I have a 34 foot boom supporting an 80 meter wire beam. The elements of the wire beam are completely insulated from the boom. 30 feet below that boom is a 20 meter beam. Yes, there is definitely inte
I have a 2-element 80 meter wire beam, with inverted-vee elements. The boom length is 34 feet. The first thing to be aware of is the very narrow bandwidth. About 60 kHz between 2:1 SWR points, and th
You also need EZNEC if you don't already have it. Minimum of another $99. 73, Steve, N2IC _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ TowerTalk mai
Thank you, Shawn, for this excellent posting. 15 years ago, while my house was being constructed here in New Mexico, I observed the same effects while trying to determine optimal heights and locatio
Other related things to check: - A female UHF connector, barrel, etc. where the center conductor has expanded through use. - Are you powering a remote antenna switch through the same coax ? A loose c
For those who live in an area with wildfire danger, consider that the flame lengths from tall grass and shrubs can be more than 15 feet, and phillystran-melting temperatures above that. You will need
Yes, when you have tall trees and high fuel loading, there are bigger wildfire concerns than melted phillystran. 73, Steve, N2IC Ken K6MR -- *From:* TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces@contesting.com> on be
Okay...my dumb questions of the week. Can I use my 2-port nanaVNA (which measures S11 and S21) to measure switch port isolation of a 1:N switch ? If my switch left unused ports open, would I simply m
Thanks for the tips on measuring isolation, Wes. Measured a few switches I had laying around. Old B&W round switch. 70 dB @ 3.5 MHz, 60 db at 28 MHz. Not bad, considering. Array Solutions 2 antenna S
This is a B&W 550A. Unused ports are not grounded. Yes, this is what it means. If your European antenna has more than ~45dB of directivity, then it could be an issue. For more fun and debate, I made
I have had one for about 2 months. With its small size and low cost, it is an excellent tool when you need to check things out at the top of a tower. Dropping a $40 VNA is one thing. Dropping a $300
I have acquired a number of KT-34XA's over the years. They had at least two different boom designs. One design has the swaged sections. The other design has couplers that are inserted inside two adj
Anyone have the Mouser or Digi-Key part number for the OR-2800 magnetic reed switch ? Thanks, Steve, N2IC _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________
I paid $500 for a used DXA+controller about 5 years ago, bought from a trusted source. On the outside, it looked great. It's been up for 5 years, turning a long boom, 6 element 15 with a 6 meter beam
This is a little complicated, so follow along if you are interested.... I have a 40 meter beam, and a rotatable, loaded, 80 meter dipole on the same mast, a few feet above the 40 meter beam. For year
The antennas are fed separately. The stub on the 80 meter dipole does kill the interaction to the 40 meter beam. However, the Z of the stub is around 1000 ohms 80 meters, so it affects the 80 meter d
It's used on CW and SSB. The loading coils in the matching network are shorted out by relays on SSB. 73, Steve, N2IC -- Why is the dipole resonant at 3.8? Are you using it there or only on CW? Wes N7
but does the model actually show much difference? One can get way down in the weeds with this - put a tapered segment in that's 1 cm long, etc. But if the wavelength is 20 meters, a 1 cm transition i
Just wondering if anyone uses 2 antennas on the same mast for SO2R? -- There are stations that go a step further and use the same antenna for SO2R, with a triplexer (or even quadplexer). Of course, w
I am trying to repair a well-used TIC 1022B. I need to separate the gear assembly from the motor. The keyed gear that slides on to the motor shaft is stuck. I have removed the screw on top of the gea