NV6O sprINT NOTES

[EDWOODS at PACTIME1.SDCRC.PacBell.COM]

Ok, my natural rate in all sprints is 52/hr, qro or not, cw or phone,
fall or spring.  Maybe if I don't do yard work just before it would
help.  I'll have to run that one by my activities chairperson.

Anyway, a grand total of 105 q's with some of the strangest names.

Did anyone else copy "CARLY" instead of CURL(E)Y?

Did anyone else watch the Stooge-a-thon on WTBS Friday night?

What a bunch of GREAT operators!!!
(You guys, not the stooges)

Thanks for one of the fastest 2 hours I have ever experienced.

Eric, NV6O
edwoods at pacbell.com

>From Skelton, Tom" <TSkelton at engineer.clemsonsc.NCR.COM  Mon Oct 25 22:04:00 1993
From: Skelton, Tom" <TSkelton at engineer.clemsonsc.NCR.COM (Skelton, Tom)
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 14:04:00 PDT
Subject: Sprinternet contest and Beavis/BH
Message-ID: <2CCC3FA6 at admin.ClemsonSC.NCR.COM>



Ha - I got Butthead for someone's #1 so I know who started it...
<<>>
Derek AA5BT

Well, I remembered about the contest 10 minutes after it was
over...too much homecoming partying at Clemson University
(CU class of '76) this weekend.  I wanted to operate, even
made a spreadsheet to keep score, and I even didn't intend
to use Beavis or Butthead as a name.  The thought, however,
did cross my perverted mind....I could use Butthead, make
1 QSO, get the 1,000 point disqualification, and be the winner
of the "biggest negative score"!

>From tree at cmicro.com (Larry Tyree)  Mon Oct 25 19:27:07 1993
From: tree at cmicro.com (Larry Tyree) (Larry Tyree)
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 11:27:07 PDT
Subject: 40 Meter antenna
Message-ID: <9310251827.AA03270 at cmicro.com>


Well, here is a technical "hint" for you diehard contesters.  Here in Oregon,
we often get called by a W6 on 40 meters during the SS.  I have used a 40
meter half wave sloper in the past, but it seemed that more directional
sloper would be useful in attenuating the noise coming in from other
directions.

I have two towers in line to W6, about 120 feet apart.  On is 72 feet tall
and the other is 45 feet tall.  I decided to run a rope between the tops of 
the two towers and hang two 40 meter wire delta loops.  They were spaced
about 20 feet apart and the bottom of the loops ended up about 8 feet
off the ground.  

I initially phased them 180 degrees apart hoping to get infinite rejection
of signals coming from the east.  This didn't seem to work real well.
This weekend, I turned it into a 2 element quad with parasitic reflector
and it works much better.  While it may be about an S-Unit down from the
3 element beam at 85 feet pointed the same direction, it is many S-Units
louder into W6 when the beam is pointed east.  It is also an S-Unit better
than the sloping dipole.  Finally, the east coast signals are several
S-Units weaker on the quad than the beam or the sloper.

The end result is the ability to dig out weak W6 signals with the flick of
a switch.  It is also a suitable antenna to feed power to along with the
3 element beam to obtain better coverage.  I was afraid to do this with the
beam and the sloper because the sloper was putting out too much RF in the
same direction as the beam and I was concerned about improper phasing.  Now
I can do the same thing on 40 that I have been doing on 20 with two antennas
pointing different directions being fed at the same time.

The loops were initially cut for 7.1 MHz, and ended up around 7.3.  I added
2 feet and it now covers the whole band.  I used RG-8 at the bottom of the
driven element with a pole to keep it from sagging.  The extra 30 feet of
RG-8 I had is coiled up on the ground below the feedpoint creating a 
poor man's balun.

Total cost for the whole antenna is less than $30.

Tree
tree at cmicro.com