KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Blog
Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, it's back to the
newsroom routine. The Sunday news cycle is fairly slow,
so I should be able to wrap up the basic maintenance and
log chores in short order. After I secure the news room
update the meter readings, I'll pick up a few things at the
supermarket and head home for some time at the old Swan
100-MX before calling it a day. Saturday's inverted vee
project went well. The 40-meter vee has provisions to add
33' of additional wire should I desire to explore the 80-meter
portion of the spectrum. The 55' of 450-ohm twin lead seems
to go well with the 4:1 balun and the Drake MN-4 ATU. I can
get a 1.2 to 1 SWR on all bands between 40 and 10 meters.
The antenna was simple to make and erect. Not a DX buster
for sure, but it does the job. You can get other simple ideas
for easy to erect antennas in Doug DeMaw's "Novice Antenna
Book" by the ARRL. This book is probably out of print, but
any antenna book should give you some useful ideas. For those
of us restricted to small backyards, a decently designed vertical
with a good set of radials will get you on the air with a respectable
signal. My cost was next to nothing, since I had some extra #18
gauge wire around the shack and some 450-ohm in a storage box.
With 50 watts from the old Swan, I could work many stations. The
delta loop antenna will wait for another day. If you want to restrict
operations to the 40 and 15 meter bands, you can feed the vee with
a good grade coax, such as RG-8 or RG-8X. Even RG-6 will work
in a pinch. Have a good weekend. Aloha de KH6JRM.
newsroom routine. The Sunday news cycle is fairly slow,
so I should be able to wrap up the basic maintenance and
log chores in short order. After I secure the news room
update the meter readings, I'll pick up a few things at the
supermarket and head home for some time at the old Swan
100-MX before calling it a day. Saturday's inverted vee
project went well. The 40-meter vee has provisions to add
33' of additional wire should I desire to explore the 80-meter
portion of the spectrum. The 55' of 450-ohm twin lead seems
to go well with the 4:1 balun and the Drake MN-4 ATU. I can
get a 1.2 to 1 SWR on all bands between 40 and 10 meters.
The antenna was simple to make and erect. Not a DX buster
for sure, but it does the job. You can get other simple ideas
for easy to erect antennas in Doug DeMaw's "Novice Antenna
Book" by the ARRL. This book is probably out of print, but
any antenna book should give you some useful ideas. For those
of us restricted to small backyards, a decently designed vertical
with a good set of radials will get you on the air with a respectable
signal. My cost was next to nothing, since I had some extra #18
gauge wire around the shack and some 450-ohm in a storage box.
With 50 watts from the old Swan, I could work many stations. The
delta loop antenna will wait for another day. If you want to restrict
operations to the 40 and 15 meter bands, you can feed the vee with
a good grade coax, such as RG-8 or RG-8X. Even RG-6 will work
in a pinch. Have a good weekend. Aloha de KH6JRM.
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Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).