Helluva story, Carl! (It must really focus the mind to know that, one way or another, you were going to leave that ship by catapult. ) But Jim made two separate points there: the % shield; and also t
Drill a pilot hole using an SDS+ electric hammer drill and a 1.0 metre long carbide-tipped drill bit of the same diameter as the rod. You don't need a huge heavy drill - it's the hammer action that d
Several years ago, we had a brainstorming session on this problem for my 'In Practice' column. There were various suggestions involving weights, dual-diameter drums etc. The wackiest idea was to have
Yet another way... I made up radials in sets of 8, twisted together and crimped into a single terminal lug. The crimp connection is totally sealed against corrosion, by a combination of solder, hot-m
Another thing that "goes without saying" is not to grease the pawl sprocket on the K1550, or even anywhere close. The friction discs press on both sides of that sprocket, and there's too much risk of
It's also a very good day to talk about finding true east and true west. -- 73 from Ian GM3SEK _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ TowerTa
It comes on the CD with the ARRL Antenna Book, 20th edition. The book itself contains a very detailed explanation of what HFTA is all about. You will also need terrain height data along radial lines
Go to: http://www.pmillett.com/tecnical_books_online.htm That site already has several copyright-expired electronics books online, so they understand the issues involved. There are many more copyrigh
Don't stop when the nickel is removed, but continue filing across the hole until the brass comes down to a thin edge. This makes it much easier to solder. -- 73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnis
C'mon, Bill - every other respectable RF connector series uses Teflon! The sky definitely isn't falling. -- 73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB) http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek
If you drill and re-tap, replace the original bolts with threaded studs, and fix them in place with permanent thread-lock. Then use Nylok nuts, which can be removed much more easily if anything goes
[...] From experience with moonbounce systems, a TVRO jackscrew would definitely be the way to go. Elevation rotators that are based on small TV rotators have a very poor reputation with anything lar
"International" Building Code? Is that something like the Baseball "World" Series? -- 73 from Ian GM3SEK _______________________________________________ ______________________________________________
That's correct. Like a professional VNA, the N2PK does not rely only on the quality of its construction and components. It also minimizes its internal errors by being calibrated with an open-circuit,
For the record (and correcting an error in the 4th edition of ON4UN's 'Low Band DXing') the N2PK VNA does not have a broadband detector, and does not suffer from those well-known limitations. It uses
If you're willing to build it yourself, and can accept an upper frequency limit of 60MHz, the N2PK Vector Network Analyzer is comparable in accuracy with professional VNAs of the HP4195A generation.
To clarify what I said earlier, the skin effect means that the RF current flows initially in the zinc plating, which is quite a good RF conductor. The steel core is not involved unless (or until) the
The zinc coating will be fine... but only for as long as it lasts, and then you're down to bare steel which is useless. So the answer depends entirely on the chemistry of your soil. At this QTH, a pr
You're so right :-) 1. Someone wrote me with a clever and simple idea: file across the holes using a 1/4-in round file, until the metal has been reduced to a thin edge. This will be much easier to so
Among all the recommendations that will surely follow, don't forget hot melt glue. It has excellent sealing properties, excellent RF properties (being a close relative of polyethylene) and no problem