.268 MHz until Earl is no longer a threat.

Italian Ham Radio operators using 7060 kHz for earthquake traffic. Please keep this frequency clear.

An email received from the ARRL this morning
Fifty of the nation's most accomplished Amateur Radio operators have responded within 12 hours to the call of the American Red Cross to deploy to Puerto Rico and provide emergency communications. At the behest of Red Cross, ARRL rallied the US Amateur Radio community to
provide up twenty five, two man teams of highly qualified hams. The group's principal mission will be moving health and welfare information from the island back to the US mainland where that data will be entered in Red Cross Safe and Well website
ARRL will supply the HF transceivers, feedlines, a dipole antenna and more. The teams will be deployed for up to 21 days.
Pretty fast.

Cool!

I will never buy a tower [unless it's a crank up] again. It's impossible to find climbers these days and I'm too old to do it. I got a half dozen antennas needing coax changes and no one to do it. It's short poles and trees and rope from now on.

My latest homebrew transmitter circuit: