[TowerTalk] TowerTalk Digest, Vol 71, Issue 49
W5KI at aol.com
W5KI at aol.com
Sun Nov 16 17:56:27 EST 2008
I had this problem with a G-450XL several years ago while still in SNJ. It
would rarely hang up, then progressed to where it occurred most of the time.
Usually it would free up by rocking left and right. Always at the same
general heading. No cable issues. Finally it quit moving altogether (and it
will). I took it down and found it had many rusted ball bearings, with rust
buildup in only one area of the run-- accounting for it freezing in one
direction only. I cleaned it up, put in replacement bearings where needed,
re-greased, and that solved it.
Steve, W5KI
In a message dated 11/16/2008 11:02:24 A.M. Central Standard Time,
towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM (Mark Robinson)
2. Re: bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM (Peter Voelpel)
3. Grounding thru a bulkhead??? (chasm at texas.net)
4. Re: bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM (Tim Duffy K3LR)
5. Re: bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM (Richards)
6. Re: bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM (Richards)
7. ANTENNA ROTATOR STOPS AT PLUS AND MINUS 45 DEGREES, ANY
IDEAS? (W3CP)
8. Dipole Center Connector (AD5VJ Bob)
9. Re: bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM (Tom Osborne)
10. Re: bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM (Michael Germino)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:49:20 -0500
From: "Mark Robinson" <markrob at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
To: "k2vi" <k2vi at cox.net>
Cc: TowerTalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <05fa01c9477c$c83e4250$6600a8c0 at hplaptop>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
Hi Tony
I have something similar. Is that a 160m dipole. I have about 126 feet I
think on either side of the center insulator, fed with 450 wire open wire
feeder and then a choke balun and about 20 feet of coax to the shack. I can
tune it with my 3kw MFJ roller inductor tuner but the resonances are very
sharp. It took me a while to find the correct settings. It works great on
30m and 15m but I can tune it for any band. What tuner are you using?
Mark N1UK
----- Original Message -----
From: "k2vi" <k2vi at cox.net>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, 15 November, 2008 6:37 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
> Can somone help me out, i have a 450 ohm ladder line dipole i made. both
> sides are exactaly 123 feet and the 450 ohm line is 47 feet to the atr-30
> to the balance terminals. the ladder line is away from any metal objects,
> its a foot away from the gutter with a stand off. I can not tune this
> antenna what so ever. it doesnt even move, its fixed at past 6:1 swr. What
> am i missing here. I am so upset as i put a lot of effort into the
> errecting and construction, can someone shed some light. I even tried a
> 4:1 balun with no sucess. any help would be greatly apreciated, thanks
> guys.
>
> tony k2vi
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:44:31 +0100
From: "Peter Voelpel" <df3kv at t-online.de>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
To: "'k2vi'" <k2vi at cox.net>, <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <160CF4C2B51A44F5A719596B68F77D1D at ap200>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of k2vi
Sent: Sonntag, 16. November 2008 00:37
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
Can somone help me out, i have a 450 ohm ladder line dipole i made. both
sides are exactaly 123 feet and the 450 ohm line is 47 feet to the atr-30 to
the balance terminals. the ladder line is away from any metal objects, its a
foot away from the gutter with a stand off. I can not tune this antenna what
so ever. it doesnt even move, its fixed at past 6:1 swr. What am i missing
here. I am so upset as i put a lot of effort into the errecting and
construction, can someone shed some light. I even tried a 4:1 balun with no
sucess. any help would be greatly apreciated, thanks guys.
tony k2vi
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TowerTalk at contesting.com
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To me it looks as you try to match a very high impedance where the tuning
range of the ATR-30 is limited.
You could try with shorted dipole length or extended feed line length.
Anyhow the tuner should be able to tune 160m, which bands did you try to
tune?
73
Peter
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:48:44 -0600
From: chasm at texas.net
Subject: [TowerTalk] Grounding thru a bulkhead???
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <491F8A0C.9080402 at texas.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
to the Towertalk reflector...
I have a Georgia Copper bar for a single point ground behind my gear
using flexweave between each unit and the bar.
the bulkhead is the MFJ wooden board product with a short piece of
metal plate on both indoor/outdoor sides connected with barrel
connectors, etc. those ground both sides to each other.
I have drilled a couple of holes away from the plate to pull my 240V
thru the bulkhead from an outside service panel to provide juice for
the amps. The 120VAC also comes thru the bulkhead from that same
service panel to supply the radios, etc. grounds for the service
outlets go to the ground bar also. mixing DC and RF grounds. hmmmm
question. how do I connect that inside ground bar thru the bulkhead
to the ring of 8' ground rods outside my window???
I plan to use 1.5" wide copper strap from the bulkhead-outside to the
ground rods and to tie the ground rods together. but I cannot figure
out how to get from the copper single point ground bar THRU the
bulkhead to that outside copper grounding strap.
do I drill a hole thru the wood and coil up some strap and push that
thru the hole? do not know how to physically connect the two sides
both mechanically and electrically.
The bulkhead DOES have a screw with insulators which goes thru the
bulkhead much like the two screws for the ladder line. but it is for
a single long line. could I use that?
help???
thanks
chas k5dam
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:53:47 -0600
From: "Tim Duffy K3LR" <k3lr at k3lr.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
To: "'k2vi'" <k2vi at cox.net>, <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <155F1D806EE442CC936886F618AAFB4D at K3LR>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi Tony!
See if you can borrow a different balanced feed antenna tuner as a test.
Maybe there is a problem with your ATR-30.
Your antenna should work great, so don't give up!
73!
Tim K3LR
-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of k2vi
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 5:37 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
Can somone help me out, i have a 450 ohm ladder line dipole i made. both
sides are exactaly 123 feet and the 450 ohm line is 47 feet to the atr-30 to
the balance terminals. the ladder line is away from any metal objects, its a
foot away from the gutter with a stand off. I can not tune this antenna what
so ever. it doesnt even move, its fixed at past 6:1 swr. What am i missing
here. I am so upset as i put a lot of effort into the errecting and
construction, can someone shed some light. I even tried a 4:1 balun with no
sucess. any help would be greatly apreciated, thanks guys.
tony k2vi
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:21:06 -0500
From: Richards <jruing at ameritech.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
To: k3lr at k3lr.com
Cc: 'k2vi' <k2vi at cox.net>, towertalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <491F9FB2.3050702 at ameritech.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I wonder about your situation - setup... You say you have 47 feet of
window line feeder...
Hmmmm... that would put it, at best, only 47 feet above ground,
assuming the center of your dipole is exactly above your rig, and it
is outside in the back yard on the ground....
But, I am sure that is not the case, and given your description of how
the feed line comes down around the gutters, I presume your dipole
hangs just a little bit above your roof. If you have two story home,
then I am guessing it runs very close to the roof.
Consequently, I am thinking it is difficult to tune because it is hanging
just way too close to the roof, gutters, downspouts, and whatever else
you have hanging around - especially if you have metal masts or
stand offs or supports.
Just how close is it to the rest of the stuff in your yard? How high is
it off the ground? What metal and other objects are near it. How
do you support it? Tell us as much as you can.
================= Richards -- K8JHR ===================
Tim Duffy K3LR wrote:
> sides are exactaly 123 feet and the 450 ohm line is 47 feet to the atr-30
==================================================
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:23:31 -0500
From: Richards <jruing at ameritech.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
To: k3lr at k3lr.com
Cc: 'k2vi' <k2vi at cox.net>, towertalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <491FA043.5060204 at ameritech.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Did you check the wire elements for continuity? If you are using
insulated wire, there could be a break in one of the side elements
and that could mess up your SWR ratings. Same for a break in
the feeder wire.
Just a thought...
================= Richards - K8JHR =================
Tony said =
>
I can not tune this antenna what
> so ever. it doesnt even move, its fixed at past 6:1 swr.
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:02:33 -0000
From: "W3CP" <W3CP at CHARTER.NET>
Subject: [TowerTalk] ANTENNA ROTATOR STOPS AT PLUS AND MINUS 45
DEGREES, ANY IDEAS?
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <689CF8D4CA684F99ABE534C306F0508C at electron>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
When getting on for the SS SSB today, I found the antenna would rotate from
north to exactly NE or NW and no further. The rotator is a Yaesu G-450A
that was first installed October 2007 in a crankup tower at about 50 ft. By
eye from ground level it appeared that the coax and control cable were not
fouled. Seems like there should be a clue as to the trouble provided by the
exact stoppage at plus and minus 45 degrees from north, but I dont know what
it is. Prior performance has been OK except a time or two I noticed the
rotation slowing down as it went past NE, but at the time I though it was
just the wind load, it can be very windy here. I may not be able to get the
tower down for some time, and any thoughts would be appreciated.
73, Jim w3cp
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:33:45 -0600
From: "AD5VJ Bob" <rtnmi at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Dipole Center Connector
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <052a01c947ef$f39fecf0$6401a8c0 at RAD9FBHB71>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I am working on building a dipole for 80 meters.
I have the wire, poles and rope needed to string it, but dont have the money
right now to buy the Budwig PL-259 center connector for
it.
Any ideas what I can use that will actually keep the antenna up there for a
while, I have come up with some ideas, but would like to
work from good ol' reliable successful experience instead of trying to
reinvent the wheel.
73 fer nw es gud DX,
QSL VIA: LotW, BUR, e-QSL
Bob AD5VJ
http://www.ad5vj.com/
Old Calls WB5ZQU, WY5L/KH3, KE5CTY, N5IET
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:43:16 -0800
From: "Tom Osborne" <w7why at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
To: "Towertalk" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <9421841A92764A7F8127E23403EB4298 at Tom>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1;
reply-type=original
Even if there is a dead short where the antenna attaches to the feedline,
there should be a minimum somewhere. Very narrow, but minimum. I know from
experience whence I speak :-). I'd check the tuner. 73
Tom W7WHY
> Did you check the wire elements for continuity? If you are using
> insulated wire, there could be a break in one of the side elements
> and that could mess up your SWR ratings. Same for a break in
> the feeder wire.
>
> Just a thought...
>
> ================= Richards - K8JHR =================
>
> Tony said =
>>
> I can not tune this antenna what
>> so ever. it doesnt even move, its fixed at past 6:1 swr.
>> _______________________________________________
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:15:32 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Germino <ad6aa at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
To: towertalk at contesting.com, k2vi <k2vi at cox.net>
Message-ID: <759651.77696.qm at web82403.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
I would use a Antenna Analyzer in place of the radio to tune it the first
time. Then write down the settings. If the settings are very narrow, they
will be hard to find using the radio, but a lot easier with the Analyzer,
because you can start to see the meter dip and slow down spinning the knob.
After you find the settings with the analyzer, perhaps you may find the
antenna needs to be shorter or longer.
Everyone should have a analyzer or have a friend who has one.
Good Luck.
Mike
AD6AA
--- On Sat, 11/15/08, k2vi <k2vi at cox.net> wrote:
> From: k2vi <k2vi at cox.net>
> Subject: [TowerTalk] bIG ANTENNA PROBLEM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008, 3:37 PM
> Can somone help me out, i have a 450 ohm ladder line dipole
> i made. both sides are exactaly 123 feet and the 450 ohm
> line is 47 feet to the atr-30 to the balance terminals. the
> ladder line is away from any metal objects, its a foot away
> from the gutter with a stand off. I can not tune this
> antenna what so ever. it doesnt even move, its fixed at past
> 6:1 swr. What am i missing here. I am so upset as i put a
> lot of effort into the errecting and construction, can
> someone shed some light. I even tried a 4:1 balun with no
> sucess. any help would be greatly apreciated, thanks guys.
>
> tony k2vi
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
------------------------------
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TowerTalk at contesting.com
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End of TowerTalk Digest, Vol 71, Issue 49
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