TT: I picked up (but didn't purchase) a CFL bulb package the other day and read that the gizmo contains mercury. The package simply advised something along the lines of, <Dispose of in accordance wit
Dave: I've advised others on the TowerTalk reflector to drill quarter-inch or half-inch diameter holes on the underside of plastic conduit at the low spots so water will drain from within. To prevent
Dennis: Here's a site (one of many) that will allow you to draw on-line a map of the earth with your QTH at the center: http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml . From this map you can identify the proper di
Gents: I've read some of the 'nam era papers on US Army loading up tree trunks and making successful contacts, etc. I'm not convinced that the radiation was not solely from the gamma wire itself, wit
Jeff: If you can elevate a shielded coax loop a bit to get it above the boys' play area, you will find it to be an effective RX antenna. I built one out of a connectorized 25 foot length of RG-59 fro
Sam: He's saying that, in his experience with his company's facilities, wet weather has a tendency to wash the insulator skirts clean of the dirt that forms the basis for the arc tracks that could ge
Jim: Insulated wire is more durable than bare in radial applications. The soil pH is kept away from the (presumed) copper wire inside the insulation so the wire will last longer in all soil types tha
Herb : I'm not sure you'd ever be able to prove effectiveness one way or another (to ground or not to ground the radials' far ends.) When I installed my radials in 1998, I used large nails to hold th
Todd: I use insulated radials for my (now removed) inverted L and shunt-fed tower on 160M simply because insulated wire lasts longer in my back yard than does bare copper. My first antenna at this QT
Vlad: Congratulations on your achievement. I am envious of you - I have been working on WAS/TB for over ten years and still haven't made it. (I still need KL7.) Best wishes for 2010. 73 de Gene Smar
Eddy et al: The QST issues are: May, 1985; Jan, 1986; Mar 1988; Jan 1993; May, 1993; Feb, 1995; Apr, 1995; Jun, 1997. You can access them through the ARRL QST archives. If you aren't an ARRL member,
John: If you can de-mount your C-3 and get at the 20M parasitic elements at the ends of the boom, you don't need to install a choke to provide top loading for 160M. Natan W6XR, the designer of the ea
Graham and Eddy: The ARRL offer several courses, including antenna modeling: http://www.arrl.org/cce/syllabus.html#EC-004 . 73 de Gene Smar AD3F _______________________________________________ UR RST
Jonathan: What was the mode of failure? Did the wire itself break or was there a tear at a solder joint, etc.? This will help us understand how to help you design a better installation. 73 de Gene Sm
Gary: I'm inferring that your wire actually touches the tree limbs somewhere. If that is the case, you ought to run the L wire through a pulley that is held up in the tree by a flexible link, like a
Marc: Here's a close-up photo of how I grounded the parasitic elements of my Bencher Skyhawk (similar in design to your C31XR): http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j282/ersmar/?action=view¤t=Elem
Jack: Before I had to remove them to make room for my tower in the backyard, I had three bi-directional EWE's and switching relays powered over the coax. They worked extremely well in separating sigs
Gents: A man much wiser than I once told me, "The difference between theory and practice in theory is less than the difference between theory and practice in practice." Caveat Amateur. 73 de Gene Sma
Bob: Before making physical changes to the shunt feed system, can you try changing the length of the StepIR element to see if that affects the match? If it does or doesn't make a difference, that wou
Bob: I made my two-wire cage out of 1/2 inch PVC and fittings. See photos of a three-wire install at http://nidxa.org/kb9cry_shunt_fed_tower.htm . Both Phil and I used wire ties to fix the PVC in pla