I've had the Weller two temperature heat shrink gun for a couple years. It works well. Plenty of heat with the two settings available. It has a little 1 inch diameter sheet metal attachment that wrap
Couldn't really see much detail in the photo, Steve, but from your description it could be part of the FAA communications system. The local regional FAA center here in Longmont, CO has one just as yo
I also look forward to when LED bulbs become inexpensive enough to compete with CFLs. They offer several advantages such as greater selection of color, eventually better efficiency and much longer li
What you envision, Daniel, should work quite well on 80 with at most a minimal matching network at the base. Most likely you can get by without any tuning network and have less than a 2:1 SWR on the
As others have pointed out, Rudy N6LF has done some very complete and EXCELLENT work in this area. I strongly urge anyone with an interest in vertical antennas to take a look at it. Much of it was ju
I agree that a high quality general purpose remote auto-tuner suitable for KW+ levels over a "DC to Daylight" frequency range and undefined extreme impedance loads would turn out to be a quite pricy
<> In my quest for a 160 meter antenna, I have been looking at one of <> the 43' verticals such as the DX Engineering or MFJ one. Until such <> time as I get a tower up, this route seems to be my onl
For my antenna projects and other ham puttering I have a semi-frequent need to cut aluminum stock as well as PCB material, occasional brass, etc. I'm not talking anything really heavy duty - 1/4 inch
Yes, the normal two loop K9AY has pretty broad beam widths in the forward direction, so the four directions are quite adequate. The null on the back is sharper. I think you will be happy with the sta
I assume you are referring to the junction between the rope and the antenna element. In such situations what I do is form a small loop in the antenna wire (about 1/2 inch diameter) by clamping it wit
As you surmised, Ed, the 43 ft length is used so that the SWR isn't real terrible on the more popular bands. At 43 ft you will get compromise performance on 80, good performance on 40, 30 and 20, and
Doug ... I was going to suggest the same thing as Pete - common mode isolation. I have a homebrew K9AY about 2/3 normal size due to space constraints here. It is actually disguised inside an ornament
I built an elevated 40 meter ground plane last year. Some of the elevated radials were near trees and my house so I was also concerned about how to get exact resonance when the length of one or more
Larry ... Yes, I recently built a 2/3 sized K9AY RX antenna and am thrilled with the results. My situation was that it needed to be completely stealth due to HOA restrictions here. Just happened to h
I've never built a multi-band quad, Dan, but have done several single band loops and quads. You will want a 2:1 impedance transformation at the feed point (assuming 50 ohm coax) and also a conversion
Yes, smaller cores can conveniently be used for RX antennas. I built up some small common mode choke assemblies for use with my Clifton Active Whip antenna. Here is what I ended up with along with so
I'm using an AIM 4170. Accuracy not the best at high impedances. As a rule-of-thumb, I'm comfortable with it to give meaningful measurements up to about 2 Kohms and useful relative results up to 5 Ko
I leave the ends of the coax open and measure across the choke with the short test leads attached to the shield at either end. Just like you would measure any inductor. The AIM will then plot Impedan
Another similar alternative that is readily available is Belden 9501. I've been using it for the past several years with good results, and it is a delight to work with. Single AWG 24 twisted pair, fo
Not sure most boots would have room for a quarter inch plywood insole, but no need for something this thick. A good quality commercial insole will work wonders and only costs perhaps $30. The secret