stacking tribanders

[K8DO at aol.com]

Hi Jay... 
Not real familiar with BIP / BOP... Have had it described to me... But,
reading your post I had this sudden mental picture of one of the beams
running in and  out, sort of on a screw-thread/scissors, boom to get variable
phase difference... ?  ;>)  
In satellite work we have one set of elements a fixed 1/4 wave ahead of the
other for generating circular polarity... I suspect, that a 1/4 (an 1/8 wave
may be all that is required by having an 1/8 wave delay line to switch
in/out) wave travel, test setup on 6 meters would be possible if the beam is
not oversize...

The biggest problem with phasing harnesses (I am no expert) is that the phase
angle of the signals you are combining may be OK, but there can be a voltage
differential, and that mismatch drives you crazy... ON4UN talks extensively
about this in his book... The harness has to come together at a point which
has both phase and voltage compatible...

Tell me more about your stack match...

Cheers  ... Denny   K8DO

>From De Syam <syam at Glue.umd.edu>  Wed Aug  2 18:53:49 1995
From: De Syam <syam at Glue.umd.edu> (De Syam)
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 13:53:49 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Good Callsigns
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950802135028.6849B-100000 at latte.eng.umd.edu>

On Tue, 1 Aug 1995, H. Ward Silver wrote:

> 
> How about doing ARRL DX CW from Haiti as HH5H?  Run 555 watts and give out
> 559 reports!  Nobody would dupe you!
> 
Actually there was an HH5SS active in the early 50's but for some reason 
he operated phone only.

Having had sufficient experience with ditty calls myself, I prefer dashes!

                                           Very 73,

                                         Fred Laun, K3ZO
                                       (ex-LU5HFI, HS5ABD)

>From Larry Tyree <tree at cmicro.com>  Wed Aug  2 19:20:55 1995
From: Larry Tyree <tree at cmicro.com> (Larry Tyree)
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 11:20:55 -0700
Subject: KB6I
Message-ID: <199508021820.LAA21241 at cascade.cmicro.com>


dave (callsign unknown) asked:

> Saw that KB6I became a silent key.  Isn't this where you used to do
> the SS in Santa Barbara?>??  An in-town stn?  You were always pretty
> damn loud from there.

I never did around to make a short statement about KB6I here on the
reflector.  Jim Gouras did pass away early this year.  He was living
in or near Reno at the time (not far from his buddy WA7NIN) but did
have a station in Thousand Oaks, California which was the contest home
for myself from 1977 until I moved to Oregon in 1984.  There were also
a few others operating from there including WA6OTU, AA4KB, AA6RX and
even N6AA showed up during one 2 transmitter multi-multi we did.

Dick showed up and didn't understand our dupesheets, so he worked 
an occasional dupe.  It brought a new meaning to the term
"N6TR DUPING SERVICE".  At that time, I was marketing a service to
enter your log and create a dupesheet.

Jim built his own antennas.  He had a 4 element 40 stacked with a 7
element 10.  On a different tower was a 7 element twenty stacked with
a 7 element 15.  The booms on those antennas were pretty short, but
they worked.  I would often have to move the beams around in a stateside
contest to work all areas of the country.

There were four hy-towers for 80 meters and I hung a inverted vee on 160
off the 40 meter tower.

Initially Jim had three BTI amps.  The shack of K6OVJ was moved to Jim's
station (during one of OVJ's vacations from ham radio).  I ended up with
3 drake transmitters, 2 R4Cs and 3 amps.  This allowed pretty quick band
changing.  Eventually, Jim built a set of single band amps using a
4-1000 in each and we had 6 transmitters.  You might of seen a picture of
this back in an old magazine somewhere.

The station was on a slight hill, and it REALLY GOT OUT!!  The antennas
were not very high, but I would bet that if you used that new software
K6STI has to analyze it, it would be one of those magic QTHs.  The
potentcy of the signal really was a factor in my results from that
station.  It was in a residential area with a big back yard (maybe an 
extra 20,000 square feet back there).  

One of the more exciting moments at Jim's occured about an hour into
an ARRL DX contest where I was going to go all out single op on CW.
However, one hour into the contest, the crank up tower with the 40
and 20 meter antennas un-cranked itself in about 5 seconds.  The 40
meter beam was destroyed and the tower was in need of some repairs.

It wasn't long until Jim had the station QRV again.  As I remember,
I decided to do an 80 meter single band after that.

While Jim did very little contest operating himself, he was aware of
who the contest big guns were and was very supportive of me during
my transition from a little pistol to a big gun.  

Thanks Jim!!

Tree N6TR
tree at cmicro.com


>From sfraasch at ATK.COM (Steve Fraasch)  Wed Aug  2 21:20:47 1995
From: sfraasch at ATK.COM (Steve Fraasch) (Steve Fraasch)
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 1995 13:20:47 -0700
Subject: Advice on Crank-Up Towers
Message-ID: <1995Aug02.132200.1180.17665 at msm.atk.com>


I need to hear about your experiences with crank-ups:

I am currently applying for a permit for 130' Rohn 55G tower.

Although the city-council approved the conditional-use permit resolution, 
the final conditions have not been approved.  It seems my previous queries 
regarding "insulated 55g" may have been pre-mature.

The city wants me to investigate crank-up towers.  I have done so, and 
conclude:

1.) No 130' tower exists on market.

2.) The tallest crank-up is 106' and does not have sufficient wind-load 
capacity (only 9.1 sq ft).  Moreover, the design has no margin at this 
rating, and assumes a uniform building code (UBC) basic wind speed of 70 
MPH.  My county UBC rating is 80 MPH.

3.) My previous experience with crank-ups is all negative.  All of my 
friends have gotten rid of them after the crank-ups have fallen, locked-up 
and couldn't retract, fell-thru after cables broke, etc.  I even hear there 
are a few people out there with missing fingers and toes after a crank-up 
tower accident.

Number 1.) above should be a necessary and sufficient condition alone to no 
longer consider it as an option, given the CUP was approved for 130'. 
 However, I would like to hear anything that anyone has to say about 
crank-up towers.  Safety issues are most important.

Thanks, 73,

Steve Fraasch, K0SF

sfraasch at atk.com


>From ken silverman" <ken.silverman at CCMAIL.AirTouch.COM  Wed Aug  2 20:34:06 1995
From: ken silverman" <ken.silverman at CCMAIL.AirTouch.COM (ken silverman)
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 95 11:34:06 PST
Subject: filters-another perspective
Message-ID: <9507028073.AA807388846 at CCMAIL.AIRTOUCH.COM>

Doug, KR2Q says:

>>He claimed that while the specs on the filters THEMSELVES 
looked great, they fell apart when inserted into the circuit.  He blamed
the mounting and installation method of the source of the problem.  He
felt that the new filters, mounted with long runs of 174u were very, very
leaky.  So much so, that they defeated the whole purpose of putting in
new filters.  
 

This method of installation (long runs of RG174u) was the only way to fit the 
IRC filters into my old Yaesu FT757GX.  When I first got the kit from IRC I was 
stumped on how to install them... no recommendations.  Then I assumed that the 
precut lengths of RG174 were in the kit for a purpose.  The only way to fit the 
filters into the radio was to strip out the internal speaker on the top half of 
the radio (top and bottom open kinda like a clam shell), and run the RG174 to 
where you ripped out the old filters on the bottom half of the radio.  Not a 
pretty sight!  

But these filters TOTALLY transformed the radio.  The blow-by from the original 
filters was such that one might be tempted to ask the station up 25 kc to QSY 
for he was splattering all over the band!  The IRC filters gave the radio new 
life.  Too bad I smoked the radio a few weeks after, and have never been able to
find the problem...


Ken WM2C



>From N6IP Bob Wolbert" <n6ip at email.com  Wed Aug  2 12:15:51 1995
From: N6IP Bob Wolbert" <n6ip at email.com (N6IP Bob Wolbert)
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 95 11:15:51
Subject: What is C4
Message-ID: <9507028073.AA807387351 at espmail.email.com>


> It's some type of plastique ?

Guess that's how N6BT promises those "booming" signals.

I apologize....

73 de Bob, N6IP