XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated
PE4BAS Amateur Radio Weblog
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Antenna experiments are fun - ready for the ES season
Posted: 01 May 2022 09:20 AM PDT
https://pe4bas.blogspot.com/2022/05/antenna-experiments-are-fun-ready-for.html
Haven't got much time for the radio hobby at the moment. But today had a
few hours planned to do some antenna work. I wanted to dismantle the
vertical experiment to make place for something else I have in mind.
Besides that I had to mount the 6m/4m duoband beam into the tower to get
ready for the ES season.Work in progress...
The problem with the vertical over one winter is that part of it is almost broken. Besides that the wires get twisted after a while. I think the experimental design works well though it needs a few technical fixes.
However, I don't think I will place a vertical antenna like this on my
tower again since I like to experiment with something different. I removed
it from the tower.
I was curious how the 1:1 balun would look after a winter. The balun was mounted above the autotuner in the small white box.
I was surprised to see that inside it looked like new. Nothing wrong at
all. So I can use it for another experimental project.
The autotuner needs a power supply of 12V which I provide with a PSU in the garage throught a thin twin wire up into the tower. It is connected with
some "chocolate bloc" connectors. Although I made it watertight with vulcanizing tape it really is not corrosion resistant. It really is a
miracle the autotuner still did work at all. Another one, just as corroded
is in the coax connection box at the bottom of my tower. I really need to
find something better to connect the tuner to 12V without having to worry about corrosion.
Next I collected the components for the 6m/4m duoband beam which are all in reasonable good shape. Assembling took me about 30 minutes. That was
including polishing the alu rods as good as possible.
I also renewed marking all the separate rods. Just a precaution. I will
check it again when disassembling. Assembling is so much easier when you
don't have to compare lengths but just read on it which one belongs were.
The result...
Ready for the ES season now. I already made some nice 6m contacts but
missed the short opening to RSA last afternoon. I have to say it's quite a different look, I got used to a vertical on top.
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