Topband: Topband Digest, Vol 106, Issue 32

Doug Turnbull turnbull at net1.ie
Tue Oct 25 12:17:34 PDT 2011


Gary and group,
     I too would be most interested in hearing from those using the DXE
active antennas.   I am able to deploy Beverages sometime in November after
life stock are removed from adjacent fields but would much prefer to have
the antennas on my own land year round.   Other wise I am limited to a K9AY
which I certainly find a help but not normally equal to the Beverages.   I
see the DXE adverts but then think of the Gotham antennas of the sixties and
wonder - no slur is meant by this but I would sure like to know more about
these active antenna systems.   I must Google Hi-Z which is new to me.   Top
band remains a challenge.

              73 Doug EI2CN 

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On Behalf Of topband-request at contesting.com
Sent: 25 October 2011 20:01
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Topband Digest, Vol 106, Issue 32

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Today's Topics:

   1. Hi-Z or DXE Active Rx antennae (Gary Smith)
   2. Vertical for 160/80? (Jerry Keller (K3BZ))
   3. bottom fed antenna causing broad band signal?
      (BRYON PAUL n0ah VEAL)
   4. Receive ant question (Its from Onion)
   5. Re: Vertical for 160/80? (PaulKB8N at aol.com)
   6. JD1BME Minami Torishima QSL card for 160m (Steve Ireland)
   7. Jacek (Ryszard Tymkiewicz)
   8. Need help feeding tower on 160 AND 80 (Brian Machesney)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:14:28 -0400
From: "Gary Smith" <Gary at ka1j.com>
Subject: Topband: Hi-Z or DXE Active Rx antennae
To: topband at contesting.com
Message-ID: <4EA5C724.20838.4AE944B at Gary.ka1j.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

My Beverages are lousy to the point of being useless over the salt 
marsh and I'm going out there & taking them down as soon as the deer 
ticks go dormant for the fall.

Looking at the replies I've gotten for Rx antennae for this QTH, it 
seems like one of my better options is to get an active Rx antenna 
system like the DXE or Hi-Z 4 element series. 

Does anyone know of a ham who has any of these active directional 
units that is no longer using them & wants to move them along? If so, 
please have them contact me directly.

Thanks,

Gary
KA1J


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:59:57 -0400
From: "Jerry Keller \(K3BZ\)" <k3bz at verizon.net>
Subject: Topband: Vertical for 160/80?
To: "\(REFLECTOR\) Topband" <topband at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <5489F6FF60754456BE630F625DFB1D41 at JKPC>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="Windows-1252"

I have an aluminum tubing vertical that I no longer need to use on 40M.
Bottom 18? is 3? OD; rest is 1? OD, length is adjustable to max 35?. I?m
looking for details of a good way to use this  as part of a vertical for
160M (and/or 80M) that might be better than an inverted el.  Ideas?

73,   Jerry K3BZ

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:10:41 -0600
From: BRYON PAUL n0ah VEAL <bryonveal at msn.com>
Subject: Topband: bottom fed antenna causing broad band signal?
To: "topband at contesting.com" <topband at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <SNT143-W386B27B839A84716CF77E5B3EF0 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


I have a good friend who has a 1/4 wave 80 foot vertical (63 feet) who
decided to put a 100 foot coil to bottom feed the antenna for 160M.  Using a
tuner, (no UnUN) he is resonant at 1.830 but the signal is very broad banded
at 4 miles away. Originally, he started with a coil made of 50 feet of
copper and was resonant at 1.890Mhz.  Any red flags with this design to
warrant this problem of hearing him 30KHz wide, (10 up, 20 down) ?? On the
scope, the signal looks very clean, and I only see it 3-5 Khz wide, as I
would expect. Hut he is transmitting CW on LSB using CW software.  The coil
is only around 2 1/2 inches wide- I am thinking larger turns would be less
of a coil-  Any suggestions appreciated- this is not an antenna I understand
very well but would like to get some input- The station is very clean for
issues but is the coil suspect-  I think I would just gone with an Inv
L....... hihi
Please feel free to respond to n0ah at arrl.net. 

Paul  N0AH

 		 	   		  

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:40:19 +0000
From: Its from Onion <aredandgold at msn.com>
Subject: Topband: Receive ant question
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <SNT107-W589AF19274EBA90F40AD43BCEC0 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"



I'm looking to build and install my first beverage receive antenna.  I use a
756 Pro and wondering a couple questions from folks who have been there.
 
1. Do I need a pre-amp and if yes your suggestion.
2. Do I need a front end saver and your thoughts again.
 
Thank you and 
 
73,
Lee
KE4VYN 		 	   		  

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:11:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: PaulKB8N at aol.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Vertical for 160/80?
To: k3bz at verizon.net, topband at contesting.com
Message-ID: <304f0.4b9dc097.3bd7c94f at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Jerry,
 
The Cushcraft MA-160V vertical happens to be 35' tall.  I believe  there is 
a capacitance hat at 23' with an inductor of unknown value just  under the 
hat.  The hat spokes are 48" and there are 8 of  them.  Above that is a 
"stinger", an adjustable element that can be  lengthened or shortened to
bring 
the system to resonance.  The OD of your  element is larger than that of the

MA-160V, suggesting that the size of the coil  needed may be marginally 
smaller to bring the system to resonance.
 
There is a user manual available online that details the construction of  
the antenna.  It is really very simple, 23.5 feet of aluminum, inductor,  
hat, and adjustable aluminum "stinger" in that order.  Read the eHam
reviews, 
they are overwhelmingly positive, especially for an antenna  of this size. 
 
You might check with some of the eHam reviewers about replicating the  
design, the value of the inductor being the only unknown.  I believe
Cushcraft 
even has the inductor listed as an individual part number.   Perhaps they 
would sell you one separately.  If there is anything more  to this design
that 
I might have missed, I can't determine it from the  manual.  Users?
 
Perhaps more intriguing is that you might be able to tap the inductor for  
80M and short out the unneeded inductance via a control cable inside the  
aluminum tubing.  This design probably isn't optimized for that band, but
it 
may still outperform at least some of the alternatives.
 
I'm somewhat familiar with the design because I have a tree branch at 35'  
that would support a wire version of this design and is inside a cluster of

trees that would hide the entire antenna, a must in my covenant-restricted  
neighborhood.
 
YMMV, but it is a proven design that should be easy to replicate.  I  don't 
encourage pirating of commercial designs, but emulating this for  
comparison against other designs is well within the spirit of ham radio
antenna  
design IMHO.  Good luck!
 
73,  Paul, K5AF
 
 
In a message dated 10/25/2011 12:14:52 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
k3bz at verizon.net writes:

I have  an aluminum tubing vertical that I no longer need to use on 40M. 
Bottom 18? is  3? OD; rest is 1? OD, length is adjustable to max 35?. I?m 
looking for details  of a good way to use this  as part of a vertical for
160M 
(and/or 80M)  that might be better than an inverted el.  Ideas?

73,    Jerry K3BZ
_______________________________________________
UR RST IS ...  ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK


------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:30:52 +0800
From: "Steve Ireland" <vk6vz at arach.net.au>
Subject: Topband: JD1BME Minami Torishima QSL card for 160m
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <2783E517A2C640DB80B1B6A09F78C7CE at VK6VZ>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"

G'day 

 

Back in January 2007, along with a number of other topbanders, I worked
JD1BME on Minami Torishima.  My recollection is that the operator's only QSL
route was via the JARL Bureau.  Despite sending several QSLs, including two
direct to the bureau (which is one of the most reliable bureaus in the
world), I have been unable to get a QSL card in return.

 

Please has anyone had any luck with this one?

 

Vy 73

 

Steve, VK6VZ

 

 



------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:52:09 +0200
From: "Ryszard Tymkiewicz" <rtym at ippt.gov.pl>
Subject: Topband: Jacek
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <7E95DC38B725496BB299B08E43A0D65F at ryszard520>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-2"

Jacek get stuck at the Airport in Lata...at least till Saturday, I don't
know
what will be with his  bookings from Honiara to Fiji and later to Los
Angeles
and London - Warsaw... it seems DXpedition  ( especially Topband ones)
are not always easy.
                           73 Rys SP5EWY


------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:07:12 -0400
From: Brian Machesney <nekvtster at gmail.com>
Subject: Topband: Need help feeding tower on 160 AND 80
To: topband at contesting.com
Message-ID:
	<CAFJh+jhXPcM6jdD3U_qi5Y6uASrgiFmNjqfv_xbj9FrSQ5V_EQ at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Gang,

I have an 80-ft tower topped by an KT34XA (elements insulated from 32-ft
boom) and 40-2CD (only reflector electrically connected to 22-ft boom). I
have 8 x 50-ft lengths of 4-ft wide welded, galvanized steel fence for a
ground screen. No other radials.

I have successfully matched this on 160 with about 350-pF series capacitor
to a 45-ft #12 gamma wire spaced about 3-ft from the tower.

I also want to feed the tower on 80. I have been hoping that the 160 gamma
wire would "disappear" electrically when it is open-circuited. Given the
complex configuratino of the GAP vertical antennas, this may be but a faint
hope. I'm having trouble creating a good match on 80 with a simple gamma
feed scheme.

Has anyone on the reflector tried to feed the same tower on two bands?

Please reply off-reflector.

Thanks and 73,

Brian K1LI


------------------------------

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End of Topband Digest, Vol 106, Issue 32
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