Yeah, I remember as a new ham of 14, I asked my dad to buy a 50 foot piece of RG-58/u at Electronics Wholesalers in Washington DC. He came home with 50 feet of RG58C/u which has a stranded center conductor and a characteristic Z of 53Ω.
I politely asked him to return it since it wasn't the correct impedance. The counter clerk tried to explain that it was "better" because of the more flexible center and the very slight difference in characteristic impedance wouldn't make ANY difference in performance, but he insisted and came away with a new piece of RG-58/u. I think l I used it to string up a 15M dipole between our two chimneys. Never DID get that %$#@ Globe Chief to work on 15 though. For some reason, it had more output on 14 MHz than 21 even when I had the bandswitch on 15M My entire Novice career was spent on 40M CW and 2M AM back when Novices had 145 to 147 MHz. 73, k3ICH (ex KN3ICH in1959) -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net <elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Fred Jensen Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2020 5:41 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA1500 in the IARU Contest Last weekend Indeed! Probably the least unbalanced of "balanced" antenna systems that ever existed were the HF point-to-point rhombics and V-beams at the RCA, Mackay, and Marconi shore stations in the first 60 or so years of the 20th century. Despite very precise engineering to make them balanced, the RF currents in each side of the open feeders were never exactly the same. As a teenage ham, I tended to think in absolutes and exactitudes. If my Heath MM-1 multimeter said the screen voltage was 176.5 V, I believed it was, exactly, and if the spec said 177.5 V, I needed to do something to "fix" it. If the ARRL Handbook said the two halves of my 40 meter dipole needed to be exactly 32.9114 feet, I believed that the antenna would not work if I didn't assure my dipole was exactly 32.9114 on each side. As I grew older, both in age and ham longevity, I realized my Elmer was right when reminded me on multiple occasions, "We're amateurs. Most often, 'close' is good enough." Seems like many today are convinced that 32.9114 ft will work but 32.9000 ft won't. 73, Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW Sparks NV DM09dn Washoe County ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
