3/96 QST out, CONTEST related articles/ads

[HENRYPOL at aol.com]

Wow!  Another good day at the PO box.  No bills and the 3/96 issue of QST
arrived.

Some interesting articles for CONTESTers:  Transoceanic Ducting at VHF and
Above; Icom IC-706 review (in case you are wondering if it would make a good
2nd radio, or maybe you were considering mobile contesting); Low-Power
Contesting; Worldwide Propagation Beacon Network; A Very Low-Cost Tower;
Ham-M and Tailtwister Rotor Mods; and ARRL 10GHz Contest results.

CONTESTer related new ads:  Rohn's new RTP series self-supporting towers; and
ARRL Periodicals CD-ROM.

The CD-ROMs look interesting.  First one will include full text and images
(including ads) of QST, NCJ, & QEX issues from 1995.  Just $19.95 (ARRL
members) or 29.95 (non-members) plus $4 shipping/handling (why does it cost
$4 to do this!).  I wonder if they will make past years available later.  Or,
how about ALL past issues of NCJ/QEX on one CD-ROM!

73,
Henry Pollock - WB4HFL
henrypol at aol.com

>From paulb at venus.hili.com (paul b iltchenko)  Mon Feb 12 21:51:35 1996
From: paulb at venus.hili.com (paul b iltchenko) (paul b iltchenko)
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 16:51:35 -0500
Subject: IDRS RTTY SCORE
Message-ID: <199602132145.QAA02799 at styx.ios.com>

Call used: NO2T
Location:  NJ

Entry Class: Single Op, All Band   

Band    QSOs   Pts  Mults
80       115   276      -
40       129   370      -
20       334   702      -
15        61   103      -
10         0     0      -
-----   ----  ----  ----
Total    639  1451   274
Prefixes counted only once (not once per band)

Most frequently worked prefix: N2 - 11 QSO's

Score: 397574


>From gclark at cel.cummins.com (Greg)  Tue Feb 13 19:01:49 1996
From: gclark at cel.cummins.com (Greg) (Greg)
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 96 14:01:49 EST
Subject: Antenna Stacking Question
Message-ID: <9602131928.AA04397 at gatekeeper.cummins.com>

I am planning on some antenna work/upgrades this Summer and have a question regarding stacking.

I currently have 2 towers:

No. 1 has 2el 40 over a 5el 20m.

No. 2 has 5el 10 over a 5el 15m

Is this the best combination that one can have in regard to antenna interaction?

Is there a better combination and if so what do you think it should be?

Should I stay away from a certain band combination on the same tower??

Any input would be appreciated.  Please send replies to me directly and if there is interest I will post a summary.

Thanks
Greg
KO9Y

gclark at cel.cummins.com


>From kf3p at cais.cais.com (Tyler Stewart)  Wed Feb 14 01:29:51 1996
From: kf3p at cais.cais.com (Tyler Stewart) (Tyler Stewart)
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 20:29:51 -0500
Subject: 
Message-ID: <199602140129.UAA14307 at cais.cais.com>

>re of 6 mos old Tic Ring, which has had truly, minimal
>use... 
>The direction indicating meter follows the preset knob on the controller, as
>you turn it back and forth.. It does not rotate the motor when the start
>button is depressed, nor does the led glow to indicate that the motor circuit
>is powered... 
>
>Measuring the shack end of the motor wiring harness shows about 4.5 ohms dc
>resistance across the leads and no short to ground....
>
>The direction pot wiring harness shows about 550 ohms across the pot and
>about 230
>ohms ccw end to wiper and about 320 ohms cw end to wiper (which approximates
>the current NE heading of the beam)... there does not appear to be any short
>to ground, or a short between the pot wiring and the motor wiring, with the
>vom on X100,000 scale...
>
>When I talked to Tic, they stated they did not know what would cause such a
>problem, and that they would talk with their "technician"... 3 phone calls,
>and a week and a half later, they had not managed to locate the
>"technician"... at this point I threw a tantrum because it was only 2 weeks
>to arrl dx contest... they promised to ship me a new controller by 2nd day
>air... a week later, and another hostile phone call,  it arrived by surface
>shipment... it is now 4 days to the contest....
>I just hooked it up... when powered up it indicated a 45 deg heading,
>matching the beam heading...  so far so good... I set the preset knob to
>north and pressed start... the relays clicked and immediately dumped out..
>and this unit now does the same as the other, i.e. the meter follows the
>preset knob and does not work.... it is now obvious to me that the problem is
>at the motor box.. but in looking at their schematic, it is not clear to me
>at all what
>could cause such a catastrophic failure of the controller, and still have the
>motor and the direction pot show normal values with a vom and no short
>circuits...
>Another phone call with Tic, and now they blame the  heading potentiometer in
>the motor... Yet, it measures perfectly with the VOM!... They now want to air
>mail a new pot and have me change it... That motor box is a long ways up in
>blowing snow and wind chill that is way below zero, and it is 2 complete
>round trips up the tower in these harsh conditions to change the pot and
>reinstall the motorbox... I am willing to do this, if it is THE answer, but
>I'm gonna be an unhappy camper if it is not....
>
>Does anyone have specific experience or knowledge with the Tic Rotor doing
>this?....Please drop me an Email if you have specifics to share...
>
>Denny
>


I had this happen with a couple of NEW 1022B's.  I suspect your problem is
a pinched wire in the motor pot assy.  Take the motor down and inspect all
of the wiring carefully, especially the pot wires where they disappear under
the metal plate.  That plate has a fairly sharp edge which caused problems
with one of mine.  Any problems similar to the ones you are having have always
been wiring integrity problems here.

73 es GL!

Tyler kf3p at cais.com