amps@contesting.com, while not specific to Acom, has a lot to offer. 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at <http://reversebeacon.net>, now spotting RTTY activity worldwide. For spots,
I've never understood typical ham practice of a hanging loop. What Chuck describes is mechanically much superior. 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at <http://reversebeacon.net>, no
Hans, I wonder, did your analysis take into account the catenary curve caused by the weight of the guy wire? K1TTT did a nice, complete analysis of what's involved, somewhere on his web site. I beli
I have a small variety of wire HF antennas that I've placed high in my trees with a tennis ball gun. All great except that the lifetime of the rope I've been using (3/16" polypropylene braid with an
Last week I was in the 160 CW contest using a jury rigged antenna - my 40M parasitic sloper fed with open wire line from a 4:1 allegedly 5 KW balun via a long run of Buryflex to the shack. Believe i
For what it's worth, I had an Ameritron RCS-8 at the base of my tower for 21 years with no protective box. I *was* careful to waterproof the coax connectors, but nothing special, just electrical tap
Was your tower guyed or unguyed? Makes a lot of difference in the loading on the base. I gather Chuck's would be unguyed, and that suggests to me that he needs to be very sure of the quality of the
I have been using big box store "parachute cord" for antennas, but have found it quite fragile in real life - for example, the center support of my Carolina Windom came down within 2 weeks of my inst
73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at <http://reversebeacon.net>, now spotting RTTY activity worldwide. For spots, please use your favorite "retail" DX cluster. I've just got a rope u
Thanks to everyone who responded to my query. After digesting your comments, I went online and discovered some pulleys that may be appropriate to the job - <https://www.boatersland.com/scp28501.html
Thanks, Steve - after reading and absorbing comments here, I went out and found a pulley with a 2 1/2 inch Delrin sheave, which has a 10MM deep groove . I will string Mastrant rope through the pulle
Fortunately, the archives are still Google-able 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at <http://reversebeacon.net>, now spotting RTTY activity worldwide. For spots, please use your favo
Yup, I remember when you would get chastised for raising non-contest topics on contesting.com - so we had to resort to asking about "contesting towers" "and contesting antennas" 73, Pete N4ZR Check o
A possibility, I admit, but my experience may be instructive. When I moved to West Virginia in 1995, my county was one of the only ones in the state with zoning, but the LESA zoning ordinance (such
Take a look at K7NV's website. He did an interesting finite element analysis of tower failure modes. Don't know, but it was still there the last time I looked. 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Reverse B
I don't know about that last comment. I ran my lawn mower too close to a hornet nest, probably joggling it slightly, and the resulting eruption of angry bugs caused me to set an age-group record for
Maybe 8-10 years ago at Dayton I bought a 3-foot jumper of coaxial cable with PL-259s (and reducers) on both ends. It looks like RG-400, about the same diameter and with the clear jacket, but is muc
John and others - I recently bought 10 feet of what is sold as surplus RG-400. At least it has silver-plated shield and center conductors, though no printed markings. My plan was to wind a common m
Yup, you and K1XX agree on this - thanks! 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at <http://reversebeacon.net>, now spotting RTTY activity worldwide. For spots, please use your favorite "
I may be mistaken, but didn't the Delta have loading coils instead of linear loading? Probably still OK for Glenn's purposes, with maybe a little extra wind loading. 73, Pete N4ZR Check out the Rever