Great story, Paul.
There is no reason for anyone to not be on the air from wherever
they live. There is always a way to string an antenna.
I lived in an apartment and operated with a 40m dipole routed
much like your's was throughout the apartment and running an HW-8
off a lantern battery. I had a great time.
Next, I moved in to a house in a subdivision fwith deed
restrictions against outside antennas ("No outside antennas are
permitted."). So, in a short time, I had five dipoles in the
attic: a n/s 10m dipole, an e/w 10m dipole; a 15m dipole, a 20m
dipole, and a 40m dipole. (the two ten meter dipoles were really
needed and were very effective.). Running a Ten-Tec 544 at 100w,
I worked 180 countries on CW and SSB. Oh yeah, it took some
work--attics in Houston in May are never comfortable AND this was
in the time BEFORE the MFJ 259--but all antennas were finally
made resonant in the CW portions of their respective bands; I
only needed a tuner when running SSB (not very often).
So, for anyone feeling like they are constrained by antenna
limitations to the point they are not on the air and as Gloria
Estefan sings, "Get on your feet. Get up and make it happen!"
73,
dale, kg5u
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul R. Valko <prvalko@oakland.edu>
To: QRP List <qrp-l@lehigh.edu>
Cc: tentec@contesting.com <tentec@contesting.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Sunday, August 22, 1999 22:37 PM
Subject: [TenTec] Humble Pie - An incredible antenna
>
>
>Gang,
>
>For 20-some years I have scoffed whenever I read or heard about
somebody
>who had to use an indoor antenna. I was convinced that there
was no way
>anything like that would work.
>
>I'm sorry, I was wrong.
>
>Even though I am a huge fan of Rocky's articles in the Mi-QRP
Club
>magazine, I need really gave much credance to his "ramshackle
radiator."
>
>So anyways... for several years we've owned this small cottage
up in the
>"thumb" of Michigan. The children lovingly call it, "The Little
House."
>Even after all those years, I never got much up for a skyhook,
other than
>the occasional mobile-whip-on-a-magmount-stuck-on-the-shed.
>
>A few weeks ago, I bought a 50' spool of 16ga lamp cord at Radio
Shack.
>So out of desperation last night, I split that 'zip cord' down
the middle
>and quickly had a tangle of two 50' wires.
>
>After untangling the mess I had created, I cautiously screwed
the striped
>end of one of the wires into my trusty MFJ tuner. There was NO
feed
>line, so I simply decided to use the "Balanced Line" output
connections.
>
>My Triton IV sprang to life with the buzz of the 40M band.
Within
>moments, I had that first 50 feet of wire run all along the
walls of the
>cottage. The wire was stuffed into cracks, draped over the
windows, hung
>over doors. The second 50 feet was connected to the opposite
side of the
>balanced line outputs and likewise draped in the opposite
direction,
>ending up in the closet of the girl's bedrrom.
>
>What I ended up with, was basically, a six-foot-high horizontal
loop,
>indoors of an aluminum sided 900 sqft cottage.
>
>The antenna loaded up fine on 40M. My daughters and their
overnight
>guest were none too pleased with the TVI, but they needed to go
to bed
>soon anyways.
>
>The NJ-QSO Party was active and I quickly made a few QSOs, both
on high
>power SSB, and QRP CW! There was a lot of activity on 20M so I
tuned up
>there and worked a station in TX while running 10W SSB.
>
>I worked a station in France on 40M CW and 100w.
>
>Actually, I worked everyone I could hear. It was almost like
being at
>home.
>
>Imagine if this were outdoors!?! I'll be putting up a
horizontal loop
>soon at W8KC. Maybe this year *I'll* work a few more foxii!
>
>73! =paul= W8KC
>Collector of Ten*Tecs and other fine plastics
><http://www.acs.oakland.edu/~prvalko>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>--
>FAQ on WWW:
http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
>Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
>Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
>Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
>Search:
http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
>
>
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
|