I couldn't help but repost this from netnews.
Todd, N9MWB is a budding contester. He acknowledges that he can't put up a
competitive HF antenna, so he tried to be somewhat competitive on VHF/UHF.
His original petition was for a 20 foot mast on top of his roof to support
VHF/UHF yagis.
Enough is enough !
Please write your ARRL division director, K1ZZ, K1KI, N4RH and W3BE at the
FCC, and whoever else you feel is appropriate. It's time for a meaningful
PRB-1 to be written.
Steve London, N2IC/0
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.policy
Path:
bigtop!cbnews!att!linac!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!decwrl!pa.dec.com!nntpd2.cxo.dec.com!nuts2u.enet.dec.com!little
From: little@nuts2u.enet.dec.com (nuts2u::little)
Subject: Re: PRB-1 and the ARRL
Message-ID: <1993Aug5.060413.24924@nntpd2.cxo.dec.com>
Sender: usenet@nntpd2.cxo.dec.com (USENET News System)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
References: <stevewCB8y4J.2tC@netcom.com>
X-Posted-Via: NEWS-NOTES gateway (a hack!)
Lines: 28
Well I wrote about everyone I could find including my two senators, my
representative, David Sumner, George Wilson, Perry Williams, my section
manager, my division director, and called Chris Imlay.
To top it off the village has proposed to further restrict antennas in
apparent retaliation for my petition. So roof mounted antennas would be
limited to 2, no dimension exceeding 12', and not to exceed 10' in height,
plus it will be retroactive and all existing antennas installations will
have 6 months to come into compliance. Out of the frying pan and into fire.
Anyone know a good attorney that wants to take a pro bono case? :-(
73,
Todd
N9MWB
>From Fred Hopengarten" <lectroid!jjmhome!k1vr!k1vr@uunet.uu.net Wed Aug 4
>13:27:17 1993
From: Fred Hopengarten" <lectroid!jjmhome!k1vr!k1vr@uunet.uu.net (Fred
Hopengarten)
Subject: Failure of 1/2" CATV
Message-ID: <2c5fab2b.k1vr@k1vr.UUCP>
On Tue, 3 Aug 93 11:27:03 EDT,
jjmhome!transfer!lectroid.sw.stratus.com!uunet!gloss.enet.de
c.com!dul wrote:
> How does your [W1CF/W1FC] 4 square vertical array on 40
compare to the 40-2CD at 90 feet for DX work? I'm trying to
decide on a 40 meter DX antenna. -- Ken K8ZR
K1VR replies:
In the afternoon to JA, DU, VK6 or YB0, to name a few long
path destinations, there isn't really any difference. In
the morning, to JA and UA0, it seems to be down a very small
amount of signal strength (it is the same on receive, but
with a truly marginal contact the DX station may struggle
with two letters of my call on the vertical, whereas he
struggles with only one letter of my call on the Yagi).
The high angle path to EU, where you make almost of your
money in a contest, is another matter. Ten years of testing
on the afternoon/evening path to Eu shows the verticals to
be 10-20 dB down from the Yagi.
The verticals are ground mounted, with 40 radials each,
soldered to a bus creating four quadrants, just the way the
NAB Engineering Handbook wants to see them, except that
there is no outer perimeter bus. In the early years of yard
work, some of the radials may have been messed up a bit, but
I can't blame that. Nor can I raise the verticals, for then
the radials would intersect my NNE/SSW and my N/S Beverages
at about the same height.
Does this mean that the verticals are useless? No. (1)
They permit me to work South America and the Pacific without
turning the beam. This is a not inconsiderable advantage,
as the Yagi is on a RingRotor which takes about 90 seconds
to turn a revolution (compared to 60 for a Tailtwister).
(2) They permit quick direction changes to test which
direction a "skew path" signal is coming in on. (3) They
help quick direction changes in SS.
Bottom line? On the beam, I can work over 90 an hour to EU
on 40 for four hours or more per day on CW, or bust pileups.
The verticals will not do that.
But 33 foot verticals sure are a lot less conspicuous than a
100 foot tower and 2 element 40 meter Yagi.
--
Fred Hopengarten K1VR
Six Willarch Road, Lincoln, MA 01773-5105
home + office telephone: 617/259-0088 (FAX on demand)
"Big antennas, high in the sky, are better than small ones, low."
>From Fred Hopengarten" <lectroid!jjmhome!k1vr!k1vr@uunet.uu.net Wed Aug 4
>15:47:11 1993
From: Fred Hopengarten" <lectroid!jjmhome!k1vr!k1vr@uunet.uu.net (Fred
Hopengarten)
Subject: Power Line Noise
Message-ID: <2c5fcbf4.k1vr@k1vr.UUCP>
As long as everybody is telling power line noise war
stories, here's mine -- along with a question.
I had a noise from the Northeast. As you may know, that's
an important direction from New England. Can you spell
E*U*R*O*P*E?
I kept records. Lordy I kept records, but the appearance of
the noise wouldn't correlate against time of day, weather,
month, or anything I could figure out. Power company
designated guy came one day and couldn't find anything.
I played tape recordings over the phone to him. He came
back and we got lucky. Using an old CAB (Civil Aeronautics
Board) radio (150 MHz?) with an AM detector, and handheld
four element beam with wooden handle, he found -- next
block North, north side of street, and four houses East, a
little old lady with an electric blanket which was arcing.
She turned it on only when she went to sit in her favorite
living room chair and read or sew, which might be in the
middle of the night when she couldn't sleep, or a sunny
afternoon, or anytime - randomly. So he gently, graciously,
with great kindness, took a lap blanket away from a little
old lady. Slightly hard of hearing, she never heard the
buzzing of the arcing.
Our best guess is that we may have saved her life. A likely
eventuality was that she might fall asleep with the blanket
on, it would catch fire and burn her. Given her age, she
might not have survived the burn-induced shock.
The guy from Boston Edison still uses the blanket when he
teaches electrical safety classes.
Amateur radio -- a public service!
And now the question. I've frequently seen folks writing on
this subject say something like: "Add an AM detector to
your two meter radio and find the source using a portable
Yagi." Anyone got a quick and dirty substitute? I'm just a
humble suburban lawyer, to whom "adding an AM detector"
doesn't come easily. I've also never seen a battery powered
CAB AM radio at a flea market. IDEAS?
--
Fred Hopengarten K1VR
Six Willarch Road, Lincoln, MA 01773-5105
home + office telephone: 617/259-0088 (FAX on demand)
"Big antennas, high in the sky, are better than small ones, low."
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