I am going to celebrate the founding of our country by blowing up a
string of lady finger firecrackers right there in the ham shack. Part of
this is to celebrate the county's founding, but part of it is to make me
feel at home and simulate a big arc over in the HV supply. The smoke
will be a nice touch.
Here in the NE it has been raining for weeks. Yesterday there was a
fishable river running down where my shack road is located and we are
having excessive rain now that promises to add to the misery. Still, I
will be on 222 with a certified flotation device starting just before
2300 UT and hoping to make some contacts with other patriotic hams who
want to celebrate the 4th with a few 222 contacts.
I have chopped up my 280 ft run of 144 MHz feedline. It was made of 1
5/8" extruded aluminum outer conductor about 1/16" thick. The center
conductor is a copper tube about 1/2" diameter with about a 1/16" wall
as well. The old cable came out of Bell Labs in Holmdel NJ. We always
joked that it was last used by Carl Jansky in the 1930's when he was
investigating cosmic noise! The cable was incredibly stiff and hard to
deploy. We kinked it in two spots just trying to unroll the coil. I had
to splice it where it crimped. Anyway, the final return loss was about
20 dB on 144 and loss was about 1.0 dB. It was used on my 144 MHz
antennas for many years with no problems. I did not relish any attempt
at trying to re use the cable. It was impossible to roll up! I ended up
chopping it into 2-3 ft lengths and I recovered the scrap metal.
(Sigh!) The thick polyethylene jacket was trimmed off using a table
saw. The styrene plastic dielectric had to be pulled out of each
section. I have a truckload of styrene plastic strip now.
All this is in preparation to re install a 144 MHz station here. All the
parts are here and I just need some warm bodies to put the tower back
up. The new coax run is 1 5/8" heliax. It will have much better return
loss and insertion loss will be well under 1 dB. The antenna is a
smaller one that is easier to maintain. No more H frame.
So I am concentrating on 222 MHz while trying to get many other bands
running. The 222 Activity Night is a good way to build activity on a
fantastic, if under used band. Please make an attempt to get on and
make some contacts. It is also a great idea to write a report to Jon
Jones and QST "World Above" column. Let others know what you are
working on 222! We are in Sporadic E season and 222 is at the cutting
edge for Es propagation. Aurora and Es are worthy modes to be looking
for now.
CU This evening
Dave K1WHS
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