On 9/22/01 3:52 AM, Ted Huf W4ZE at w4ze@arrl.net wrote:
>In the process of putting up my new tower, it occurred to me that I did not
>know where true north was. With my trusty Boy Scout compass, I said well it
>must be right over there. As one can image, with all these computer
>assisted radios and rotators, I had better get it right.
Must you?
K9AY was helping me mount my A3S a month ago. With Gary on the tower, I
told him to align the boom with a neighbor's fence. I knew from the platt
that the fence was within 3 degrees of North/South.
Gary later came down off the tower and grabbed his compass. Here in GA,
we are very close to the Agonic line (where magnetic variation (aka
declination) is 0 degrees). He commented that you couldn't get the
antenna aligned any closer.
I kidded him. "Come on, Gary, this antenna has a beamwidth of 60 degrees.
Do you think it really matters?" He agreed.
As it turned out, my rotator wasn't set to North as I thought. It was set
about 15 degrees off. Oops. Oh well, the annenna has a beamwidth of 60
degrees after all....
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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