Given the thickness of the foil and the likely surface treatment, I think soldering is going to be difficult. I've watched a TIG welding genius butt weld Coors aluminum cans (<0.004" thick) together.
I fried the reed switch turns counter in my variable L tuned 80m dipole. A bozo moment at QRO way off tune. So, I think all sensors need protection from high RF fields. Grant KZ1W de NA4M Joe WB9SBD
There have been a few comments about Rx antenna chokes. What I built may be of interest. 10 turns of RG179 micro TFE 75 ohm coax thru a Fair-Rite 2631101902 #31 core (1.12od x 1.125L x .54id). Wound
Worse than "not the best" or "not a good idea" from prior experimentation. My two Beverages 6 feet up (10' total Z) over a 4 strand barb wire fence did not work - very poor directivity. One N-S and o
My DX Eng 4 sq (12v over RG6 to preamps) has had infuriating random arc noise for years and the W3LPL explanation makes great sense to me as the reason. I did silicone grease the F threads but follow
Rick, Did you CM choke the power and signal leads? or the whole cable? Grant KZ1W Still working on this year's vertical. It will be ready for CQWW is the plan. 73 - Mark N5OT On 10/6/2020 6:20 PM, R
I agree with Dave's comments based on measurements and modeling of two different similarly sized top loaded verticals. Grant KZ1W *I believe there is a measurement error. * 1. The reactive part of th
For a literal "pair of radio wave glasses": Given the vertical gain of a practical 160 dipole is pretty much cloud burner and a decent 160 vertical is pretty much low angle, IF you know the actual re
Rudy Severns has many plots of elevated radial numbers, lengths, and elevations on his web site antennasbyn6lf.com My "T" showed the expected change in feedpoint Z as I added 125ft long 10ft elevated
I've been using 8' 1.5" dia painted fiberglass top and bottom of my 85ft T as standoffs from a fir tree. An 18" long bracket is lagged to the tree both places to make it stable and lower the FG stres
I question the wisdom of grounding the feedline shields at the antenna for either open wire or coax designs. Was this a error in the schematic? The bidirectional design using a coaxial cable shield f
For a portable helix loaded 160m vertical, I measured 1 and 2 127ft radials at 3.5ft and 6.5ft above ground (average or worse) and found a significant difference in the resonance R. 1 radial 3.5ft 50
The advice we were given from Hi-Z for a new 4 square was not more elevation difference between elements than ~4 feet. ~20% of element length. The topography that happens between elements, eg spannin
Then with FT8, the "db" rating depends on S/N not signal power. I hear well so my report is most frequently better than received. The big guns are an exception with well engineered stations in good l
Based on poor results (very low rdf) with no messanger RG6 over a barb wire fence I built and subsequent modeling that showed this, I think another parallel conductor near any Beverage is not a good
The nice thing about switched serial caps (if same values) for tuning upwards from a low resonance is the voltages are all the same. Plus caps and appropriate relays are cheap, easy, and small. Rick,
Rick at al, My comments in line Rick, I think you might have suggested this to me, and my implementation was published in QEX May/June 2019. Grant KZ1W Grant, Dave etc: I hadn't seen this article: th
I've had 8x 125ft long 10ft elevated aluminum radials up for 7 years in the forest of 100ft+ cedar, fir, and hemlock. Plenty of branch falls up to 3". Maybe a few inches of sag and no breaks. Negligi
N7QT & I verified that black ring screw-in insulators are too conductive for one or two transmit radials on 160m. Lot's of arcs and smoke. I now use the yellow 4" long barb wire insulators screwed to
I've not heard the term "accordian" applied, but the Tornado Tuner expands and compresses a coil inside some pvc pipe to change L about 2:1. I have one (split) to tune the full 80m band at the center