Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I managed to make a few
improvements during the holidays.
I laid down 11 more radials for my shunt-fed tower. This was more than
600 feet of wire, bringing the total to 24 radials. Most radials are 60
feet, although a few are shorter, since I ran out of yard on that side.
While the tuning of the shunt-fed tower didn't change much, the
difference on 80m is quite noticable. Previously, it had been about the
equal of the low dipole. Now, it is roughly a whole S-unit louder (at
least for DX). With 100 watts, I've cracked a few SSB pileups for DX
stations in the window on the second call.
It has also changed the tuning of the 40m 1/4 wave sloper, which now
makes an impedance in the middle of the band my tuner cannot match.
I'll have to fix that before NAQP CW.
Anyone else make any improvements over the holidays?
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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