I agree with AI2Q!
I am pretty new to ham radio, but have had some helpful elmering from my dad
who started building shortwave receivers 70 years ago at the age of 12 and
built stuff all his life. With his help, I'm building a VSWR / Wattmeter
with a bit of updating to a very good design I found in the May 1980 Ham
Radio magazine.
For the short term I've gotten a Johnson Matchbox tuner (I figured its
always a good investment), but I also want to build a large roller inductor
balanced line tuner.
I couldn't agree more about a lot of the accessory gear these days being
pretty cheap.
Heck Ham Radio magazine was probably the best project magazine ever
published for this hobby, and I guess it went out of business partly because
not enough Ham's wanted something that technical. I started looking through
my dad's back issues and couldn't put them down. The first issue I looked at
had six projects that I went out and made copies of.
- Tom
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Tom Scott - Wyle Electronics - KD7DMH
10300 SW Nimbus Ave #PB, Portland, OR 97223
503-603-1931 - TEL 503-684-6620 - FAX
503-504-1583 - Cell 503-604-8651 - Pager
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tentec@contesting.com [mailto:owner-tentec@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Alex Mendelsohn
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 1999 8:50 AM
To: Steve Ellington N4LQ; Michael O. Hyder; TenTec@Contesting.com
Subject: RE: [TenTec] 238 Tuner settings
N4LQ hits the nail on the proverbial head!
The tuner/s I build and use are monster types (low loss) using the biggest
coils and capacitors I can find at flea markets. One is mounted on an 11 x
17 x 5 inch steel chassis, using lots of steatite and porcelain feedthroughs
and standoffs, a gigundo tape-wound roller coil, 0.5-inch spacing variable
caps, and brass strip interconnects (available at hobby shops. Even if it
arcs, there's not going to be any damage to it.
Another uses huge plug-in coils that are a foot long and five inches in
diameter. The split-stator cap is a foot long.
Why don't hams build anything anymore? Antenna tuners are as easy to build
as antennas! So are my Breune-type SWR bridges with big surplus glass piston
sampling capacitors that won't arc over if the voltage goes high during
off-tune condx.
Get rid of that junk MFJ mentality guys. Have some fun scrounging and
building QUALITY gear--in an area of ham radio that still lends itself
admirably to homebrewing!
Vy 73, AI2Q, Alex in Kennebunk, Maine .-.-.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tentec@contesting.com [mailto:owner-tentec@contesting.com]On
Behalf Of Steve Ellington N4LQ
Sent: Monday, January 11, 1999 6:59 PM
To: Michael O. Hyder; TenTec@Contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] 238 Tuner settings
>Yeah, Steve, 'if you're lookin' for trouble, you've come to the right
place.
You ain't seen nuttin yet. So far today I've read about:
1. A rig with a chirp
2. A tuner with a chip
3. A dial with a slip.
4. A dummy load with a drip.
So how about someone buying one of those new Ameritron tuners for $600 and
report back to us how it works. For the life of me, I cannot understand why
something so simple and crude as a tuner could cost even $200! After all,
it's just a couple of switches, a coil and a few capacitors. Is it a
supply/demand thing?
N4LQ
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
|