[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
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk  mailing  list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk


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
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk


End  of TowerTalk Digest, Vol 71, Issue  49
*****************************************


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