I'm not very good at putting my personal feelings in print, but here goes... While fumbling around on the web last night, trying to figure out why I couldn't import a piece of local weather code into a QRZ page via iframe, I ran across a discussion on reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/5c3620/qrzcom_tries_new_layout_goes_full_digg/ . I was sort of dumbfounded, and a little put off by some of the assumptions about some of us long time hams.
I thought about it all day. I wanted to go back and post my thoughts , but I feel I'm a different kind of ham than perhaps many of those on those threads (if some of those folks are actually hams). Reason being, I prefer to be on the air, working others, hunting DX, building, restoring, etc...actually participating in the social media platform of ham RADIO. I know, no matter what I say, there will be a bunch of comments that will try to draw me back into the internet arguments that no one can ever really win. The interwebs seem to be full of trolls that dominate various forums with their 1000's of posts that somehow make them king. Not that it matters, I personally like the layout on the QRZ.com site they were taking shots at and am able to find my way around just fine. It doesn't have to look like my banking website, in fact, I'm glad it doesn't. All too often I've tried to log in and do basic banking, only to find their programmer has screwed it up with some bunch of cutesy moving pictures and fancy crap in their "recent update" that requires the latest browser or plug in update before I can pay a bill. To me, that's not "value added", it's more of a reason to change banks. I don't care about the fluff, I just want it to be functional so I can do my thing and get out of there.
There were many comments that somehow attempted to classify those of us who are actually into RADIO, as being dinosaurs or second class people because our websites are built with frames or old basic HTML1 technology, that we somehow still enjoy email reflectors for sharing messages, and that many of us don't want to update our computers with the latest of everything. There was one sub-thread that poked fun that we (some of us older hams) seem to embrace the "don't fix it if it ain't broke" theory. Another thread seemed to make jabs at QRZ.com because many of us seem to like the the old comfortable structure used in it's design. Yet another thread poked fun at the old technologies that many of us still employ (vacuum tubes, AM, etc).
After pondering this today at work, I came to realize a lot of the younger folks (and perhaps those lesser involved in the RADIO aspect of ham RADIO) don't understand: RADIO is the magical aspect of this hobby to many of us have come to love and identify with. Not the internet. The web is neat, but RADIO is our hobby. Our social media _is_ radio...the fun of tinkering with radios & antennas, and the magic of communicating with others over the air. Tonight, before I could even start to put my thoughts down on the computer, the freakin' browser hung up during an update (that I really didn't want...it was working fine this morning!), and took about a 1/2 hour and 3 reboots to get it running again. Whew. I submit that we spend far too much time fixing stuff that wasn't broken in the computer, when we really just want to be playing radio.I _know_ I have to spend more time fiddling with computer updates & patches, than I do in maintaining / repairing one of my 1960's vintage radio stations that's a daily user! Think about that for a minute...
Now that my internet stuff is working again, I type this as I listen to a couple of guys on 3.885 mhz AM talking about how they use remote SDR receivers from the web with their activities on AM...a strange blend of technologies to many, but it made perfect sense to these guys..one whom I know to be a very experienced ham...Don, K4NYV. He has forgotten more than most will ever know, yet he still strives on the air to learn and enjoy new things. He's a builder, and experimenter, and a radio guru who puts many hours on the air with interesting and technical discussions.
From my perspective, and I'm sure that of many others I know, the internet is nothing more than a tool. It annoys many of us to the point that we really just want our browser to start so we can search the web for something, want to be able to connect to the DX cluster feed, and maybe LOTW at the ARRL for our QSL management. Beyond that, it does nothing more than take time away from the enjoyment of our Social media... Amateur _RADIO_.
I've been a ham since 1974. I restore and operate lots of old stuff, build new things, and work many modes. I'm on the air at every opportunity. The fact that even my website is built with frames and basic HTML doesn't make me a relic, it just means I have less interest in the newest whiz-bang web building techniques, and much more interest in the RADIO part of amateur radio. My website isn't built to impress the CEO of Sass, it's place where I store photos, schematics, etc so I can find them when I want them. I put them on the web so I don't loose them in a computer crash (sort of like the cloud, before that became a big deal), and so others might find something useful in that pile of stuff on occasion. Pretty straight forward stuff.
I'm not dissing those who spend most/all of their time on the web, but simply reminding them that many of us are way more into radio than the internet, and computers in general are secondary to our interest in the hobby of amateur RADIO, at best.
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net (crappy frames based webpage)
http://WB4IUY.blogspot.com (thoughts and stuff I'm actually building and doing on the air)
Friday, December 16, 2016
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
160 Meter antenna up!
After finishing up a bit of Christmas shopping on Monday, there was time before dark to get the 3rd antenna up at about 70' in the group of HF dipoles I'm pulling up on my tower. These are being installed in a way that will allow for moving to a higher location in the future, as the tower work continues through the winter. Since winter caught up with me, I decided to get some low band stuff up, and will continue with the tower work as weather permits. All of these are fed with a common feed line, making expansion pretty easy. You can see the center insulator / feed point design a few blogs back. So far, this provides operation on 160m, 80m, and 40m (bottom end of all bands for CW operation) without a tuner. The 40m antenna also resonates on 15m nicely with a decent match.
There was an unexpected perk of 17 meters...I still can't figure out why, but SWR is pretty much flat on that band and it's working like gangbusters. It must be one of those situations where the feed line length is somehow hiding the reflected power, since I don't see a mathematical relationship with 160/80/40 & 17m. I don't care. it's working great :-) I can also work 20, 12, 10, & 6 with a tuner, but they're probably very much a compromise at best. So, it'll work 160, 80, 40, 17, & 15 without a tuner, and i can crowbar it to work with a tuner on the others.
There's a separate sloper up at about the same height on 30 meters. I worked the Gambia tonight on 30m with my fan dipole and got a 559 report... I couldn't even hear them on the resonant 30m sloper, but then it is facing southwest. Anyway, here's a few pics...
The first picture is a zoomed in shot of the top of the tower & side arm, Taken from the sorta northeast. You can see the 3 dipole legs going north as leaving the sidearm and heading off the RH side of the photo. The 3 legs going south are those leaving the side arm and heading off of the lower LH corner of the photo.
Here's a "zoomed out" picture from pretty much the same location. This puts the height somewhat more in perspective.
Adding the 160 meter antenna proved to be a bit more difficult. Since the tower is only 70' tall thus far, and the 160 m antenna is about 129' long on each side (!!! almost 260' of wire!), I had to get more creative then int he previous installation. My property is heavily wooded, so finding a clearing in the direction I wanted was tough. I intentionally wanted to install these antennas with the wires being north / south, so the strongest pattern would be east / west. To the north and south, the woods begin only about 70 away from the tower, meaning that I would only use up about 100' of wire before Id be in the trees. Wanting to keep it in an inverted V configuration (more omnidirectional), I attached an insulator to a tree in the edge of the woods at about 15' up, passed the antenna through the insulator, and tied it off to another tree about 30' away at about 15' up. When viewed from above, it would look like a mild "Z" shape. Here's a pic of the "feed-thru" insulator on the north side...
Here's a shot of the "feed-thru" insulator on the south side. I used my tree-trimmer to clear a path through the vines and undergrowth, to give the antenna lead to stay free of things that might impact tuning.
In the center of the last photo, you'll see one of the white terminating insulators that attaches the whole lash up to a tree about 35' into the woods. one would thing this would be difficult to tune, but it wasn't. I cut the antenna length with the typical formula of 468 / Fmhz, and it worked out pretty close. The antennas are all built from 12 ga stranded THHN insulated single conductor wire. I find the insulation really helps with rain and snow static, as well as discharge noise on windy days.
After a brief test tonight, I got a signal report of 599 from KP4TF in Puerto Rico, a 559 from SM5EDX in Sweden, and a 559 from 4O/KC0W in Montenegro. Nothing earth shattering, but I'm back on 160 meters for the winter. Once the tower is finished, I'll get it pulled up to about 130' at the apex, and it should play fine from there. To previous 160 V was up at 105', and it did great, working into Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net
There was an unexpected perk of 17 meters...I still can't figure out why, but SWR is pretty much flat on that band and it's working like gangbusters. It must be one of those situations where the feed line length is somehow hiding the reflected power, since I don't see a mathematical relationship with 160/80/40 & 17m. I don't care. it's working great :-) I can also work 20, 12, 10, & 6 with a tuner, but they're probably very much a compromise at best. So, it'll work 160, 80, 40, 17, & 15 without a tuner, and i can crowbar it to work with a tuner on the others.
There's a separate sloper up at about the same height on 30 meters. I worked the Gambia tonight on 30m with my fan dipole and got a 559 report... I couldn't even hear them on the resonant 30m sloper, but then it is facing southwest. Anyway, here's a few pics...
The first picture is a zoomed in shot of the top of the tower & side arm, Taken from the sorta northeast. You can see the 3 dipole legs going north as leaving the sidearm and heading off the RH side of the photo. The 3 legs going south are those leaving the side arm and heading off of the lower LH corner of the photo.
Here's a "zoomed out" picture from pretty much the same location. This puts the height somewhat more in perspective.
Adding the 160 meter antenna proved to be a bit more difficult. Since the tower is only 70' tall thus far, and the 160 m antenna is about 129' long on each side (!!! almost 260' of wire!), I had to get more creative then int he previous installation. My property is heavily wooded, so finding a clearing in the direction I wanted was tough. I intentionally wanted to install these antennas with the wires being north / south, so the strongest pattern would be east / west. To the north and south, the woods begin only about 70 away from the tower, meaning that I would only use up about 100' of wire before Id be in the trees. Wanting to keep it in an inverted V configuration (more omnidirectional), I attached an insulator to a tree in the edge of the woods at about 15' up, passed the antenna through the insulator, and tied it off to another tree about 30' away at about 15' up. When viewed from above, it would look like a mild "Z" shape. Here's a pic of the "feed-thru" insulator on the north side...
In the center of the last photo, you'll see one of the white terminating insulators that attaches the whole lash up to a tree about 35' into the woods. one would thing this would be difficult to tune, but it wasn't. I cut the antenna length with the typical formula of 468 / Fmhz, and it worked out pretty close. The antennas are all built from 12 ga stranded THHN insulated single conductor wire. I find the insulation really helps with rain and snow static, as well as discharge noise on windy days.
After a brief test tonight, I got a signal report of 599 from KP4TF in Puerto Rico, a 559 from SM5EDX in Sweden, and a 559 from 4O/KC0W in Montenegro. Nothing earth shattering, but I'm back on 160 meters for the winter. Once the tower is finished, I'll get it pulled up to about 130' at the apex, and it should play fine from there. To previous 160 V was up at 105', and it did great, working into Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Dirty Balun - Common Mode Choke Info
I stumbled across this on the web, and snagged it for my website. Great info from G3TXQ on the subject. I plan to buy some Amidon FB-31-1020 ferrite beads and rework my common mode choke at the feed points of my antennas, when I move them to a higher perch.
I've used the air-core version wound from feed line on my yagi's and dipoles since the 1970's to keep stray RF out of the shack, but it's easy to see the improvement in EMI blocking with the FB-31-1020 ferrite beads simply slipped over the feed line at the feed point connection. Here's his chart.
Be sure to check out his website for load of great info at karinya.net/g3txq/chokes/
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net
Saturday, December 3, 2016
40 meter CW Antenna Up!
I'm moving along, slowly but surely... With winter moving in, I'm trying to get some antennas up and tuned, to hold me through the winter months. I'm laying them out with the ability to move them up to a higher perch, once the rest of my tower sections are stacked and readied in the spring.
Today, I had a little time before sunset and installed another antenna onto the center insulator I built a few blogs back. The way the side arm / current choke / center insulator are built, it's easy to add more antennas to the same feed point and feed line. I cut a new dipole to be resonant at about 7.050mhz, pulled it up the tower to the 65' point, connected it to the same feed point as the 80m inverted V, attached insulators to the far ends of the wire, and pulled it out to new anchor points that were basically north & south. The makes the antenna radiate a little more to the east & west, but being an inverted V, it is somewhat omni-directional anyway.
It worked out great, and didn't impact the operation of the 80m CW inverted V previously installed. Another added bonus, in addition to automatic band switching between 80 & 40 meters, is where the antenna is accidentally resonant across the 17M band. It's probably some unknown quirk where the current choke and length of feedline is hiding reflected power, but I don't care... the rig is happy, and it's working great on 17 meters to boot.
I've already worked in to the Czech Republic and Western Sahara with only 100 watts, and am thrilled! The match looks good, and the amp is very happy (for a change). It's time to grab a cold 807, put the headphones on, and get into some DXing! Here's a few pics...
The new 40m CW antenna seen from the south side of the tower. The 40m wire is the wire going towards the top of the pic with the insulator about 1/2 way out. The 80m wire is just above it...
The 40m CW antenna seen from the north side of the tower. You can see the 40m wire with the insulator in the upper center of the photo. The 80m antenna is almost invisible, just below and to the left of the 40m wire.
Another pic of the antenna & tower, looking up the 40m CW antenna north leg. Can't wait to get the rest of the tower stacked up there!
I anchor my dipoles with "Para-Cord fro Walmart. Very inexpensive, strong, and is UV protected. This is about $3 for a 50' pack. It's easily joined if you need it longer, and it doesn't abreaid from tree limbes rubbing against it like the masonry cord I've used since the 70's. It's available in several colors, but I like this color as it blends in with the trees nicely.
I drive a couple of 16P nails in the tree, splay them out slightly from one another, and use it to attach the paracord and wind the excess. It's easy to unwind when I want to drop an antenna for work.
I ran a few tests and the new 40m CW antenna addition also tunes up on 15m (as it should) nicely, can't wait for the band to open tomorrow and give it a test.
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net
Today, I had a little time before sunset and installed another antenna onto the center insulator I built a few blogs back. The way the side arm / current choke / center insulator are built, it's easy to add more antennas to the same feed point and feed line. I cut a new dipole to be resonant at about 7.050mhz, pulled it up the tower to the 65' point, connected it to the same feed point as the 80m inverted V, attached insulators to the far ends of the wire, and pulled it out to new anchor points that were basically north & south. The makes the antenna radiate a little more to the east & west, but being an inverted V, it is somewhat omni-directional anyway.
It worked out great, and didn't impact the operation of the 80m CW inverted V previously installed. Another added bonus, in addition to automatic band switching between 80 & 40 meters, is where the antenna is accidentally resonant across the 17M band. It's probably some unknown quirk where the current choke and length of feedline is hiding reflected power, but I don't care... the rig is happy, and it's working great on 17 meters to boot.
I've already worked in to the Czech Republic and Western Sahara with only 100 watts, and am thrilled! The match looks good, and the amp is very happy (for a change). It's time to grab a cold 807, put the headphones on, and get into some DXing! Here's a few pics...
The new 40m CW antenna seen from the south side of the tower. The 40m wire is the wire going towards the top of the pic with the insulator about 1/2 way out. The 80m wire is just above it...
The 40m CW antenna seen from the north side of the tower. You can see the 40m wire with the insulator in the upper center of the photo. The 80m antenna is almost invisible, just below and to the left of the 40m wire.
Another pic of the antenna & tower, looking up the 40m CW antenna north leg. Can't wait to get the rest of the tower stacked up there!
I anchor my dipoles with "Para-Cord fro Walmart. Very inexpensive, strong, and is UV protected. This is about $3 for a 50' pack. It's easily joined if you need it longer, and it doesn't abreaid from tree limbes rubbing against it like the masonry cord I've used since the 70's. It's available in several colors, but I like this color as it blends in with the trees nicely.
I drive a couple of 16P nails in the tree, splay them out slightly from one another, and use it to attach the paracord and wind the excess. It's easy to unwind when I want to drop an antenna for work.
I ran a few tests and the new 40m CW antenna addition also tunes up on 15m (as it should) nicely, can't wait for the band to open tomorrow and give it a test.
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Interested in AM Operation?
If you're interested in working the AM mode on HF, you'll find lots of conversations to listen to on the AM spot page. The AM Spot page is set up to allow AM operators to find each other more easily. The link is: http://www.amspots.com/ . You'll find routine conversations and round tables to listen to and join in on, and you can spot other AM QSOs on the AM Spots page as well. AM is an interesting mode, and you'll find folks operating everything from vintage & home brew rigs to the latest flex radios on AM. Enjoy!
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net
Dave WB4IUY
http://www.WB4IUY.net
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