Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 14:11:57 -0600
The intro to K3NG's Arduino based approach for controllers... Introduction This is an Arduino-based rotator interface that interfaces a computer to a rotator or rotator controller, emulating the Yaes
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:44:23 -0600
Just in case my experience may help someone... The last 1/2, especially the last 1/4 of a ground rod is often much harder to drive than the first part. I have used a sledge before but... you can bend
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:47:02 -0600
Yes, but then all concrete in contact with moist dirt is conductive. Conductivity is improved by increased area of contact and the Ufer ground has huge area compared to even dozens of driven rods. Pa
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 14:02:28 -0600
A club at OU in Norman, OK has an antenna on top of a stadium light post. I don't know the height but the cost to climb it is $2000 plus the price of the bulb. Patrick NJ5G Gedas, W8BYA Gallery at ht
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:11:54 -0600
I have 2 each factory made "T" post drivers, one old fashioned unit and one with an internal spring to help lift the driver in preparation for the next down stroke. They help but... mine are two feet
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:20:52 -0600
I duct taped a 5/8 wave 2M mag mount to a strut on a Cessna 172 and worked a guy mobile in his car nearly 200 miles away on National simplex 146.52 and always wondered how that worked without a groun
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:34:12 -0600
On 1/20/2015 2:46 AM, Roger (K8RI) on TT wrote: The ones I have seen are formed by using a large cardboard tube as a form to cast the ground rod in concrete. (remove the form before planting the grou
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 07:29:08 -0600
I have a triangular tower with legs on 14 ft centers, yes, 14 feet, not inches. I built it with three separate concrete foundations, one per leg. It is currently tilted over so one leg is not touchin
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 07:51:42 -0600
John KK9A Actually about $50-$80 which is why I made my own for much less. The chisel tip I used cost a few bucks at Harbor Freight. I cut it in half and ground the chisel half to shape so it could s
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:05:27 -0600
W O W, I didn't consider trying to auger a hole in a swamp! I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. If you have a form in place you don't have to pump out any water or thin mud as the concrete is way
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 15:01:28 -0600
Whether the 3 tower leg anchors are sufficient? I would hesitate to say, They are close enough to each other that they "probably" act more like a single, large ground, or electrode than multiple unit
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:51:19 -0600
I note the use of the term, "most common." What is most common is not always the best performing or the most bang for the buck. Time was when the belief in a flat earth was most common, man would nev
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 15:09:46 -0600
Bry said, " I would like to know what your ohm-meter readings are." So would I. I had a brief distraction in addition to the weather. I was intending to take a meter out in the field and report the f
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 15:23:31 -0600
No insult intended, Bill, I just want to mention something important and if you don't know it could bite you. Of the two baluns, the upper one between your approximate 90 ft wire and your approximate
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 15:52:33 -0600
Jim, Thanks so much for your comments. I may not have a good xformer for this but... I could use my stick welder and set it on AC with an AC amp meter in series. That ought to git 'er done. This adds
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 07:23:57 -0600
Holy Cow!!! Welcome to Lilliput. Didn't a lot of us start out with the water analogy to understand simple electrical circuits. In my first formal electronics studies we used hypothetical components:
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2015 12:57:55 -0600
The old rule of thumb for lightning protection from over head dissipation devices (high metal roofs, lightning rods, grounded towers, etc. is a 30 degree cone angle. This is NOT a guarantee but a ten
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 07:02:20 -0600
Your story seems to support the old rule of thumb. Lightning hit all around but not directly on to the tower. Lots of folks think lightning rods (and other structures such a towers etc.) are intended
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 08:20:33 -0600
Tendencies, not absolutes. It would be foolish to assume a charge dissipating system would work 100% of the time. Grounding runs for lightning rods are of considerable size and are careful to bend ge
Author: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g@windstream.net>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 08:54:07 -0600
Jim, Thanks for the info. Too bad there is so much bad info being circulated until it takes on a residual life of its own. Not a good situation. Patrick NJ5G It would be foolish to assume a charge di