Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question - Part 2
Hi Chet, Before we start, a disclaimer: I still have my MP, maybe I'm a radio hoarder. I do have a 75A3 and a Johnson Ranger and Courier and an FT 101ZD. The only long used radios I don't still have are my SB300 and SB400, and I wish I hadn't sold those. So my MP bashing is technical and proven, and I still love my MP enough to keep it. I hope its feelings aren't hurt by lack of use since the K3. Back in the heyday of FT1000MP, when that was one of the best contest radios available (IF you fixed the clicks), I used to take mine out to N4AF for the multi-op DX wars as NY4A. I used my MP on 40 meters out there, which at that time was listening to a 5 element quad stretched out on 190 feet of catenary between towers, end-on to 45 degrees. Loads of incoming RF off the big quad. With the MP, the bottom layer of signals was usually all the DL/OK basement noodle antenna QRP signals. When the K3 showed up, the DL/OK basement noodle QRP crowd became essentially workable and the new bottom layer of signals was all the European Russians running 100 watts to a dipole up 20 feet on the southeast side of a big hill. Goaded by the astonishing improvement, some K3 to MP comparisons showed very convincingly that what we always thought was the bottom atmospheric level in the MP was actually being generated IN the MP, because it was absent in the K3. A/B there, not there, couldn't possibly be that much. Repeat test 50 times at least, there, not there. After a half hour of doing the same test over and over, with exact same result over and over, "Gee, guess the K3 has improved a lot." N4AF switched to K3's, and very quickly all the "drug-in-with" radios were K3's, except for one Orion I. Within a couple years, 11 FT1000MP's in the NY4A crowd morphed into 14 K3's. There definitely WERE some separate sensitivity issues in the MP, a bunch caused by too much RF coming in the line in RX mode. Your deaf as a door-nail kind of spot reports screams as a repeat of one of those MP insensitivities. There is a little itty-bitty choke in the RX on TX antenna circuit, which can burn but NOT GO OPEN. It goes resistive because what's left over after the wire burn is still conductive. The DEGREE of resistive is unpredictable and can change. I know because over the years I've replaced a half dozen of them. You can find them in the schematic. The quick no-solder, no-disassembly fix to get around the problem and listen on the TX antenna with full sensitivity is 1) on the back panel patch the RX OUT RCA jack (connected to TX ant when not transmitting) to RX IN RCA jack right next to it, and 2) on the front panel use ANT RX. The coil is not in the RX ANT circuit. If you suddenly hear better, you know what to do. If you never do SO2R or operate the MP at a multi transmitter site, you maybe don't need the choke. The K3 has a COR relay for this. We always replaced the @%#@^&!! chokes because we were afraid to run the MPs at the multi site without those as protection for some cross-antenna backfeed we had unknowingly reintroduced. I can't explain the MP engineering there. That's just how it is. If you bought the MP second-hand and in its other life it was operated at high power multi sites, it could have been that way since you had it, therefore no suddenly worse performance as a clue to check things out. Anyway, I would check that out before you go tearing up all your antennas. 73 & HNY all, Guy K2AV On Sun, Dec 30, 2018 at 8:35 PM chet moore wrote: > Todd, > > Thanks for sharing. I've been following your post. I too wondered about > sharing the radial field like you did. My situation is somewhat similar in > that I feed a 90 foot tower which has a c31 at 95 feet and a two el xm 240 > 40m beam at 75 feet beneath it on a gatethe antennas should give me > some top loading but it has never been modeled. Shunt wire presently comes > down from 70 feet about 3 feet out from the tower to the base of my tower. > The Tower(AB-105) Is guyed at 40 and 70 feet, guys are broken up with > insulators. I have tried to find the resonant freq of the tower and at > one > time or another I have moved that tap from 40 feet to up 50 60 70 feet in > 2 > foot increments. (that's a lot of climbing)and never found the sweet spot > if there is one. I saw your post and Like you I wondered what would > Happen if I ran an inverted L up to 90 feet. (I already had a pulley and > rope up there) and run the tail out to the west since I seem to be "deaf" > to > the west and north west (and really everywhere) and would share The same > radial field which has 2 radials that I was able to stretch out to 100 > feet > (in a very crooked line) and a couple of others that are 60 feet and 56 > others of various lengths from 20 to 50 feet. The correct word is probably > not "share" as only one of the antennas would be hooked to the xmtr at a > time. My salt water swimming pool Is about 8 feet from the base of the > tower. Not sure if the pool helps or
Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question - Part 2
Todd, Thanks for sharing. I've been following your post. I too wondered about sharing the radial field like you did. My situation is somewhat similar in that I feed a 90 foot tower which has a c31 at 95 feet and a two el xm 240 40m beam at 75 feet beneath it on a gatethe antennas should give me some top loading but it has never been modeled. Shunt wire presently comes down from 70 feet about 3 feet out from the tower to the base of my tower. The Tower(AB-105) Is guyed at 40 and 70 feet, guys are broken up with insulators. I have tried to find the resonant freq of the tower and at one time or another I have moved that tap from 40 feet to up 50 60 70 feet in 2 foot increments. (that's a lot of climbing)and never found the sweet spot if there is one. I saw your post and Like you I wondered what would Happen if I ran an inverted L up to 90 feet. (I already had a pulley and rope up there) and run the tail out to the west since I seem to be "deaf" to the west and north west (and really everywhere) and would share The same radial field which has 2 radials that I was able to stretch out to 100 feet (in a very crooked line) and a couple of others that are 60 feet and 56 others of various lengths from 20 to 50 feet. The correct word is probably not "share" as only one of the antennas would be hooked to the xmtr at a time. My salt water swimming pool Is about 8 feet from the base of the tower. Not sure if the pool helps or hurts in any way. In the fall, once I cover the pool,I run out 30 radials of varying lengths which I have to roll back up again come spring when we uncover the pool. I remotely tune the tower with a motorized vacuum variable capacitor to tune the tower for minimum swr. I've only played with this since I saw your post. 5 years ago Before trying the shunt fed tower, I put up the inverted L with 4 buried radials mainly to be able get some points for PVRC in the DX contests. 160m has a way of hooking you in to trying to do just a little more than the bare minimum I then added 6 more radials, then a few more and then a few more after that. I noticed that things got better Up until I had 20 radials or so and then adding more radials didn't seem to help or hurt anything . Bandwidth went down at first and then like it says in the on4un book, leveled out. The real problem for me is RX. I have never heard a KL7 on 160 even though guys locally 3 or 4 miles away hear and work KL7's in every arrl or cq 160 contest. (I'm located 7 miles off the water at Virginia beach) I have managed 1 KH6 QSO (could not hear either of the two I saw spotted last night in the stew) Things are up and down here. Stuff I don't expect to hear. I sometimes get, but other easier stuff I never hear. Example, when I was able to work the ET3 on 160 a while back. I also got Yemen when K1ZM was in sanaa, I got bouvet last time out, the last 2 FT-8's but still no KL7. Never expected to work the VP6 or whatever the latest big dxpedition was a few weeks ago , the one that had to leave early due to weather. Vp6di Ducie? Xmas? Either one would have been new one for me on 160. I just knew I wouldn't hear them so I did not check for themUntil the night before they left, I turned on the rig, I was on 40 m and saw them spotted. Figured ok I'll waste my time and Clicked on the spot. I could actually hear them on my 40 m beam, switched to the shunt fed tower and zip, nada, nothing. Back to the 40m beam and they were still there. Went down to feed point and found that the dogs toy was entangled in the shunt feed and in trying to remove it, the dog had ripped the feed wire off of the top of the vacuum variable with his toy still attached. It was pouring rain so since this expedition was gonna be there 2 more days I figured I'd fix it at first light or as soon as the rain stopped and be ready that night. I was WRONG. The weather apparently got so bad they left early so I never got to call them. In the Stew I tried out a couple of quick swap outs between the inverted L and the tower on both G4AMT & KV4FZ last night in the stew when both were running em and I could not discern any difference on receive between the L and the tower. I worked both of them with 100 watts. I called N6RK on both antennas. On the inverted L I got an imi, and on the shunt fed tower no response. Lots of qrm. n6rk was not loud but he was the ONLY w6 I heard. N2IC was loud from new mexico all night. When I try to call cq I can hear partial calls and I know there are stations calling me. I know I was called by an EU4, 9A2 and a TF2 last night but I couldn't pull any of them thru. The shunt fed tower seems to radiate pretty well on xmit but on rx its an alligator. I definitely get out better than I hear but its still pretty discouraging to call CQ and to look at dx summit and see.spots like these from the europeans N4FX ?. N4FX no receiver N4fx don't waste your time
Re: Topband: CT1ILT request
Dear Friend Jeff, it has been a great pleasure and a challenge to listen to you since 9M0. Unfortunately, I think it will be very difficult to us to listen to you since V85, because the window is very small at this time of year for South America. But, we'll try. Have a good time! 73 and HNY Dick PY2RO Em dom, 30 de dez de 2018 às 23:11, k1zm--- via Topband < topband@contesting.com> escreveu: > Hi Guys > Thanks for the suggestion Filipe - YES - I am aware of the issues with CT > and even G/GM from out your way. > The good news is that EU signals are at least 10db louder coming our way - > which may help us to hear some of you guys as our SR nears. > I will make a note to try to focus on this point as operations progress. > Thanks for letting us know... > Good luck! > 73 JEFF > > Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide > through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal Society of Great > Britain, & Amazon > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > -- Dick Rodrigues PY2RO _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: CT1ILT request
Hi Guys Thanks for the suggestion Filipe - YES - I am aware of the issues with CT and even G/GM from out your way. The good news is that EU signals are at least 10db louder coming our way - which may help us to hear some of you guys as our SR nears. I will make a note to try to focus on this point as operations progress. Thanks for letting us know... Good luck! 73 JEFF Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal Society of Great Britain, & Amazon _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Stew Perry 2018
Greetings to TopBand Operators Worldwide, The 2018 running of the Stew Perry TopBand DX challenge is finished. Now the scoring work remains to be done. Please send in your log promptly! You can watch your score grow as QRP and low power stations send in their logs. You will receive a multiplication factor when you work a qrp or low power station for that QSO. You will find the initial results and the growing score base at: http://www.kkn.net/stew/ which also tells you how to submit your log. Please be patient as all good things take a modicum of time to get started Our fearless log checker will be eagerly awaiting your logs so send those logs in today! The nearly complete plaque list is listed below. There may be a few additions as Ops consider honoring categories yet unseen and maybe a few deletions if the funds aren't received to sponsor the plaque.A big thank you to all the plaque sponsors from The Boring Amateur Radio Club. KL7RATop # QSOs, S/O EI2CN W/K/N/VE/XE station with most QSOs with EI/British Isles N9TFTop Score QRP, from RF deprived Grids EN00 through EN79 N9TFTop # Grids NA,S/O,QRP non-resonant antenna <40' above ground N9TF Top Score USA,S/O,L/P-multi trap vertical, non-resonant on 160M no matching device for 160 on or at antenna, tuner in shack OK. UX1UA Top # SA + NA QSOs by Zone 16 Station UX1UA Top # QSOs with Zone 16 by NA Station K7CA Top Score Zone 22 K7CA Top Score Zone 24 W2GD Team Top # QSOs wid NA/SA by EU Station KH6LCTop Score From VK or ZL K1EP Top Score by Op 21 y/o or less K2PO Top Score, S/O, Low Power, Zone 3 K5WA Top # Grids using minimally directional antennas- (random wire, inverted V or Loop, etc.) K5WATop # Grids 100 watts or less N7GP Top # NA Grids worked from Zone 25 VE9AA Top Score 100w Mobile- (vehicle,radio, antenna all capable of actual highway travel. No need to sign /M) WA6CDR N5IA Memorial- Top # Grids Worked NQ6N Highest score by Station working other Stations who are running 100 watts or less EI4HQ Top Score, S/O, QRP K6ND K6SE Memorial- Top Score, S/O, World W7RH Top Score Asia, Low Power (100W or less) K7FLTop Score 100% S & P KR2Q Golden Log- Highest # QSOs with no busts VK6GX Heroic Tropical QRN Fighters- (Top Score +/- 15 deg of equator) K2AVMaster of The Small Lot- (Top Score from property containing all antennas =/< 1/4 acre, 1012 meters square, 10890 sq ft) WQ4RPTop Score, Multi-Op, world, QRP N7UATop[ Score, S/O, High Power, World VK6VZ A Flying Doctors of VK Baseball cap for Top Score- Northern Hemisphere Station working Southern Hemisphere Stations. Thanks again for participating in the 22ed running of The Stew Perry TopBand DX Challenge sponsored by The Boring Amateur Radio Club with propagation provided by the cosmos, physics and yet to be discovered principles. 73 and I remain, Leww7ew The Boring Amateur Radio Club Committee on Fun w...@arrl.net _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: V84SAA notes and suggestions - pls take a look - it may help u to work us on 160m!
Hello Jeff, Thanks for your TIPs email, may I also ask you to listen from time to time to WEST EUROPE, Asia is really really hard from our part of the world. Thanks. 73's Filipe Lopes CT1ILT - CR6K F4VPX - TM3M k1zm--- via Topband escreveu no dia domingo, 30/12/2018 à(s) 22:58: > Hi Gang > Our team is getting ready for V84SAA and we just posted some operating > notes for Topband on our website which is now live. > In addition to what is there, please take a look at the tips below which > may HELP U WORK US! > From 9M0W - I personally learned this is one of the most gawd-awful paths > into Eastern NA imaginable! > It is hard to appreciate what we will be dealing with coming out of our > headphones: > a) Doppler shift on weak NA signals. > b) Dropped portions of morse CW characters - like instead of HEARING W4ZV > - what I swore I heard was N4IS calling me one morning. I totally missed > the W - I heard the 4 and from the Z I did not hear the two DAHS in the Z. > What I then heard was 4 dit dit and then from the V I heard the dit dit > dit and not the DAH at the end of the V!! > So since that is what we will be dealing with - even with the BEST xmit > antennas we can manage and some good RX antennas, we are going to have to > work very HARD to deal with this kind of tough path. > BUT YOU CAN HELP US!!! > > Please do *not simply call us ONCE at 35wpm on a qsb peak - and > then wait for the next several CQ passes from us to call us again. > That may seem logical - but it is not what will likely get you in our log. > I personally recommend that you keep sending your call - over and over - > which in the end may allow us to piece it together somehow. > KJ9I is a perfect example of someone who did it right at 9M0W. I blew his > call several times - but because he kept sending it over and over - I > finally managed to piece it together and Dave now has a richly deserved > 9M0W qsl to show for it. > So without beating this to death too much - please appreciate what we will > be dealing with and try to adapt your calling sequences to what we know > will work best for US. > 9M0W was a humbling experience for us out there - and even though you will > have some pretty damned good lowband ops trying to work you on Topband - I > can guarantee you that it will be really tough to get anyone East of the > Mississippi River into our 160m log. > Please note - we have a really good darkness overlap with all of NA > starting at our SUNSET each evening. > We also will have some great LONGPATH opening chances into > VE1/VE9/VY2/VO1/VO2 and then W1/2/3 at your local SUNSET here on the East > Coast of NA. > Remember - it will likely be SHORTPATH well before your local SR time > (meaning you aim to the N/NW) skirting the auroral ovals at our Sunset and > you want to look SE at your SUNSET over the long path to work us - meaning > you aim at about 150 degrees. This will correspond to our local SR event. > Last year there really was no path for us SE over the longpath at our SS - > although NO3M reported the path did shift around at his Rx location - but > even for him it was mainly a shortpath event. And he should know because > Eric was our most NE contact from 9M0W and he heard us several times coming > over the pole out of the NE. > Good luck to all - we are a little more than a month away now. > HNY to all > 73 JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM > > Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide > through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal Society of Great > Britain, & Amazon > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: V84SAA notes and suggestions - pls take a look - it may help u to work us on 160m!
Hi Gang Our team is getting ready for V84SAA and we just posted some operating notes for Topband on our website which is now live. In addition to what is there, please take a look at the tips below which may HELP U WORK US! From 9M0W - I personally learned this is one of the most gawd-awful paths into Eastern NA imaginable! It is hard to appreciate what we will be dealing with coming out of our headphones: a) Doppler shift on weak NA signals. b) Dropped portions of morse CW characters - like instead of HEARING W4ZV - what I swore I heard was N4IS calling me one morning. I totally missed the W - I heard the 4 and from the Z I did not hear the two DAHS in the Z. What I then heard was 4 dit dit and then from the V I heard the dit dit dit and not the DAH at the end of the V!! So since that is what we will be dealing with - even with the BEST xmit antennas we can manage and some good RX antennas, we are going to have to work very HARD to deal with this kind of tough path. BUT YOU CAN HELP US!!! Please do *not simply call us ONCE at 35wpm on a qsb peak - and then wait for the next several CQ passes from us to call us again. That may seem logical - but it is not what will likely get you in our log. I personally recommend that you keep sending your call - over and over - which in the end may allow us to piece it together somehow. KJ9I is a perfect example of someone who did it right at 9M0W. I blew his call several times - but because he kept sending it over and over - I finally managed to piece it together and Dave now has a richly deserved 9M0W qsl to show for it. So without beating this to death too much - please appreciate what we will be dealing with and try to adapt your calling sequences to what we know will work best for US. 9M0W was a humbling experience for us out there - and even though you will have some pretty damned good lowband ops trying to work you on Topband - I can guarantee you that it will be really tough to get anyone East of the Mississippi River into our 160m log. Please note - we have a really good darkness overlap with all of NA starting at our SUNSET each evening. We also will have some great LONGPATH opening chances into VE1/VE9/VY2/VO1/VO2 and then W1/2/3 at your local SUNSET here on the East Coast of NA. Remember - it will likely be SHORTPATH well before your local SR time (meaning you aim to the N/NW) skirting the auroral ovals at our Sunset and you want to look SE at your SUNSET over the long path to work us - meaning you aim at about 150 degrees. This will correspond to our local SR event. Last year there really was no path for us SE over the longpath at our SS - although NO3M reported the path did shift around at his Rx location - but even for him it was mainly a shortpath event. And he should know because Eric was our most NE contact from 9M0W and he heard us several times coming over the pole out of the NE. Good luck to all - we are a little more than a month away now. HNY to all 73 JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal Society of Great Britain, & Amazon _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: SP
Folks, I had a lot of fun in the SP contest though I couldn't really devote nearly as much time to it as I wanted. I pretty much only called CQ at the very end, giving those running the points for QRP. Still, not bad; 152 Q's for 1326 points. Thanks to the HI-Z Circle 8 and HI-Z Triangular working diversity, I heard a whole lot that didn't hear my QRP signal. I didn't keep track but I heard easily 20 different countries that didn't hear me. KH6LC had the best ears this year LZ9W came in 2nd. Using Diversity in the K3s, I was using the HI-Z Circle 8 and triangular. I used the new HI-Z Encoders for control of the two arrays. It made utilizing the K3s's Diversity go to a new level, they made pulling in the best SNR for a given station so much easier than using the analog versions. Just much more efficient to find the best conditions for reception, I love them. I found the DX was really present during this contest, thought that would not be the case with the intense storms that had just passed through but amazingly, there was little atmospheric to interfere and the DX was everywhere. I have the AMTRAK RFI and the neighbors RFI to have to deal with but aiming to the NE cut out so much noise. With that, I could hear much more than usual. Worked W1BB, now the SP memorial station, and as I had never worked Stew (never had a real 160 antenna till 08), it's nice to have that in the log. I have to get something better regarding my TX antenna. Impossible to have a tower on my property and though I want to relocate, getting a property where I can put up a tower up with elevated radials is getting slimmer by the year, we're all getting older and I just can't do it all anymore. I used to have an INV-L, using an above tall Oak as my fixture for the vertical but it came down a few years back and since I can't move the radial bed, I have to shoot the wire over trees farther away and now what was the L, is now a sloper. I know that has some bearing on my Tx and takeoff angle. I keep thinking I should try an experiment and disconnect the radials from the 160 wire, add elevated radials to it and then pull the end of the wire up so the feed-point is 10' off the ground. That might give me lower angles than I have now with roughly 50 130' Radials. Doing that, I could make it an L again, still wouldn't be as high as the original though, that initial tree was the tallest one around. I always look forward to Topband contests. 73 & HNY to us all, Gary KA1J _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question - Part 2
Todd If you are interested in experimenting, you could try a K2AV folded counterpoise under that inverted L. If installed as recommended, it will provide a decent counterpoise system. One advantage to the FCP is that it is possible to also end fed the system, should that be a requirement. I was using an inverted L against a tower with random grounding--antenna R was up in the 80 ohm range. Over the K2AV, and away from the tower the antenna R dropped to 26 ohms. It works good enough for now. I have very poor ground conductivity, and running a large radial field would be hard over rocky sandy soil. I also fed the L over the FCP for 80 meters, an L Network is switched in to match the antenna, and the FCP counterpoise is changed over to 80 meters using surplus Russian vacuum relays. _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question - Part 2
Hi Rob, You ask some good questions and make some interesting observations. Nope, it is the same radial system. I don't have a reasonable way (time/money/effort) to create a whole new 50-60 wire buried radial system for this experiment. I just disconnected the 43' vertical from the radial mounting plate and connected the 100' vertical wire to the output of the remote tuner. Simply replaced one radiator with the other. The 100' tall wire's tree branch anchor is, at the apex, offset from the center of the radial field by maybe 15'. So, being that it is wire, I just angled it over and connected it. My figuring (probably bad) was that a 15' horizontal run over a 100' drop isn't a very steep angle and I'd work with what I had. I suspected that could be an issue when it just didn't play at all. That is when I rigged up the elevated radials. Several links folks have pointed me to describe the elevated radials and I thought I'd give that a try instead to salvage the operation. Not a big deal since this is really just a learning experience and even failure is learning. At this point I can A/B antenna switch between the 43' using buried radials and the 100' using the elevated radials. The elevated radials don't meet your design criteria either. Only three of them at roughtly equal spacing around the compass. I cut them at 135' long. They aren't perfectly parallel to the earth's surface due to support points being at uneven heights. They certainly aren't at 20' from the ground. The wire is insulated but they are just tied off to supports at the ends. All in all a complete mess of efficiency. Throwing up something temporary in the winter rain/cold has some limitations that aren't conducive to good 160m operation, it appears. :-) I did operate in the Stew Perry last night using both antennas to transmit and the BOG to receive. The BOG worked better than I expected, notice I didn't say "great". The 100' performed poorly compared to the 43' using CONUS distances as a benchmark. No EU or JAs heard at my QTH... I think I'll pull the 100' wire and supporting stuff down. It doesn't seem worth the trouble since it isn't providing any additional benefit. Nothing is easy at 160m. :-) But it has been fun. Thanks for the insight. 73, Todd - NR7RR >Hmmmyou DID relocate or rebuild your ground system so it converges >on a point below the bottom of the 100 foot tall wire right? I mean, >you aren't using the 43 foot vert. ground system with the 100' wire? >A series fed vertical isn't rocket science so let's not over think >this. If it doesn't work well it is probably inefficient. I'd make >sure your ground system is adequate. No, you can't use an existing >ground system that converges on a point 30 or 40 feet away from the >100' wire. Yes, I've had people ask me if they can do that, so it is >worth mentioning. >You can go the elevated route, but it is _critical_ that it be >constructed correctly to adequately replace a full ground system at or >below grade. You need four radials parallel to earth extending out >90 degrees from each other and their lengths must be equal and 90 >degrees long (1/4 w.) at frequency. The ends must be h.v. insulated. >They should be elevated 20 feet on 160 m. to completely de-couple from >earth. >73 >Rob >K5UJ _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: "He invented the Waller flag, IIRC"
Hi Bill! Thank you, my mistake. José has improved and written so much about it --both here and on the web-- that I got it in my head that he was the inventor. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Sun, Dec 30, 2018, 6:59 AM Bill Tippett wrote: > Mike (W0BTU) does not recall correctly. Just to give credit where it is > due, Doug Waller NX4D invented the "Waller" flag. Doug's was implemented > as a vertical array only but JC's contribution was implementing it as a > horizontal array, along with other items such as low noise preamps, low > noise feed system, etc. > > 73 & Happy DXing in 2019! > > Bill W4ZV > > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question - Part 2
Hmmmyou DID relocate or rebuild your ground system so it converges on a point below the bottom of the 100 foot tall wire right? I mean, you aren't using the 43 foot vert. ground system with the 100' wire? A series fed vertical isn't rocket science so let's not over think this. If it doesn't work well it is probably inefficient. I'd make sure your ground system is adequate. No, you can't use an existing ground system that converges on a point 30 or 40 feet away from the 100' wire. Yes, I've had people ask me if they can do that, so it is worth mentioning. You can go the elevated route, but it is _critical_ that it be constructed correctly to adequately replace a full ground system at or below grade. You need four radials parallel to earth extending out 90 degrees from each other and their lengths must be equal and 90 degrees long (1/4 w.) at frequency. The ends must be h.v. insulated. They should be elevated 20 feet on 160 m. to completely de-couple from earth. 73 Rob K5UJ _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: "He invented the Waller flag, IIRC"
Mike (W0BTU) does not recall correctly. Just to give credit where it is due, Doug Waller NX4D invented the "Waller" flag. Doug's was implemented as a vertical array only but JC's contribution was implementing it as a horizontal array, along with other items such as low noise preamps, low noise feed system, etc. 73 & Happy DXing in 2019! Bill W4ZV _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
