The method I've used several times, including a Mid-Tri (without 40 meters), was to remove the elements after fit and measurement check, raise the boom parallel to the tower, and install the elements
McMaster-Carr has all sorts of cable and wire rope, sold in any length. 73, Scott K9MA 1) Marine and Boat Trailer dealers 2) 4W drive specialty shops who outfit jeeps and trucks for "off road" duty D
It makes sense that they wouldn't waste expensive copper on the RG6. center conductor. I built a shielded loop out of RG6, and completely forgot that the shield braid was aluminum, until I tried to s
You can clean corroded copper with muriatic (hydrochloric) acid, available at any hardware store. I keep a small plastic bottle of it handy, and just dip the end of the wire in it, then rinse with wa
With any of these vertically polarized RX antennas, beware of re-radiation from your tower. If you can't put the RX antenna at least a half wavelength or so from the tower, try to position it so the
While it may not be as aesthetically pleasing, one can make an equally effective shielded loop in a "diamond" shape, with two pieces of PVC conduit. See Sept. 1995 QST, page 95. There's a photo of on
Just try to change a tail light bulb on a recent automobile! (One before LED's, though.) My 2015 Outback requires disassembling the whole rear end of the car. 73, Scott K9MA -- Scott K9MA k9ma@sdelli
My first clue was with a 2001 Corolla. A headlight bulb burned out while I was on the road, spare in the glove box. No problem, right? Wrong! It takes a socket wrench to remove a bracket in the way.
I've long been using some ceramic doorknob capacitors in my 160 shunt feed. It seems only the N750 TC is available in large values, and they do drift when they warm up. I ended up putting two smaller
Probably 7 and 19. 73, Scott K9MA -- Scott Ellington -- via iPad _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ TowerTalk mailing list TowerTalk@conte
We all know how hard it is to hire someone to do tower work. I just watched some tree service guys who, will pruning some trees for a ham friend, also installed some pulleys for antennas. Climbing to
All well and good, if you happen to live in an area where professional antenna service is available. Many of us don't. 73, Scott K9MA -- Scott Ellington -- via iPad __________________________________
That makes sense: a 2" mast just barely fits. If the mast clamp deforms it even slightly, it won't fit. 73, Scott K9MA -- Scott Ellington -- via iPad _______________________________________________ _
I've been doing that for decades. It's a 70 foot tower with a JK Mid-Tri near the top, a D40 6 feet above it, and a JK CS3-JK on a sidearm at about 50 feet. There are two gamma matches on opposite si
I would attach each wire to the tower with a piece of Dacron line and an insulator, then connect it to the ring with a jumper of flexible stranded wire. Or perhaps just make the ring out of the stran
I can't find it now, but a couple years ago I found some calibration data comparing the Loos PT-2 on 3/16 EHS compared to the SS wire rope it was designed for. I recall that the PT-2 read perhaps 10
Both cases are fairly simple vector analyses. Deviating from the 120 degree spacing will result in increased tension on some of the guys, as well as vertical load on the tower.. You can calculate tha
I did look into that for protecting my guy anchors. It would have been cost-effective, but a lot of work to bury the wires. I went with magnesium anodes, which will last longer than I do. 73, Scott K
Most antenna switches ground the inactive ports. If yours does, no termination is necessary, except perhaps to keep the rain and bugs out. 73, Scott K9MA -- Scott Ellington -- via iPad ______________