Bill I have high tension lines running literally over the corner of my property, less than 100 feet from my tower. I survive! What I find is I get much more trouble from low tension stuff on my stree
Bill With regards to the XA/40 interaction: I have found that the new M2 version XA has a 40 meter resonance on the boom. This is due to the element mounts now being metal (conductive) which means th
There are multiple ways to do this. Many radios (Icom, and maybe others) output an analog voltage that tracks frequency bands. You can decode this with an analog level detector to drive relays. Top T
soil ph? Absolutely not. Increasing the pH could make the problem worse. The issue is that while there is sufficient galvanizing applied to tower components to protect them in air, this amount of zi
Having read this thread a few days ago, I re-sent an email to Idiom looking for parts and ordering the 'Year of DX' book. Today I received a phone call from Rob responding to my email (he called beca
For many years I have used a pair of vertically polarized delta loops in a phased configuration on 80 meters. These have performed very well. Each loop is approximately an equilateral triangle, apex
Sounds like Cushcraft sent you tubing for the newer antennas (A3 etc) that have metal tubing on the traps. I do not think it will work at all for an ATB34. You definitely should look for non-conducti
I originally had a 68 foot Rohn45 tower, with a KT-34XA at the top plate and a 40-2CD at the top of 10 feet of mast. This was a bear to work on, with having to remove the rotor and winch down the mas
I had a similar situation, and hired a PE to come up with a solution, which was: 78' Rohn 45, guyed in three directions. Although Rohn only specs two sets of guy wires in each direction, we went with
A delta loop is an antenna for the low bands that has vertical polarization but does not need a good ground. An equilateral triangle, apex up, fed 1/4 wavelength from the top, will give vertical pola
The article is: Oct 2010 - QST (Pg. 43) Is Your Tower Still Safe? -Tony, K1KP _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ TowerTalk mailing list To
Jorge Assuming your 8.35 foot jumper is lossless, it should not affect the SWR on the line. The addition of transmission line changes the complex impedance, but not the SWR. A perfect SWR meter would
I have a flag antenna which has worked well for several years. I used a Minicircuits T16-6 transformer to couple the ~800 ohm termination resistance of the antenna to 50 ohm line. Recently I decided
After asking the original question and then watching this thread go astray I guess it's time to try to bring it back to my original question. I am fully aware of the various techniques to make a tran
I had the same problem with several Hy-Gain rotors here. The problem is a ground loop formed by the high current AC return line from the rotator, which can return either via the rotor cable, or via t
current path for the destructive electrolysis currents. This is a misconception. While currents from conducting guys could make the problem worse (or better), it is the electrochemical reaction betw
Sounds like the problem is in the rear driven element. Being longer than the front, it's resonance should be lower. Most common problem with the M2 version is water in the capacitors. Did it rain hea
Cross posted to Towertalk and KTantennas: Re: Water in KT34/36 antennas The question is: What can be done to increase the ability of the plastic capacitor caps to keep water out of the capacitors? In
I think a 12 volt 3 terminal regulator is a better idea, and it would protect against coil spikes as well. With one IC and two caps it's still fewer parts than 20 diodes. To protect the preamp, use a
I bought a well-used TIC ring from another ham. It had been up at least a decade and had several problems. During the course of rebuilding it I learned a few things about how they work and what can g