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<p class=MsoPlainText>> It would be interesting to hear what's going on with
everyone else.....<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>After losing all wire antennas and 600’ of open wire
feeder this past June, to a tornado, some progress is being made.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I had been using EF Johnson 4” ceramic spacers for my
run of open wire, but lost the majority of them in the storm. This open wire I
just put up is using these new white plastic coat hangers. You can get seven
spacers out of each coat hanger. BUT DON’T DO IT!!! They seem quite lossy
plus they are very much affected by rain or a damp ground. I use #14 hard drawn
stranded copper wire and have the entire feed line supported on 14’ 4x4
post set 2’ in the ground (so I can drive my tractor under them while
cutting grass!!). I intend to replace all plastic spacers with Teflon rod.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I have a single 80m dipole up about 60’. Directly
behind that, I have a 2-el 40m yagi, both pointed just south of London. If you
align the 80m dipole and the yagi center insulators, the 80m dipole adds about
0.4dB forward gain, but about 14 dB to the F/B ratio. That sure helps knocking
down the Florida 40m QRN storm generators. Next to go up is either a 3-el quad
or yagi, I haven’t decided which yet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>My primary Omni 6+ receiver bit-the-dust, so have been using
my back up. My Icom IC-781 had failed back in March and I had been trying to
troubleshoot it without having much success. I was very fortunate to have a
very technically knowledgeable ham up in Woodstock offer to ‘look at it
for me’. He didn’t just look at it, he found the problem plus he
fixed the UPS shipping damage to the front of the radio. Instead of UPS’ing
the radio back to Valdosta, I drove up to Woodstock, through that murderous
Atlanta traffic mess to pick up the radio myself. We were fortunate to have
Ralph/K1ZZI guide us to a great Italian restaurant in Woodstock where I gorged
myself with some the best pizza I’ve ever had!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Was going to start on my 20m antenna this week, but my 98 yr
old Mother is having some problems and I have to take care of that. But I’m
going to move the 80m dipole so it’s covering the USA for CW SS, then
going to put up the 20m antenna. A rather busy schedule for the rest of this
month. But after it’s all done I hope to be able to contribute to the
SECC scoring totals this fall.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>73 to all,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Tom – W4BQF <o:p></o:p></p>
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