N4DDP and Shack

N4DDP and Shack
N4DDP in native habitat

Monday, March 28, 2011

A simple wire over the palm

The crappie pole was interesting. Still, there may be an easier way. This past Saturday I improved my radial system around the palm tree. I buried 6 14 foot radials just under the sod. I then took an eighteen foot long piece of wire with a fishing weight on the end and threw it over the palm tree.

Ok, not the fanciest. But, by gosh, I was 59 in to Michigan. Completed my first CW QSO in a long, long time. Boy was I rusty on the 'ole Benchers. My Keyer is a design from "Fundamentals of Amateur Radio, circa 1970s. It is made up of two 741 op-amps. It is far from perfect and has a few quirks which can make it tricky to use. I think I sent di-di-di-di-di-di-di-dit (error) more times than I would like to count! Still I survived.

With the antenna 40 feet from the house I can hear! The thing does tune up on 30, 15 and 10. But I doubt the efficiency is high. Still need a good way to get on 40. I am thinking of a loading coil and another wire tossed over the palm. It's a shame the palm is only about 18 feet high (to the top of the leaves, the trunk is a bit lower still.)

Someday I still wnat to try a lop lying on the roof. . . we shall see. For now I am QRV!

Monday, March 7, 2011

A Crappie pole may be the answer after all

I actually had some time Saturday to play with the antennas. Moving my random wire to the chimney did not help the noise problem enough to make it worth while. So I took the 100 feet of Beldon 9918 I have had laying around for . . . many years, I think about 17!, ran it along one of the fence stringers to the farthest corner of the Baby/Dog enclosure (about 50 feet form the house.) I used a 12' crappie pole with 24' of wire and a 12' radial, I tossed the "extra" wire over a nearby palm tree. AMAZING! I can actually hear stations on 40M (S5-S6 noise levels.) I can also hear on 20, 15 and 10! I think I am on to something. Another beautiful thing is that it is invisible from the street. In addition, during long terms of not using it, I can lay it on the top fence stringer so it is really invisible. This may be better than a flagpole.

I am ordering a 20' rod from amazon and the new plan is to use 3 parallel wires for a 40,20,15 and 10 meter vertical, sort of leaning up against the palm tree (which also places it outside the baby enclosure.) I may be on the air yet! (almost 2 years from the start!) Maybe play with 30M too.

I'll post some pictures when I get it set up for real.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Boy has it been a while!

You ever see and interesting blog, that never comes to fruition? That would be this one. I have been soooo busy, this is the last thing I have had time for. Plus, I have had no time for Ham radio since last July! I am still working on the antenna problem. My mag loop (my daughter calls it: my contraption) needs a better mounting and a little more capacitor for 40M. The adapted electric screwdriver works well. I will have to confirm that it is difficult to get more than an octave (2:1 freq. ratio) because of the Min/Max Cap ratio. So, I will probably build two loops. Another possibility is build a small receive only loop and put it outside, well away from the EMI of my home and use it so I can hear stations (my main problem right now with the Attic/Siding random wire.) Even before all that, when I get an hour or two, I am going to move my wire to up along the chimney and out to a vent pipe and see how that works.
My Bitx is still in the container I use for projects under construction, as are all my other projects.