[TenTec] New and Improved Terminology (NVIS origins)

[Richards]

On 1/8/2011 7:48 PM, Rick - NJ0IP / DJ0IP wrote:
> Filling your tubing with foam is the biggest nonsense I've ever heard.

		Oh... come now... not the biggest....?  !  ?

		SOMETHING else must take the cake...     ;-)


> Jim, it took me several years to figure out something that should be
> obvious.
> "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right."
> After watching a few flimsy antennas break and fall down I developed the
> following strategy:


		UNDERSTOOD ! My wife calls me  "Mr Overkill"  because
		I tend to overbuild everything.  Good tools are worth good
		money.   Good results usually come from good effort.
		That big bag of snakes is often disguised as an ever-loving
		blue-eyed bargain.


> Actually it wasn't the beam, it was the Spiderbeam 60' vertical dipole.  She
> doesn't understand the difference.

		I am the luckiest guy in town.   My wife does a pretty good
		job of listening to me rage about the hobby, and is supportive
		of all my antenna projects.  The only constraint she has
		imposed is that I cannot put any holes in the roof.   She
		even helps me put the antennas up (provided I stay within
		her approx 1 hour attention span... if it takes more than an
		hour, she tends to wander off leaving me to finish on my own. )
		It could be worse.


> Not much you can do when an entire tree falls down and hits your pole!
> Murphy is alive and well.

		1)   Some forces are bigger than we are.

		2)     Understood.   Murphy lives with me when he is
			not out bothering you other guys.


> As I said in an earlier post, because it was telescoping fiberglass, it only
> cost me about $30 to repair, and it was again straight as an arrow.


		A fiberglass solution is now the leading contender.

		I have two 30-foot fiberglass poles similar to the
		Spiderbeam type poles you like  supporting a
		medium aperture Wellbrook active loop receiving
		antenna and they hardly sway in the wind.

		Now, I am thinking those Spiderbeam poles (using
		only 	17 +/- feet thereof)  and thick gauge stranded
		wire (either inside or attached outside the poles) for
		the radiator.   My local friend suggested a way to
		terminate the radiator with a short stinger that can be
		adjusted for tuning for resonance and low SWR, etc.
		This notion seems more workable than his foam
		dampening idea.   (Parenthetically, I think he derives
		a certain amount of vicarious pleasure in helping me
		with my antenna projects... his XYL won't let him have
		any outdoor antennas... so I think he has fun pitching
		in to build mine... which is OK by me. )

		The good news is I have the 40-6 meter OCF dipole and
		10 meter aluminum dipole ready to deploy -- just waiting
		for a really heavy snowfall or ice storm so I can install them
		in sufficiently inclement weather to assure they work well.   ;-)

Thanks loads for your input !

=================   James -K8JHR  ====================