[TowerTalk] Tuners

[Tommy Alderman]

Gosh - I think most reflector hams have no sense of humor whatever! Why does
everyone have to take everything so damn serious? Smile once in a while!

Of course yagi's are better than wires but in a hobby, it is fun to try
stuff! I now use 40m and tri-band OptiBeam yagis and yes, the difference is
tremendous. Answers below:

(Tom - W4BQF)

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Thomson
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2010 4:33 AM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Tuners

Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:09:45 -0500
From: "Tommy Alderman" <aldermant at windstream.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tuners

Wow Rick! That is really amazing? You ever think of getting a decent
receiver?

##  He already does. 




For the past 59 years I have used a 'tuner' and wires, but alas, using wire
antennas and I've only got 327 countries confirmed? Do you think if I get a
REAL antenna I could make the honor roll?

73 Rick,

Tom - W4BQF

##  is that 327 countries  spread over 160-10m, including warc bands? 
Is that spread over 59 years ?  Is this just ssb, or just cw,  or both, or
does that
include rtty and data modes ? 
[||] No - that is 321 countries on 40m CW only, the others were on various
bands.

##  How many  countries....per band?
[||] I have no clue. I did it as a 'fun' thing just to see if I could work
300 countries on 40m CW. I also happened to lived on one of those 'location
- location - location' places just southwest of Washington DC, for 30 years.
I had a sloping 80m dipole that ran N/S, down a 70' hill and pointed north
and a 3-el wire quad, hung in the trees for 40m, all open wire fed, running
1.5kw.
 

##  a friend 150 miles north of me installed a F-12  5 el 20m yagi @ 70'.
He worked  290 countries in less than 2 yrs, and that
was casual dx'ing.  I managed a clean sweep in a Nov SS  phone contest
many yrs ago, that means I got WAS  in under 30 hrs. I could not do that
with wire ants. 
[||] All of my DX'ing was casual as at that time I was into QRQ CW and did
not seriously chase DX.

 ##  when  I switched from my own 5-el 20m yagi to the wire ant, the EU
folks
told me I dropped 6 x S units [ I measured 13.8 db on a stepped attenuator,
on RX]

##  sure, wire ants  will work,  provided you put em up 100'..and stuff
loads of power
into them.   A dipole up 100' is a good ant.... but the  14 db F/S is a
hindrance.  2 x dipoles
at right angles  or a rotary dipole is a fast way to pick up 14 db.   Most
folks have limited patience. 
I have tried every ant in the book on 40m, since 1972.  I have given up and
opted for a 3-el yagi up 90'.
Now if that doesn't work, then I will give up. 

Jim   VE7RF


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