It's best to run the cables inside of the tower. The tower then tends to act as a Faraday shield (albeit imperfectly) thereby further isolating the cables from the radiating mechanisms. Riki, K7NJ -
I've had good results with similar connections by using a suitable conductive grease. I believe that these are mentioned in the ARRL Antenna Handbook. I've used both "Noalox", and "Penetrox". Be sure
I forgot to mention that after using the conductive grease, I apply sel-vulcanizing electrician's tape. This is the kind of tape where the rubber molds into itself and it becomes inseparable. It's si
Bill- Most probably it's because the connection is not really "sealed". There are usually microscopic crevices betweeen parts where moisture vapor can enter, and this vapor may condense into water -
I've used ultra-violet resistant self-vulcanizaing tape for many years with no apparent degradiation. This was in 4X where ultra-violet intensity is extremely strong. The tape was manufactured by "Sc
I've always used BOGs at 4X4NJ and had 5 of them last year. They work remarkably well. I believe the only hesitancy in using them would be if either (1) you have high ground conductivity or (2) you h
Perhaps you were referring to a comment I had about the BOG. The twisted pair is good because (1) you can use rugged military field telephone wire that is usually availbable quite cheaply - check on
After losing many matching transformers and terminating resistors to lightning, I added spark gaps to ground. Instead of typically losing at least one component a year and sometiimes more, there have
I have used teflon coax that is approximately the same dimensions as RG213 (sorry forgot the number) for resonating an inverted L on 160M. It worked well for a while, and then it broke down at the op
My previous last sentence is unclear. The two coaxes would physically be adjacent to each other (i.e. physically parallel). But in fact they would be electrically in series with the shields soldered
The dissipated power in the capacitor depends upon the rf current flowing through it. You could have a relatively low power application and still cause significant dielectric heating. This would happ
I'm not sure what you mean by "chock block". In the past I had the challenge of making in-the-field connections in Beverage wires that contained steel strands. I used either "wire nuts", or the conne
Been there, done that and it ain't workin.... In a past post I've explained various techniques used in attempting to reduce the voltage gradient at the open end of the coax, including: - letting the
An empirical approach that I've successfully used is to change the ground parameters using NEC software until the input impedance of a modeled antenna corresponds to the measured input impedance of a
Yes, I've tried this and had horrible IM afterwards. A better solution would be to use single diodes that each have about 1 volt of reverse bias. The diodes, connected in reverse polarities relative
Thank you W5WMU for sponsoring the Top Score World plaque received for the 2005 Stew Perry, and to N6TR and W7EW for their efforts in making this a most enjoyable event. Special thanks to K7CA for us