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Re: [Amps] Roger, Roger, Roger

To: amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] Roger, Roger, Roger
From: "Roger (K8RI)" <k8ri@rogerhalstead.com>
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2012 18:49:15 -0400
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>
On 7/7/2012 6:15 AM, donroden@hiwaay.net wrote:
> Quoting "Roger (K8RI)" <k8ri@rogerhalstead.com>:
>
>> My experience is an antenna is an antenna is an antenna is an antenna.
>> It makes no difference in the antenna type, they do not care whether the
>> signal is analog or digital.
>>
>> there is no such thing as a digital or analog antenna, nor is there one
>> that works better on digital or analog Vs the other
>> Nor have I ever noticed a difference in types versus modes.
>
>
 > Roger,
 > You are wasting bandwidth and time.

I kinda knew that ahead of time<:-))

 > Don't you know that digital antennas have square edges that capture
 > the sharp transitions of ones and zeros ?
 > Analog signals being slippery; the sine waves just pass on through.

And here I thought that was just cheap construction.


 >
 > It's like the old feedlines we used to make out of barbed wire with
 > the barbs pointed towards the antenna.

Barbed wire was too valuable to use for feed lines (we had cattle), but 
my dad and I worked as linemen on the old country, party, telephone 
line.  He was a big man and I was a skinny kid. Guess who got to climb 
the wobbly wood poles.  You haven't lived until your spikes slip and you 
get to hug a wood pole with all the splinters pointed up while you are 
going down!  These were the telephone lines with a pair of parallel 
wires on the green insulators.  When we got rid of the "crank" 
telephones and sold the rights to the commercial company we kept the 
miles and miles of wire and insulators. I had barrels of those green 
insulators.  The wire was either #10 or #12 steel with a coating that 
didn't rust, but I don't remember what it was.  What ever you could make 
antennas that would also serve as guy wires, but for feedlines you had 
to hook it to something solid and the drawbar on a tractor. Then 
"Stretch it" just a little to get it straight. Once straight it'd stay 
straight.

 > The signals would just slip out
 > to the antenna but them vswrs would get caught coming back in the
 > other direction.
 >
 > Great transmit antenna, but I never heard much on one of 'em.

That's why QRO was developed. Problem was it'd burn out all those little 
Iron Oxide diodes where the barbs were twisted into the fence and then 
those SWRs could get back up the transmission line to the transmitter 
and every one knows that only works on receivers.
But Michigan being Michigan (mostly swamp)new ones would take their 
place within 24 hours.

That swamp part has always bothered me.  The DNR goes after people 
building on what they call wet lands. Now central Michigan is flat land 
farming country, BUT nearly all of that land except a few sand hills was 
once swamp. They drained the swamp, or a big portion of it with a huge 
network of drainage ditches.  Let the land lie fallow for more than a 
couple of years (two might be enough) and the stuff that grows up would 
qualify it as wet lands.  That happened to a guy no more than 4 or 5 
miles from us.  He was going to turn his farm into a subdivision, but by 
the time they started running roads and sewers the DNR stepped in and 
shut him down.  Even though he had farmed it for years they called it 
wet lands.  There went his retirement.

 >
 > We did some experimenting with RF glue back in the day too.

I spent most of my teen years working on that stuff, but the neighbor 
across the road called my folks and complained the CW was not only 
trashing his radio, but the telephone as well.  Now that was saying 
something because the telephone transmitter was a carbon mike and two 
great big 1.5 volt batteries supplying power.  That was it so I must 
have had a good signal...well, strong at least to interfere.  BTW I 
still have the test set we used on that line. I understand they make a 
pretty good fishing rig and you don't have to dig worms for bait.

I used some over worked ignition coils and even some old Model T "spark 
coils" along with a big air wound transformer much like a Tesla coil. I 
could get one whale of an arc out of that. You could actually hear it 
growl with the CW, but it wasn't nearly as musical as the ones in "The 
Sorcerer's  Apprentice".

I think the statute of limitations has run out on that... I hope.
I wonder what the IM was on that big coil.

73

Roger (K8RI)


> Don W4DNR
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