I am currently using a G5RV dipole and thinking about adding other dipoles or a
multi-band vertical to my collection. I am looking for other hams advise on
which should I do.
I enjoy using my G5RV for multi-band use with a tuner but most of the signal is
being taken by the tuner to get the swr within acceptable range. I have thought
about setting up individual dipole's for the most used bands but lack the space
so my best option is a multi-band vertical.
Which is the best the dipole or vertical? I understand that verticals are noisy
and because of the low radiation angle do not do well on local states areas.
If I was to chose a vertical, which one would be the one to get? A GAP,
Butternut, Cushcraft, Telex-Hygain or etc.?
I know that beams would be the way to go but money presently stops me from
putting up a tower with beams. At least with a vertical I would be putting most
of the power outside on the antenna and not inside on the tuner which I am
currently doing with the G5RV.
Thanks for any input.
73's
>From Bill Fisher <bill@akorn.net> Sun Dec 17 15:11:47 1995
From: Bill Fisher <bill@akorn.net> (Bill Fisher)
Subject: AB5KD ss ssb & comments (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.BSD/.3.91.951217101104.5396A-100000@paris.akorn.net>
Hola,
I was all set to operate this years sweepstakes contest
from W5KFT's ranch. This is the same station that I have
been operating from and building over the last 2 years.
Having won last years ss phone from this station
I was looking forward to doing well again this year.
I went out and set everything up the sunday before
the contest and was all ready to go.
On tuesday I got a call from Bryan informing me that his
brother Phil had died that day and services would be at
the ranch later in the week. Phil (who was not a ham)
help us put up some of the towers and antennas. His wife
even helped assemble some of the yagis. With this news
it was pretty clear to me that I needed to find another
place to do the contest from as the ranch would be
over flowing with friends and family. Bryan was still
kinda of hoping to figure a way to let me operate.
I was even thinking of not even doing the contest - but
it is my favorite contest. The real thing that made me
get on for the contest is a little write up that K5ZD did
in the july/august 1994 NCJ "Sweepstakes Factoids". Randy has
been keeping a list of the operators that have made 1600 or
more qsos in the phone ss since 1976. I had done this 8 times
now (before the 95 contest) and my current streak was 5 in a
row and would be 8 in a row if I had not neglected to send in
a log one year. I have to say that it was this list that made
me want to get on and make at least 1600 qsos (after log checking).
I dorped a packet note to AB5KD (ex. wb5nxh) asking for the
use of his station. Ron said yes. I had decided that I would
not try to mess with two radios - my switch box was at the
ranch and Ron's staton is kinda or cramped for space. After
all - all I was doing was going for the 1600 qsos.
Ron's station is located on a *small* lot. Along with his
house he has three towers. It is amazing.
Tower 1 - 80' 45g
204ba @ 90'
4 ele 10m @ 85'
40-2cd @ 80'
204ba @ 45' fixed NE
80m 1/4 wave sloper to the NE cut for 3600 (rtty)
The 204s are hardwired together in phase all the time.
Tower 2 - 50' 45g
155ca @ 66'
155ca @ 33' fixed NE
These are also hardwired together in phase.
Tower 3 - 50' hbx
TH6 @ 50'
There is a switchbox that allows you to T connect the monobanders
with the th6.
So I showed up on saturday morning about an hour before the
SS to hook up my stuff and fix Ron's foot switch.
I got all this done and ate just as the contest was starting.
A quick tune through 15m proved that it was not the
place to be as I was not hearing 8s or 9s and from
Texas if the 9s are not loud you are on the wrong band.
I dailed through 20m with a minuite to go and found that
it was the place to be but I could not quickly find a frequency
so I decided that I would start on 15m and get a bit of
rate before qsying to 20m and having to create a frequency.
It took me a few minutes to find a frequency on 15. But I
soon settled in for some ok rate. This did not last long
as I qsyed to 20m at 2123z after just 49 qsos.
I found a somewhat clear frequency on 20m and things were
going fairly well except for the rf feedback that was
to be a problem the entire weekend. Ron noted sunday
night as I was leaving that his ground wire as not connected
as he was in the process of moving his station to another room.
I was hoping for good E-skip on 20m like the 94 contest
as the thought of going to 40m is not a good one.
Twenty closed fairly early and I was off to 40m at 0206z
at qso number 530. The rate was pretty good on 20m but
it was never great. When I got to 40m I could not
get over how good it was - the rate was fantastic
and I had a good frequency - I just keep dreaming of
being at a station with a bit more on 40m as the
band was very very good. I stayed on 40m for the most
part with one short trip back to 20m to make a few qsos
until I took my first off time at 0615z. By this time
I had worked some of the front runners and knew that I
was not doing too well compared to them.
One thing that really fired me up was working N3BB op. AA5RB
at my qso number 490 and only being 8 qsos behind him. It was
at that point that I had a new goal and that was to stay with
Russ and finish ahead of him - everytime I heard him during the
contest we were very close. This kept me going because
when I made it to 1700 qsos I had alot of thoughts of going home.
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
80SSB 5 5 10 0
This band was a wash as the antenna is tuned for 3600 and the
alpha 87 kept shutting off.
40SSB 525 519 1038 12
Forty was a big suprise for me - as it was very good.
20SSB 1065 1057 2114 37
What can I say - 20m is 20m - this band is has been
the place to be it has the best footprint and produces
the most qsos. Russ kept taking about not feeling
loud on this band - but I never felt loud this year or
last year on this band. I dont think I ever had a frequency
to myself either year - this kept Russ away from this band too
much - but my experiance with this contest paid off here.
15SSB 407 401 802 28
Unlike last year this band never did get short enough for this
part of the state - N5RZ made 1000+ qsos on this band
but he is 300 miles west of me and those were the 300 miles
that made the 9's loud. This is the *best* band
at ab5kd's station.
__________________________________________________
Totals 2002 1982 3964 77
Final Score = 305228 points.
In the 1994 contest I made 47 band changes.
This year with just one radio I made 16 band changes.
My last four sections were:
20m 04:09 Ne @ #760
20m 04:15 Ntx @ #771
40m 12:50 Vi @ #1029
40m 23:50 Ms @ #1783
I have been doing high power phone every year since 1983 I have
had a clean sweep every year - they always all call in - I was
about to give up on ever getting a Ms.
My top ten most worked sections were:
OH 104
IL 88
MI 86
EPA 69
VA 68
MDC 62
ENY 60
WWA 51
EMA 50
SCV 48
The top three are always the top three - that is why you must
be on the band were the 8s and 9s are loud.
On sunday I kept working stations that were ahead of me
on qsos but I knew that having taken almost all of my off time
I would make up the gound so I just kept on going - this is
another area were the experience of having done the contest
over the years shows up for me.
I never did have any really good hours and I wasted one
in a frequency battle with some some guys that plopped on my frequency
to hold there sked - If I had been in the running for the top
I would not have stayed till they gave up.
AB5KD Sweepstakes rate report
HOUR 80SSB 40SSB 20SSB 15SSB TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
21 0 0 70 49 119 119
22 0 0 120 0 120 239
23 0 0 108 0 108 347
0 0 0 106 0 106 453
1 0 0 72 0 72 525
2 0 105 2 0 107 632
3 0 118 0 0 118 750
4 0 65 15 0 80 830
5 0 87 0 0 87 917
6 0 28 0 0 28 945
7 0 39 0 0 39 984
8 0 0 0 0 0 984
9 0 0 0 0 0 984
10 0 0 0 0 0 984
11 0 0 0 0 0 984
12 5 35 6 0 46 1030
13 0 0 84 0 84 1114
14 0 0 35 32 67 1181
15 0 0 36 32 68 1249
16 0 0 0 75 75 1324
17 0 0 30 43 73 1397
18 0 0 53 0 53 1450
19 0 0 1 97 98 1548
20 0 0 0 45 45 1593
21 0 0 0 28 28 1621
22 0 0 73 0 73 1694
23 0 0 78 0 78 1772
0 0 0 75 0 75 1847
1 0 0 67 0 67 1914
2 0 42 26 0 68 1982
TOTAL 5 519 1057 401
No really big hours but alot of good ones - I think that one
of the other traps that is easy to get into in this contest is
that of getting on a band - say 15m - when you should be on 20m.
15m is nice and quiet and your rate is good 70/hr. This is
not good enough to win and you need to be on 20m where it is
painful - but the rate is 80-90/hr. I think this is something
that you just have to learn. I find it interesting to see
how diffrent the band breakdowns are between stations - esp
ones that are close together or in the same city.
Well - I think that is about it for this very long and late
ss phone report.
Thanks
--
George Fremin III
Austin, Texas C.K.U.
WB5VZL
512/416-0140
geoiii@bga.com
>From Bill Turner <wrt@eskimo.com> Sun Dec 17 17:12:24 1995
From: Bill Turner <wrt@eskimo.com> (Bill Turner)
Subject: More on programmable keyboard
Message-ID: <199512171712.JAA07353@mail.eskimo.com>
Several weeks ago there was a thread on the Maxi Switch 124-key programmable
keyboard, and I recently broke down and decided to try it.
To summarize: No shack should be without one!
The keyboard is only slightly larger than the standard 101-key version, but
it has (surprise) 23 extra keys. Ten of those are a separate set of F-1
through F-10 keys, six are for programming functions and seven are
completely blank, ready for customization.
All of the programming is in the keyboard itself, not in the computer.
There is a 3.5" floppy included with some utility programs on it, but as
they state in the manual, the programs are only an "extra" -- they are not
needed to run the keyboard itself, only to enhance it's usefulness. The
utility programs allow you to create different setups and save them, ready
for download whenever you want to change. You could have one setup for CT,
one for TR, another for RTTY by WF1B, and so on. The keyboard and software
work with DOS, Windows 3.x and Windows 95, but they do NOT work with the
older XT-type computers. (I'm using it on a '386/33 with Win95). The
manual, by the way is excellent.
I immediately set it up to compensate for what I consider poor ergonomics in
my packet/HF digital software, and I found it was easy to program and worked
perfectly. Any key can be remapped to any other key or combination of keys,
including sending text or running a macro. It even has a programmable delay
to allow execution of a program before continuing, and a programmable
"insert" function which pauses a macro to allow you to type in something and
then continue.
I also found it is much less susceptible to RF getting into it than my
previous keyboard was. The previous one had to have lots of those ferrite
snap on chokes to function at all above 200 watts, where the Maxi Switch
didn't need any, clear up to 1500 watts. Your mileage may vary on this,
naturally.
There hasn't been a contest since it arrived of course, but the
possibilities are already apparent. This is gonna be great... and for a
measly $55 bucks, too!!
I got mine from Next International, phone (800) 730-6398. One caveat --
they're a little high on their shipping/handling charges in my opinion ($13
for something that only weighs a couple of pounds), so if you can find one
somewhere else, you might save a buck or two.
The usual disclaimer: I have no commercial connection with the manufacturer
or seller, just a (more than) satisfied customer.
See you in the pileups!
73, Bill W7LZP
wrt@eskimo.com
>From H. L. Serra" <hlserra@pwa.acusd.edu Sun Dec 17 17:14:17 1995
From: H. L. Serra" <hlserra@pwa.acusd.edu (H. L. Serra)
Subject: 14001 signal
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9512170942.A9580-0100000@pwa.acusd.edu>
Doug- It took courage to admit to the operation of the Super-Station.
However, the Southern California Contest Club has already subpoenaed the
station's utility bills, and while the antennas you describe are
impressive, the 3 Megawatt finals are even more so. 73, Larry N6AZE, 6E2T
On Sun, 17 Dec 1995 N3ADL@aol.com wrote:
> Well I guess it's time to fess up...We've caused enuff bandwidth useage!
> The 14001. signal is the new FRC SuperStation out near Annapolis,Md.
> I'm sworn to to keep the exact site a secret but It is evident when cruising
> by from the FRC yacht. This project started last year on April 1st when FRC
> announced its annexation of PVRC in its April newsletter. The station will
> be manned by the 1st FRC/PVRC contest team in time for ARRL CW. Team members
> are currently testing the various 20m stacks (the present stack is 8/8/8 at
> 200'...one of 4-20m arrays on site). Once the site is operational, Tyler,
> KF3P will have guest passes to the base for visitor tours. I apologize to my
> FRC/PVRC brethern for letting the cat out of the bag but this thread just
> went on too long.
>
> 73 de Doug //
> N3ADL // V26DX
>
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