Nye Viking MB-V-A 3kw tuner.

Martin Ellis jmellis at ihug.co.nz
Fri Jan 17 00:52:31 EST 1997


W8JITom at aol.com wrote:
 
>>I purchased a used MB-V-A, the unit had burned sections of tinned
>> copper braid between the terminals and the components.

> Braiding has much higher RF resistance that the same area smooth 
> conductor. Measurements I made several years ago at 30 MHz on a new
> chunk of 1/2 inch wide copper braid indicated it had an RF
> resistance about equal to a number 12 wire.
> The resistance varies with the depth of the weave, cleanliness of the
> braid, and the mechanical pressure of the wire to wire connections
> in the braid.

Thanks for you comments, Tom.  Perhaps I should replace the braid
with teflon covered wire...not sure of the spec. but I have seen it
used in a high power 4:1 balun.  Where could I purchase this?

I have been pleased with the Viking MB-V-A, as I always get a 
perfect match (only using coax to coax at present), and I have
removed a coax switch and PWR/SWR bridge from the desk.

I am interested in two comments you made recently about this model:

1.  The circuit is described a *pi* and uses a fixed cap. on the
TX side, variable inductor to ground, and variable cap. on the
antenna side.  I suppose this avoids having three variables to adjust.

You have said that it does't really operate as a pi on the lower bands?
I have found the harmonic attenuation to be excellent, and it has
enabled me to get a clean report from the local Radio Inspector
using a spectrum analyser.  Operating direct, the spectrum analyser
showed some low level output on 56MHz when I operated on 14Mhz (also
using a Bencher Lo-pass filter).

2. The limitation you mentioned was on the low bands into 
a low impedance. I am planning a half wave dipole on 160M with
ladderline, and wish to also use it on 80M.
I will put an external balun outside the house, and bring coax to
the tuner (< 2m), and avoid using the balun in the tuner.
Do you think this will be successful?
Thanks for your comments,
Martin ZL1ANJ



>From morel.grunberg at telrad.co.il (Morel Grunberg)  Thu Jan 16 13:08:51 1997
From: morel.grunberg at telrad.co.il (Morel Grunberg) (Morel Grunberg)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 15:08:51 +0200
Subject: Hy-Gain TH-11DX beam: opinions summary
Message-ID: <c=US%a=_%p=TELRAD%l=MISMAIL-970116130851Z-174 at mismail.MIS.ELEX.CO.IL>


  Two weeks ago I sent a request on few relevant reflectors asking for 
opinions on Hy-Gain TH-11DX beam. Till now I received 84 answers 
from United States ( 74 ), Europe ( 4 ) Asia ( 4 ) and Africa (2).
   I was quite surprised about the very favorable opinions from the 
people who taked the time to answer. Actually, 82 were very satisfied
with the antenna and warmly recommended to buy one. 
  
   This is a brief summary of the answers:

   This beam was described like a real winner and a very good and
effective solution for those who need a 5-bands beam with reasonable
gain, F/B and good SWR. Here are the opinions:
 
* 72 declared their satisfaction on general radiation performance and 
  traffic results while only four are not so happy with the Front to
Back 
  ratio.

* 55 were very satisfied by the good SWR over the 5 bands and only 
  four reported SWR problems as result of bad assembly work,
  improper guywires and insufficient tower height.

* 60 declared their satisfaction over the ruggedness and mechanical
  construction quality.

* 19 favorably compare the TH-11DX electrical, radiation and mechanical 
  performance to previous owned antennas from other manufacturers with
  similar or better figures claimed in the technical specifications.

* 12 were delighted to see the new powerful balun and hi-power antenna
  capability. 5 of them beleive that the general lower noise and statics
is 
  due to   direct grounding of the balun and to the DC coil connected to
  the BN-4000.  

* 68 were satisfied with the antenna but experienced difficulties in the
  assembly process ( with understanding that such large and complicated
  antenna needs extensive assembly and installation works ).

 Low points:

  It was interesting to see that almost all the criticism was
concentrated 
on the assembly concept and instruction manual.

* 56 would clearly prefer colour, numbering or any other markings for
easier
  and faster identification of the large number of components.

* 48 were quite exhausted trying to ensure that the elements are
installed 
  on   the boom perfectly parallel and they are feeling that some kind
of 
  pre-drilling   of the element to boom brackets and of the boom, will
greatly 
  reduce the time and the efforts to messure the inter element  spacing
and 
  exhaustive alignement and paralleling procedure. 20 of them do not 
  understand how an antenna of this class doesn't have such facility.

* 36 would prefer an improved graphic presentation and assembly manual 
  while 23 clearly stated that simplified drawings of the components, 
  component check-list and assembly steps check-list, will greatly
improve
  the human enginering. 14 would prefere some simple drawings on 
  installation tips issues. Also, 10 people are feeling that
recommendations 
  for use of some materials should be more specific ( like the RTV and 
  protective paints ) while 8 expressed their prefference for an
optional kit
  for coastal installations with improved hardware quality.

* 9 peoples feel they want stronger and heavier pigtail wires.

* 5 are willing to see the antenna radiation lobes for the installation
  recommendations from the manual.


  73,

  Morel, 4X1AD          

>From dippel at rrze.uni-erlangen.de (Dieter Dippel)  Thu Jan 16 15:49:03 1997
From: dippel at rrze.uni-erlangen.de (Dieter Dippel) (Dieter Dippel)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 15:49:03 MET
Subject: WAE-Contest 96: Scores available
Message-ID: <16BE954EA at isis.rrze.uni-erlangen.de>

Hello everybody,

the Contest-Scores of the WAE-Contest 1996 CW are available
on the Bavarian Contest Club Homepage.

pse try http://www.rrze.uni-erlangen.de/~unrz45/BCC


73 de Dieter, DF4RD

 []       name: Dieter DIPPEL, amateur-radio-callsign: DF4RD
[] university: Erlangen-Nuernberg, Regional Computing Centre
[]    address: Martensstrasse 1, D-91058 Erlangen
[]      phone: +49 (0) 9131 85-7030  fax: +49 (0) 9131 30 29 41
[]   internet: dippel at rrze.uni-erlangen.de
[]        www: http://www.rrze.uni-erlangen.de/~unrz45/
[]     packet: DF4RD at DB0BOX.#BAY.DEU.EU

>From w2up at voicenet.com (Barry Kutner)  Thu Jan 16 15:24:50 1997
From: w2up at voicenet.com (Barry Kutner) (Barry Kutner)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 15:24:50 +0000
Subject: RFI filter?
Message-ID: <199701161528.KAA02120 at mail3.voicenet.com>

Does anyone have info about the RFI filter that appears on p. 122 in 
Feb. QST?
Tnx/Barry
--
Barry Kutner, W2UP              Internet: w2up at voicenet.com
Newtown, PA         FRC         alternate: barry at w2up.wells.com

>From dave at egh.com (David Clemons)  Thu Jan 16 16:31:51 1997
From: dave at egh.com (David Clemons) (David Clemons)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 11:31:51 -0500 (EST)
Subject: needed: e-mail address for NAQP SSB team registration
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.970116112828.3095C-100000 at newman.egh.com>

Hi,

	Who do I send a team registration to for the NAQP SSB contest?

73, Dave Clemons K1VUT


>From kurscj at oampc12.csg.mot.com (Chad Kurszewski WE9V)  Thu Jan 16 16:44:07 1997
From: kurscj at oampc12.csg.mot.com (Chad Kurszewski WE9V) (Chad Kurszewski WE9V)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 10:44:07 -0600
Subject: needed: e-mail address for NAQP SSB team registration
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19970116164407.006a11f4 at oampc12.csg.mot.com>

>	Who do I send a team registration to for the NAQP SSB contest?
>73, Dave Clemons K1VUT



The answer:

>        Numerous people have just asked if I will again be taking NAQP CW
>submissions electronically.  The following excerpt is from my 5 Jan posting:
>
>>
>>        1.  Please send your NAQP Team pre-registrations in prior to the
>>start of the contest.  Send CW Teams to me, K6ZZ (w9nq at ccis.com) and SSB to
>>Steve, K6AW (merchant at silcom.com).
>>
>>        2.  We will both be accepting E-Mail log submissions again at the
>>addresses listed.  Send your complete Log and Summary Sheet in ASCII Text
>>format.  Please, no binary or special format files.
>>
>
>Etc...
>
>        One additional note about submitting electronic logs, if you use
>attached files to E-Mail messages, name the files with your callsign in
>them.  Ie, K6ZZ.LOG and K6ZZ.SUM or K6ZZ.ALL.  If everyone names their file
>NAQPCW.LOG it makes it a bit difficult to sort things out.  Hopes this helps.
>
>73, Bob K6ZZ

---
Chad Kurszewski, WE9V         e-mail:  Chad_Kurszewski at csg.mot.com
The Official "Sultans of Shwing" Web Site:  http://www.QTH.com/sos



>From gog at alpha.isan.troitsk.ru (???)  Thu Jan 16 17:52:54 1997
From: gog at alpha.isan.troitsk.ru (???) (???)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 20:52:54 +0300 (MSK)
Subject: need result WPX 96
Message-ID: <199701161752.UAA02164 at alpha.isan.troitsk.ru>

Hello !
i looking scores on WPX 96 cw and ssb . SOSB LP on 80 mtr.
tnx for read this msg. 
73 de ra3dfp Oleg

>From larrytx at co.intel.com (LarryX Tyree contractor for brentc)  Thu Jan 16 18:02:38 1997
From: larrytx at co.intel.com (LarryX Tyree contractor for brentc) (LarryX Tyree contractor for brentc)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 97 10:02:38 PST
Subject: Math lesson
Message-ID: <9701161802.AA25817 at ark.co.intel.com>


Many thanks to those of you who have responded to the request for
your Internet Sprint logs.  However, we still have a large percentage
of logs missing, and this is making the name tracings very difficult.

In fact, the percentages are so low this time, we just are not going to
include the name tracings in the results.

Here is the math:

A trace gets lost when it goes through two consecutive non-submitters.
The probability that a Q is with a non-sub is 1 - PctMatch.  With two
consecutive non-subs it's (1 - PctMatch) ^ 2; that's the probability
that a trace will get lost at any hop along the way.

The probability that a trace will continue at any hop is one minus that:

    1 - ((1 - PctMatch) ^ 2)

The probability that a trace will continue for N consecutive hops is that
raised to the Nth power:

    (1 - ((1 - PctMatch) ^ 2)) ^ N

The average trace length is found for solving that expression for N when
the expression's value equals 50%.

Let's do some math:

              PctMatch				.95	.9	.8
          1 - PctMatch				.05	.1	.2
        ( 1 - PctMatch ) ^ 2			.0025	.01	.04
  1 - ( ( 1 - PctMatch ) ^ 2 )			.9975	.99	.96	= Y
( 1 - ( ( 1 - PctMatch ) ^ 2 ) ) ^ N = 50%	277	69	17	= X

Check it by raising base Y to the X power on your HP.

So when PctMatch drops from 0.95 to 0.8, the work goes up by a factor
of (277 / 17) = 16!  Also, (0.04 / 0.0025) = 16.

Whenever PctMatch is above, say, 92 percent, We'll do name traces.  

We will wait another few days and publish what we have then.

73 Tree N6TR
tree at contesting.com

>From k4ro at music-city.tdec.state.tn.us (K4RO - Kirk Pickering)  Thu Jan 16 18:31:03 1997
From: k4ro at music-city.tdec.state.tn.us (K4RO - Kirk Pickering) (K4RO - Kirk Pickering)
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 12:31:03 -0600
Subject: Amps in LP tests?
Message-ID: <9701161831.AA13690 at music-city.tdec.state.tn.us.state.tn.us>

Curious about this one.  Ol' Jim K4OJ noted the use of an amplifier
in the NAQP to bring his power output from 75w to the allowed 150w,
and said he noted a big difference.

I'm curious how many other folks use amps in a low power contest
such as the NAQP?

Let's be real clear on one thing.  I think Jim's a great guy and a
great op.  I am not implying in any way that he is voilating any
rules or doing anything wrong whatsoever.  No lynchmob mentality, please.

I'm not looking for a vote "for" or "against" the use of amps in NAQP
or other LP contests.  That's not the reason for this post.

The reason for this post is that I am curious how many other folks
use their amps in these contests.  I have a 500w amp, but will probably
not ever use it in NAQP, because everything is automatic except the amp.
Using the amp would slow things down and eliminate the 'automatic' in
my band/antenna swithching arrangement.  Now if I had a solid state or
auto-tune amp of some sort... that might be a different story.  My rig
can put out 100w all day long, and I wonder if I'd see any real
difference going to 150w output.  I wonder why the low power tests
have the limit at 150w when 95% of xcvrs are 100w output.

Guess this is another reason to have a 200W output xcvr. :-)
Anyone got a good clean FT-1000D for sale? (email me...)

-Kirk  K4RO  in Pegram, TN   < k4ro at music-city.tdec.state.tn.us >



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