HI, Mack; A source for PolyPhaser's book, The Grounds ...................., was mentioned in the past couple of months. I recommend trying Ham Radio Outlet. They advertise in QST and you can get thei
A skilled operator with a back hoe dug my 5 X 5 X 6 deep hole very precisely. I marked it by removing one course with a shovel. The contractor brought a dump truck and hauled away the dirt without dr
The line loss is one of the characteristics that may be degraded by moisture intrusion or other degradation of coax. It is easily measured by measuring impedance of the coax with one end either short
Hi, Dan; Guess your question is in the title. Wired rebar joints are acceptable from a structural perspective. The wires must be strong enough to hold together the rebar pieces while the concrete is
Hi, Rick; Your plan will create a better grounded station than most. I'll offer one further step: parallel the grounds to your arrestor boxes and into your shack, from separate points with 2 inches o
Hi, all; David Robbins mentioned free-fall. To add detail, free-fall and excessive vibrating or stirring causes the aggregate to separate. The large pieces go to the bottom, the fines, including the
Hi, Dan; I've supported a trapped dipole on 35 feet of Radio Shack mast for many years for my base station and for field day. The antenna supports it in the plane of the antenna and guys perpendicula
Hi, Steve; You are on the right track. In addition to Polyphaser, read ICE's application notes. Remember, no surge suppresser completely eliminates surges; they ATTENUATE. In addition, surges are ind
In days of old, when trees grew tall and straight, many towers and other structures were built of wood. Utility poles are good for some purposes. The station, Desert Voices, near Farmington, MN, buil
I've owned a VA1 for several years. While it isn't built like my Bird wattmeter or a GR impedance bridge, it appears better built than several items of mighty fine junk that I own and it has never fa
See "Optimizing Coaxial-cable traps", by Robert Sommer, N4UU, in December 1984 QST. I believe it is available on the ARRL web site (to members) and it is surely available on the ARRL QST CDs. I can p
Hi, Jerry and TTs; The bandwidths, efficiencies, and impedance levels of BALUNs vary widely. You must know what you are doing in choosing one for a particular application. The wrong balun may not pro
For information about baluns, what they do, and in what circumstances they are useful, search the articles by W2FMI, Jerry Sevick and W7EL, Roy Lewallen in QST and in their books. Each is an educated
See QST July 2001, "Home-brew Your Own Inductors", available at www.arrl.org/members-only/tis/info/pdf/0107066.pdf, with a correction in Oct 2001, "Feedback" for information on building FB high quali
Regarding mounting roof top towers: Consider the permissible load on the mount and the permissible load of the attachment to the roof structure and of the roof structure itself. Do not depend upon sc
Hi, Bill; In addition to Phil's advise, I'll mention a possible problem if you place copper in direct contact with your tower legs; if I recall correctly, copper will react with zinc to remove the pr
Perhaps paint stripper suitable for removing enamel will strip enameled wire. 73 de WOØW _______________________________________________ See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Tow
Hi, Dan; Can your measure the real and reactive components of the impedance? When you say 'loaded vertical,' I'm guessing you imply a vertical element shorter than 1/4 wavelength and the real compone
I've also stapled radials into the lawn several times. At present, I have 66 radials, each 66 feet long extending from a vertical. They required over 400 staples to pin that many radials close to une
Windmill Towers, The Gentle Art of Getting Them Up or Down, by Malcolm B. Magers, WØOJI, is in the Feb 1948 QST (price, 35 cents). "A new tower, complete and ready to assemble, can be purchase