Amateur Radio Station V44KF

It is that time again ...

2012-01-22T11:38:00.000-04:00

Two months has gone by rather quickly, but that happens when you are having fun. I had too much fun in the last 60 days and had to throw some of it away. So sorry that I could not just pass it on to some of our local hams who may not have had enough fun for their season. But then again some people do not like to get anything that appear to be "left over", but I do not have that attitude, so when you have left over Coax Cable, PL-259 connectors, antenna wire, and maybe even an HF transceiver or 2-meter base radio, just bring them by me. If you have two, so much the better. Don't blame me, I am not being greedy ... but anything free ... take two.

I was too busy over the season to follow whatever ham radio action that was going down in our V4 Federation. I know for a fact that if it was only one thing that did not happen, it was that the St Kitts Nevis Anguilla Amateur Radio Society, the Ham radio organization with responsibility for the furtherance of ham radio in our Federation, did not have its annual December party, get together, social function, or whatever, for its members. It is not to say that we expect the entity to foot the bill, because historically it is the members who supply the vittles and the drinks. I hear that maybe that action could move to February. So we waiting to see. And I hope it is not because of what I said in my last blog.

We are into a new year, the past is gone, but not forgotten, but we have to leave a lot of it there in the history. We should step forward out of the rubble, making sure that we step on some solid planks, for this year is filled with challenges, the likes of which we may not have imagined possible. I am however confident that if we put our collective learning at the disposal of our Radio Society or Radio Club, there is not difficulty that will stand in our way. I will say again, that we have to think and operate outside the box. Nothing in this year should be business as usual. That seems not to have worked in the good times for 30+ years, and now in these apparently lean times, I believe we need a new approach and strategy.

I believe we have to take our eyes and focus off the money. If we do not wish to, then we need to consider converting our organization into a money making enterprise, because as a friendly society we cannot engage in that as we would wish. I suspect that there are some financial laws and principles that we as a friendly society are unaware of and have therefore not applied to our situations and circumstances. Another option is to reorganize and reform the entity into a Club, which allows us to be more like that we would wish to be in these times. To my mind, this ham radio entity could be at a crossroad, if we begin thinking outside the box. Are we ready to move in any new direction, or will we try to fix what we already have?

I get the impression that some hams may not be willing to change the constitution that is screwing the entity to death, probably because they may have been related to the architects of that process. So what if things have to change for the common good of all? Some may rather we further compound the the difficulty, instead of radically cutting it out. Anyway that is how some old people may thing, but if the youths get really frustrated there is always the possibility of forming another radio organization [AGAIN] more suited to their needs and desires. I have spent too much time on this, but we will see what will happen down in this year.

I am back in the ham radio business again. I only left for the post hurricane season vacation. This is the activity which I do not like .. having to take the antennas down for hurricanes or storms. It sometimes take some serious motivation to put the antennas back up, especially when the band activity to which one subscribes is low to sometimes non existent. Sunday morning provides some music if you have access to that time slot, earlier and later, nothing is happening. Nobody has anything to discuss like once ago. Is it that ham radio has really gone to the dogs? It can't be the season, because we have that every year, so maybe it is the interest, or the necessity, maybe it is just a reality we do not wish to face. But while some hams are crying that ham radio is dead, some hams are contesting like crazy and still creating DX-expeditions to remote places.

I do not have a problem with ham radio activity, because I am interested in working DX. It is known that my antennas are not built to cater for contacts in my country or region. From my very first day in ham radio I had interest in making contacts on the far side of the planet, and to do that with low power. Those days there were "serious" constraints, but things were still made to happen, given the resources. Today many things are significantly different to 35+ years ago, so DX-ing has a new meaning, and this year could be quite a fun year for me given life and strength, and for that matter, any ham who wants to extract the fun out of their ham radio operating.

I have entertained thoughts of replacing my 1985 Kenwood transceiver with more up-to-date technology like the Flex radio. I must admit that I am closer to home, having decided, against my better judgement, that the Flex Radio is the way to go. I spend a lot of time on my workstation [when I am not outside taking photos], so the Flex Radio is a logical choice. Were it not for that I could be still searching for a rig. My ham radio year is going great so far, and I expect that maybe around the upcoming Easter holidays it could become even more interesting for me and my ham radio operating from V4 land.

Move your ham radio forward every day, let nothing stand in you way. If you need a tow or a pull I may be able to help, so don't hesitate to call ....

another hurricane season ends

2011-11-25T00:31:00.001-04:00

We are days to the end of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season. This was such a busy year for everything else that some of us may have hardly noticed when the bad weather prevailed. No bad weather came at V4 land this year. Our name was not on any storm or hurricane, so we have to be careful and watch out for next year as that could be our time.

Ham radio in V4 is alive and well, maybe not doing as well as some of us would wish, but I am an optimist, so for me ham radio is doing well. I have had the distinct pleasure of being around ham radio in V4 for over 40-years and consider myself qualified to make that assessment.

Ham activity is high, despite the viewpoint and feelings of some hams. I have seen in some years gone by where only a handful of hams not exceeding 5 of us kept the ham radio fire alight for some years. Hams not privy to our history could feel that the ham radio activity is low, and we are in trouble, but in reality we are floating, but some of us would wish that we do more than just that.

It is natural for ham radio to run in cycles. Everything on the planet runs in cycles, but some of us may not be aware that we have to try to catch and maximize the positive swings, ride out the negative part of the cycle and not get derailed in the trough. Those persons concerned with the development of ham radio in V4 should know where we are in the V4 ham radio cycle. I suppose that they do because recently I saw a survey questionnaire from a local radio entity, which indicate that they are seeking to upgrade and to give their membership what they need. I wish them well as only better can come to V4 ham radio.

Carnival in V4 begins on 25 November 2011. If I know our people that means that certain aspects of ham radio are going to be on hold until January next year. And June 1st next year is not to far from that. The national economy is still an issue for most of us, but I see most hams are not in despair, as evidenced by the proliferation of 2-meter hand and portable transceivers. I am still to get mine before the next hurricane season.

We are awaiting news that the V4 hams can get together for a drink sometime in December to celebrate their individual and collective ham radio successes and achievements. Last week one ham operator decided to have a get together for a drink as he celebrated 4-years of being a ham and 4-years of his running a V4 amateur radio society 2-meter nightly net. V44HE has been active from the day he was licensed. He attributed that attitude to his being a CB operator before becoming a ham radio operator.

A few hams missed the snapshot of the hams present at V44HE's 4-year ham radio celebration.

another hurricane season

2011-06-08T05:28:00.005-04:00

I missed another month, but it is not like anything ham radio did not happen, for there is always ham activity at this QTH. Every day 7.195 MHz, the Talk Shop Network, is monitored from sunrise, and most days after 7.30 am, it is 7.188 MHz for the friendly net. I don't think I have ever checked into that net but will do so when the time is appropriate. This is our friendly Caribbean home to ham radio fragmentation in the face of cooperation and unity, but that is a different story for another time.

The last month saw many decisions and changes. I did in depth analysis on the rigs which can possibly make it onto my ham radio station's operating table shortly, and after all the agonizing with emails, queries and downloading, I have to conclude that my operating table could be graced with the presence of a commercial [marine] radio with ham radio capability. It is a hard decision to make but one that is logical to me, considering the cost, efficiency and other factors. Ham radio and commercial [marine] radio equipment that operate on the same frequency are not built alike. One is built to last forever and should almost never fail in operation, and the other ... well, let us just say that it does not come with a lifetime guarantee.

In these tight economic times, allegedly tight, it makes sense to invest in a top of the line radio that is practically trouble free. That radio may be a bit more costly than the popular model which one would normally select to run with the typical online crowd. These days one have to consider quality and value, and worse case scenario, resale. When all is done, I conclude that the logical choice for me is top of the line. It was always my logical choice, but one has to go through these changes and convince oneself to the truth again.

The top of the line rigs always find themselves at the top of the Sherwood Engineering's receiver test data table. In a recent chat with a local ham operator, I recognized that my rig selection is based on performance, but mostly other hams seem to go for visibility, looks and appeal, which the JA's are famous for engineering. Maybe because I have been into telecommunications all my life, and only look at face plates on racks and bays of equipment, I am not taken in by the front panel appeal of the latest ham gear. All I want is the reliability and effectiveness of the communications device to work for me, all the time and every time. Those new rigs by Yaesu, Ten-Tec, Flex radio, Kenwood and Icom are hot, but I want something a little more, something that can seamlessly interface with any commercial and military system, just in case it ever becomes necessary.

I am not making any case or trying to sell this idea, but sharing my particular outlook on radio station equipment, and given the times we now live in it makes sense to me. The antenna may be the most important component of a ham radio station. Any snotty no name radio could receive everything, but only the right antenna determine how we are heard on the far side of our planet. I have not invested in a ready made antenna or parts in over thirty [30] years, but I am looking over the DX engineering's line of vertical antennas, mounting hardware, antenna tubing, etc, and when I get the smile and nod my antenna update is on. One of the difficulties of being DX on a remote island is the access to antenna building materials, quite unlike the hams in the metro with a retail DIY store on almost every corner. This helps in keeping us rare.

Band activity was reported on HF, 20 to 10 meters, but not having any active antenna for those frequencies only weak signals were heard on the 40-meter antenna. I am recycling my aluminum tubing to build an antenna for 20 meters, and for 17 meters. For 15 meters the 155CA beam is still under repair and for a clean job I may have to order some parts from MFJ. My activity on the high bands are so non existent that I do not believe an investment in a new antenna is necessary, and if I did consider that band activity, I would probably go for a log periodic antenna to cover 20 to 10 meters. My research indicate that none of the present ham made log periodic antenna models on the market are adequate and I will have to build my own log periodic. This would make for a good ham radio club project, and I must keep this in mind for when that time comes upon us.

The plans to build the half wave over half wave collinear antenna for 40-meters has been all but scrapped in the light of new vertical antenna information, which will be applied to upgrading the present vertical antenna installations. Also into the mix is the DX engineering aluminum tubing products, which could introduce a new wave of vertical antenna experimenting for both 80 and 40 meters, and with a strong possibility for 160-meters too. This is the time and season for antenna experiments, given the sunspot cycle. It also happens to be the season for hurricanes in the Caribbean, and that bring rigs out of closets, from under beds, from garbage bags, trunks, suitcases, and all sorts of places, known and unknown to man. keeping track of the weather is important, irrespective of what the weather channel may say. They have proven not to be spot on with storm positions in the past, but we still love them for the service.

So we are all setup and ready, have everything we need in place and waiting for the start pistol, from vertical dipole antenna for DX contacts, NVIS antenna for local contacts, coaxial cables, the solenoid balun which all vertical antennas require, maybe a spare transceiver just in case one goes down from wind, water or moisture and above all a spare power supplies or two, and battery too. This could be the most important of components for this season. Standby power, a battery. Historically, the electricity will be shut off if we get into any severe weather, and some of us will be out of communications for quite a while. This year I have decided to enable my standby battery power, even if I use the battery from my automobile. I am not going anywhere in any severe weather, and if I must to go on the street, I will be walking. The City center is only half mile down the road, so no point in driving.

It is good to have a radio hooked up off a battery for continuous ham communications. The radio can handle the connection to the battery, but the power supply if it is hooked up like a charger at the same time, unless it is designed to work with a battery in this configuration, will blow up and stop working when the mains input power is shut off. I see that some Astron power supplies have this battery back up and battery charger combination built in. So that is the way to go. But I have other brand name power supplies that I wish to use in this battery backup and battery charger configuration, but they do not have this circuit built in to facilitate these backup and charging features, so what are my options.
[a] I could build a gizmo similar to the circuit in the Astron power supply models, or,
[b] I could acquire from Astron the ready made gizmo, catalog model number BB-30M battery backup module that should work with my power supply.

Irrespective of the final option I will now be more prepared for the hurricane season than I have even been. I hope that all the other ham radio operators in V4 and the other neighbouring islands are ready for the season too. Given the global predictions, this year could see a different approach to storms, hurricanes and generally severe weather, quite unlike anything we have ever seen before, so we need to be prepared for the unusual, and just how we do that ... without stepping into the twilight zone, is anyones guess
[to be continued]

economic and financial cooperation

2011-04-05T07:44:00.000-04:00

This must be my ham radio month, and maybe I should really look out for and expect great things to happen, for me. It may sound like I am getting old but surely not selfish. Aging brings a certain level of realization for some people, and maybe it has something to do with conscience and the softening "in the head" and/or brain. As to whether there is any scientific correlation and truth I have no idea. The old people are known for saying things like this, and maybe it is some sort of wisdom that I am not yet privy too, so I leave that right there.

I am cleaning up my computer, evaluating and deleting old files in my ham radio folders. Yes, my computer is home to ham radio software, photography software, and other software programs, and I try to keep them in some logical order, just like emails, a different email account for different hobbies and interests, not one email account for everything. From my limited experience it is only in a wok you can cook everything together and get away with it ... if you know what you are doing. So I am cleaning up my computer and finds a Spectrogram program that I downloaded from a discussion group some years ago. It is now installed and working. In acquiring more information on Spectrogram from the internet I come across the W5BIG vector impedance antenna analyzer website, and a thought struck me.

A couple days ago a ham radio operator inquired about my having a VHF antenna analyzer. I have an HF antenna analyzer because my favorite ham band is 40-meters and I am developing an interest in 80-meters too. So my antenna building and testing is between 3 and 30 MHz and I am setup for that. Recently the new ham radio operators were taken through a VHF antenna building exercise, hence the inquiry. I don't think that anyone is working VHF DX so they can get away with a slight antenna mismatch, for now. From experience I know that as long as you follow the construction details to the letter, you are good to go on the air right away. So these antennas are working, but to my knowledge still not proven to be tuned up accurately. I am not knocking the methodology or criticizing our brothers and sisters, because that is just how things are for ham radio operators around the world. This is not very unlike the guy who will fix your Mercedes and BMW but does not have a "certifiable" garage.

On numerous occasions I have discussed antenna analyzers with various ham radio operators. As much as we all know that we need this critical instrument to get our antenna into top shape, we also know that a good analyzer cost a pretty penny and we will have to lay out the cash, sooner or later. Ham radio operators invest in some expensive toys, and I am not getting into anyone's business, but good financial management may suggest that, especially in these recessional times, we do not spend the money on the ham radio hobby products. In practice that is wasted advice, for some of us still go out and get it, if we want it, not if we need it. I am in the market for a VA1 analyzer from Autek Research, one ham operator is in love with the MFJ analyzers, another is watching an analyzer made in Russia or some place in that area, another has eyes for the AEA model. Everyone has a different analyzer fancy probably dictated by their pocket or financial extravagance.

In the final analysis all these hams will have an antenna analyzer to check the occasional antenna they may build or install, but none of them will have the use of the most sophisticated and cutting edge antenna analyzer that money can buy. The total collective outlay for these antenna analyzers could be over one thousand uncle Sam and we would all be happy. I am of the view that the V4 ham radio operators and the fraternity would be better served if we can consider and cooperatively agree to invest in a top quality antenna analyzer like the AIM4170C, and I believe that some information and data is available on the w5big website. The AIM4170C is compared on this webpage with some of the other popular analyzers that some of us would prefer to buy.

If we can agree to cooperate and also agree to invest and procure this antenna analyzer it may be the start of a revolution in our ham radio activity in our Federation. I say that because history will be repeating itself, and because that action has proven to be a building block and a necessary component to our society's longevity and success. There was a time when V4 did not have a 2-meter repeater, and we wanted one in the worst of ways. In the final analysis, Colin V44KQ, and his ham radio friends in North America was able to "find" a retired "commercial grade" repeater that would serve our needs. It was not FREE, and it came with a cost, to get it ready for us, the way we wanted it, and to get it into SKB. The club did not have any money so we agreed to split the cost between the hams who agreed [and those who could afford] that we should have a 2-meter repeater on SKB. To make a long story short, we dipped into our pockets and got our 2-meter repeater and that started a revolution in ham radio in V4.

When I say things like this it seem to upset some folks. I am not arrogant, but will say it anyway. I am looking at the AIM4170C for my shack shortly. It is my prerogative if I wish to let anyone or no one use my personal antenna analyzer. There are some people in the world today who want to exploit everyone else, while they seek not to share or help others, irrespective of their disposition. I am cognizant that it is their right to be who they are, and what they wish to be. I was not born to be selfish, but I do not think that I should allow myself to be exploited by selfish and unscrupulous people. And I am done with that talk about selfishness, for now.

We live in different times now, and we have to develop different strategies for our survival. Some of us are having a hard time to cope and to readjust, while others do not. If we recognize that some of our ham brothers and sisters are trying, but seem not to be making it, it should not take anything off us to offer a helping hand. Of course you have to be observant and make sure it is not a ploy. I am always ready and willing to talk to ham radio brothers and sisters about ham radio, and sometimes about other aspects of life, as they would wish. Many of us leave our God out of our life, but believe that God is there when we have a problem. God is always there but you may not be able to hear Him because you have difficulty tuning in to His voice.

Our ham radio club seem to have ignored God for a while but it seems that now we have recognized the deity it is on a surer footing, and we are moving along fast forward. Let us go with the flow and run the race as we must, and for those folks who say "we are moving to fast", may I suggest that you get a new pair of running shoes, because we are in for a long and fast one, and I would not want you to drop by the wayside. Our club executive will need divine guidance if we are to meet the economic and financial challenges of the times, but I believe we can do it, if we keep the Almighty in and ahead of the loop. May we all have a great ham radio day, today.

... it is not late if we are serious

2011-04-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

Another month has gone by from the last post and it is not that there is nothing in ham radio to blog about, but I do not wish to say anything about certain aspects of ham radio that some might say has caused them to become reactive.

You know how some people are, and can get, when they are looking for an excuse to escape from the scrutiny. I think enough time have gone by and I can talk freely and without favor again, and do not expect to upset anyone. I am not planning to muddy any waters, but some people does watch the crystal clear water and say it look muddy to them. Let us hope that by now they have 'clear eyes' and do not seek to retard, hinder or slow down any forward mobility that exist, as we all try to break free from the depressive grasp that seeks to encourage most of us to call it quits. If you think you are dead, you are dead.

Some of us tolerate and endure a lot of bull crap every day. I have developed a certain immunity to the crap. I just ignore it, irrespective of who it may come from. When you get to be a senior citizen, I suspect that you do not wish to favor fools gladly, nor wish to waste your time unproductively. I guess we old guys have to be more tolerant to the bull crappers, because for the most times they are not being funny or unrealistic, but genuinely ignorant, as in devoid of a particular stream of knowledge, so it is incumbent upon us to slow down, maybe step down off our pedestal, and offer some measure of understanding, counsel and guidance.

But sometimes that causes more heartache, given the attitude and disposition of the persons addressed. So plan C is implemented, and per that instruction, they are "left severely alone". In our thinking today, this is totally unacceptable, but a search of historical documents may reveal that is the prescribed treatment administered to people with that disease. The prescription will not cause any young organisation to mash up, or any entity that is making a comeback to slow down or capitulate, but instead will firm the resolve of serious persons to ensure that the goal, which should be clearly defined is achieved, within and even before the targeted time limit.

These are days and times when serious people and plans are needed to achieve success. It is not about wishful thinking. Plans and programs that are practical and workable are the order of the day. Not some pie-in-the-sky, hair-brained, schemes, that are thought up and not thought through. At the end of the day it must have real community benefit, not to benefit the mover of the bill alone, but it must be of real benefit to the organisation, as a whole, in short, medium or long term. There is no such thing as stupid or silly ideas or suggestions. Some of us make that most serious mistake by rejecting the words from the "least of the apostles" while if we take time to understand and see where that thought is coming from, we could very well discover it to be the idea most crucial to our entities survival and longevity.

The ham radio society in V4 is up for their monthly meeting shortly and I am expecting great things from them. I see this executive term as a rebirth and will compare it closely with the society's inception of 12th April 1973. The mathematics is a bit screwed because we should have had this rebirth between 1998 and 2006, so we are running late and behind ... but better late than never. Given the time frame for the rebirth [1998-2006] we should have had ham radio entrants that were born between 1965 and 1991. On the old timers side hams born between 1965 to 1973 and on the youthful side hams born between 1983 and 1991. Since we have missed that window by 5-years maybe we could just move all those dates up 5-years and we could be good to go for 2011.

So if I am anyway near right, the hams today that will make this organisation fly, are those old timers who were born between 1970 to 1978 and the youthful hams born between 1989 to 1996. So we should expect most from the hams born between 1970 to 1996. But ham radio is not straight forward like that and we may very well need the real old timers and very senior hams to help make this rebirth fly. This is one time that we need all hands on deck. I notice some folks are withdrawn, and I expect that they could suffer from a withdrawal, given the medication they could be taking, but it is incumbent upon all of us to touch base and communicate with every other ham in our Federation, and it has nothing to do with being a member of the radio club in Nevis or the radio society in St Kitts. I would not venture to say that maybe this 'club' thing is mashing us up, because clubs are supposed to bring people together and harmonize.

I hear we have some proposed legislation that I think is unacceptable in these times and I will have my say when it is released for public consumption. These are modern times and we need to be realistic and encouraging and accommodating. This is not 1973 and even back then we were not that brash, and I hope it is not an emulation of the "Bryant" clause constitution. Anyway more times for that.

The new hams radio operators have taken to the air waves, even better than some of us did some 40 and more years ago. In 1968 when I got my license there was no 2-meter VHF activity for hams. It was all HF, 3-30 MHz., code, voice and some of what we now call the digital modes. Now the new hams, if they are interested, will develop an interest in HF and make one of the biggest decisions in their ham radio career. Deciding on which brand of ham radio equipment to place on their operating table. Of greater significance than the bench equipment may be the antenna which determines how they hear and how they are heard on the other side of the planet, where they have sunlight while we are still in the dark. Over the years I have seen countless radio stations with top of the line equipment and a bull crap antenna, that does not allow them to make contacts over 1000 miles away.

I am only interested in contacts as far away from V4 as possible. Therefore I need a vertically polarized antenna. The lowest take off angle for my money. Propagation on every ham band and frequency is different so a refresh on propagation for the interested frequency and band is necessary. I am now stuck on 40-meters. If I chased after DX contacts in the day I would re-install my 5-element-wide spaced 15-meter Hy-Gain beam, or get a new 12-meter bean, or even a 20-meter 4-element beam or a log periodic antenna tuning continuously from 14 MHz to 30 MHz. But when I DX it is 'my' night, and on 40-meters a home made array is all that is needed, and the ARRL Antenna Handbook could prove useful, but in my opinion the authoritative works of ON4UN in his Low Band DX Handbook provides all the info and data that a new ham really needs. My 80-meter antenna is very similar to this one found here, and it is the best one I have used so far in my 43+ years of ham radio. I think this is a good starting point for new DXing ham radio operators.

This antenna can be built for pennies, but similar commercial designs are available for the hams with the cash. Our local problem may be unavailability of aluminium tubing for construction, but there are many innovative options, and you know we can be innovative. To connect antenna to the radio it is coaxial cable, 50-ohms or 75-ohms, follow the antenna instruction. Selecting a radio to place on the operating table can be as easy or as difficult as one would like it to be. I think the best way is to set the amount of money that one is prepared to lay out for the radio and then find the best deal available. Ham radio is only a hobby and we have to keep that always in our mind. Every hobby could come with expensive toys, but it is still only a hobby.

I am in the process of updating my ham radio station and I have a slightly different approach. I am getting a ham radio station for performance, even if I have to save up for 10 years to buy the equipment, because cost and performance usually go together. The ham radio fraternity has determined the minimum specification for the ideal ham radio receiver. I believe it was 80dB Dynamic Range Narrow Spaced at 2 kHz. One ham radio equipment and accessory manufacturer maintains a list of tested ham radio equipment on their website. I am looking in the top 20 rows for the radio that will suit my operating style and make my ham radio shack look nice and happy.

Over the last 43 plus years of ham radio in V4 I have picked up a few things. [a] I am not willing to buy ham radio products Made in Japan, China or Asia in general, unless I deem them to be of a disposable nature. These are items that I am not going to repair once they call for service. I cannot have another thousand dollar ham radio transceiver in that 'disposable' category again. [b] It is only within the last few months that a radio Made in Japan has made it to the top of the "test data table" referenced here. The top positions were all taken by the ham gear Made in the USA. [c] All of the top performance radios here that are made in the USA I call them 'comparatively' affordable.[d] I am of the view that spare parts are more readily available for equipment Made in the USA, than anywhere else. In the worst case scenario I can jump on an American Airlines flight from V4 and return by evening for dinner with a repaired or a new USA made ham radio transceiver in my hand. This is just my view and my outlook.

I must say that I have fallen in love with the Flex radio software defined radios found here. This radio is comprised of software and hardware. The software is downloadable and free and the hardware you purchase. For the last year or so I have the free software downloaded onto my computer, and one day soon I may find the cash to order the hardware, and I am good to go on the air right away. Flex radio promotes the testing of this SDR and I have been demonstrating it to a few of the hams who visit my shack. I hope someone would download the free SDR software to their laptop and give a Flex SDR a demo at one of the club meetings. The Flex SDR may be the solution to many of the ham radio difficulties we have in V4 land today. Some hams have inquired about the Flex radio. Email them any question and ask for the test wave files that contain SSB contacts.

Ham radio is always alive and well in V4 and I expect to see it moving to higher heights in the months to come. It may require all of us to be in the trenches, all the time, and not some of us in the trenches, all the times. Have a great ham radio day.

... an end and beginning ... V4 ham radio

2011-02-23T08:51:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that I missed a whole month worth of blogging. With 28 days to a month it is almost two months between blogs. Is this a sign that the end of the world is close? I see ads on Facebook pointing to an end time just months away. Now if this for real what should we be doing about ham radio? I guess the uncomplicated response is simply, nothing. Nothing we can do or say will change anything, so I am not complicating my life any further, so nature will just have to run its course and we will see what is left back the day after. Mark you, I did not say who, because, if they are correct, some of us reading this today will not be here ... and that would be something else, but that is not the subject of this blog, so I will leave that alone for my blog at http://v44kf.wordpress.com.

I am seriously dropping behind with the experimental antenna, half wave vertical over another half wave vertical. Everything was assembled on the ground but I was not happy with the stability of the center PVC insulator so I have temporarily shelved the plans until I can get my mechanical engineers to advise on a super solid center antenna connector. Nothing was wrong with the PVC insulator, I just had a concern when it was time to raise the antenna up into the air, and aborted the plan. I feel in my gut this antenna is a winner and I will have it up shortly. In the interim I have converted an 18-ft length of the aluminum pipe into a linear loaded vertical dipole antenna, and that one will be up in the air soon. It has been on the ground for some 2 to 3-weeks now. Time is really moving on fast.

The linear loading on this 18-ft vertical is made with another 18-ft of wire spaced about 4-inches, and I will take a photo at installation time. I know that the top and bottom loaded vertical dipole with an 18-ft vertical section works very well, and it is only down 0.5 dB in gain from the full sized half wave vertical dipole. I don't have any gain figures for this linear loaded vertical dipole, but I suspect that it may be quite similar. I am hoping this antenna can serve as my portable 40-meter antenna for use with my mobile/portable Flex radio system, most likely the Flex 1500, but if lady luck smiles wider it can be the Flex 3000. Actually I am still undecided on the radio, and when the time is right I will make a snap decision, but I have a sneaky feeling that maybe the Flex don't win this mobile bid.

I think the Flex radio is the ideal base station. Like I have justified, I can sit at my computer processing my photos and/or on Facebook, and be still on my ham radio with the Flex, in just another window, or on the other computer on the desktop. The ultimate in integrated living and Flex-ibility. So what will be the other radio? Surely not one made in Japan, or anywhere Asia, unless the price is 50% below anything made in the USA. For now it looks like TenTec, but like the second coming , we won't know until it happens.

A couple week ago I lost all the computers. All of them in the repair shop, and all for the same problem, with the same solution, a new motherboard. Then it struck me that if I did not have an old time conventional radio like my TS-940SAT, me and my SDR radio would be up the creek, and be off the air for as long as the computers were down. But there must be some good somewhere. The only thing good is that I could install the Flex PowerSDR software [from my stick] onto any other computer, anywhere, and I am good to go on the air in 5 minutes. What is even more amazing is that given this Flex-ibility I can now become a ham radio entrepreneur and operate a ham radio rental service, by day or by night. If you have the FREE Flex radio PowerSDR software on your computer, I can rent you the hardware by the hour or day. So you don't have to shell out the eleven thousand plus VAT to buy the new Flex radio. Maybe this is something I can really give serious thought to for 2011 to get our hams on the air fast.

Ham radio in V4 has taken a turn for the better. At the AGM of the St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Amateur Radio Society, founded on 12th April 1973, a new Executive committee was elected to serve for the next year or few. It is the kind of committee that I can live with, being comprised of all past presidents of the Society. Since last year, 2010, if not earlier, I said that this was one of the options we should consider, " the establishing of a task force of all the past presidents" to create a recovery plan for our ham radio society. I did not do any "hocus pocus" to ensure that this wish came through, but the "forces" came to our aid and today we have an Executive of past presidents, and co-opting the others past presidents, as is necessary.

I have to make an emergency move now and will continue this blog later

[to be continued]

on the move for 2011

2011-01-02T22:20:00.001-04:00

The move began in 2010 before the old year closed. The move is to install and experiment with a half wave vertical over another half wave vertical, a collinear vertical. This is supposed to be almost an impossibility at HF, and more so at 40-meters. One half wave on 40-meters is about 66-feet, so that length placed over another looks like 132-feet of vertical antenna standing up in the air. Well I have devised a way to simulate this and we will test the performance very soon. I have not found any information on Google about 1/2 wave over 1/2 wave vertical antennas yet, so I am sorta working in the dark, but we have some ideas about the direction that we should take. The biggest challenge here is how to mount and connect the two verticals end to end with an insulator.

In the last high winds of the 2010 hurricane season the 31-foot vertical came down in pieces, with guy wires still attached. That vertical was repaired and is up again, making way for the new antenna which is a rebuild and recycle of the aluminum from the short 1/8 wave top and bottom loaded vertical antenna. Having given hams in the US a taste of the 31-foot vertical they kept calling for it to replace the short top and bottom loaded vertical antenna being used in the interim. If the 1/4 wave antenna is functioning on transmit as good as it does on receive, then I love it. Full sized vertical dipoles are hard to beat. Full sized verticals come with a price but the top and bottom loaded verticals are just as good but without the price. A good introduction can be found at EI7BA's website, just scale and build.

The hams in V4 land claim that there are a few difficulties which keep them off the air. Top of the list is coax cable, followed by antenna wire and aluminum tubing. I personally do not have any problems with coax cable since I took a decision to use any kind of coax cable that was available to me. I get the impression that as far as some hams are concerned only one or two coax cable brands and sizes are applicable for ham radio use. I not aware that the RF output at the SO-239 connector of any transmitter has any preference for coax cable brand or size. I believe it is more a matter of feed line impedance. For more than 99% of my ham radio life I have used small coax cable like RG-59 for everything, from linear amplifier output right down to ugly baluns.

There is an abundance of 75-ohm coax cable on the island. Every now and then the cable tv company dumps various coax cables in the landfill. I am of the view that some, if not all, of these cable can be used for ham radio. Maybe in the USA these cables are not classified for ham radio use, but I pick up from Google that hams are successfully using the RG-6 cables without complaint or bother. Recently a local hardware store here offered RG-6 coax cable with copper braid. Most of the RG-6 cable around may be the cheaper version with aluminum shield and braid. This should not be a problem at all, because the PL-259 connector for crimping is readily available.

There was discussion about RG-8X coax cable for ham radio use, but no move towards procurement. I hope that in 2011 a drum or two of RG-8X can be imported for ham radio consumption. There are some hams who swear by RG-213 and other numbers, as to how they will fare with the bulk purchase of the cost effective coax cable is anyone's guess. Very early in this new year I must seek to obtain a piece of discarded RG-6 coax cable from the Cable TV maintenance, and conduct tests, to see what adverse conditions may exist during my operating sessions. In the worst case scenario when antenna wire is scarce and an abundance of discarded coax cable exist, a ham may use shorted coax cable in place of the antenna wire. Another good substitute for antenna wire is telephone drop wire, but for hams wanting the real deal, check www.thewireman.com

My Kenwood TS-940SAT made in Japan in 1985/86 is still functioning but at less than 100% efficiency. This may be an indication that I should begin to prepare for a second radio on the operating table. I believe that I had enough from radios made in Japan. I am not now into bells and whistles, but plain old high performance, and the receivers listed on the Sherwood Engineering Receiver Test data table is the point of reference. A long time ago it was determined that a receiver with a Dynamic Range Narrow Spaced of 80dB @ 2 KHz was the minimum specs for a high performance ham receiver. Only a few radios on the market today meet this minimum specs. For some time the radios made in the USA dominated, but now one Asian model has found its way into a top position.

Every ham sets a different criteria for their ham radio equipment procurement. I am very interested in after sales service, and that is a deliverable from all USA ham equipment makers now. I believe that the non-us equipment maker is not looking out for the American ham radio consumer, never did and never will, so the local US equipment makers have to be there for them. From the receiver test data table, three brands of radios are more than enough to choose from, and it could become even more difficult because these receivers all meet and exceed the minimum specs. Each brand presents a unique perspective to ham radio and could satisfy every ham radio operator's need. From Elecraft to Flex-radio, and to Ten-Tec, whatever you need in a ham radio package it is right here.

It is so hard for me to choose which brand of radio I should have next. My ham radio friends think that I should invest in something new, the new technology, and leave the old radios behind. I tend to agree with them, but I notice that the new equipment and technology is now built to a different specification, and does not seem to offer the flexibility of the older, previous generation. For strict ham radio operating this crop of equipment is ideal, top of the line, you can't get any better than this. End of that story.

Unfortunately, some of us in this part of the world of ham radio, also have to contend with emergency and disaster preparedness and services. It is what we hams in these small countries do, in conjunction with the Nation's division of National Security. Intra and inter island communications is sometimes critical to the management of an emergency or disaster, depending on the magnitude and scope. Usually there is a limit to the radio communications and its operators, because the personnel relied upon have dual and triple roles to play. The hardware may not be a problem but having "communications only" operators could be. The ham operators can fill that gap for communications, and most times their personal equipment is used, for many more reasons than one.

Intra island communicating is okay, but if inter island and international communications are to be considered we have to be sure that our ham radio equipment can interface with the communications system of overseas and foreign agencies for effective and efficient transfer of information like fax, data, emails, voice, and so on. Our equipment has to be compatible or else somewhere along the line sync will be lost, data is missing and the communicating system crashes. You cannot have that happening in an international emergency communications system. Regrettably the new ham radio equipment of today is built to a specification that does not meet the requirement of the commercial equipment standard necessary for international emergency communications. Even with some add on accessories these ham radios still fall short.

A ham operator and his/her ham radio station does not have to cater for any operating above and beyond the call of ordinary ham radio operation. I personally prefer to have a ham radio station with full capability of both ham radio and commercial operation. This would mean that I will either have a separate radio for commercial communications or a radio capable of performing both tasks. The final decision may depend on the funds available to provide for the required setup. There is commercial radio equipment on the market today that also cater for ham radio operation, which lend themselves rather nicely to either complement the ham radio station lineup or to be the sole radio station's transmitter and receiver. This is typical commercial radio system and browsing the website may also prove informative. Different strokes for different folks and some ham operators may be quite comfortable with a popular brand of commercial radio equipment that will help them to meet the requirements.

As to the specifics on upgrading the ham radio station at V44KF, only time will tell, because ham radio is just a hobby, it is what I can do in my spare time, it does not put food on the table, and does not pay the electricity bills, it helps me to stay at home at night and avoid the risk of getting mugged or shot at on the street .... I could also be mugged and shot at inside my house anyway, but in actuality, I may really wait to upgrade when there is a duty free concession on our ham radio equipment which can be commandeered by National Security for use in emergency and disaster communications, and when our ham radio equipment is listed in the VAT exemption schedule like the radios for the fishermen ... in the mean time I will continue to look around for the best deal on 'top of the line' ham radio and commercial radio equipment that seem to have the capability to make it onto my ham radio station's operating table sometime in 2011.

I hope that you and your ham radio are on the move too.

emergency, comm, Tomas

2010-10-30T22:18:00.004-04:00

Today will be indelibly etched in the minds of some Caribbean folks for ever. Things like hurricanes impact some people unto death, but for some of us it is a total non issue. I am not one of the non issue subscribers, I am somewhere in the middle, the supposedly safe zone. When you and your community come under hurricane warning or watch it is a serious matter and only those of us who live through the experience know how it really is. There are other severe weather occurrences like tornado and tsunami, but they are not in the same category as hurricanes and storms. It is said that in our recent hurricanes the presence of tornadoes were suspect, and I believe that would add another dimension of destruction and violence to our already killer type hurricanes. I am not waxing on hurricane Tomas which passed through the Windward Islands today, October 30, because the reports are available on line everywhere.

I picked up on the severe weather in the South Caribbean on Facebook and within a couple hours it was a storm, and a couple more hours it was a category 1 hurricane. Just like that. The only St Lucia Facebook friends that I have are ham radio operators, and they were not on Facebook. At best they seem to be mostly absent or maybe they just show a very conservative level of involvement and participation in that social networking community, and it is their prerogative. As ham radio operators we like to know that our ham radio brothers and sisters are all okay, set up and ready to deal with the adverse weather. But all is not lost because we are supposed to have a Caribbean Emergency and Weather Net that is operational 24x7 whenever there is severe weather in our region.

So I leave Facebook and go into my ham shack to see what is happening on the Caribbean Emergency and Weather Net frequency of 7.162 MHz. Irrespective of who or what these folks are not, because they are just typical human beings, they take a great pleasure and pride in making that Caribbean Emergency and Weather Net function in our best interest. I spent all my time while home today listening to the traffic and stuff passing on the Caribbean Emergency and Weather Net. I am not into the critique business, and nothing and nobody is perfect, but the guys did their usual great job, as far as I was concerned, listening from way up here in the safe zone.

There was a time that ham radio was a significant player following hurricanes and storms because the telecommunications infrastructure back then in some places were just not that robust, and service recovery would take quite a while. Today the telecommunication networks are so hardened and diversified that total failure should be non existent under normal circumstances. I don't want to sound negative but given the work ethic of some of the 'network management' these days, at some point on the timeline it could very well be the same old, same old. Enough said.

Once ago ham radio would assist in maintaining the external communication links with and between regional agencies. These days NEMA, Red Cross and other regional/international affiliated organizations have their own inter, intra and other, radio Communications systems, and their own radio communication operators too. I am aware that some of these "private' radio systems are not working as efficiently as they ought to be, and it is only because there is no real catastrophic emergency need that eyes are not rolled nor heads turned. There could come a time when it is a matter of life and death, and then it may be discovered that the perceived communications reliability does not really exist, and it may be hell and the devil to pay. Emergency Communications in serious business, but some people may not have caught on to that fact as yet.

Ham radio in Emergency Communications [in St Kitts-Nevis] is more of a National Security matter and I am leaving that entirely alone. I have nothing to say. But I must make a related comment. A typical HF ham radio transceiver with power supply and antenna accessory which could be used for any aspect of Emergency communications costs about US$1500.00, in words one thousand and five hundred united states dollars, plus or minus a few bucks. That is about 4-grand in our local currency. Whether it is for a newly licensed ham operator or an old time ham operator upgrading after 20 years from some obsolete equipment, this is typically what it will cost these days.

I understand that once upon a time there was an agreement with the Ministry of Finance here that permitted licensed ham radio operators that qualified, to be exempt from certain import taxes. It would appear that under the new VAT, effective next week Monday 1st November 2010, all ham radio equipment would be subject to the 17% VAT. Not to make any argument, but I observe that radios for fishermen do not attract VAT, and the fishermen are in no way involved with our National Security, to wit, Emergency Communications, et al.

Ham radio is a personal thing for the radio station owners and operators in respect of their hobby. Ham radio is taken from the personal realm into that of National Security [in St Kitts-Nevis] in respect of Emergency and Disaster events. How the ham radio station performs under the National umbrella is critically important, but we seem not to care or be concerned. I am still at a loss why a ham radio operator would invest 1500 Uncle Sams in radio station equipment and then try to communicate around the world on a random piece of wire sticking out of the jack on the back of the radio. I am not upset at the hams who do this, because I can appreciate that he/she may not be privy to certain information about efficient antenna systems like some of us. It is also quite possible that they do not have access to internet nor to information and data available at a discussion group like this.

The ham radio antenna is one of the most critical components of any ham radio station. When the radio station is deployed under the National umbrella it should be able to deliver the ultimate quality of service possible. To this end the most efficient or reliable antennas for the frequencies covered should be installed. Unfortunately many Caribbean hams do not give any serious consideration to these antenna systems. It is not to say that they are anywhere near as costly as the internal station hardware, but they are extremely critical to the propagation of the communications signals. Some hams believe in the fallacy that as long as their signal can be heard that is good enough. The target of every transmitting station should be perfect armchair copy at the receiving station, and not just to be heard amid the noise. This is even more important when operating for long hours under emergency and disaster conditions.

The bottom line is that Caribbean hams have to wake up to the reality that their antennas are just as important, maybe even more so, than their base stations. If they want to be at the head of the class all the time, time and effort must be invested in design, installation, testing, and tune up of their antennas and antenna systems. It seems to me that our hams are brain washed into the dipole and G5RV antennas. I can suspect that it is convenient to mount those antennas on one 20-foot length of water pipe, but unfortunately that pipe is way too short, and those antennas which can 'perform' better don't get the chance. Of course 20-feet on 80-meters may be great for local work, but for any kind of DX-ing, [the making of contact around the world], something else is required. But who wants to erect a second antenna, even if they have the space? I detect a certain level of laziness, a more appropriate word is complacency, and only when someone seeks to upstage them that they may recognize and seek to break the mold.

I am not into local chit chat, so dipoles and G5RVs are not for me. I want to talk to the hams on the other side of the world and the cheapest antenna for that job is a home made vertical. A quarter wave of aluminum tubing standing on end and insulated from the ground. Or that length of wire suspended vertically from a mast, tower, tree or whatever. Another quarter wave length of wire to make an elevated radial, or maybe two, three, or four. This vertical antenna is fed with coax cable through an ugly balun made by simply winding 20-feet of coax cable at the feed point end onto a 4" diameter PVC pipe. It is as simple as that. I am of the view, and have proved it, that if the antenna feed line is made even multiples of a half wavelength, antenna matching is most easily accomplished. I have some engineer ham friends who say that it is not necessary, and any length of coax cable will work, but I writing from what I know because that theory may work for them, but did not work for me.

If I use a 20-foot pipe for my vertical antenna it will outperform on the DX any dipole or G5RV antenna that you can place at 20 feet. Fact, indisputable. My 20-ft vertical can also work local, and let me add that these comments pertain to 40-meters. But for 80-meters it is not that big a difference, because with a 32-ft vertical pipe, top and bottom loaded to be a half wave dipole, your signal is able to reach the far side of the planet before that from an 80-meter dipole on a 20-ft pole. Sounds unbelievable? Give it a try and prove it for yourself. I am into Europe on 80-meters before my sunset, with my 32-ft top/bottom loaded vertical and 100 watts TS-940SAT transceiver. Well, you don't have to ask about the 31-ft vertical, elevated radials on 40-meters. I am still talking to the US long after sunrise, when the dipoles can't hear the Yankee signals. This not a brag, just the facts, and anyone can do this to.

So how does this translate to emergency communications. I am not running any class on propagation here, and if you know the theory of daytime propagation just apply the principles and do the math. V4 is at one end of the path J3, J6, J8, is near the other .... I had a perfect copy on the Emergency Net and they reported me as very strong. Guess they never expected to hear someone that strong at high noon. Tomas is gone looking for more victims. The cleanup and recovery continues, while we mourn with some for their loss, and pray that Tomas will not get anyone else in the North. One of these days the hams will get this antenna thing right and Caribbean ham radio will come into its own. Until then we just have to talk about it and try to impress those we come in contact with, show, tell and demonstrate, like never before, and just leave the rest to common sense.

[to be continued]

one hf collinear vertical coming up

2010-09-23T14:24:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that another month has zipped by so quickly, but this time I can see how and where it went. We must be in the end times, even though that is being said now for the last couple hundred years.

I recently stumbled upon this link while searching for the original story to make a point. I am flabbergasted, but not loosing any sleep over it. Follow the link and draw your own conclusion.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/01/1054406077856.html

Hurricane Earl passed North of V4 land on 29/30 August 2010. Since it was not going to be a direct hit on the island I elected to leave my 40-meter vertical with 3 nylon guys up in the air, for that ultimate test. After a few hours into the wind I was beginning to feel sorry for the belly-dancing vertical. Some time during course of the next morning my neighbour called to inform that one of my antennas was down. A few hours later when it was safe to check I found that the nylon guy ropes were still intact, but the 31-foot vertical mounted on top of a 12 -foot length of 2x4 lumber seemed broken about the middle, and the 2x4 lumber hinge base broke off just where it came out of the ground. The antenna wreck is still there untouched and eventually I will get to it, some time before Christmas.

For now I am using the other top and bottom loaded 40-meter vertical, the one where the vertical section is only 1/8 wave long, some 18-feet or so. It works rather nicely but the 31-foot vertical was unquestionably better, and I suspect it is due to its lower take off angle.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The paragraphs above were written on or about the 7th September, but this blog was not completed or published. In this action month of peak severe weather activity, coupled with our Independence anniversary celebrations, these things can happen, but no big thing, it helps us to better appreciate real world living, unless you prefer to be living in the matrix.

Today I retrieved the antenna knocked down by the storm windy Earl. The guys are all intact and I did not have to go searching for aluminum tubing. This 31-foot 1.25-inch diameter aluminum tubing vertical mounted on top a 12-foot long 2x4 only had 3-guys somewhere about 75% of the antenna + mast height. We were not yet into the 'season' so I was not catering for any stormy weather, and no center guying of the structure was considered necessary. Lesson learned ... install temporary and experimental antennas like they are permanent, because in the real world, most times they are.

The Kenwood TS-940SAT is back home and it sounds like a brand new rig. A couple months of using the Drake TR4CW and I can really appreciate the TS-940SAT like never before in the last 15 years. It is really all about frequency stability and not having to sit in front of the rig and 'touch up the dial' ever so often, just to keep up with an interesting QSO. I have come around to thinking that I should really forget this collector thing and just cart off the Drake collection to the landfill, but if I am around for the "launch of the EMP" I will need to be one of the hams with an obsolete but working radio station. So the Drake collection is spared for that reason alone ... but if someone want it more than me, I may be tempted.

So the 18-foot top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna is "S" units better than the dipole, but an "S" unit down from the 31-foot top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna. But even at 18-foot it provides armchair copy into the USA after sunrise, when others ham operators say they cannot hear or be heard. This is not a brag, just a fact. We are coming into the good months to prove/disprove this again, as we approach the North American winter. I plan to have a ball this winter, experimenting with a collinear 1/2 wave over a 1/2 wave top and bottom styled vertical dipoles, usually about 140-feet tall. I continually remind myself that my antenna experimenting and testing is not predicated on any sophisticated antenna software or hardware, both of which can be unavailable to hams in some countries on our planet. 99.9% of hams have an SWR meter of sorts and a ham radio handbook.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I see that the Sherwood Receiver Test Data found here was recently updated. My favorite rigs are still at the top of the chart. I am through convincing myself that the FlexRadio systems found here are the way to go for me, and probably for most other forward looking hams on the planet, who practically live on their computers, for work and play. I am also close to resolving my issue of which rigs to get, since all three [3] models are still on my short list. In the worst ever case scenario the Flex-1500 found here is the way to go. This is the ultimate portable rig guaranteed to work with most if not every laptop, and may be the most convenient setup for hams, like me, not living in an MDC, retired, living on a budget, and in a country where a VAT tax is being implemented within the next 5 weeks. As bad as that may sound it could still be worse in some other places on our planet, so a Flex-1500 is possibly the only real solution for any ham who must have a rig today, irrespectively. See what people are saying about the Flex1500.

Since I am convinced that the FlexRadio is the rig for these time I am on a mission to get all the progressive V4 hams that I interact with, to give FlexRadio a look and a listen. I have given a few demos at my QTH, and maybe it is not fair in a sense, given my 24" Dell flat panel and harman/kardon audio system, which can be real impressive at times. What really makes the FlexRadio fly is the FREE PowerSDR download. I also have the wave files, but can't seem to find them on the Flex web site anymore. There is no other ham rig in the world you can demo for FREE [as far as I am aware]. The icing on the Flex cake would be a non refundable lay-away-plan, so I can pinch off 100 bucks every month from my pension, for the next 7 months [Flex-1500] or 17 months [Flex-3000], instead of having to 'fast' for half of the year before placing the order with payment.

But seriously, if you have not yet downloaded and installed the Flex PowerSDR you are really missing something. Read more about the flexibility of the PowerSDR software here. Download it now and treat yourself to a test drive. You have nothing to loose, only something significant to gain ... for FREE. And if you don't see it now, trust me, you will surely see it later. So much for FlexRadio for today.

The 27th Anniversary of Independence came and went with no Club activity for the holidays, that is outdoor activity, like a simulated emergency exercise. We did have other activity that brought nearly a full house, and it shows what most interest our hams. A VAT tax is coming to V4 on November 1st, and the St Kitts based ham club saw it as 'necessary' to meet with a VAT presentation team, for the purpose of updating the ham membership, in relation to the impact of VAT on certain aspects of ham radio. I get the impression that the members present were reasonably satisfied with the information.

The bad weather is not all gone, but that will not delay the antenna construction and installation, for us, what is a little wind between friends ....

A screen snap of my Free PowerSDR with SSB_IQ

I just love this radio.

time to think outside the box

2010-09-15T09:05:00.000-04:00

No storm or hurricane for this Independence celebrations is most welcome. The stormy season was already here when Independence came along, and since it is not going anywhere, nor away, we just have to live with the weather and integrate as best we can. I believe that the people and the Country have adapted, and the weather does not unduly spoil their joy. Worst case scenario we have a storm on our shores and the celebrations have to be cancelled, but that has only happened once to my knowledge. The real thing about Independence for most people may be the holidays, the partying and the lime, and the adverse weather helps by adding more days [off from work] for merriment. This is just a Caribbean way of life and I love it.

The partying begins today even though Independence day is 19th September. The 16th is National Heroes day, a public holiday. You may be lucky to catch some folks working hard on the 17th and 18th since the 19th is another public holiday. I think the Labour laws state that you can forfeit wages for the public holidays if you did not work the day before and the day after, but to some "party animals" that is not an issue. There is also those folks who will fly off the island today for the Virgin Islands and Miami for the long holiday weekend lime, and be back here on the job next week Tuesday morning. Thanks to the daily American Airlines flights from the USA, Miami and New York.

Those of us remaining at home will find something to do and may either go the horse racing track or the motor speedway. It is really fantastic that a small island Federation like St Kitts & Nevis has these two "internationally certified" business operations, and can attract overseas guests and participants. Some others will find themselves down on the South East peninsular for picnics and the lime. Our tourists have a ball down on the South East peninsular, but sometimes I feel that our citizens and inhabitants, do not appreciate what they have and could enjoy. But then they are happy and comfortable in their own million dollar castles so I should be happy for them too.

The holidays also provide the ham radio clubs on the islands the excuse to conduct a simulated emergency exercise. There is the odd year when it is the real deal. For this year there has been one real SIM and attempts at another two or three. I keep telling these guys, when you want a function to fly high, just provide drinks and create the liming and party atmosphere, but they are not listening. And if they throw in the BBQ, our hams in the neighbouring islands like VP2E, PJ, KP, V2, J7, etc., may even come home for the event and catch the Independence action too.

Ham radio is alive and well in V4 land, but I think the SKNAARS, St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Amateur Radio Society is dead, and needs an immediate resurrection or a re-birth but the executive and members are unwilling to face that reality. From the outside I have seen this coming for a few years, and have written about the necessary injections more than once. But nobody listens, for whatever is their reason. Maybe it is just too high for them, like over their heads, even though I do not believe so. I am of the view that talking about the problems will not change anything nor bring any new life back into SKNAARS. The last super human effort brought 14 ham operators together for a meeting, but for the follow up meting, not even a handful was present.

SKNAARS was founded in 1973 and have been run with that 'mentality' [no disrespect] from then to now. We have seen some light under various presidents, but progress and development have not been additive, or as accumulative as I think they should be. SKNAARS had dynamic presidents over the last 37 years. I am of the view that if SKNAARS can establish a "past presidents task force" to chart a new 21st century course for SKNAARS, we should be able to rescue the present organisation from doom, and bring it back to life and everyone should be happy. But nobody is listening, nor even willing to think outside the box. The past presidents include, V44KAE, V44KBW, V44KA, V44KAQ, V44KK, V44KAM, with support drawn from past executive members like V44KO, V44KAI, V44KD and V44KBJ.

But the SKNAARS executive is not amenable to that idea, and will try to flog the dead horse yet again and that brings me to another suggestion. Why not just let the organisation die a natural death and be re-born. For the last year we have tried to keep it alive, just barely, but it is slowly slipping away, despite the best efforts. So let it die. The constitution makes provision for this and also for the rebirth. But it seems that some smart folks may have altered the "2010" constitution and removed this section which cater for the reality of life that SKNAARS now face. That is, lack of interest in ham radio within the club. The constitution was specific as to what happened and how the rebirth was effected.

I am of the view that this rebirth action is what is needed now, since the other options are not working or seem unworkable. The rebirth is nothing new to St Kitts-Nevis and within the last year we have seen quite a few local entities go through that, and some even entertained a change of name. I also feel that it is time to rename SKNAARS to ARSKNA, the Amateur Radio Society of St Kitts Nevis Anguilla, or ARSKN, the Amateur Radio Society of St Kitts Nevis. No need to explain why in these modern times. The concept of the rebirth is the age old solution that resolves many issues and gives us hope, providing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope that SKNAARS would stop being petty and small minded and let their imagination expand to encompass other ideas and concepts. Some people seem to have the view that they have a monopoly on brains and ideas, and it is either their way or no way, and that has killed the organisation and driven members away big time. Let us hope that we can all rise about our ego and look at our options and seek to try something that can really work rather than try to flog the dead horse once again.

As a founding member of SKNAARS I suggest and endorse the rebirth idea. I know it has favour and support within and without SKNAARS. It is a new idea to most of us, but it is not a new idea to many on our planet. Like I said, it is time to think outside the box, and these times demand it.

May our Independence celebrations be enjoyable and so too may any ham radio activity scheduled for the accompanying holidays.

... so they win?

2010-08-06T07:42:00.005-04:00

... and the winner is Flex Radio ... with a 40-meter collinear vertical.

Over the past week I find myself playing with my Flex radio and rather enjoying it .... and up to now it has not costed me one cent. In other words, I am enjoying my Flex radio for free, and while doing that I am also introducing and demonstrating this technology to other open minded hams. I don't want this to sound like our hams are not progressive, knowledgeable or open to the technology, but as easy as change and adaptation may be for some of us, it is certainly not so for others, especially those who may not be daily impacted by some aspect of technology. I have worked with technology since 1968 so I am extremely comfortable with the Flex radio ... and even more so since the designers have not skimped on its performance.

Let me back up and explain that my FREE Flex radio refer to the PowerSDR software, and irrespective of which hardware package I ultimately use later, today I can play with, access and evaluate all of the features of my Flex radio. I believe that Flex radio is the way to go for hams who spend a fair amount of time on their computer daily. I like the Elecraft K3, that should be my logical "performance" choice, but working against the K3, for me, is the "fully loaded" cost and the inconvenience of having to place it in the shack next door to my computer room, and then dedicate a finite time to ham radio operating. And the same argument holds good for the Ten-Tec Orion 2. I had decided to get all three[3] rigs but after due consideration, the answer is Flex radio ... and since I may still 'want' three [3] rigs, logically, they will be all Flex radio.

So why would Flex radio work for me?

[a] The hardware is practically unobtrusive. A Flex 1500 can sit on top my Harman/Kardon sub woofer besides my Dell 24" panel.

[b] The 20 square foot area [or 160 cubic foot] once allocated for the ham radio station operating table in the ham shack can be re-assigned.

[c] I am on the computer with Facebook, Emails, photos, blogging, every day, all day, and can therefore monitor and listen to ham radio in the background 24x7, without having to go into another room to change band/frequency, jack up the volume, and leave the interconnecting door open.

[d] A Flex 1500 would provide me the most convenient, mobile and portable station to field demonstrate ham radio to prospective and interested hams. I am working with another ham on a couple of HF top loaded vertical antennas specifically for mobile and portable use.

[e] I am fortunate to have a wife who is interested in ham radio and in obtaining her ham radio ticket. For years I have considered the pros and cons and strategized on how sharing one transceiver would impact our ham radio enjoyment, since ladies are always first. A Flex 1500 just for the 'Wife' is the ideal solution. Her bedroom will just expand to include her ham shack. Ideal indeed.

[f] Getting a rig into the bedroom is sometimes difficult for some of us married hams, but the Flex 1500 lends itself nicely to complement the laptop and with the boom mike headset no one can tell whether I am Skyping, webbing or hamming.

So with my Flex radio I can now enjoy, simultaneously, my ham radio and my photography practically all day and every day. I guess it can't get any better than this for me, can it? Of course it can, because I now have all the components to construct the half wave over half wave collinear vertical antenna. No public data or information is available but I expect this antenna to work well, and may even outperform my present half wave top and bottom loaded vertical antenna, that is built on a quarter wave vertical section. There is no dispute that vertical antennas are ideal for DX and I suspect that getting the vertical take off angle down lowest would make for better and maybe more reliable DX communication and contacts, and that is what I am after.

So if you want something to do in your spare time just download the Flex PowerSDR software and some of the wav files and give it a test run. If you run into any trouble just email them. I can't help but make this comment again ... I am still trying to understand why hams in the USA abandon the ham radio equipment made in the USA to a higher performance specification, in preference for ham radio equipment of a lower specification that is made overseas.

I guess it all has to do with comfort.

http://www.flex-radio.com/Users.aspx?topic=shackpics_f1.5k_dl1fux

http://www.flex-radio.com/Users.aspx?topic=shackpics_f3k_in3hez

http://www.flex-radio.com/Users.aspx?topic=shackpics_f5k_yi9nic

Have a great ham and Flex radio day.

... and more signs

2010-07-30T06:15:00.002-04:00

I am still out of a decent transceiver on the operating table. The Drake TR4CW is decent, but not decent enough for me to spend more than 15 minutes on the air chatting with my local ham radio buddies, during which time I have to touch up the dial and bring it back on frequency at least once, maybe twice. I agree with my ham radio neighbour that if I switch the radio on early it will be steady on frequency when I am ready, but I will also have a steady increase in paying for electricity which I am not using but for heating up a rig. That I do not agree is a wise thing to do.

I am looking forward to the Kenwood TS940SAT being on the bench shortly, maybe for the long holiday weekend, so I can justify staying home and talking to some new friends on the other side of the world if we can find the propagation. On a long holiday weekend like this it would be extremely nice if we had a clubhouse where we could congregate and work some DX too. Club house as in the ham radio Society Head Quarters, and we as in the hams and prospective hams of St Kitts and Nevis. It is on the horizon and coming, and has been for the last 37 years or so, but I think it is finally coming, if we keep on the path, swerving not.

Talking recently to a not so young ham, but not old enough to be a senior ham, I detect some frustration with the forward mobility of the society, but he, maybe like some others, is unwilling to be a part of the solution, for whatever reasons, so he is waiting for the solution to arrive so that he can participate and make the overall ham radio experience better. I think I can see his point in the distance, but I am of the view that we all need to be part of the solution now, we all need to cooperate now, and every Sesame Street character knows this ... worst case scenario we may have to move our ham radio organizations from St Kitts and Nevis onto Sesame Street.

On the personal levels many of us are doing great. Some hams have cleaned out their ham radio spaces, reclaimed and are reclaiming their ham radio shacks, dusting off radio equipment, checking stuff, and finding things they thought they had lost years ago. Listening on the ham bands. Most of us hams go through this at least once in our lifetime, some of us more than just once. Ham radio is hobby that never dies ... maybe like fishing, you only take a break for a while, then the bug gets to you and you are in active business again.

Last week one of my ham radio buddies who is making a come back to ham radio dropped by not to talk ham radio, because we both have other interests, like fishing, but the ham radio topic will always come up ... so I go to computer and we are looking at rigs like the old Japanese rigs like what we used, Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, then onto eBay to see what is now up for sale, on to Ten Tec Omni 6, Omni 7, and then I tell him I am looking at the Flex radio for my next rig, and pulls up the Flex radio website.

I have never seen a ham respond and react like that before, as he makes an instant, on-the-spot decision that the Flex 3000 is his next rig. I am scheduling mine for early 2011 D.V. To crown off the introduction to Flex radio I go to my desktop and click on PowerSDR v1.18.5 and up come the Flex software demo on my Dell 24" flat panel. So I load up the wav files and we view and listen and tune up and down the bands. I made my day and I think my ham radio buddy made his day too. So now that makes two Flex 3000 radios coming into V4 land shortly, and I will continue the evangelization for Flex radio ... and, NO, I am not being paid by anyone ... you know, thinking about it now, maybe I should try something.

A couple months ago I gave that same Flex demo to another ham radio buddy and he chased me away with my computerized rig. He was sold out on the traditional rig, to wit, the Elecraft K2 and K3, and I am happy for him, but when I can put my Flex 3000 rig, the laptop and switching power supply in a backpack over my shoulder and move out at a moments notice .... maybe in time he will see light, not that I want him to follow my lead, but just to develop an appreciation for the technology today.

I have since update to Flex PowerSDR to v1.18.6 and it is hot and just awaiting the hardware. Do yourself a favour and download the FREE PowerSDR software that runs the Flex radios and take it for a test drive. If you don't like it then go back to your Ten Tec or Elecraft ... but be warned anything else is just not as good, and it is not me just saying so, check the Sherwood Receiver Test Data Table.

As soon as the TS940SAT hit the operating table, work on the experimental 40-meter stacked collinear top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna will begin. Everything is here now I am just awaiting the motivator. I expect this antenna to be my last 40-meter experiment for a while and it should become the station's antenna of choice. Of course fine tuning it continues ad infinitum. Up next is the antenna for 80 meters, whether it a collinear or a loaded 5/8 wave will not be until the last minute ... and we already have materials for that construction.

So there are positive signs that ham radio activity is building up in V4, and the Hurricane season may be a catalyst.

signs of the times

2010-07-02T08:51:00.002-04:00

The TS940SAT is now outside awaiting pickup and subsequent maintenance. The hammer has failed to resuscitate the receiver on the last few attempts and I had no choice but to pronounce the T940SAT dead to ham radio. A couple days ago V44KO dropped by with his antenna checking devices, and that forced me to remove the Kenwood from the operating table and replace it with the Drake TR4CW. After a few minutes and antenna connector cleaning we had audio. If you had told me that after 10 years plus you could just take up a Drake transceiver, plug it into 240 volts ac, connect an antenna, and it would function just like today was the tomorrow of ten years ago, I would tell you "you got to be making joke", but that is the reality, and maybe someone can explain the "why" of it to me.

So why did V44KO bring his modern antenna checking devices? I don't trust the built in Kenwood SWR meter 100%, but I am still guided by it. My old Heathkit HM-102 meter does not agree with the Kenwood meter either, but they are all I use, and I do trust both of them up to a point. My buddy does not trust either of them so he elected to bring his trusted Ten-Tec and Bird calibrated devices to verify my claim to a lower than 1.5 SWR across the 40-meter band. One of these days I will search out the mod for the HM-102, but if I can't find it I can create my own and save something over a Bird. Actually, my wish list of antenna devices does not include the Bird but instead the Coaxial Dynamics wattmeter. I just prefer the larger meter.

The Drake TR4CW brings back favorable ham radio memories, because the Drake audio is unique, and represents the real sound of ham radio to me. Maybe it is the AGC characteristics that helps to shape this audio, but I can listen to it all night. The local hams that had my TS940SAT's "S" meter on the stop, and had me dialing in front end attenuation are now struggling to make it to the 40 dB over S9 mark, with their amplifier on. I believe that the AGC circuit in a receiver is critical to its performance, but I get the impression that some old equipment designers did not agree. My Icom IC-745 was a nice rig but the AGC was hopeless with strong signals. From my observation that AGC only required to develop another 2.5 volts [max] for the rig to be almost perfect, but that rig did not lend itself kindly to an AGC mod.

I have 'barely' played around with the Flex AGC parameters but have not critically analysed the effects/conditions, and I am looking forward to really giving the Flex a real world test in kilowatt alley. The Drake TR4CW is not cutting it but then that is not a fair comparison ... as though most things in life are anywhere near fair. The real test is when my neighbour further up the hill cranks up his ....

July 02, 2010

The three and one-half paragraphs above were written on May 5th but for some non recallable reason they were not completed nor published, and that has nothing at all to do with me loosing marbles or anything. I had even taken a photo of the rig outside in the vicinity of the garbage disposal bin, probably to psyche myself and justify making the move towards one of my three exotic dream rigs or maybe all three. It seems logical to think that if the world is ending in 2012 I may as well get all three rig now, and where it drop it stop. At present the TS940SAT is in the ham radio rigs' hospital undergoing maintenance and repair. I expect to see it back home soon and I promise to work the living daylights [nothing to do with 007] out of it like never before.

The Kenwood TS940SAT is one of the great rigs of its time, as those who should know about ham radio rigs will tell us. Some of these rigs may have come off the line with a soldering difficulty, but once that is fully taken care of the rigs are good to go for another 100 years while operated in an appropriate environment. This is one rig that I am keeping because anything else that comes onto the operating table has to pass that side by side test. I have to move forward, not sideways nor backward, in respect of radio station operating efficiency, etc. So what else is new on the ham radio receiver market? Are the top three still in front? The Sherwood Engineering receiver test data table is my reference, and it appears that nothing has changed since 2009.

I have not searched eBay in a while to see what rigs are due to change owners. This is the place to hang out if looking for a deal or a steal, and I suspect that people are already preparing for winter. I see some smart hams are selling worldwide, which gives those of us not living on the US mainland, an opportunity to get good rigs at good prices. Unfortunately for me the rigs in which I have a particular interest are not readily forth coming. I am off all ham radio gear that is not "made in the USA". I used to think that it was a Caribbean thing that we don't "buy local", but it is the same thing for the USA. More US hams seem to prefer the imported rigs over their own home made rigs which are of better quality and specifications, as shown on the receiver test data table.

I notice a global surge in the interest shown for vertical antennas, and also that more vertical antennas and hardware now appears to be on the market. The vertical antenna home brewers may still have to be creative, innovative and imaginative in their antenna installation. Speaking about the Caribbean, hams wish to install their verticals in the most weird of places. How do you install a vertical antenna six [6] feet up the trunk of a coconut tree on a beach? My home made vertical antenna beach mounting kit comprise a 5-foot length of rebar and a 7-foot length of fence pipe, and nylon rope. At the water's edge I hammer the rebar in leaving a convenient length above ground. I then mount the fence pipe to the vertical antenna, and hoist the whole "shebang" over the rebar and force it down into the wet sand about a foot or so, that is over the rebar. Nylon guys may be attached to the top of the vertical for stability. On dry land this setup is a whole different story, and a different mounting plan is to be preferred, like mounting to and above a chain link fence, or a concrete wall with top row of fashion blocks.

Ham radio help to bring out the creative and innovative ability in some of us hams. People who believed themselves to be 'dummies' have surprised themselves with thinking through an apparent antenna installation problem, and found that they could pull some ideas maybe from deep down in their subconscious and save their day. We never know what we can do until we really try, but some of us first have to be backed into the corner.

What else is new in V4? I missed the postmortem of the exercise and up to now have not heard of or seen any report from the SIM committee or SKNAARS. I know it was a very high level presentation, with power point and projectors, audio mixers, etc but was probably tailored for the "eyes only" of the participants. Maybe something could be in my email inbox right now so I will reserve any other comment until I check. So what else is new in V4? V44KO and I and now V44KW is on the 2-meter j-pole antenna building scene. I still have to try it on DX but it is working local simplex 146.52. I never had any luck with a j-pole so I was using a telephone wire Slim Jim. My scientist friend wants to scale this one for HF, but I am keeping a straight face, not saying anything, not making any comments to avoid any last laugh. You see some people does born lucky.

The grease truck has gone but I am not seeing any action yet, but maybe that is for tomorrow, if no rain, so I am leaving that alone. Let me QSY and QRT for now, be back soon ... and can you really imagine that today I was supposed to be on short time.

"we should do this every month"

2010-06-11T08:30:00.005-04:00

This was the comment made by V44KW at the conclusion of the exercise last evening. We were at that time in the Red Cross HQ building on Horsford's Road which housed the EOC and emergency station for the Basseterre communications district. I did not hear any dissenting comments, neither did I hear any verbal response to acknowledge that anyone else in the group heard his comment. For my part I agree, and now that I think about it, it is a great idea, but it does not have to be the full blown operation with establishment of the National network, etc.

I also got to thinking that maybe we could use this platform to launch weekly DXing and operating sessions, either from the Red Cross HQ building [until our site is ready] or from portable and mobile locations. Weekend evenings may be most convenient for other hams, but any and every evening is okay for me as I am still unemployed. I have been ready for this operation since last year when my portable top and bottom loaded vertical antenna for 40-meters was built, so it is not like we are scrabbling for antennas, rigs, or station operating equipment. The plan then was to set up shop on the Bay Road, preferable at one end, either up by the Basseterre Fisheries Complex in the East, on the beach outside the fence, or at the other end of the bay down by the War Memorial in the West, and again, on the beach.

I am providing the antenna with a feed line long enough to reach into a car, SUV or truck parked on the sidewalk adjourning the beach. I am game if we can find anyone interested. This provides the opportunity for hams to experience for themselves a top and bottom loaded vertical antenna in action. I can assure, not guarantee, that it will be an unforgettable experience, one they will remember for the rest of their life. It is mind blowing to say the least, and you only have to ask those hams who have been there already, like V44KO, but it is best to feel it for yourself.

So now that ham radio has your attention again, can we carry our ham radio experience to a new level over the next week or two, and keep it up there? I think that we can if we really want to, so I am all ready, set and waiting to hear from anyone who have interest ....

it is about ham radio

2010-06-09T10:36:00.009-04:00

Gosh!!! I must be slipping ... it's like a whole month between blogs, but then I did not promise to be on a roster or a schedule. I am not one of those people who create the news to make the news, like buss your face with a hammer so that I can scoop and report on it, that is desperation journalism, not that it does not happen, but surely not in our Caribbean ... so you have to be careful with the information sources these days, all of them are not decent and honest, like once ago.

I understand that my comments last month seemed to cause a ruckus and hams were calling for me on two meters one evening to either clarify or verify or explain, what I wrote in plain language. I did not write in any code, but I now get the impression through the grapevines that everyone is quite clear, and may be in agreement, of sorts, with what I said and what I did not say. The facts are UNDENIABLE, indelibly written in history, but some people have a hard time with it because the word POLITICS may be an adjective here. I suspect that some people also recognized the truth, but they are not "old" and "unemployed" like me, so they had to suck-it-up, act like they are blind, deaf and dumb, and walk on the other side. Maybe I am too stupid for that so I just had to say something

I was speaking to a ham today and he seem to feel that the emergency exercise coming up shortly is a result of my blog or other comments. I seriously disagree with him. My writing had nothing to do with that. The Society has an active committee that plans these exercises and they are doing what they must on their 2010 agenda, and that has nothing to do with the fact that there was no exercises in the last 5 to 7 years or more. It is quite normal for clubs to have very low activity at times. The cycle may be somewhat similar almost akin to the sun spot cycle. It may be logical for clubs to flourishing at sun spot cycle peaks, and I can see why local interest in our club could be waxing at this time.

Here is an extract from my recent email to the society secretariat and membership

----------------------------------

I also heard from my equipment service engineer, and within the next 14 days or so, all things remaining equal, I should have my TS-940SAT transceiver repaired and on the operating table again. At that time I expect to conclude the first phase of my 40-meter and 80-meter short loaded vertical antenna experiments.

As you may be aware V44KO and I embarked upon a short vertical antenna building program. Although the antennas being built meet our own specific need, they can also fill the needs of the average ham in V4 land who [a] have antenna installation space constraints, and [b] needs to work DX consistently. For me ham radio fun is making DX contacts and, as you know, that is more difficult to do with horizontal antennas, even two wavelengths above ground. The vertical antenna will always be top of the class in DXing. In our 'island' case it works great all the time because we are practically living in salt water, and can almost get away with just 2 and 4 radials, instead of the minimum 120 radials.

We are now into the Hurricane Season and I expect that SKNAARS will serve to motivate the hams to get their ham radio station at full capability ASAP. I expect that the NARC and SKNAARS will seek to have their HF nets activated and on-the-air. I am hopeful that these may also operate at evenings and not just on Sunday. I would also like to see a common net where all V4 hams can meet daily. The inter island rivalry may be good, but not that good for our Federal ham radio communications.

I am closing now but just two things. [1] The lack of a local source of coax cable seems to be the root cause or claim of most ham operators not being able to get on the air. While I appreciate the argument for using the popular RG-8 and RG-213 cables, I have not used any of these cables over the last 20 plus years and I am not aware that I cause any local TVI, BCI or whatever, and given the friends and neighbors we have these days, I would know. I have always used RG-59, even to the kilowatt level when I used the Drake L-4B. I am aware that hams in other places are experimenting with RG-6 cable successfully, and I would suggest that we should also conduct tests and experiments here, more so since we have no service usage "code" as yet. We also have RG-6 in abundance and it is also available in our hardware stores.

The other logical option is for SKNAARS to supply the hams with the brand, cable and size that they require. I see 1000-ft drums of coax cable on eBay at very good prices.

[2] Ham radio as we call it is really a group of people conducting scientific research from various locations across the face of the planet. It seems logical to me that our little one by naught city lot at Taylor's Range, next to a Church and two schools, is not anywhere close to adequate for conducting any real scientific experimentation, in say propagation, on 160 meters. Our location would be extremely hard pressed to hold a 1200-ft Beverage antenna, never mind two at diagonals. So how do we expect to really engage seriously and fruitfully in our hobby of scientific experimentation from a 100-ft x 50-ft city lot? So we have to stay on UHF and let our radio site look like a Chippie cell site.

I am of the view that it is time, after some 37 years, that we look seriously at our ham radio role to determine if it is in our destiny to continue with scientific experimentation in the field of radio communications from V4 land, otherwise known as St Kitts and Nevis. If we agree that we do have work to do, I believe that we need to determine what acreage of land we need for our scientific research, and approach the Ministry of Lands, with haste, for the few acres [3 to 5] that our scientific research requires. I believe that we have the engineering expertise within our ranks to determine what 'land' we would require for the earmarked scientific research and experiments from 1.8 MHz. It is high time that we call upon all the ham radio expertise that we have with our twin island Federation and move our ham radio up 3 notches in a step.

-----------------------------------------

I don't think that another month will go by before I am back here blogging. I suspect that next week, DV, I may have some trinkets to share, and maybe a snap or two. I hope the 'grease truck' is moved shortly so the Society can get on with their projects. Did I post the 'grease truck' snap here before? I don't think so. In our beloved country some people can just trespass on the "little people's" property and nothing at all for it, and then when some folks get upset and assertive, everybody find to say " but why didn't you come to see me?" but all the time that we bawling out hard under the pressure everybody, everywhere, was deaf and dumb. As the saying goes, today for me and tomorrow for you. This is just a statement, no threat or anything else.

I can't end without saying something about our most lovable SKB school children. They are nice docile, most innocent and lovable in school, but when school let out it is like the plague is unleashed, killer ants and killer bees, may be a welcome sight in comparison. Within hours of the container being landed on the Society site, every glass window was glassless. I should not mention that our sexually active "hotties" have also invaded the container through a hole in the floor. Well, maybe it is not those "hot teenagers" but adults that are invading the container, because the "teenagers" have parents who have them under tight control. Please, this is the Caribbean, we live here ... and some parent are the ones under control.

I think we need to find a new site for our Society. The Church next door, could pray about their break-ins and vandalism at every 'prayer meeting'. Why are we waiting to get raided and all our remaining assets vaporised. Security systems will not stop the burglars, and insurance will not compensate us adequately, if at all. These are modern times and we know how thing go in this place, so why are we playing the fool while making believe that we are smart?

ain't it time to stop playing politics with SKNAARS?

2010-05-10T10:47:00.003-04:00

I just came from the restroom and you know how you sometimes get ideas when you are in there. I don't want to call it inspiration but if you think that what it is I will back you up. Actually, my flash came when I was under the shower and the water was slightly below body temperature for mid morning. I was thinking photography not ham radio, so I don't know where the flash came from, and since it seems to be a truism I will say a few word, very few, on this. Some people have a way of wanting to tell others what they must do and say, and could do and say, and I am not into that foolishness. Every person has a right to do and say what they wish, anytime and any place, but if in so doing they violate any laws and bye laws, to which a penalty is attached, following any recourse that was taken by those who felt 'hurt' or mischievous, you can either suck it or appeal the judgement, if it was legally obtained. The long and short is, if you don't like it lump it or deal with the injustice.

SKNAARS, the St Kitts Nevis and Anguilla Amateur Radio Society is caught in a "political" vice grip by its members. I am of the view that some of the SKNAARS membership is willfully choking the life out of the organization.

I am one of those persons who like to make statements because the facts are evident, but I am not going to give them to you on a platter. You need to conduct your own research, Caribbean style, and if you do it right you will collect more 'dirt' than you can dispose of.

SKNAARS was founded in 1973.

In 1980 St Kitts - Nevis got a change in Government with the PAM/NRP Administration.

In 1995 St Kitts - Nevis got a change in Government with the Labour Administration.

Look closely at the strides and gains of SKNAARS before 1980, between 1980 and 1995, and after 1995.

In this small community of ours of some 45,000 people it is not extremely difficult to categorize the political allegiance of the inhabitants, especially in the election years. They may fool you in between but their true color eventually comes out. Thank GOD I am not one of those who 'masquerade' and hide behind the 'gubby face mast'. I was born a Labour Party supporter and will most likely die as one too. My father was already the Secretary of the Party when I was born so that is settled. But who I support politically has absolutely nothing to do with ham radio in St Kitts and Nevis, the Caribbean or the world. I don't pick and choose which ham I should or should not support or fraternize with, because they are backing PAM and I am backing Labour. A ham is a ham is a ham. But then again everyone may not be as broad minded or open minded as I am.

So SKNAARS seemed to have a PAM oriented executive in the 1980 to 1995 years. But my club support is color blind and we all had a jolly good time. Then up comes a change of Government in 1995, and SKNAARS is hard pressed for member participation at meetings, and no one is suddenly available for election to the Society's Executive. I would venture to say that if the Government had changed from a Labour Government to a PAM/CCM Government in January 2010, our AGM which is held in February would have been filled to overflowing and a new Executive would have been installed. Unfortunately, the AGM is still pending and overdue, as we can't get a quorum of 9 financial members.

So let us blame it on the recession. That takes the heat for everything, and now it may be even be blamed on the VAT to be introduced later this year. You see it is the politics of the country that is affecting SKNAARS. Maybe the politics have some hams so 'basody' that they can't think straight even with a simple thing like ham radio. Maybe some people are just using this as a gimmick, but I am seriously of the view that they are WILLFULLY screwing SKNAARS and ham radio, a hobby that they claim to love.

I will not let my ham radio be affected by anyone who wants to kill ham radio in our Country. Ham radio is bigger than any one of us. We come meet it and we will go leave it. Some people feel that as we pass through on this earthly journey we should seek to touch people, and things, and leave a positive marks behind. I hope that some of our hams would stop playing politics with our ham radio, forget about PAM and LABOUR, and let us all work together to develop and carry our SKNAARS and ham radio to a new level for 2010 and beyond.

I call upon the incumbent SKNAARS executive to immediately set up a constitution review committee to provide us with a practical working constitution, and not the 1996 white elephant we now have. It is laughable that we can't get 5 members to attend a monthly meeting, but under the 'new' constitution, we now require a nine [9] member quorum for the same monthly meeting. Some backward compatibility. This example is not meant to vilify the members who laboured [maybe worked is a more sensitive word to use] over the constitution for 14 years. So why did it take so long to bring this new document to the table? Wrong dispensation?

I am looking for some other hard cold real reasons to account for what and where SKNAARS is today. Of course I have a bias, but I can only see that the politics of some of us are keeping SKNAARS from rising back up to its former glory and beyond. It is high time that we finish away with this "politics nonsense and bullshit" and give SKNAARS and ham radio in St Kitts and Nevis a fair chance.

the scientific experiments continue

2010-04-22T06:38:00.008-04:00

WOW!! It is just a week short of a month since my last ham radio blog, and time seems to be just zipping by, and I must be slowing down real fast ... but no, it can't be me because I am always right and perfect, so it has to be you and everybody else. I learn from today's youths that anything that's wrong in the world is your fault, it can't be me ... even when you catch them with the cookie in hand. Some world we live in nowadays, but one day when they get old like us, they will suddenly awake and make the discovery, and new meaning may be given to certain words like radical. When these youths get hot under the collar, they hot, too hot for Jerry Springer's show. Every now and then I see mine take off, and "like a dirt bike" is no longer an appropriate description, maybe "like a backhoe, bulldozer and dump truck" is more accurate. Anyway, when thing are normal we still love them, we have no choice, we brought them into the world ... even though some times we wish we could take them out .... anyway we are all adults now, and thank God for that.

The focus at the QTH has been on photography as I continue to roll back the aging process with prayer, meditation, diet and Cod Liver Oil. My mother would be happy to see me consuming the CLO like it is water, and without her usual physical insistence with strap in hand. Those old folks really knew somethings that we did not, but we could not appreciate it back then. For ham radio you don't have to go past your back yard, but for photography that could take you out of the house for a whole day, and to the other side of the island, calling for great health, strength and energy. But God is good and we are almost back to where we left off some 30 to 40 years ago.

This last week was for ham radio and that is doing great. I am getting some hams out of hibernation and shortly some big signals will be on the air, and I have to keep mine up there too. One ham is obsessed with 5/8 verticals and I caught his virus, so I am rolling the 1/2 wave t-cap into a 5/8 wave t-cap. Yesterday I built the matching stub and the SWR at the shack is just below 1.5 across 40-meters, but I want it still lower. Today the activity continues with the tuning up, and maybe weekend, if the rig continues to work with help from a hammer, I will see who can hear me in the USA or Europe.

Life is funny, but God is good. I have a copy ON4UN's software somewhere, and I know that the stub program works perfectly from the days when I experimented with delta loops, but I did not get the chance to use that program because while surfing I came across Ve3ERP's hamcalc, which I also have on one of these computers. Long story short, I downloaded and installed hamcalc, found the stub program, plugged some figures into it and here we are with an SWR below 1.5. I will hunt for my ON4UN software, pull out the win98 laptop and see what gives. Only one problem, no parallel printer here, and maybe that is where hamcalc has an edge, besides being FREE. Some of the other Hamcalc programs will prove useful as we investigate options for the 160 meter vertical antenna.

Yesterday I proved what ON4UN said in the Low band Handbook to be true, AGAIN. You cannot assume any antenna parameters. From certain written ham radio works I assumed that my antenna impedance was a certain figure and plugged that into the stub program to create my starting test points. No change in the high SWR. So let us see what the TS940SAT's built in tuner has to says. NO MATCH. That only means one thing. Last resort, the Autek RF-1, which shows antenna Z from 300 to 800. Well it was after dark and with possible BCI that is cool, so midday today we take another reading. So 500 ohms plugged into the stub program created a real starting point and with a +15% tweak we now have an SWR below 1.5. But the Man John said in his book , before you put pen to paper MEASURE all the antenna parameters. We hams are scientist but we do last what we should do first ...

I am now wondering if I really need to lay out that two [2] grand XCD for the AIM4170, since the Autek RF-1 can put me so close to home. Maybe when the good times return an investment in an Autek VA-1 may be considered, given that my antenna analyst needs do not get more complicated than this, as I only experiment with vertical antennas for 40 and 80 meters ... once in a while. I am also out to prove that the most destitute of hams on the planet supposedly with limited resources and test equipment can actually build and use vertical antennas that they can feel proud to use for DX contacts to the far side of our planet. BTW, Given a choice between an AIM4170 and and Flex1500, I am going with FlexRadio.

This week continues to be great and the 40-meter 5/8 wave t-cap should soon be registered as the station's antenna. With this done the 80-meter t-cap is up next, but that may be something else .....

A snap of the tune up setup on the grass. Now since the Matchline is about 20-feet I may roll that into a solenoid balun and check. That would then keep the balun at the antenna feed point. Here my matchline is seen behind the balun, but I could also scrabble wind the matchline and check. This is scientific [ham radio] experimentation ....

another experimental vertical antenna

2010-03-27T04:55:00.004-04:00

Today I saw my first Flex 5000A on eBay, and I just had to lay down a bid on it. There were also a couple Elecraft K2 and Ten Tec Omni 6 rigs. I suspect that even though things are tight some hams are not letting go their top-of-the-line Ten Tec Orion or Elecraft K3 transceivers, until it is absolutely necessary. Well, I wouldn't either, something else would have to go first, second and third, but not my ham radios nor my fishing tackle. I know that some happy hams will be camping out on eBay, on the coop, and I myself might loose some sleep watching the auction minutes counting down.

My Kenwood TS-940SAT is calling for maintenance again, so I am honoring the message about MTBF. I used to think that I was the only person who had been turned off by an unexpected, albeit unwarranted, response from a supplier for a ham rig made in Japan. I now find that I have friends with similar experiences, for the same brand of equipment [it is not Kenwood]. I will endorse the equipment for its performance but the after sales service is "coming soon" ... and the funny thing is that, it is not the response that I would expect from the Japanese. But these are modern times and changing times, so if we don't like it just suck on it, or go buy another brand of equipment .... and so, that is just what I am doing.

I do not think that I will get a "JA type response" from Elecraft, Ten Tec or FlexRadio, and if I did and I got peeved, I could jump on "AA" after breakfast, and be on their doorstep before lunch with my truncheon in hand. Best case scenario I can be home for lunch next day with a spanking brand new rig in my carry on. I am yet to discover why the million hams in the US seem to prefer imported rigs with specifications that fall way below their home made rigs. I know that the US ham is a smart guy so what am I missing? Some of our Caribbean guys are smart too, and have worked out that they should be using the best receivers that their money can buy, fortunately or unfortunately, all those receivers are now Made in the USA.

A thought just crossed my mind. Maybe I should contact Elecraft, Ten Tec and Flex Radio, to see what it would take for me to represent them and their products here on the island. Well, what do I have to loose? Absolutely nothing. We all know what the typical response could be, that is the norm, but in these difficult times some manufacturers may be now thinking outside the box. So I will give it a shot, and see what happens. If something positive comes forth, every ham in V4 could then have a decent top-of-the-line ham radio transceiver. It is funny, but the Banks here will readily [24 hr] finance your buying a rig that is already on the island, but not so readily, for one that you have to place an overseas order. There are over 100 licensed hams on the V4 books, and I am not into this for any profit, but only to help the hams get off the ground and into the air. So maybe, just maybe, I will send off some emails over the weekend, and see what can happen.

I have been trying to sell some local hams on the Flex Radio idea but they are not budging from the traditional, so the K3 and Orion are on their minds. For the last 25 years I have watched a computer screen every day, almost all day, and it is hard to go pass that and back to a traditional rig. I can see myself operating almost 24x7 from my computer, while I am dealing with my photo imaging, and other computing. Right now I have to leave the computer room and go into the ham shack, and spend valuable time just socializing on the band, or jack up the volume and listen from a distance. So I am ready for the Flex 3000 or 5000, whichever comes first, and here is shot of my PowerSDR v1.18.5, the last time I played around with it.

Another experimental antenna project is due to begin here at V44KF shortly. I expect this to be the ultimate vertical antenna for the station, and I am pretty anxious to see it in operation. This antenna experiment was postponed indefinitely in 2009 because I did not have the construction hardware to make a reliable center insulator in 30 foot and 60 foot tall vertical lengths of aluminum tubing. As our islands continue to develop its infrastructure we occasionally discover new materials that can be adapted to our antenna construction projects.

The quarter wave top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna has outperformed and replaced the 1/8 wave top and bottom loaded vertical dipole as the station's main antenna for 40-meters. The 31-ft tall, 1/4 wave antenna, is in service but still needs tuning to bring the SWR to 1:1, but I am happy with its performance at 7.195 MHz with the TS940SAT's built in tuner. I have not had the chance to test the antenna below 7.1 MHz as yet, but I believe that I will not be surprised.

Following the Queen's Baton Relay activity here over the last weekend,19th and 20th March, ham radio is moving slowly onto the front burner for more local ham radio operators. We are also rapidly approaching June 1st, the start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. One evening following the island wide activity, I was slightly amused to hear the net controller of the nightly 2-meter net lamenting that he could not get a handful of check ins for that night and was wondering where were the 45+ hams that had just recently provided island wide coverage for the Queen's Baton Relay. Well that is how it goes down here, life on the islands. Welcome to one of the Caribbean flavors of ham radio.

Direct feedback as a result of this blog continues, and I am pleased to help other hams across the planet in any way possible with implementing their home brew vertical antenna projects. I am of the view that any ham radio operator on the planet should be able to construct and install a high performance vertical dipole antenna with readily available materials in their location. This may call for innovation and creativity and we humans are not usually found lacking in that regard.

... vertical antenna pace quickens

2010-03-10T05:29:00.005-04:00

GOD is good all the time. Some of us believe and some of us don't, but it is a personal thing and I am not getting into your business. On the other hand I can afford to share my business as by doing so it may help someone to better find their way, even if it is only one, I have won. Humbly, I believe that I am making headway, but even if I am not, doing this keeps me out of trouble, and trust me, trouble is running wild in these days. You see them "petite jeune filles", they are trouble, not just in Arima, but all over. Anyway, I have my ham radio for entertainment and more importantly, to keep me focused. When seniors loose focus, it can be the beginning of the end, so, all you seniors and prospective seniors, [and youths don't work, if you live you will arrive too] don't ever loose it, find something to do and stay with it, forever, stay focused, and stop watching the girls suntanning on the beach ...

Yesterday one of my ham radio buddies dropped by. We have been talking a lot about our on going vertical dipole antenna projects. This has been a great motivator for me and has seen the 1/8 wave 40-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna rebuilt, relocated and in service in record time, by my standards, since we had unusual Caribbean weather to contend with. It is known that Caribbean folks do not usually like rain or high winds, but these days the rain is most welcome as it washes away the Montserrat volcanic ash, and we can appreciate another few days of clear sky and the scenic beauty of St Christopher, the Cradle of the Caribbean.

The second vertical is also installed and being tuned. It is a 31-foot vertical for 40-meters with top and bottom loading. I think this is the ultimate in a top and bottom loaded vertical. I am now working on the matching to get SWR below 1.6 to 1. I will see if my Autek analyzer can help any, and I suspect that I may have to use a stub, thanks to the ON4UN software on my win98 laptop. I swear by stubs from the days of corner fed delta loops. Ever day now I get closer to convincing myself that the Array Solutions AIM 4170 is an essential toy. Yes a toy, if you see it as a tool, you need to go see your shrink. I don't know if I am loosing it but I think I would select this toy over a fully loaded Flex-3000, but that's me.

So we were talking antenna matching last evening, and I pulled my clipboard to refer to the matching systems that Cebik [sk] mentioned in his "verticals without vertigo" article. On the clip I re-discovered my notes for the stacked vertical antenna project. Blog followers will recall that this vertical stacking antenna project was suspended because I could not engineer a device that would safely support two vertical aluminum tubings in series [butt ended] while insulated from each other. Well thanks to another ham radio buddy I now have a solution to the antenna center support and insulation problem, and I win again, because I had said that the solution would have to be innovative and creative.

So the stacked vertical antenna project is now active. I expect that all hams who are not serious, but paranoid about vertical antennas have a copy of the amateur radio vertical antenna handbook by capt Paul Lee. I did not know that a second edition existed until now, so I will check eBay later. Anyhow, chapter one [specifically page 13 to 15] in my edition of this vertical antenna handbook sets the stage for my vertical antenna stacking project, but I want to use some measure of top and bottom loading, and I am already seeing light at the end of this tunnel.

Let me back up to the latest antenna installations, the 18-foot and 31-foot top and bottom loaded verticals. There is a significant difference listening on the verticals. The 31-foot antenna is clearly "S" units stronger into the USA, while the 18-foot is better into the Caribbean, in the mornings. At sunset both antenna seem to be the same into Italy and Germany. In the end I may stay with the 31-foot and install an NVIS antenna for the Caribbean brothers. Today work continues on matching the 31-footer and identify components for the stacked antenna project.

On final, the antenna feed lines are now tuned to even multiples of 1/2 wave and the solenoid balun is wound on the end of the coax feed line. If time permit the 80-meter antenna feed line will be pruned and tuned today, and I could have a ball tonight on 3.798 MHz. It is a nice feeling to get RS59+ from Europe, sometimes even before sunset, and I could do with the ego boost. I have not received my replacement camera batteries yet, but I will try "a thing" today, to have some pictures here later, and maybe in a slide show on the side panel.

I got some more off blog and user group emails, and thank you for sharing your vertical antenna ideas and allowing me to make suggestions. It works for me and I hope that you can adapt it to work for you too.

Have a great ham radio day.

... one up, one more to go

2010-03-06T09:02:00.003-04:00

Tempus Fugit. It was only like yesterday I sat down to pencil an update, so we may really be into the last days. Some time ago I read a book by Og Mandino, maybe it was 'the greatest salesman", and I vaguely recall one of the the things that we should seek to do is to "Live each day as if it is our last". Well, I am a senior now so Og don't have to tell me that again, I am not wasting my time, I am on the move 24x7. Of course some days you could feel like s**t, and need a double portion, but I am not taking steroids, Cialis or Viagra, because I find that CLO and PRAYER works for me. CLO as in Cod Liver Oil. For the last week I have been totally pain free, [thank GOD] feeling 17 again, and out in the hot Caribbean sun working on the vertical antennas. Prayer everyone should know about, especially in these "hard" times.

To update on everything over the last few weeks will take more than 3000 word and I am practicing to keep things small, neat and economical to match the times. In reality, the recession is not for everyone, and those who have to comply, will comply. This recession compliance subject I will continue on my spaces.live.com blog later on. Here we are talking radio and related topics and I will try very hard to stay on course.

[a] I have always promised to add some photos and I will do that later today. A couple Saturday morning's ago at 1.30 AM, we had a burglar in my bedroom on the second floor, who stole my backpack with all my camera batteries. Maybe it was divine intervention rather than luck, that caused the thief to remove my Canon EOS digital camera and lenses from the back pack, before re ran off with the camera batteries, but GOD is good. So I will manage to get the couple shots that I need for this blog.

The 40-meter, 18-foot top and bottom loaded vertical dipole is up and in service. The bottom load wire has to run through my Soursop tree, and I had to engineer a v44ms 'through the tree 'gizmo' from a length of PVC water pipe which works rather nicely. I have not seen any drop off in signal strength on contacts into MD, USA, and European stations are received RS59 before the sun physically sets over here in the Caribbean. According to the theory the gain for this 1/8 wave vertical top and bottom loaded dipole antenna is only 0.5dB less than that of a full sized 1/4 wave vertical monopole. I never had a full sized 1/4 wave vertical monopole before so I have no clue. What I do know is that I can't find another simple and cost effective vertical antenna to match or out perform this one as yet, and it is the simplest and best antenna that I have ever used in my 42 years of ham radio. So this is now my permanent 40-meter antenna.

[b] The original plan for the recycled 40/80 -meter two band experimental antenna has changed again. The existing options are

[1] to convert it into an 80-meter t-cap for phasing with present 80-meter t-cap

[2] to rebuild it into another 40-meter, 18-foot t-cap for phasing with present 40-meter t-cap

[3] to rebuild it into a 40-meter, 1/4 wave long vertical t-cap.

I have gone with option 3 for now and that antenna is already in the air, all guyed down, and just awaiting completion of the bottom load wire installation. A bit of engineering is necessary to cater for a container in the load wire's path. My friends in MD are anxious to see and hear the difference between the 1/8 and 1/4 wave t-caps. I know what I can expect and I like it. It may surprise others but it will be no surprise to me. I am only sorry that I don't have an AIM4170 yet, to really fine tune this antenna, but that will come, sooner rather than later.

[c] While on the topic of antenna analyzer, last week I had individual conversations with a couple hams, and I recognize that they all have interest in taking their antenna building and antenna analyzing to another level. I also felt that way earlier, so it seems like the thoughts of some hams here are causing something to happen. Some hams have MFJ, and I have Autek. One hams says he can't get in contact with Autek Research, no response to emails. I am done with Autek and now saving up for an AIM 4170. If there is something better for less, kindly let me know.

[d] My two [2] real ham radio buddies dropped by the shack a couple times, obviously, to talk ham radio, but we get into various related and non related topics. I was introduced to two new business ideas and we will follow up and help where ever we can. Ham radio may only be the hobby, but the bonds of friendship go further than that and we should be committed to helping, not only our ham radio friends, but anyone we come in contact with, who can benefit in any way possible from our expertise. Sometime a word of encouragement is all that is needed.

[e] We checked out the RG6/u coax cable in the hardware store. It is Nippon America, and the braid can be soldered. One the hams bought a piece to make the solder test. It is a foam cable and I do not like nor use foam coax cable. I will not refuse a roll of foam coax cable, but I will not invest in the product, unless it is at a giveaway price, like $5. My own coax reclaiming project has gone rather well and I have postponed my wireman order. I have retrieved eleven [11] PL-259 plugs and four [4] PL-258 connectors. I do not sense any problems with the spliced cables, maybe all the more reason why I need to get the 4170.

[f] The ON4UN method for cutting feed-line cable lengths as outlined in the chapter on phased arrays, is now my standard practice. I have also introduced that to other hams who need that level of accuracy and precision. Some hams believe that an antenna tuner is a standard fitting to the station and the antenna system. I do not share that view, and I seek to adjust and tune each antenna system as precisely as possible at the popular operating frequency. My 40-meter t-cap is tuned for operation around 7.1 mHz. When I operate at 7.195 mHz I use the TS-940SAT's built in antenna tuner to keep the rig finals happy, but the cable to antenna SWR is still abnormal.

[g] I passed by the flex radio website and downloaded PowerSDR 1.18.5. I have not detected any difference from version 1.18.2. I gave a local computer vendor in V4 the specs for the laptop and desktop I need to run the Flex-3000, one for base station and the other for portable/mobile operation, and the vendor tells me they can't supply the computers I need. I don't know if it has anything to do with windows xp or windows 7, so I may have to contact Neal.

The Flex -3000 is still high on the Sherwood Engineering Receiver test data table, sixth overall, but fifth, when we are talking practical ham radio. I rather like how the American rig makers have dominated the scene, and it is good that somebody is listening. I would feel better if Ten-Tec could get their Omni 7 at least on par with the Flex-3000. But since they don't want the Omni 7 to be in the top 10 best receivers in the world, who am I to fuss. The extremely good thing about buying local, USA, is the after sales service. Worst case scenario I can jump on an AA morning flight from V4 and be on the doorstep of Flex Radio, Ten-Tec or Elecraft before sunset. Wait for my rig to be serviced and be back home before sunset the next day. No need to make any comparison, as I would still be "in the air", instead of home having supper with my family.

Since I am now living again as Og suggests, I am maxing my ham radio entertainment and every aspect of my ham radio for 2010. The word NO will be removed from my ham radio vocab. Optimism is the order of the day. A new ham radio attitude now reigns.

... on the move again.

2010-02-10T11:39:00.003-04:00

Well, at last everything is back to normal at this QTH, as far as the impact on ham radio over the last few months is concerned, given all the excitement surrounding the general elections, the winning 4-peat Government and subsequent swearing in ceremony for the newly elected constituency representatives on Sunday 7th February. The national political action is not over but its impact on my own local ham radio is done. So I am picking it up where I left off last year.

The 18-foot length of aluminum tubing is already mounted on the mast. You may recall earlier I was going for the option to re-install the single band 40-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna. This is the first step towards my 2010 antenna experiments, that of phasing two top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antennas. The two masts are already about 30 plus feet apart, so that limits the number of phasing combinations and configurations. The vertical elements are only 1/8 wave tall, even though I prefer 1/4 wave long elements. But since I can get two [2] antennas instead of one [1] and I won't miss the fraction of a dB in gain, I took it.

According to Captain Paul Lee I can max the gain with 30 degree spacing and 165 degree phasing, if my memory serves me well ... but I don't know if I may need a sophisticated device like the AIM4170 to compute the parameters, or maybe the ON4UN software may still prove helpful. But if I was in the jungle without the high tech tools what would I do? So it is back to basics again until such time as. There is still so much that can be done with the knowledge and application of basic principles, simple tools, and gadgets.

I note that readers wish to get construction details and photos of the antennas built. A picture is worth 1000 words, maybe 5000 sometimes. I do not build antennas like they are going in for any beauty pageant. They are built for performance not for looks, as you will see. Given the hot Caribbean environment I do not have to take 'certain' precautions, neither do I have to meet any building code requirements or restrictions, and common sense would dictate that safety is always priority #1. So one should bear this in mind when viewing any photos of my antennas and their construction. A word of warning, if you have any uncomplimentary comments please keep them to yourself, so that mutual respect can be maintained and we all remain squeaky clean. Enough said.

A solenoid balun is critical to vertical antenna performance. If you wish to use a ready made balun on your vertical antenna that is cool, but if you are on a budget like me, you must be thrifty, reusing and recycling at every opportunity. Earlier up like 2008/2009, I made the solenoid baluns on 4.5-inch OD PVC pipe with [a] two PL-259 on ends, which required [b] one PL258 to connect the 1/2-wave-multiple tuned coax cable feed line with two PL259 on ends, [c] one M358 for balun, matching network and driven element, and [d] one SO-239 on coax braid tail from the driven element.

Yesterday I decided to reduce all this hardware down to one PL259 and two ring terminals, thus retrieving three PL259, one PL258, one M358 and one SO239. The antenna feed line is even 1/2-waves at 7.00 MHz. The balun is still made up from 20 to 30 feet of coax cable, wound on the 4.5-inch OD PVC pipe, and it needs 40 feet to connect the antenna to the rig inside. One electrical wavelength about 94 feet seems adequate for this feed line with a built in balun. This is going to be a permanent installation.

Still on the thrifty side, I did not wish to cut from a new roll of coax cable so I spliced two bastard pieces of coax, 61 feet and 38 feet. Over the last few years, various phased array experiments have resulted in a few 'arbitrary length' of coax cable which I will now splice and reuse on the permanent vertical dipole antennas installed at this QTH.

I plan to take a few snaps later when I resume work on this 40-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna.

update Jan 2010

2010-01-31T05:18:00.004-04:00

Over the last few weeks being pressed for time I blogged here and posted that content to the Verticals2 discussion group. Today this will work in reverse, and the forum post from earlier today follows

""Greetings again to all the fine members of the Verticals2 group.

At last we are back to normal in the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis. The general elections are over and we still have the same government for another 5-years. It is a 4-peat. Though there is still some politics in the air everything is virtually normal, so ham radio down here can now continue where it left off a few years back.

My brand of ham radio was not impacted by the local politics. I may be considered as a by product of the politics given my roots, but other hams got caught up in the fray, more like sucked in, but they should now be back to normal, even though they did not get the Government they tried for, and that is no reason to hold ham radio to ransom.

So where do we go from here. I am of the view that as soon as the new Govt is sworn in and we know who is the Minister of Telecoms, the hams radio organisations should continue the discussions pertinent to ham radio incentives, and other overdue matter that need urgent attention.

At the club level the SKNAARS society is actively working on the HQ site again, but we have a squatter to evict, and then the site security matter is priority one. Electricity should be on the site within another week or so and we can begin to operate from the trunk of our vehicles, or one of the many tents in our storage, once the top and bottom loaded vertical antennas are re-installed again.

This ham operating activity is the steroid for the Society, and historically boosts participation and membership. This year we are hoping to see how close to our peak membership ever of seventy [70] that we can approach. A couple years ago the licensed ham population was well over 133, with only one SK last year.

Other hams have retired and are moving towards building their ham radio station again. So 2010 is looking hopeful so far, and I am promoting the simplicity and efficiency of the home brew T-cap antennas, for every serious ham radio operator and radio station.

Today I turn another year in ham radio, being first licensed on 31st January 1968 as VP2KF. I am still committed to the furtherance of ham radio in V4 land, and to assisting all local hams to get on the air, with [or without] a top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna, which I have found over the last few years to have no equal.

This year I will partner with interested hams to see if we can resolve the coax cable and aluminum tubing issues that local hams claim slow them down and stop them, from experiencing the joys of ham radio in V4.

I have a contract to build T-caps in Nevis when the aluminum tubing and coax cable arrive. I also have a 160 meter helical T-cap on paper and construction will start on that as soon as I receive my antenna wire from the wireman and the weather is fair. V44KO is completing his 80-meter top and bottom spokes hatted loaded vertical dipole within the next few weeks.

So V4 ham radio activity is building up and looking good. What is it like with you and ham radio in your area? Don't let the weather keep you down. Of course you can always relocate to V4 for the season to work DX 24x7, and fly out before any hurricanes after June. This is the Life of the Islands and can't get any better than this.

Have a great ham radio day.

73, Keeth""

... action time 2010

2010-01-15T03:12:00.004-04:00

Ham Radio is alive and doing better in St Kitts and Nevis. I wish all hams will continue to prosper in 2010. I am expected to say something like that as an opening statement. We already know things are better, and not just down here in the sunny Caribbean, because we are all here, as in alive, to appreciate that, and we have a handle on our destiny. I am not entertaining any discussion on this destiny topic, as some folks seem to believe that the world will end in 2012, or is it now 2050 or sometime. If the end is so close then we could afford to throw caution to the wind and have ourselves a ham radio ball, like take our last cent and treat ourself to that dream rig. The other option is to do like some others on the planet oblivious of the apparent 'end of the world' and continue to live one day at a time, taking this ham radio hobby in stride.

Ham radio is doing better in V4 because the first monthly meeting of our ham radio society was very well attended by 10 hams, and we did not have rain. This is a significant improvement, when for many months in 2009 only 2, 3 and 4 of us showed up, and a couple times only the President was there, by his lonesome. The recession really hit us hams hard. Well, that has to take the blame for just about everything. It is not unlike how hams get the blame for everything electrical, even to the neighbours washing machine which they claim our ham radio antenna has adversely affected, even though you are away, on holiday in the big apple.

I think we have rediscovered the word "action". All the big plans and programs on paper ain't worth anything, until some measure of action puts a focus on the destination. So our ham radio group is "fired up and ready to go" [Obama had nothing to do with this firing up] to carry the radio society to the next roadblock. Of course if we clear the road early, we could get home free, block free, and I hope that is what will happen now that we are moving forward again. This club, community type action , usually spins off into the personal ham operations. I recall that when I built, installed and demo the 80-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole at the society HQ, by the next weekend I was at a ham operators's home helping to install his 80-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole. The club helps to set the tone for V4 ham radio operators.

I am still looking around for my next rig. I am totally convinced that I now require more than one or two rigs on the operating table. I always had two or three rigs, from time immemorial, so what brought on this attitude? I will not waste any time trying to make a determination, but just get directly to the bottom line, and get the additional rigs. Given the recession and all that, I believe it is important that I get the best rig possible, not just any rig will do now. My station must be capable of interfacing with the commercial type systems, outside the realms of ham radio.

Ham radio is okay, but there usually come a time when we need that little extra to make a difference. We live in the hurricane zone and should be prepared to offer an effective communications response, if ever required. Marine radios provide that flexibility rather cheaply. I don't particularly wish for an Icom brand radio, so the search continues on eBay. My trusty Kenwood TS-940SAT is up to the job, in peace time, but I would not risk it nor put any money on it when the winds begin to blow, rain falls and the thunder and lightening are having a ball for the better part of 24 hours. Just moving the TS-940 rig around is risk enough, even in a padded foam lined suitcase.

I believe that we have finally found the solution to the portable top and bottom loaded vertical, but I can't share that info yet. I also believe that we will now have more local hams trying out this T-cap antenna. I am still trying to understand why the obsession with a multi-band antennas. Maybe it has to do with zoning laws which we do not have, or kinky neighbours, which I do not have. Maybe I am just lucky to live in a particular location. But then again I only have up 3 verticals, not any tower with beams that may appear threatening to my neighbours. Not to make fun of them, but some folks really believe that we can listen to them with a beam antenna.

The local politics will soon cool down with nomination day later today Jan 15th, and polling day on Jan 25th. I believe that very early in the life of the next administration which begins on Jan 26th, we, the hams, have to make a move on the Ministry of National Security and Finance to secure some benefits for our hams, radio club and society. We have been talking to ourselves [like crazy people] for too long, and it is time for action, and if the world is ending in 2012, what more do we have to loose?

I passed another milestone on Jan 14th. Thanks to my Facebook ham friends who sent Birthday Greetings, cyber cake and gifts. I guess it is the recession why no one sent me a rig, but then I am so picky and choosy that it might have been 'returned to sender'.

To all you hams out there, get up off your rusty dusty this new year 2010, get active, with whatever action, even if its just wiping the dust of the rig. Make something happen so I can hear it down here.

It is pretty sad about Haiti. In the worst case scenario Haiti can be on the list of the "rare stations" for a while.

73

... the wish list

2009-12-28T08:53:00.007-04:00

I missed the Jouvert Jam on 26th but have no regrets as my time was better spent on the computer doing what I enjoy. At this time of year most persons, hams included, indulge themselves, with making a new year wish list. Why this is done at this season is anyone's guess, because one should be continuously reevaluating priorities and updating wishes and needs. It may or may not be critical for persons living in recessional times and I cannot pronounce on this because I am still awaiting the recession, here. Some recessional attributes exist on the planet as a matter of course, but some people may find it convenient to disregard them. Anyway here it is about ham radio, not economics or politics.

I expect that the typical V4 ham will have everything on their wish list from a rig right down to solder. So many thing are that much more difficult to get these days. Living on an island in the Atlantic ocean adds another dimension to that, and provides the ultimate test for ones resourcefulness as we have to fabricate from and with materials that calls for creativity, ingenuity and skill that some of us never knew we had till now. Luckily for us our education system and local knowledge has enabled us to marshal our talents and skills to make these things work best for us.

Making do with what we have is rather a difficulty for some hams. I don't know if it is a lack of knowledge or lack of experience, or just a plain old unwillingness to try something different, especially since we live in an environment with certain minimal and non existent international standards to think about, for now. The biggest hindrance to most personal ham radio operations here seem to be the lack of coax cable. There is no shortage of coax cable on the island. There are miles of new coax cable in some warehouses here. Yards and yards of slightly used coax cable are annually dumped. The question is whether or not the coax cable can be used for ham radio, and it may boil down to personal preference.

I have enough coax cable for my needs, and when the puppy chews it up, like two weeks ago, I just splice and tape it up, rather than replace the 92-feet with a new length. My cable is RG-59 and I use it for everything. I mean everything, even 2-meters. Do I take on the 75 ohm impedance? nah. The velocity is more important because it matters for the correct lengths for matching, stubs, baluns, etc. But some of my ham associates will not touch the RG-59 because it is inferior to RG-213, but I am still on the air getting R5 and S9+ reports every day from the USA, and they are not. I am not knocking them because maybe they know something that I do not, but I do hope to find out shortly.

Also non existent here is antenna aluminum tubing. The closest thing to this is the aluminum tubing used for window curtain support. It is rather nice to have a free standing aluminum antenna, but it is difficult to import the tubing from the US because the company I dealt with was not ready to do business off the mainland, even though they only had to ship across state to my warehouse at 33147. Maybe in the new year we will find s supplier who can fill our need. For now I am safe with antenna tubing, with enough for my immediate need and I have a recycling and sustainability plan that is working great. However, I feel it for the other hams who wish to erect aluminum antennas but cannot because of the shortage of antenna tubing on the island.

I am yet to investigate using the galvanized fence post directly and indirectly deployed as an antenna. The fence posts are 20-foot long, costing about 2 EC dollar per foot. Lumber is readily available, 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, but usually cost more per foot than the fence post. Those slightly deformed lumber could represent a saving.

Electrical wire abound but that is too soft for use as antenna wire, but may be good enough for an open wire feed line if you are supporting it every 5 feet or so. I am fresh out of antenna wire myself, and have to order another 1000-foot roll of # 502 or #504 from my favored supplier, the wireman at http://www.thewireman.com This wire works great for me and is shipped by USPS. I also pick up my UHF connectors and adapters here. Silver and gold with foam are not my favorites either.

This is all that is really needed for building the antennas to get on the air to make plenty of noise from V4. I hope that in the new year we may be able to cooperate with the local hams and collaborate with hams on the mainland who could assist with the delivery of the hard to get and ship stuff needed to put the radio stations here on the air.

On my wish list is also a commercial marine radio with ham capability. I had a Harris 3200 in my sights once, and let it get away, but not again. I am a rather lucky dude, so maybe I will get one for real. In the mean time I am surfing eBay to see what gives.

The components and parts to upgrade the Drake L4B amplifier are not on this wish list because a 150 watts rig provides enough power to excite the vertical dipole antenna and will guarantee that I can be heard on the other side of the planet as long as the propagation path exist.

Have you make your wish list yet, remember be careful what you wish for, you may just get it.

... what's up with ham radio?

2009-12-26T05:20:00.003-04:00

Tempus fugit. The T-shirt slogan, "time flies when you having a good time", may be seriously misleading, or maybe that was how it used to be in days gone by when "things" were very different. Anything behind the last word you just read is history. I am not getting into any discussion today on time, nor space, neither time travel nor space travel. It is boxing day here and since 2.00 AM I was awakened by the sound of music, actually, its was the thumping sounds from a rhythm box some 1/4 mile away in the West where a DJ and and his orchestra has set up on a flatbed for street jamming all day today. I will have to post some snaps here so that you can get a peep at the Caribbean lifestyle as it pertains to the Jouvert morning jam.

Everybody is familiar with rock concerts and the kind of audio power that is run from the amplifiers, so try to imagine that set-up on a flat bed being hauled through 20-foot and 30-foot wide streets by a tractor, and few hundred people street dancing, or jamming as we call it here, behind that music all day long. I am not mentioning the party [free beer and stuff] that is also taking place within the dancing band. It is something you have to experience, and I guaranteed you will not be the same again.

My ham buddy 4KAI and I had a plan to build the ultimate audio amplifier for these music lovers, using a couple 4-400A or 4-1000A, but we never got around to it, but maybe we can resurrect the idea again in time for Jouvert 2010. Last year noise pollution laws were legislated here, but that does not address the intensity of music for and at Carnival organised functions, only for private and domestic functions ... after dark. I am just imagining a pair of 4-1000A in AB1 or AB2, hahaha, being driven with some bob Marley or Sparrow. That could only be awesome. On the downside, these amps and power supplies will have chains, padlocks and Brinks security, because those audio guys like to tamper and 4Kv has no friends.

Quite a few hams have linear amplifiers and I hear talk of getting them on the air every week but nothing is happening. The intent is encouraging and I add my support. Of course I take the opportunity to inform them that my Drake L-4B is still making a door stop, and some hams have even staged surprise visits to my QTH to witness the truth for themselves. Now, if they are already complaining about my signal strength barefoot, what will happen when I crank up the L-4B to 1500 watts? And the TS-940SAT can drive the pant off the L-4B. There is no better antenna than the top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna for anyone who want to work the world.

Actually my last sentence was '... to work the world on a budget", but I deleted after "world" because 'budget' only apply to a few of us who prefer to build this antenna for pennies, or in some cases for next to nothing, while other hams can afford to purchase similar looking ready made configurations that bear a brand name, comes with everything in the box, including a warranty, etc. The bottom line is that I am glad that hams are able to bring a measure of improved success to their hobby with the correct accessories, whether home made or commercial.

I have not erected the 40-meter T-cap as yet. It is still on the ground next to the mast. Maybe later today, after surviving the Jouvert jam, I will get it on the mast. I have to get my landscaper to cut down the pawpaw tree from around the 80-meter vertical. Since my altercation with the machete I do not handle that tool anymore. This is my ham radio weekend so everything will get done and we go into 2010 on a high. One does not have to wait for old years or new years to make plans for anything in life. It should be ongoing and continuous, and waiting for tomorrow could be detrimental to one growth and development, because "tomorrow never comes".

My Flex 3000 radio never came, because I never ordered it. In Life one has to make the correct decisions and buying the Flex 3000 now would be a bad decision. So it is now on my wish list for 2010, having been displaced by a new Canon EOS camera body and a few Canon L series lenses. I am also re-looking at my ham radio needs, and think that I should include another component, since I have an interest in fishing. So I am now looking for a commercial marine radio with total ham radio transmit capability, and I am impressed with what I see so far.

So my ham radio is still on track going into 2010, and what about yours? Have you tried out the top and bottom loaded vertical dipole as yet? Maybe you are someone who prefers the multi band version antennas. That is not for me. I am not into any compromised performance on all bands. I want perfect performance on each band, and I am blessed [thank God] with space enough to erect single band vertical dipoles, that I can tune up to their max. Yes it calls for more coax cable, but when you can buy 1000-feet for less than 99 bucks off eBay, that is not a problem. Down here real antenna wire can be a problem. Electrical installation wire will stretch and construction binding wire will work but cannot take a kilowatt. Oh, I have been there so I know.

I am still trying to understand why hams here complain about not having any coax cable when so many miles of coax cable are dumped in the landfill by the local CableTv company maintenance section annually. I can't recall the last time that I used any of the brand names or cable designations that hams here seem to think are what we should only be using for our ham radio communications. Guess I need to conduct more research in this area. Coax cable seems to be the major holdup to hams coming on the air, but cooperative efforts to procure the coax cable do not seem to work here either, but I am not loosing any sleep over this one.

In my early days of ham radio coax cable cable was non existent and I resorted to TV twin lead, electrical flex wire and also telephone drop wire. These proved to be excellent performers, given the power used and the contacts made. Some hams still swear by the open and twin leads, but I do not have any antenna systems or components that would justify using that transmission feed line today. The telephone drop line and an MFJ tuner was one of the best setups I used back then. I am now opposed to the use of any tuner on any of my antennas.

Most hams use coax cable, but many of them may not use a balun at both ends to get the best performance from their antenna system. I find it to be most convenient to use an air core balun wound with a section of the coax feed line. I do not have the tuning difficulty with verticals anymore since incorporating the ugly balun into my antenna systems. According to the theory every vertical antenna needs to work into a balun, irrespectively, but some hams don't take the time nor make the effort to get tis right, the first time ... and then they say verticals don't work for them. I believe that the most used antenna in the world is a VERTICAL, but for some reason unknown to me, hams seem to go first for any other type of antenna.

[to be continued]

40/80 meter antenna, more

2009-11-20T07:32:00.010-04:00

Where did the last two months go? It is not that I can't account for them, but somehow for some reason I just did not reach my ham radio blog. I guess it comes with aging, and we just have to take it in stride. Maybe we are moving slower and time overtakes us, but whatever it may be, it is no cause for concern. Fortunately, this time around I have an explanation, not an excuse, but I don't know if I can fix it to stop from happening again. It is Facebook and more Facebook.

Not to be outdone I have joined Facebook, not to run any race with the children and grandchildren, nor to keep an eye on them and their friends, but to keep myself 'active' and in the know. I have been encouraged to come out of photographic retirement by some kind and loving Facebook friends and I am liking the idea. At this age I find it is easy to fight what I believe to be the Facebook addiction, even though I have never experienced an addiction other than to ham radio and photography in the last 3 score plus years. You know you are a goner when you can't pass a rig and don't pause for a closer look and a touch. You will also drive miles just to take a peep.

Facebook, puts the book in your face 24/7, but if you are smart, and you would be as a senior citizen, you can use that to your greatest advantage. Ham radio is still a bit soft in my view as I have not found any FB groups to my fancy, primarily because those I saw seem to lack that practical activity associated with my ham radio. I don't think that a vertical antenna Facebook group would get the support like it does on other networks, but then you never know.

No further experimenting was done on my 40/80 meter vertical antenna with a single feed line. I have lost 220 square feet of yard space adjacent to the antenna to a container, so the test antenna will have to be relocated soon. However it is still working into the USA perfectly okay, oblivious of the container just inches away.

I am now at the crossroad of antenna relocation. My options seem to be [a] to reinstall the antenna as presently configured, [b] to install a 40 and 80 meter top and bottom loaded vertical antenna using two separate vertical aluminum tubings on the same 2x4 lumber mast, insulated and back to back with [b1] one common feed line or [b2] separate feed lines for each vertical antenna, [c] to install a single 40 meter top and bottom loaded vertical antenna, as before.

After much agonizing, like 5 minutes, I am going with option [c], so that before the holidays begin I should have the 40 meter top and bottom loaded vertical up and radiating again. I now have to decide on the length of the vertical section. The 1/8 wavelength is pretty cool but I rather like the better RS reports received from a 1/4 wavelength vertical section. The mast for this antenna is already in place and patiently awaiting deployment.

The 80 meter top and bottom vertical antenna which was abandoned during the 40/80 meter antenna experiments will be reclaimed from the overgrowing pawpaw tree. As much as I hate to remove the antenna obstruction, the pawpaw tree and nature has not found it necessary to provide me with any fruits for a couple seasons. We have not had a pawpaw tree in this yard for some time so this accidental growth was quite welcome, even though it was in a very bad spot.

So things are looking up for the holidays. Only a few hams here seem not to be taken in with the politics of the Nation. Maybe they do not recognize that politicians come, and politicians go, but ham radio is forever ... so I am sticking with my ham radio, and I would venture to suggest that they think about that too.

I expect to update this blog frequently from now, but just in case I get caught up again, and miss the time, Happy Holidays when it comes, and let us see what we can do, not just for our own personal ham radio, but for ham radio that positively impact our brothers and sisters nationally and internationally.

Have a great ham radio day.

73

Keeth, V44KF

40/80 vertical dipole antenna, lesson one

2009-09-06T00:03:00.006-04:00

Tempus fugit. Sometimes it feels that someone is playing around with a time machine, but in the last two week we have seen a fair amount of excitement on and across the islands. The election drama continues with court cases, legal action brought against the Government who claim that the opposition party is trying to block the constitutional and electoral process.

Storms have passed through the Leewards, but well off our Southern coast, a bit of wind but not much rain at this QTH. September 19th is another Independence celebration and that is sometimes accompanied by stormy weather, the annual coincidence, and it seems to be already shaping up in the Atlantic. We hope that it will blow over quickly, pass us by as a depression, or just don't come at all. Nature is unpredictable but the weathermen are still trying to con us.

I am finally down to the last phase of antenna adjustment because I do not settle for any SWR less than 'one to one' at my operating frequency. This has taken me that long to get to this point because I did not follow the basic principle that any experimentation should always begin at lesson one, not at lesson 5 or 6. There are no exceptions or exemptions.

The antenna itself posed no problem for either 40 meters or 80 meters. The length and taps were okay. The solenoid balun at the feed point was also okay, but the feed line was the trouble. Not wishing to cut another length of coax cable I elected to use precut lengths. That is cool if I had measured them precisely, but I did not, and resorted to a rough hand span estimate. 191 feet, about 6 foot too long but close enough.

The self resonant frequency was in band but the best SWR on both 40 and 80 was only 1.5. That is workable if I am using an antenna tuner, but I am not, and need the SWR at 1.0. So I decided to start from lesson one. In the low band DX handbook ON4UN tells us to start with all known parameters, no unknowns, measure, calculate and compute everything, then you are good to go. When I was building the phased arrays, that is what we did, but that was then, this is now. The only unknown was the guesstimated coax feed line. So out came Lufkin.

The feed line required for this 40/80 dual band vertical antenna is one wavelength on 80 meters and two wavelength on 40 meters. If the antenna was on the closest mast the cable run would be 50% less. For 80 meters the feed line required is 173 feet and for 40 meters it is 185 feet. So my 190 feet feed line was way to long for both bands. So the precut cables were measured and joined to be as close to 173 as possible.

The Autek RF-1 was deployed but I had to put that back in the box because it did not show me what I thought it could. I needed to know what was the frequency length of the feed line plus solenoid balun, so I had to resort to the measurement method ON4UN recommends in the handbook, using the transmitter and dummy load. That method worked like a dream. I now have a switch system to add the additional twelve [12] feet of feed line for 40 meters. That will be update with a DPDT coax switch sometime in the future.

So we are at the final stage of tuning up. The SWR is now below 1.5 on both bands and tomorrow a freq run will be done, and if the wind is not high, the antenna droped for final adjustments. Contacts on the antenna as is are encouraging, but I notice a sort-of-BCI interference component on 80 meters, but inserting the attenuator eliminates that. We are less than two miles away from a 50KW am station on 820 KHZ, and about three miles away from a 20KW am station on 555 kHz. I think there is a BCI mod for the TS-940 somewhere.

I am keeping an eye on the Flex 3000, and I am awaiting the US reviews, and following up the discussion groups. The Flex 3000 lends itself nicely to my style of portable and mobile DX operation, and I am looking forward to that for this winter. By the looks of things I will have to make a decision in 8 weeks time. These are the days where one has to make decisions on facts and figures not on emotions. The fact is that I live in kilowatt alley and my next rig has to be able to handle that, from the base station or in the field.

Tomorrow I will compare the Flex 5000 and K3 to determine best value. So far the Flex is ahead because of its non disposability, which I rather like. One thing for sure I am not buying another rig made in Japan. It is rather sad that none of their rigs with affordable price tags can make it into the top 10, or should I say more precisely, can make the now acceptable minimum receiver spec DRNS 80dB@2kHz.

WOW!!! I just pulled up the Sherwood receiver test data table and see that the Flex 3000 is now there, and in the top 6. I will not rewrite this blog, but it seems that I can now make the space on the operating table for my next rig, the Flex 3000.

I am going to bed now and will dream about my Flex 3000.

40/80 meter single feed line vertical dipole antenna surprise

2009-08-15T08:30:00.004-04:00

WOW!!!!! I made a contact into Maryland this morning with 5 watts on the experimental antenna. I was not even calling the station, I only came of 7.195 MHz and asked if anyone was around, looking for any of the usual local or Caribbean hams, and a W3 station responded.

He gave me a signal report but I don't think that I heard him correctly, so I am not repeating it, but the last time I got that quality report I was using a Drake TR4C, L4B and a two element phased array beaming to North America. Anyway, I made the trip to MD with 5 watts and did not have to repeat anything. I know the SWR on the 40 meter portion of the antenna is 1 to 1 at 7.150 MHz. So maybe I should not really be surprised. It could also be that Storm ANA that is 3 days away to our East could have affected the atmosphere to such a degree that it messed with the propagation, creating a super path between V4 and W3.

But that is not all, because today is the first time that I have received Guyana, 8R1WD to be exact, RS59+10, and the St Lucia stations were RS59+20 and heading for +25. Something seems to be happening with that antenna, that I did not expect, but as scientists, this one off occurrence is not the conclusive proof. It has to happen again, and again, almost "ad infinitum", for it to be considered as the real thing. I guess the antenna gurus with the fancy antenna analyzer software can explain what is going on. As a practical ham I am only concerned with the antenna performance, that is, its ability to deliver on DX contacts, both in transmit and receive.

The plan for today is to take down the antenna and readjust the vertical section taps. Shorten for 80 meters and lengthen for 40 meters. With the storm just 3 days out we may get some early showers, so we dare not procrastinate.

Today is also set for a reconnoitre of the SKNAARS HQ antenna site, and maybe with a cordless drill, bolts and some pieces of 2x4 lumber the antenna may be up in the air on a temporary mount, over the heads of frequent trespassers and wandering cows. Such could be the trials and tribulation in this part of the world. The good thing is that we have learned to take these things in stride, and not to make mountains out of these mole hills. Taking it slow and easy always seem to works best.

The sun is out in its typical Saturday morning glory so its time to make a move.

40/80 meter single feed line vertical dipole antenna update

2009-08-14T14:56:00.002-04:00

WOW!!! It is hard to believe that 10 days have gone by so soon. It is like somebody push the fast forward button on us. Maybe it is just that as we get older it seems that everything is moving faster, but in reality everything is the same, but we old guys may be the ones that are moving slower. It could be critical if you have to punch someones time clock but when you are on your own, retired, and living one day at a time, it is a totally different story. Don't for a minute think that there is nothing to do, because XYL's always have something for you to do [at the wrong time], and if you don't do it right the first time, well you know ... these days it is not the rolling pin [ours are made from marble], they know where to find the switch for the surge protector.

Before I tell you about today, I have come up with the solution to a problem that some of us could have. The most portable HF rig in the world may be the Flex 1500. It is powered from the Laptop USB. I could see myself operating from under my sour sop tree in the side yard, or from some secluded spot, undisturbed, for hours. Now this is not meant to escape from the XYL or any "home" activity, because if it is perceived that the Flex1500 is coming between us, it might accidentally end up in the kitchen, on the table, and on the butcher block. BAM!!! I never saw a cleaver that made a joke. I could cause the cleavers to be misplaced. One [1], maybe two [2], but not all three [3]. So, I will be walking with my Flex1500 in my pocket wherever I go. Better safe ....

Today was going great until the rain came down around lunchtime. The day was hot so I started work on the antenna again. Then a ham radio buddy dropped by and we got to talking, everything but ham radio, in the breeze under the sour sop tree. After he left I made a few more frequency runs on the antenna, and then the rain came down. I have been watching the weather here for the last few days. Historically our stormiest time is mid-September around the Independence Celebration time. Independence Day is 19th September.

The 40/80 meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole using a single feed line is made up of one [1] top load wire for 80 meters, connected to the top of a 31.5-foot vertical element, one [1] top load wire for 40 meters, connected at a point that is 17-feet up the vertical element, one [1] bottom load wire for 80 meters, and one [1] for 40 meters to which the coax cable braid is connected. The load wires are made from the wireman stock antenna wire #504 and it works for me, hose clamped to the vertical element, 31.5 feet of 1.25" OD /1.5" OD aluminum tubing.

So far we have a 1 to 1 swr ariund 7.15 mHz and a 1.4 to 1 swr around 3.618 mhz. My next trial run may be to shorten the 80 meter vertical element and to lengthen the 40 meter vertical element. My preferred operating frequencies are 7.100 mhz and 3.800 mhz.

Working on this antenna has been interesting. It is critical which of the load wires are pruned [top or bottom] to get an swr of 1 to 1. If an antenna tuner is used no further adjusting and tuneup may be required, but I do not use antenna tuners, so the antennas must be pruned and tuned until each one shows an swr of 1 to 1 at my preferred operating frequency.

The showers have passed but the grass is wet, so the antenna activity continues on another hot summer day. In the meantime I am spending some time on facebook, not in Farmville or any such game which wants to expose my innermost secrets, sex life, love live or whatever. I took a quick look at the facebook ham radio groups, and have to spend some more time there to see if I can gain any benefit from any group associations. I am on facebook as "Keeth France", spelt just like this, for any new ham radio friends. See you here or face book, whichever comes first.

40/80 meter vertical dipole update

2009-08-04T15:45:00.002-04:00

The long holiday weekend is coming to an end, and the best laid plans were shot to bits not by the weather, but by the Caribbean holiday spirit. It is party time across the Caribbean. Some call it Carnival, and some call it by other local names, but the bottom line is that it is party time in some Caribbean islands, and some parts of North America too. The cell phone and Internet provide those who cannot be there in person with a front seat and center stage view to all the action, whether it is Carnival queen pageant, calypso king competition, calypso queen show, queen of the bands, jouvert, or whatever. On the local scene, the party will be held at the house[s] with the largest plasma screen, and space to accommodate the noisy gathering. Some of it also spills onto facebook too.

I too had my own little party [rum less] and was in no mood whatsoever to be in the hot sun dealing with antennas. Every day is an antenna day, but every day is not a party day, so you have to kill it when you catch it. Last Saturday afternoon nobody showed up at the Society HQ. I only passed by to make sure that no one else was there. So now we know that rain is not the only thing that determines the priority in this part of the world, and we missed out on the possibility of a 48 hour operation from our Club HQ. Well there will be other days, before and after the hurricane season.

Every now and then I browse the Flex-radio website to see what's up. I saw the Radcom review on the Flex-3000, and I am so sorry to say that it does not meet my requirements. It is a good radio, but when you live in "kilowatt alley", nothing less than the receiver hotties like Flex 5000, Elecraft K3, Ten-Tec Orions, Ten-Tec Omni 7, and even the Ten-Tec Omni 6+ will do. So now I have to save twice as many pennies, but the good thing is that I will still be buying something local, that is made in our back yard the USA, where spare parts and prompt reliable service are still available and the order of the day.

I still want an SDR radio and have decided to go with the Flex-1500, irrespective of the receiver quality. I can live with the QRP output, and when I feel the need for more than 5 watts I will pipe the Flex-1500 into the driver and power amplifier of my TS-940SAT to get up to 225 watts. If I need still more juice there are other options I can exercise. So there is no operating problem here, and I can save 899 towards the procurement of one of the top ten receivers, or maybe just acquire a second Flex-1500.

One of my ham buddies have just pulled up outside.

40/80 dual band vertical dipole antenna update

2009-08-01T07:50:00.005-04:00

Let me first thank the Creator for another bright and sunny Saturday and I pray that it remains like this all day long.

This weather is great for antenna work and I think quite a bit may be planned for today at more than one [1] QTH in V4.

This morning I expect to do some more work on the dual band, single feed line 40/80 top and bottom load vertical dipole antenna. I now have the SWR down to around 1.5:1 on 40 and 80, but it is not at the frequency that I prefer. On 40 meters it is around 7.165 MHz and on 80 meters it is around 3.613 MHz. It looks like I am getting there, and I have not yet deployed the Autek RF1 analyzer.

This morning I checked into the 80 meter weather net on 3.815 MHz, and only when the net controller said I was a bit light did I realize that I was running only 5 watts, and I had not even adjusted the matching between the rig/coax feed line/antenna with the built in antenna tuner. Reception also seem to be better than usual for most of the participating stations.

I also worked into Maryland on 7.195 MHz an hour or so later. I did not solicit a signal report, because as long as I could be heard in the US that is good enough for me. Usually with the sun this high in the sky most horizontal dipoles have difficulty making the trip to the mainland. The US signals were coming in at the usual RS59+ just as they did on the previous 40 meter top and bottom load vertical dipole antenna, which had a 28-foot tall vertical element. In this dual band configuration the 40-meter vertical element is now only 17-ft tall.

So, today is for fine tuning the antenna[s], getting the SWR closer to 1.0:1 using a single feed line. The preliminary tests during tuneup are encouraging. This antenna is going to be a permanent installation, but it will still be engaged in a certain amount of experimentation. I now have two [2] spare fold over masts for a new set of vertical antenna experimentation, so maybe 160 meters will be next.

After lunch on Saturday, the action usually moves to the St Kitts Nevis Anguilla Amateur Radio Society HQ [SKNAARS] at Taylor's where we had planned to re-install the antenna over the last week. If that is completed today we may have some operating fun on Monday and Tuesday next week, the public holidays. The HQ antenna was an 80-meter top and bottom loaded dipole antenna that I temporarily knocked up using four [4] EMT pipes bolted together. The first contact into Europe [PA] using an Icom 735 created some excitement, and resulted in one of the hams present building an 80-meter T-cap the following weekend, and he is still using it up to today.

The SKNAARS HQ's T-cap antenna went through last year's bad weather and was only taken taken down last week because one nylon guy got compromised, and the antenna was threatening to fall down. I believe that we can take a google look at the SKNAARS HQ site.

On google maps search for v44kf then click on my saved places navigate to v44k and zoom in. I don't know if these links will work, they seem to be erratic at times, but you can get there manually too. Alternatively, you may use google earth and fly to v44k, stkitts ham radio. I would like to assume that almost everyone has FREE google earth.

If you want to get an appreciation of how close the V4 hams are, while still on google earth, fly to v4 ham radio and you should see my bookmarks for almost all the hams and then some. In google maps all these book marks show up on one screen. Enjoy your trek around V4, and if you are in real time you are fortunate like us, sorry, everyone else is dated.

40/80 dual band vertical dipole antenna update

2009-07-31T05:11:00.006-04:00

Tempus fugit. I have not touched the antenna in the last week. I am still on vacation. The XYL is out visiting so I am enjoying being a bachelor again to the max. It feels good. No chores today. No housekeeping. Just me and my ham radio, my photography, my bicycle, my microwave, my wok and my TV. I get some exercise walking from the bedroom upstairs to the kitchen and shack downstairs. This is the good life.

However, I have touched the antenna project as I found some antenna wire and nylon guy ropes all balled up in a corner of the yard where my landscape engineer had secured it, so today I will add some more wire onto the antenna and see where we can go. The antenna analyzer is back home so that will be deployed too.

The antenna is tuned up just below 3.8 mhz with a 1:1 SWR, but the SWR on 40 is over 2 but under 3 at 7.135 mhz or so, totally unacceptable, since I never use antenna tuners. I have to remodel the antenna further to satisfy my requirements. The overall height of the vertical section has moved from 35 feet to 31.5 feet, and I now have some new dimensions for the 40 meter antenna. I have also replaced the small solenoid balun with the big one, and the feed line is as close to 185 feet as I can get without cutting any cable. I am out of PL-259s anyway. I have to check if the wireman is still open for business to restock.

I think I will get it on today, as long as there is no rain. I am still looking for Caribbean people who like rain, other than the Rastaman. I like it too, but not on the day I plan to work on my antennas, nor when they have an NCIS marathon on TV. The cable Tv here must be a dry-weather version. I don't think the new highway next to their high site has anything to do with it either.

I notice on eBay some 4-ft fiberglass masts that telescope to 44-ft, if they are still there by fall/winter I may just pick up a couple for my portable antenna project. The vertical section of the vertical dipole will then be made from wire and can hang off the mast. This will make the ideal light weight and ultimate portable antenna. So now I will have over 30-feet of aluminum tubing available for another antenna project.

I continue to research my flex radio and upgraded power sdr to 1.18.2 and I notice something that I have to enquire about, not complain. I also found some rather interesting flex radio info on YouTube. Talking about YouTube I have set up my channel there and still working on it, ham radio, fishing and photography are only the minor focus there.

I have also joined the young folks on FaceBook, and making sure that I do not get addicted. I contemplated starting a ham radio vertical antenna group there, but I feel that the facebook hams are somewhat different, I may be wrong, but it is just a gut feeling.

The sun is now up so I will check that the grass is dry, and after saying my "prayers" will see what joy today holds in store for me.

40/80 vertical dipole antenna feedback 2

2009-07-20T11:55:00.006-04:00

The short 40/80 meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole fed with one single feed line is finally up, but the bottom loading wire for 80 meters is to be replaced with real antenna wire which will be recycled from the existing single band 80 meter T-cap antenna. Nothing went according to the plan laid out for Saturday. First it rained, next it was windy, but the rain was the real show stopper. Negotiating wet grass and wet bamboo stalks across a dry river bed are not my idea of ham radio fun on a Saturday. So like the shuttle, take off was rescheduled for the next 24 hours.

The self resonant frequencies on 40 and 80 were in band for starters, so I was not far off with my assumptions. The feed line is not the real length but should be close by about 4%, pretty significant but workable. The local signal reports indicate that I am not as strong as before, and I expect that, since both the vertical and horizontal radiation pattern should now be different, and the antenna is not yet tuned and optimized. Receive on 40 and 80 after dark show US ham stations at RS 59 with short wave broadcast stations still in the red well over S9.

It will now be very convenient to change 40/80 bands without having to reach over and throw the B&W 550A coax switch. The most modern of antenna installations use one feed line from shack to an external switch box like this. I now expect to [a] save a bit of bread on high demand, short supply coax cable, [b] reclaim some yard space when the 80 meter T-cap is recycled, [c] improve relationship with the XYL for taking down some the aluminum tubing and wire from the sky over the fence, [d] consider an experimental 160 meter short vertical dipole antenna for the available space.

It is pretty windy today as a tropical wave is just east of the islands. Luckily this latest antenna installation boasts a third rope to guy the top of the vertical, just in case we have strong winds like now. My spring balance fish scale indicate a 9 to 10 lb pull on the antenna ropes with the wind gusts. The 3/8 sisal and nylon ropes are supposed to be more than adequate to handle this stress.

Over the next week or two I will consult with the ambidextrous hams to create a portable 40/80 meter version of this antenna. I already have 2 made up lengths of tubing 17.5-feet long for another antenna project, so when these are joined together we will be good to go on 40/80 with a single coax cable fed dual band loaded vertical dipole antenna. Sounds easy to me, and should not be that difficult to fabricate.

Recently I picked up on this link in a discussion group.

40/80 vertical dipole antenna feedback

2009-07-18T07:47:00.005-04:00

All systems are go to install the 40/80 meter vertical dipole antenna today, if no rain. Rain is the one thing in the Caribbean that upsets everyone. Personally, I like the rain and it slows down, but does not stop my show. For some people it is the opposite, just the thought of rain totally stops their show. Rain to some people is like fire and brimstone. Of course for the Rastaman rain is quite something else.

After serious consideration and contemplation I have decided why and where I will place, as in orient, the top and bottom loading wires for both the 40 and 80 meter antennas. It is not really critical because as long as you are 'out of plane' it is good bye to the high angle suppression. In this experiment I want to see if the allowed 'high angles' will give my antenna 'more ears' for local contacts. In theory it should, while maintaining the original low angle.

I need to make up a new feed line, but I will use the old one which is good for 40 meters, but should be bad for 80 meters. The feed line should be 185-feet long with 50 to 60-ft of that would into a solenoid balun. The remaining 125-ft is more than enough to reach into the operating room. I have many precut cables to extend the original feed line, but maybe an insufficient supply of PL-258 connectors. In any even we are using what we have without incurring any additional costs. That is what this is also about. Getting the job done without even the shoestring.

I am also on vacation until next week, but you know how it is with us hams, there is nothing called vacation from our ham radio hobby. The XYL has gone to visit with relatives so, maybe I can have the guys over next weekend for a rum party before she gets back, or maybe we should just set up shop under a tent on the lawn and operate 40 and 80 meters all night long. That is a better idea, and sounds like what I will do, and hopefully, tell you all about it.

For today I have some chores and if the sun is not to hot and I can find another pair of hands [not that it is necessary] I will raise the new antenna and test it out. As long as we have resonance [without a tuner] by sunset, we can see what DX is lurking round and about.

Some time between today and next Saturday we are also installing a 40/80 vertical dipole at our Amateur Radio Society Headquarters site. That has a better low angle take off location than I have here at the QTH.

Today may be a packed one but we will touch the antenna installation in some way. Got to go.

Have a great ham radio day.

Old rigs never die - chapter 5

2009-07-10T19:25:00.005-04:00

Most hams should be acquainted with the Sherwood Engineering Inc's Receiver Test Data Table found here, with an update stamp of 2 July 2009. This table can prove useful and helpful to most hams who are out shopping for a first, second or third rig. It could also set up some of us older hams for a little peer pressure. When we acquired that rig which is now down at number 45 in the Receiver Test Data table, we were unaware of the existence of this table, so we should not take it personal, nor should we let our ham buddies give us any unnecessary static.

In days gone by the average ham could strive to buy the 'the top of the line' rig of the day for 2K, 3k or 4k uncle sam, sometimes with a mild stretch. It is a whole different story in 2009, and some hams may not be in a position to stretch, even though some of the eBay rig prices may seem quite reasonable to some of us. The 'new' top of the line ham rigs may now be well above 10k, and I would expect all of them to be in the top 5 on the Sherwood Inc Receiver Test Data Table.

Some hams will be affected by the global economic situation, some hams will NOT, and some hams will NEVER. However, irrespective of the 'impact' most hams are not expected to quit the hobby, even if they are now only able to hang out on VHF, UHF and the Internet. Most hams may not part with their ham radio gear either, unless it is absolutely necessary, and of course for some of us it can sometimes come to that. As human beings we know that 'nothing last forever' and 'that too will pass', but these days it can call for a new strain of 'stamina', hitherto uncalled for. Ham radio is a hobby, a pastime, for relaxation, which could be critical to one's longevity, given the stress and pressures riding along with these 'alleged' global economic conditions.

I note that some old rigs are still selling rather well on eBay. That is, the old rigs that are in the top ten [10] of the Receiver Test Data Table. I am seriously resisting the temptation to chase down a Kenwood TS-830S. That transceiver is at position number seven [7] on the RTD table. I am only counting devices with integrated transmitter and receiver. In V4 land there are some four [4] or five [5] Kenwood TS-830S rigs, and nobody is willing to part with them. The rigs making the top twelve [12] on the RTD table at this time are, Elecraft K3, Flex 5000a, Ten-Tec Orion 2, Ten-Tec Orion, Icom IC-765, Atlas 350XL, Kenwood TS-830S, Ten-Tec Omni 7, Icom IC-7800, Elecraft K2, Ten-Tec Omni 6 +, Yaesu 901-DM. All these rigs meet or exceed the Dynamic Range Narrow Spaced [DRNS] spec of 80dB at 2 kHz. This is the accepted minimum spec for a good ham radio communications receiver today.

It is great to see that the US rig manufacturers have listened to the hams and given them what they want, while keeping the price tag down, and without driving themselves out of business. Some of us have to tangle with 'currency exchange', but if a ham needs to be on the cutting edge of his ham radio operating and DXing, there is no option or alternative. Elecraft may be on the right track with the kits and affordable factory assembly. However, I am leaning towards the Flex Radio, maybe because it fills the need for my portable mobile operation, from a briefcase or satchel on the front seat of my car.

For hams who must get on the air, and are unable to stretch for the newest Elecraft, Flex Radio or Ten-Tec, all is not lost, if you can win a bid on eBay for a Kenwood TS-830S or an Icom IC-765. I personally prefer the TS-830s, because the Icom IC-765 have some quirks. A quick google search can put you in contact with some great hams who are the expert at putting the Kenwood TS-830s into the big league with those 10k plus rigs.

I have a very soft spot for certain Kenwood rigs, but being a realist, I would really drop my dough on any reasonably priced old Ten-Tec rig making it into the top 12. I do not believe that the Ten Tec rigs [and any US made rig for that matter] are built with any 'disposable concepts' in mind, and after my dialog with Icom JP some years ago over my 'disposable' IC-745, I vowed never to buy another rig assembled over there. Nothing personal, strictly ham radio business. I am thankful to have lived long enough to see the USA rig makers reclaim their glory.

Some old rigs will ultimately die, but some will NOT. For those of us who must put something else on the operating table there is only one clear option, given the 'economics' of the day. The RTD table should be our guide, and our choice should be from among the top 12 rigs that meet or exceed the minimum receiver spec. If you must go with a rig just below the 80db@2kHz spec, an INRAD filter may help to carry you over the 80db@2kHz hurdle.

At the end of the day I will say, just buy the rig if it is "Made in USA", whether it meets the 80dB@2kHz specs or not. It is time that we appreciate the value, BUY LOCAL.

new vertical dipole antenna experiment feedback

2009-07-06T12:32:00.004-04:00

Getting Murphy out of the way was easier than I thought, but I am not taking any chances and have activated plan B, just in case. A week or two is much to far away to work on a simple antenna like this, so at lunch time today I am half way completed. I am converting my 28-foot 40-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole to this single feed line 40/80 vertical dipole.

I had a vision of an alternate layout of this 40/80 single feed line antenna, and this will be tested later down. I envisage this present antenna experiment to be more labour intensive than usual, and I have installed a tilt over base, so that I will not have the hassle of 'storming' the mast/antenna, and 'lashing' it onto the fence any more, nor solicit any XYL assistance when it is breezy. I now have three [3] tilt over masts installed, and they are all spaced 34 feet apart and in line. Coincidence? Maybe not.

In line the three [3] masts/antennas point to Japan and you can compute the broadside directions. I always wanted to play with phased verticals and have yet to experiment with short top and bottom loaded verticals used in a phased array.

To the top of the 35-foot aluminum tubing I have connected the antenna wires, 16-foot long for 40-meters and 46-foot long for 80 meters. These will droop down to the fence or an elevated support mast. I stopped using solid antenna insulators on wire antennas a long time ago to minimize loading and wind resistance. I am quite sure that this antenna will not get away from my fisherman's arbor knot and nylon braid.

The typical top and bottom loaded vertical is visualized as an "H" on the side. This 40/80, two band - one feed line, antenna experiment can take the same visualization, except that the horizontal section on one side of the vertical center section is short, and the horizontal section on the other side of the vertical center section is long. So that the 40-meter antenna is on one side of the center vertical and the 80-meter antenna is on the other. The top and bottom lengths can also be transposed. So, in my case the top and bottom horizontal antenna wire is 62-feet long, and the vertical connecting center section is offset 25% or 75% from one end of it.

An extension of this experiment may be to combine two typical full sized top and bottom loaded vertical dipoles diagonal to each other on the common vertical section. Pretty neat. of course this complicates things if we want to keep the antenna on the fence line and unobtrusive.

It is a killer sun out there so I am going to catch a snack and see if NCIS or James Bond is on USA again today. If I complete this antenna later and test it tonight I will have more to say tomorrow.

new vertical dipole antenna experiment

2009-07-05T05:00:00.006-04:00

It pays to revisit supposedly old documentation. Stuff that we have once read and sometimes consciously think that we may never need again in this lifetime. Fortunately for us, our subconscious does not subscribe to that line of
thinking, and like the good computer it is, even though we may not appreciate it, continues to update and compile data on our behalf. When the time is right we get a flash of inspiration, a burst of knowledge, or whatever we want to call it, because all the pieces just fall neatly into place. It is not by accident, but many of us don't know that and maybe even more don't really care.

I just had that experience a few moments ago, and my next vertical antenna experiment is shaping up. Some time ago I viewed this website and did not give it a second thought because I could not handle the center feed point for the antenna, nor the 70-foot vertical section. Today, some months later, I am on the web page again, the data is still the same, but I now see it from a different perspective, and I believe that I have found the answer to a question posed by many hams in the forum. It is also a solution that I very truly welcome.

This is the answer to working the vertical dipole on two bands with one feed line. In my case that will be 40 and 80 meters. For my operating frequencies the antenna is re sized to half the given dimensions, and the feed point dropped from the center of the vertical section to the bottom. This layout will now look just like one half section of the conventional top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna. According to the theory the other half section is necessary to maintain symmetry and cancel the horizontal radiation component, but if we need to have contacts closer home, we may fore go that section, to get the high angle radiation.

My antennas sits above my chain link fence, below the 10-foot level, but it works for me. I do not use a scrabble wound balun, but a properly wound solenoid balun on 4.5-inch PVC. It is the real deal. More on the solenoid balun can be found here. If you are new to this vertical dipoles antenna stuff take a look at this web page and if you get serious and think that you can handle it give it a shot. You may also wish to contact hams who may be as crazy as I am about vertical antennas here.

I don't have any antenna modelling software as yet but that will not delay my antenna experiments. The SWR bridge and my pocket calculator are all that I really need to cut and prune this antenna to resonance. It is absolutely essential to use a proper balun in front of the SWR bridge or you may have to pull out what is left of your hair. I subscribe to feed lines that are half wave multiples at the operating frequency. The suggested arbitrary coax cable lengths just do not work for me.

I believe that every ham radio station and antenna installation is unique. In his Low Band DX Handbook, ON4UN shows how to set up the antenna from scratch, with measurements and calculations, and I find he is correct. If you don't have the tools you could get lucky and get away with arbitrary and guesstimated figures, but if you want to account for every milliwatt of RF you can seek to do it right. At the end of the day, what you put in is what you get out.

I am looking forward to this next experiment and I can't wait to hear what my ham neighbours will say. I have a plan toeep their s-meter on the stop, but they don't know it yet. I wish to have some feed back for you within the next week or two, so I will send Murphy on vacation.

short top and bottom loaded vertical dipole again

2009-07-04T12:07:00.002-04:00

I think I am on to something and I need to share it with everyone. It will do me no good to keep it to myself. I am of the view that I will be a better person if I can help someone in some small way to see the light at the end of their tunnel, and that has nothing to do with whether or not they can help me to see the light at the end of mine. Life and living is not about ME, but about YOU, and how I can help YOU to realize your full potential and maybe your destiny.

In relation to our hobby of ham radio, it did not take me 40-years to recognise that it is all about basic principles, and the application of those basic principles. Some of us try to get as far away from the basics as possible, but if the "sophistication" sought after is not rooted in proper basic principles, you are wasting your time and money. I am no big time engineer, but I have recognized that most of the ham transceivers of yesteryear were built to great specifications, and some still fetch a good price on eBay today.

I also recognized that, for some reason best known to the makers, most if not all transceivers always seem to have at least ONE critical circuit that was designed "out of whack" which caused the transceiver to function in such a way as to justify the price tag. The "wackiness" did not seem to migrate to the next model up. Of course hams did not skylark with their rigs and the "modifications" were quickly forthcoming. Most times it only called for a few component value changes.

Rigs are one thing and the antenna is really something else, but that too could be "wacky", but not that obvious to the user. All ham gear, rigs and antennas, work perfectly as long as you are not looking for the inherent imperfection. There are a few of us who set out from day one to look for the imperfections, because we know they are there, just out of sight. It should be practically impossible for those $200 an hour guys to screw up circuitry like that, but I was not their, and furthermore it is their design. Quid pro quo.

I believe that the majority of hams these days are using home brew antennas or no antenna at all. Antennas in some places are the greatest hassle for ham radio. Down here wire is readily available, but coax cable and aluminum tubing is not. Wire range from construction binding wire to #16, and larger for electrical installation. Wire is wire, and may not be critical at 100 watts. Only the affluent among us will be on kilowatt alley with "all-band" brand name antennas on 100-foot high towers.

This morning it came home to me that my simple vertical antenna was doing something that other antennas in my neighbourhood were not. I was hearing stations out of the USA RS59+10, when my neighbour was not. I should be surprised, but I am not, because that is how vertical antennas work. Many hams want to work the distant stations but do not wish to install an antenna that can guarantee that type of performance. Some hams know what antenna they need, but would feel more comfortable buying a ready made product then building it from scratch. How I wish we had a LOWE store done here.

If you have a LOWE store around the corner you have it made. 17.5-ft length of aluminum tubing and 93.2-ft of antenna wire will get you on 40-meters within the hour, and 32-ft of aluminum tubing and 182.3-ft of antenna wire will get you on 80-meters within the hour. This is called a top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna. The top hat for 40 meters is 46.6-ft and for 80-meters it is 91.2-ft and the bottom loading wire is the same length as the top hat. Feed this antenna through a solenoid balum and nobody on your block can touch you.

EI7BA has a great picture of his antenna on his website here. The antenna is quite similar but the antenna dimensions may be different. If you want to hear what your neighbour may not, especially when the band is not "wide open", this vertical dipole antenna may be your salvation. When you are through building and experimenting this antenna you can tell us all about it here.

vertical dipole antenna is still hard to beat

2009-07-02T19:37:00.005-04:00

Every day in V4 land is great, but today was significantly different. I started the day off with my usual 05.30 AM bicycling exercise ride around the City, up to the Robert L Bradshaw International Airport just outside the City limits, and back home along the West Basseterre Highway, which is still under construction. A nice and easy 45 minute bicycle spin with only just enough pressure to break a mild sweat.

Before leaving home at 05.30 AM I visited the 7.195 MHz frequency to see if any of the local or US ham were up this early. A few months ago there was a regular early morning wake up call on the 146.82 MHz repeater, but that net now seems to be on summer vacation. I have on a few occasions bicycled pass one of the wake-up-callers on his way to work, but I am not bicycling with a 2-meter handy, because that could be a hazard, given the early morning "highway speed-demons", et al.

At 05.30 AM I did not hear anyone on 7.195, and I put it down to no propagation to certain areas of the USA. If I don't hear them, then they can't be there. Right? So I elected to look out for the USA stations on my return, in another hour, around 06.30 AM. In the case of my V4 neighbors who I can't hear, that is quite a different propagation story.

So about 06.15 AM I call on 7.195 MHz to see who is listening and of course my N3 ham buddy is there, and comes back with the usual RS59+ signal. I am receiving him on a 1986 Kenwood TS-940SAT, which I believe is properly tuned up. Most times when I am hearing US signals at RS59+ some of my ham neighbors say I am hearing ghosts. Sometimes to make matters worst I even talk to the station I am hearing. One ham here says it is about "location, location, location", and maybe he is right. However, another time we will analyze that because I beg to disagree.

So I am in QSO with my N3 ham buddy this morning, and a WB2 ham buddy breaks in and we also have a short QSO. I have grown accustomed to putting an RS59+ signal into the USA every morning at sunrise. To me it is no big thing, and I do not find it necessary to waste my electricity on trying to amplify my signal level from 100-watts to 1300-watts with a Drake L-4B. Some hams cannot accept the fact that my station is only 100-watts, and have caused themselves to visit my QTH, uninvited and unannounced, to "see for themselves" that the Drake L-4B is not even in the operating room.

Today I am a happy ham, because the WB2 station operator was also a "doubting Thomas", and did not want to believe the reports I was being given by hams in the USA. Today the WB2 operator was able to hear my transmission and see what his S-meter was indicating. His name is now changed from Thomas. I was pleased to hear the WB2 operator compliment my signal into the Big Apple at 06.30 AM, especially when he said, "I can't believe it is just that antenna". He had been one of visitors to my QTH just to scrutinize my [unbelievable] short top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna.

I don't want the above event account to sound as though I am 'gloating', quite the opposite, I just want to emphasis the fact that the plain simple vertical dipole antenna with a little top and bottom loading, is still very hard to beat, as one of the best investments for any ham radio station for working DX. Today I made another short vertical dipole antenna convert. I believe that seeing and hearing from the other side of the ocean is really all the proof that the WB2 operator really needed.

To the WB2 radio station operator I say " Thank You, for making my day unforgettable".

... its only a hobby, so ...

2009-07-01T08:07:00.004-04:00

One whole week has gone by and not one single stroke of work was 'chopped' on the portable antenna construction project. It is not unusual that whenever you seem to plan something constructive all sorts of things just seem to elevate themselves to a priority status, and before you know it, you are back to square one, or maybe even outside the square. I did one thing however, and that was take up the slack in the guy ropes on the antenna ... so the antenna now looks more stately and majestic instead of slightly tipsy or drunk.

Some of my V4 ham buddies also have vertical antennas under construction and I keep getting on their case to complete them, and I have even suggested that them bring them up to my lawn so we could work on them there, but they claim that the antenna is too big to transport. Well I have to run with what the man say, but I am yet to see a vertical antenna that is "too big" to relocate, but I have to abide with the response, so I have taken to dropping by their QTH to further encourage, but coincidentally they are never there.

I am not going to say anything about bachelor hams because I was one for about 28 years and only escaped that status some 13 years ago. There is a view that hams could sometimes be more in love with their hobby and the hardware, than with "God's gift" to us. This is a good topic to wax on but I am not in the mood for any extra drama in this Hurricane season, and I guess that when my XYL gets her ham ticket and starts her blog ... well, let's deal with that "if" and "when" it happens.

This is the second month in the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season, and it seems that nobody except the cable TV is taking on this hurricane season at all. This is an election year and everyone seem to be caught up in the excitement, drama and speculation as to who will be the next 'crop' of Parliamentary Representatives. Some people feel that the 2009 election announcement will be made on Friday 3rd July, the day after tomorrow, but we will wait and see.

Historically in July the Minister of National Security will host a meeting at the National Emergency Management Agency [NEMA] conference room with attendee drawn for the public and private sector, and all National and Federal Agencies. This is an all day meeting and addresses the issues of hurricane preparedness. To wit, what is in place and what more needs to be done so that we are ready for any hurricane action ASAP. Historically, mid September, around Independence celebration time, we will get any storms and hurricanes that have own name on them.

I hope that the Minister of National Security is not more concerned with his political career, that the welfare of the residents and citizens of the Federation, and will therefore take the time out to host the Annual hurricane preparedness meeting, irrespective of any election activity. The election process can be controlled and deferred, but Nature cannot. I know we have wise leaders so I will not be overly concerned, and will ensure that my own personal survival and preparedness plan is in place.

I have not even head of hams who go through the usual routine of bringing radios out from under beds, out of boxes, barrels, suit cases, wads of plastic bubble pack, and shopping bags. This election fever seems to have gone to some people's head and their focus may slightly affected. At the end of day this election action will pass and we will go back to our plain old ham radio lifestyle, with and without storms and hurricanes..

I hope that the incoming Government can do more for V4 Ham Radio that the present out-going Government. I am not implying a change of Government, because the polls seem to indicate that the Government will not be changed this time around. The present Government recognizes the significance and usefulness of the Ham Radio Fraternity but have not been overly supportive. In fact I must say that the Ham Radio organizations in the Federation have not advanced any plans and proposals that would challenge the support of the Government. Maybe in 2009/2010 they [the ham radio organizations] would seek to get their act together and hit the incoming Government squarely between the eyes with 21st century plans, programs and proposals, which they cannot refuse.

Let me alight from the soap box for today. Ham radio is a hobby, but it has serious components that significantly impact upon the National Security aspect of our Country. When it comes to that the hobby talk goes out the window, and ham radio becomes "a work" and it may be possible for one to be incarcerated for non compliance, especially depending on the National State of Affairs after the passage of a hurricane. V4 hams may need to be mindful of this and act accordingly.

Portable vertical dipole antenna under construction

2009-06-22T10:24:00.010-04:00

The 80 meter band was very noisy last night and no contact was established with 2E0KXD. We will be more scientific about making the next contact. Scientific because one has to ensure that everything is in place to support the contact between two stations so far apart like over the ocean. Just down the road say 500 miles it is no problem, that is only 8 degrees away, and most likely still in the same time zone.

I am no big time DXer, but I suspect that most hams with a little seriousness about working DX, on another continent, would have a copy of the Sunrise Sunset book and tables. My copy is by ON4UN / AA401 - 1987, and I consult it occasionally. This puts you right on the money, but still does not guarantee that you will have a contact, but it puts you squarely in the game. Other tools like the clusters also help the bottom line.

According to the SS SR table the UK SS is around 20.40 and the V4 SS is about 22.46. The UK SR is at 03.39 and the V4 SR is at 09.37. I know historically that I begin to hear the EU stations on 40-meters from around 20.00. On 80-meters it is usually later like between 22.00 and 23.00. Cluster data and information when available is very useful.

Construction on the portable 40-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole started this morning. The vertical is in the air without the loading wires. When the sun cools down just before sunset, if I don't go bicycling, I may add the hats. I will take some photos tomorrow to show the home brew antenna, built from scrap materials. I will disassemble the antenna and rebuild it taking photos to show the simplicity of the construction. I, myself did not appreciate how super easy it was to build that antenna until just now. If you have two left hands like me it can take 30 minutes or less. Wow!! let me get the camera and take a shot or two.

The vertical in the background [on the right side] on the chain link fence is the V44KF station's 28-ft 40-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna. The portable antenna under construction is in the fore ground. On the ground can be seen a part of the bottom section of the Franklyn vertical antenna from a previous project earlier this year. That project was shelved until a safe, reliable and cheap method is found to mount the two verticals in series.

This is the wooden insulator that supports and connects the ground support mast to the aluminum tubing antenna element. This is made from two pieces of lumber from a discarded shipping pallet, nailed together and spray painted. Larger clamps will be used in the final version so that an insulating sleeve can be inserted between the clamps, aluminum tubing and wooden bracket.

The antenna support mast is made from an 8-foot length of square aluminum tubing and is stabilized on the ground by a two foot long piece of 1/2 inch rebar that is hammered into the lawn. On the beach this rebar would have to be longer, like 3 feet or 4 feet, as the beach sand is loose, and at least 2/3 or 3/4 of the stake will have to be underground. One foot above ground is enough for mast / support stability. The ropes here are just to keep the structure from swaying in the breeze. In the real deal the top and bottom loading wires would hold the antenna steady, and it would be wise to guy it into the wind.

This is the Flex radio screen on my Dell computer. I am still test driving it and may spend some time with the manuals during the week. Given the present global economic situation you have to make sure that you are 101% right and correct, there is absolutely no room for error. Even 1% is to much.

CQ 80 meters

2009-06-21T14:25:00.006-04:00

At my sunset, in the next few hours, I am going to be looking for my ham buddy 2E0KXD on the other side of the Atlantic, to see whether or not we can make a contact with his GAP antenna on 80 meters. I know that in times past before the sun drops over my horizon in the West I can drop an R5S9 signal into Europe. After the sun sinks over the horizon some signal improvement to S9+20 is the norm. Most time signals are stronger on my receiver, but I find that most EU hams may be transmitting at their legal limit. I have not found any reason to go to my legal limit here as yet.

I have not used my 80-meter antenna for a while and had to effect some emergency repairs to be ready for tonight. My antenna is positioned above my chain link fence. The parasitic vines running on the fence always project appendages to entangle the bottom loading wire running parallel to the fence at a height of about 1-foot above it. Above the perimeter fence seems like the most unobtrusive place to place a top and bottom load vertical dipole. Unfortunately, some hams in some countries can't do that, but for those of us who can, we should not miss the opportunity.

Last week I experimented with using one guy wire to tie off the top and bottom load wire, but that seems to have a negative impact on the bandwidth as the tips of the loading wires became closer to each other. I am now looking at two 20-foot supports for guying and holding the top load wires higher above ground. I suspect that this would improve the bandwidth. My present band spread for an SWR of 1.5 is from 3.7764 MHz to 3.867 MHz. or 103 kHz. For an SWR of 2.0 it is from 3.729 MHz to 3.905 MHz or 176 kHz.

These figures indicate that my antenna require retuning to reposition the minimum SWR point from 3.816 MHz to 3.795 MHz, and a piece of antenna wire 16 inches long added to the top or bottom loading wire should do the trick. For minimum stress and ease I make all adjustments on the bottom load wire only, and I am not getting bent out of shape over the shift in feed point impedance. If the sun cools down any I may just drop the bottom wire and add the 16 inches before sunset.

For now let me enjoy what's left of Father's Day.

No space for radials?

2009-06-14T12:26:00.004-04:00

A vertical antenna is the easiest of antennas to make and install. You only need one point above the ground from which to let it hang down, or one point on the ground from which to let it stick up in the air. Wire is used for the hanging vertical and self supporting aluminum tubing for the other. With any other antenna material between these two extremes, of flexible wire and hard tubing, I believe that you will be on your own. Of course, I am addressing the home brewer who is going to use 'junk yard' material to fabricate a vertical antenna that will rival the ready made product in performance. Price is not even considered here, because the cost of the shipping alone may exceed the cost of the locally found raw materials used.

In an earlier blog I mentioned that antenna grade aluminun tubing is usually unavailable on the island and nobocy is making any effort to import the tubing that they need. However at the end of the day the verticals are built from materials available locally, and most do not cost anything at all. It is all about resourcesfullness and creativity. Not that the V4 hams have more of that than anyone else. It could be that these hams are just more determined to get on the air quicker than most, and maybe it works to their advantage. It is a law that you would get help when you sought to help yourself. I guess it works in tandem with "seek and you will find".

Most hams may be brought up to think in terms of radials for vertical antennas, and at one time I was there too. Here is what some folks have to say about radials. To be honest I have not read this article word for word, but I guess they are not saying anything out of the usual. I agree that four ground plane radials can work great, especially when you can't get 120 ground radials in place. I have been there so I know. I live on a suburban city lot and even to get 4 elevated radials in place is a major problem, especially when you want them for 40 and 80 meters, and don't even think about 160 meters. Of course you could make them short, coil loaded and tuned, and then grin and bear the reduced gain, etc.

So that is as far as you can get with radials, but if you want to get away from radials, but enjoy the performance that comes with the full compliment of installed radials you only have to convert your antenna into a half wave vertical dipole. I do not have any antenna modeling tools and software to tell you how this will pan out, so I have to rely on the theory and reports from those who have done it before, and my own personal experience. The top and bottom loaded vertical dipole is the practical configuration. There are times when I used to wonder if those expensive software antenna analyser tools are very necessary, but I have developed an interest in the AIM 4170, and by 2010 I may have saved enough pennies from my pension to get one. I must be allergic to the 'tech'.

This morning when I was mountain biking on the hillside it came to me that a trap vertical antenna should be able to benefit from top and bottom loading as it would become a full halfwave in size, and therfore no longer depend on ground radials, or the lack of radials that some hams do not bother to install as per the manufacturer requirements. This loading could call for a bit of experimentation, but that should not be too difficult to achieve. It would be very much like converting to a ground plane first, if the space is available. Top loading may be necessary for 160 and 80 meter operations. I would assume that the smart hams are only using their trap verticals for 40, 80 and 160 meter operation.

The starting point for would be experimenters may be to insulate the antenna from the ground mount post with rubber tubing or whatever. Install a coule ground plane wires for the lowest band, tune and prune them for lowest swr. This is highly possible if a solenoid balun is used at the feedpoint, for without the solenoid balun you may have a hard time to find the self resonant point or see the swr dip. If the ground plane wire is too long for comfort the length can be divided between the bottom and the top of the vertical. This will now test your creativity. When this is working to your satisfaction move up to the next band and tune and prune to your hearts content.

If you find that it works out good for you tell the world about it as someone somewhere may be able to benefit from your experiment. The more hams we have using vetical dipoles, the better it is for our ham communities and DX between them. I have a piece of unknown trap vertical in the backyard. I will try to use that for the experiemntal base for a top and bottom loaded vertical dipiole and see how that compares with my standard. I forgot to mention that for hams with a 1/4 wave ground mounted vertical, they should see a benefit by just raising the vertical above ground, disconnecting the radials and adding the top and bottom loading wires, making it 1/2 wave long from tip to tip. I believe this configuration will turn out to be far quieter than the ground mounted 1/4 wave vertical previously used.

The name of the game is experimenting, and antennas, especially vertical antennas seem to take the cake. I am still looking for a simple cost effective and uncomplicated vertical antenna configuration that can outperform my top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna on 40-meters and 80-meters. Maybe in 2010 someboby may invent one.

Embrace the new technology or else ....

2009-06-09T18:36:00.004-04:00

I have just realized that some hams have a morbid fear of embracing the new technology. I am so busy doing my own thing that I somehow missed this, not that it would have any impact on how or what I do in respect to my own embracing of the technology. Fortunately for me I was forced into this embracing and appreciating the technology as a Switching Technician / Engineer in the Telecoms industry back in 1983, when we moved from mechanical telephone switching to Digital switching. Working in and with digital technology 24/7 grows on you, and together we become like one, and practically inseparable after 20+ years. So tech is like a way of life and it is sometimes difficult to appreciate that other people may not feel it like you do.

However having retired I have made a clean break and do not wish to see another switch ... but that is just idle talk, because the tech is in the bones and really pervades every cell of the body. Other hams who have not been engulfed, absorbed or involved with technology up close, and practically 24/7 may not necessarily have the love or respect for the new technology neither the appreciation for where it is taking us today, and where it will take us tomorrow. Of course there are some open minded hams who have willingly embraced the technology, recognizing that it is the future in our present, and wish to be a part of the new developing experience for and of tomorrow.

I recognize that some hams had bad and 'unholy' tech experiences. I do not believe that those experiences can be generalized, but have to be taken case by case. I am of the view that it is impossible for a ham to be technologically JINXED, but you can't tell that to some of them. But then again they should know themselves best. Some hams claim that they just watch or touch the high tech equipment, and all the solid state devices go to "fiddlers green". I have been unable to achieved this feat even once in my ham career from 1968 up to now, but maybe it is the 'touch' that I just don't have, or maybe I wear to many wrist straps.

I find it strange that when the same hams watch or touch their computer nothing out of the ordinary happens. In this world there are many thing that seem to defy science, knowledge, logic and maybe even common sense. At times I almost want to believe that we may be living in a matrix, but this may not seem like a joke to some people.

Every day more and more hams embrace the new technology. If they do not they will be left behind, as in out in the cold. Maybe it has to do with change and its effect on human beings. In the absence of knowledge change could be devastating to some. I don't think that young hams and prospective hams have any difficulty with the new tech, it is mainly the old and not so old timers who must make the transition that are most resistive to the inevitable. Recently I came across some old friends of mine who I thought would be proactively new tech, only to find out that they had a bad attitude to practically all new tech and were squarely on the other side of my tech fence. I am not holding that against them, and I just hope they can come around before going off to 'fiddlers'.

Over the last few days I have looked at the Flex Radio, and I like what I see. It looks like my kind of radio. For the last 26 years I have sat before a keyboard and monitor every day, except when I was hospitalized, so I don't have a problem with the flex radio and the new SDR tech, taking ham radio into the 21st century. I have some ham friends who are definitely not ready for that modern a radio, and I am praying for then to wake up, see the light, and smell the roses. There is no turning back, and eventually all the radios will become like flex radios and there is nothing that anyone can do about that. I am glad for one thing, that it is happening here at home in the US, so for now we will not get our eyes dug out.

I have never sought to promote any brand of equipment in my 40 years of ham radio, but Flex Radio seems to be what we need for our ham radio operations today and tomorrow. For new hams making that initial investment in ham radio equipment, this is one radio that you may never regret 20 years down the road. How significantly will this technology change in the next 20 yeras? We never know, but this real SDR platform, unlike those of the non SDR radios, could well be around for quite some time. This is the time to be bold and fearless, embrace the new technology and see where it can take you and your ham radio today and tomorrow.

Technologically it can only be UP.

It's time again .....

2009-06-08T07:11:00.008-04:00

Hurricane Season 2009 is with us, or maybe more correctly, we are with it. It is the way of Nature. "We come meet it and we will go leave it", as the old people have a way of saying. This season means something different to everyone, and I may take the liberty to say, that it may not mean the exact same thing to everyone, something like fingerprint. Some of us look forward to experiencing the high winds blowing, some the water falling and ghauts running, some the calm before and after the storm, and some to the after effect, the mitigation and restoration in the wake. I believe that most of us would prefer that the weather just stayed over the sea and went away early.

There is nothing we can do about storms and hurricane, but Pray before and after. History has shown that praying can work, but it seems that we only pray for storms to come. We provide names which determine the category and intensity, and we even go so far as to suggest to Nature the quantity of storms that we will be happy to experience, and when we want them to begin. However where they begin is not where they end and somewhere in the middle we get lost, and don't know the answers to the what and where of the storms. We seem to be one set of crazy carbon units on this planet.

Now, in relation to ham radio, I believe that this season engenders an increse in ham radio activity. Radios of all brands come out of barrels, boxes, plastic bags, trunks, from under beds, from storage units and other places deemed to be safe. Antennas used to listen for weather nets range from a piece of wire stuck in the antenna socket and poked into a bottle of water on the other side of the table, to a piece of wire hanging outside a window, or running across the yard to a mango tree or a coconut tree. These modern rigs are so sensitive that even a wet finger may pick up stations. This is one group of hams who have perfected this annual routine.

There is another group of hams who take the opportunity to maintain and even replace existing antennas, and get ready to participate in the weather nets and other on-air forum, some local, and others regional, and even international. Most hams seem comfortable in using one antenna on more than one band, in some sort of multiband configuration. In my early years of ham radio I had a Mosley TA33 for 10-15-20 meters, with single band antennas for 40 and 80 meters. I am of the view that an optimized single band antenna is the way to go, especially for those of us who may be considered by others as DX, to help ourselves and those who wish to contact us.

In this part of the world, fortunately for us, even though we may have a space limitation, we do not have a restriction on erecting and installing antenna systems, yet. Some of us even have to borrow real estate from our neighbours, but that is how close we can live in this part of the world. Sometimes a neighbour can get cocky in the face of 'serious' weather with a ham having a TH7 and a 402BA on a 90-foot tower on the other side of his fence. Of course after you show them that the tower can be cranked down to 30 feet, peace reigns supreme.

One antenna per band is cool, but that may not do justice to your station, depending on your operating style, and I am speaking to the low band operation. For 10 to 20 meters the directional antenna you choose will fill your needs for local, regional and international contact, as long as you keep acquaintance with the propagation theory. This knowledge may be more critical for your low band operation, to wit, after sunset and before sunrise or after sunrise and before sunset. I do not beleive that one antenna per band will help you to get the most from your station, if you want to work the world, all the time.

An NVIS type antenna should work well for daytime contact this hurricane season. How the basic NVIS antenna compares with the G5RV, you will have to tell me, but I do not see the military using the G5RV antenna. I am not knocking on putting down the G5RV which many hams seem to have placed their hard earned dollars on. It could be that they need to read what L.B. Cebik [sk] had to say about that antenna, and maybe they could even get the better performance out of it.

Hurricane season or not, I am set up for working DX. The NVIS antenna is not my choice for working DX on 40 and 80. This may be best for local sunrise to sunset contacts up to 500 miles or so, and this covers from the South American coastline in the south to Puerto Rico in the North. DX is sunset to sunrise with contacts into North America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, over 2000 miles away. The vertical dipole antenna is the most cost effective DX antenna that can come to a ham's rescue, given the apparent state of the global economy. In V4 we have to be creative and innovative because we do not have access to aluminum tubing in the hardware stores. At best when there is tubing it is the light domestic type and cost one arm and two legs.

So how can we build a vertical dipole for 40 meters or 80 meters without breaking the bank and without a supply of self supporting aluminun tubing? First let us see what height we need. A half wave vertical dipole for 40 meters is 468/7.1= 65.9 feet and for 80 meters is 468/3.8=123.1 feet. To be practical we will build a top and bottom loaded vertical dipole, with a vertical section of 1/8 wavelength. That puts the 40 meter vertical at 984/7.1 = 138.59/8 = 17.32 feet and the 80 meter vertical at 984/3.8 = 258.94/8 = 32.36 feet. The top and bottom loading wire for 40 is 65.9-17.32 = 48.58 feet each, and for 80 it is 123.1-32.36 = 90.64 feet each. You can also experiment with a vertical section height anywhere between 1/8 and 1/4 wavelength.

You notice that we are building a vertical dipole antenna not a grounded monopole antenna which rely on radials for its operation, because we are on a budget or maybe worst yet, we have no budget at all. Having these dimensions all we need do now is to hang that antenna which looks like a capital "I" or more like a capital "H" on the side, from something high enough so that the bottom end is off the ground, 4 feet or more above head height, at your convenience. That is all there is to it? Yes, and NO. Any type of wire can be used, even construction binding wire, but it will melt at under a kilowat. Don't ask!!! 1.5 and 2.5 wire will work great.

For those of us who want to lay out some funds, fence pipe can be substituted for the aluminum tubing. If you don't want to use the fence pipe directly, just make it into a telescoping mast and hang the wire vertical dipole off the top through a rope and pulley sytem. When the pipe is used as the antenna the top load wire is also the guy wire. If the pipe is used as a mast then three [3] guy ropes of 1/4-inch nylon from the top and from the telescoped bottom section, should be attached for support stability. If one is fortunate to have some 2x4 lumber on hand, like me, a wood mast can be fabricated to "antenna length plus 4 to 6 feet". Pretty simple, isn't it?

Even multiples of an electrical half wave at the operating frequency is used for the coax cable feedline. A solenoid balun is made by winding twenty feet of the coax feedline onto a 4.5" pvc waste water pipe, and connecting that end of the coax to the botton end of the vertical element, and the braid to the center point of the bottom load wire, the other cable end goes to the rig. Of course the top end of the vertical element is connected to the center point of the top loading wire, and we are good to go for testing, tuning and pruning, the antennas. First you do a frequency run on the antenna to determine the self resonant frequeny. Then you prune the antenna to your operating frequency if it is any different. You can be on the air in an hour, making DX contact just like anyone else, but you still have your bread in the bank making its 3% pa.

This antenna may work not just for us in V4 but for any ham on the planet. Some hams let pride stand in their way and may never get to taste the real joy. I recall a time when I did not have coax cable and had to use twin lead flex for transmission line. Did it work? Bet your life it had to. I learned how to compute the characteristic impedance of flex wire, and for telephone drop wire too. Some hams will tell you that coax cable is in short supply here. Sorry, but that is a big lie. No supply of RG213 on the island is TRUE, but not of coax cable. The cable TV company here has miles of coax cable. Every now and then they replace spans of external cable, and replace runs of internal cable too. To me coax is coax, and for my 100 watts I believe that tv cable can be a life saver.

Some hams believe that only RG213 and that family of coax cable can work for them. Sorry, they can stay there with that, but I am using my RG59 from the drum until it is finished, and I am still waiting to see anyone get a better signal report out of V4 on 40-meters and 80-meters from their vertical dipole or whatever using only 100 watts. I am not throwing or dropping any words, just making a point that my vertical dipole does not know neither does it care whether it is fed with RG213 or RG59, and I am not passing the RF through any tuner or antenna tuning gizmo. All I need to do is feed my antenna at a 75 ohm point to match my 75 ohm feedline and watch it radiate the best signal that it can.

So much for today. I hope that I may have helped someone in some small way to get closer to realizing their DX operating dream with a low cost or no cost vertical dipole antenna. If you need to talk I am only an email away, and you can also join the discussion group for more information and details on this and other vertical antennas.

So while you string up the NVIS antenna for hurricane season monitoring, remember that you can also work some DX too, with this the right antenna.

Old rigs never die .... But ....

2009-06-04T14:43:00.007-04:00

I do not play the Caribbean Lotto, but I feel that I may win it very soon. I am spending a little time determining how I will spend, or maybe more correctly, invest some of the winnings on improving the quality of my hobbies. Of course, being retired on a hot and sunny Caribbean island I only have to Eat, Sleep, Bicycle / Exercise, Ham Radio, Photography, Pray, Go Fishing and Blog, in addition to the natural body functions.

This is really the simple LIFE, and after working in the "non hassle free" Telecoms industry for almost 40 years, I can finally appreciate and enjoy the liming lifestyle of the islands, without having to party, fete and drink coconut rum, on the beach 24/7, like some of our tourists and visitors. What they come here to enjoy in a week or two is a way of Life for most of us, without the hefty price tag.

The V4 island is so large that no one can live any further than 4 miles away from the sea. I believe the widest point of the island is about 8 miles, but nobody lives in the center of the island. The City, most Towns and Villages are all distributed along the island's main road, which in some areas pass less than 20-feet from the sea.

So this is really a ham radio operators paradise, especially if you are crazy about low band and high band operation, like me and some of the guys. One ham operator is so extremely lucky to live in an area which is supposed to be below sea level, and I believe that his 6-foot ground rod is in water, salt water. You can't get any better than that without trying.

Anyway, I dream that I am winning the Lotto shortly and have put my 2009 station upgrade planning into fast forward. With some people wishing to believe that the world is going to end in 2012 [and I am not laughing] I have decided to get a new rig from my Lotto winnings. I agree that old rigs never die, but, there comes a time when you have to think outside the box, and just indulge yourself.

Ham radio is a hobby and like all hobbies it come with toys, but some toys are more expensive then others. The bottom line is that what you invest in the toys reflect your seriousness. If you can't reach for a Van Saal spinning reel a Penn or Shimano may work just as good, but then it is really your fishing technique, however ham radio is a bit different. The DX is just as elusive as fish but you could need more than technique to catch them.

With my Lotto winning in the bank, [I am told to keep thinking positive and speaking like it has already happened, as that will help to make it happen]. I am therefore going for the best ham radio equipment on the market today. In the latest Sherwood receiver test data table, updated May 2009, I see that the top three tranceivers are the Elecraft K3, Flex Radio 5000a and Ten-Tec Orion. Is it just coincidence that these 3 rigs are made in USA? Well, if nobody is building it for us we have to build it for ourselves. It is not what they want for us but what we want for ourselves. Time enough to buy local.

Since I have the Lotto winning in the bank I will not put myself through any hassle by choosing one rig from the three, but just get all three of them. No problem. Problem solved? Yes, but only when I have that bread in the bank. So until that time I will be a realist, and take my magnifying glass to scrutinize and pick the most appropriate rig of the three, for my type of operation.

I had researched the Ten-Tec Orion before, joined the Orion forum, etc. For the Elecraft K3 there was a two part YouTube assembly video [last year] which sold me and another ham on the K3, plus the price seemed good at the time. A few Orion's turned up on eBay this week, but not one single K3 or Flex 5000a has reached eBay as yet. But then it hit me that I did not know anything about the Flex 5000a, so I "google chromed" to Flex Radio to see what that rig was all about.

I should really end here now, go and have a snack and a drink, and come back tomorrow and finish up. If you have not looked at the Flex Radio you should, it seems to have potential, plenty potential, for the DX operators like us in this part of the world. It also seems to be much easier to travel around with. It is just too good to be true, and whether I win the Lotto or not, I am putting my money on the Flex Radio. I wonder if they do hire purchase off the mainland? or may want to sponsor a DX expedition to V4?

I emailed Flex Radio for the Demo CD, and will tell you how that carry.

73 for now.

It's about timing

2009-04-25T14:15:00.010-04:00

Ham radio is alive and well in V4 land, moving forward, but maybe slower than some of us would like. All hams are not unemployed like I am. Don't for a moment assume that this means that I can sit in front of the radio 24/7, because I wish, but that never happens. The XYL has been around for the last 36 years so she know the Ham schedules and I can't use that excuse to escape any chores. Besides that she enjoys the hobby just as much as I do, and now that the license is 'no code' I expect that she will go after that ham ticket soon. Then, after all these years, I may finally be able to get a rig in the bedroom.

The between blogs activity was fast and furious. I installed a 20-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna, but have not tested it on any DX as yet. Someone left me a nine [9] foot piece of air conditioning copper tubing in my garbage bin. I hope that the person has more copper tubing to throw away and remembers the address of my garbage bin again. Maybe I should just hang a 'dump your copper pipe here' sign on my fence.

The calculations for the 20-meter top and bottom loaded vertical dipole are [a] 8.66 feet, for the 1/8th wavelength vertical section. 984/8 = 123/14.2 = 8.66197 feet, and [b] 24.29 feet, for the top and bottom loading wires. 468/14.2 = 32.95-8.66 = 24.29 feet. The whole antenna from tip to tip is a half wave long, only 32.95 feet. Pretty simple to compute, and even easier to build. 5/8-inch copper tubing is not self supporting like aluminum, but that is no challenge that a 15-foot length of 2x3 lumber and bungee cords can't fix.

After a quick frequency run and the loading wires shortened the resonant frequency was near 14.210 mHz with a 6 foot piece of coax cable across the feed point. The solenoid balun is standard on all my vertical dipole antennas. I don't play around with RF on the outsde of the feedline. I found a 45-foot long piece of coax cable, wound 17 turns starting from one end around a 4.5-inch PVC pipe, and passed the other end of the cable through a window to the rig, and I was good to go, on the air. Some time ago I found out that the arbitrary length of coax cable feed line between the transmitter and the antenna that is recommended by some "writers" does not work for me. So I am using even multiples of a half wavelength at the operating frequency for all my feed lines, and that works great for me. No RF anywhere else but in the antenna.

I am developing two eight spokes loading devices using a regular parasol umbrella frame as the wire support. This will allow me to use regular electric wire, 1.5mm or #18 or #26, or whatever is available. This should also make the vertical dipole antenna portable. Now that I think about it, using a good umbrella with fabric should work even better, as the wires can rest on top of the fabric and improve stealth to 101%. The large 9-foot umbrellas would be even better for a beach type stealthy operation.

After that great start in March, I was in the hospital for a week. I got cut accidentally, not from ham radio, and went to Emergency. After the treatment I was detained because my blood pressure was high. They released me after a week. So I am home recuperating and taking my medication to normalize the hypertension. I also have to spend quality time resting, so my 80 meter night time DXing activity is suspended. However, I plan to consult with my kids to learn how to be "up all night and sleep all day". That is the way of the youths today.

My faithful TS940SAT gave me a scare yesterday morning. In the middle of a 40-meter QSO the speaker went dead, the display flashed and went to all dots. Resetting the power switch a few times did not bring back the display or sound, so I just left it at that. Some seven [7] hours later I was passing through the shack and switched on the rig just to see what would happen. The display came on [no dots] but no sound from the speak. After a few hard taps with a screwdriver handle I got audio, and it has been working ever since. I believe that I can do without this drama, to quote the young people, and will begin to prepare for the next TS940SAT hiccup, by placing another rig on the operating table beside it. The thousand dollar question is now which rig is capable of making it onto my operating table?

For my answer I will consult the latest Sherwood engineering receiver data table, peruse the data and arrive at a conclusion. I am not going to take any time out to see what personal and subjective views or reviews may exist on other websites. After I create my short list of no more than five [5] rigs, I will create a dossier for each rig with all the modification data that Google searches can reveal. No rig comes off the production line bug free, and one should know a bit more about the product than what the 'non technical' operators have to say. Even before I go to check with Bob Sherwood, I know that Elecraft K3 and Ten-Tec Orion 1, Orion 2 and Omni 7, were in the top ten [10] from 2008. Over the last few years I have developed a bias for the US made rigs, and it has nothing to do with Clinton, Bush or Obama.

I have used a TS940SAT since 1995 and it has served me well. Luckily for me I can have the rig serviced inside a week, right here on the island by a ham operator who has all the tools, test instruments and replacement parts to keep the gear in spec. After 24 years TS940 circuit boards are still available on eBay at reasonable prices. Not so for many other rigs. So the TS940SAT is a great performer, but it is 100% unportable. If you move it from point A to point B, it may not function properly, or not at all, when you get it to point B. So it is best left alone on the operating table where it will sit majestically, and in my case work year in and year out, putting 150 watts into my coax cable.

Operating from home is great but more ham radio fun can be derived from operating around and about the island. It should be a lot of fun working low band DX from the beaches on the North, East and West side of the island at sunrise and sunset. The setup is pretty simple, since the top and bottom loaded vertical dipole is the ideal antenna for this type of 40-meter or 80-meter DX operation. The antennas can be made for this portable operation from aluminum tubing. The vertical section for the 40-meter antenna is only 17.5-feet long and the vertical section for the 80-meter antenna is only 32-feet long. You can stand the vertical antenna tubing off the ground on a plastic or beer bottle, or get a 5-foot long piece of PVC pipe or lumber, or whatever can insulate the antenna, and keep it up in the air from 5 to 15-feet above the ground. All my fixed sation antennas here sit above the 6-foot chain link fence, on pvc, plastic and rubber insulated 2x4 lumber. So the portable antenna is no problem.

For the portable operation a 12 volt rig is to be preferred. It can run from the car battery or any other 12 volt DC power source, with or without an emergency standby plant. This rules out the TS940 and all non 12 volt powered rigs. There are many 12 volt rigs on the market, with some preowned ones ones going quite cheap. I believe that DX stations like ours need to have the best receiver possible for obvious reasons. I have created a Google map showing the hams in V4 land. Search google maps for "v44kf", then click on "my saved places" and zoom in to view. Be advised that this is a work in progress and I am not responsible if it does not work right. My closest ham neighbour is about 100 yards away. When these hams are operating on the same band on SSB, you need a receiver with better than average selectivity and specs to hear the DX. I believe that the receivers that make it into the top 10 on the Sherwood test data table will adequately fill my DX needs.

Selectivity is not all though. We live in a hurricane zone and ham radio operators form part of the National Security system of our country, to wit, emergency communications. In a worst case scenario I could be called upon to establish and maintain communications links with foreign and overseas agencies, on land, sea or air. The communications equipment the agencies use are not amateur ham radio grade equipment, but commercial grade equipment that comply with the NTIA standard. No amateur HF equipment out of the box, except the Kachina KC-103 and KC-105CTX meets this NTIA standard. The Yaesu FT-817 can be compliant with an option. There are also many brands of HF radio equipment on the market today that can fill the needs of the radio amateur operator. For example, many marine radios also cover the ham radio frequencies. Most, if not all, marine radios HF and VHF are NTIA compliant, because they are used for serious commercial communications, not amateur chit chat. An increasing number of hams are using commercial HF radio equipment for their ham radio hobby. I believe this is the way to go, given the direction of global economy, politics, etc. Most top-of-the-line ham rig makers also provide a TCXO option for NTIA compliance. I notice that even with the TCXO option some Icom and Yaesu rigs don't make NTIA compliance. Bottom line, I need a frequency stable rig that can also meet the NTIA standard to esure that I can communicate effectively with any other internal or external agency, in the event of a national emergency or disater in V4 land.

From a quick look at the sherwood test data table it seems that the US rig makers are still at the top of the charts with the Elecraft and Ten-Tec products that can both fill my need and fit my budget. It looks like a difficult choice, but given the prevailing global economic situation I may go for the most cost effective rig. In the final analysis it may not be about cost but quality and reliability, as a good preowned marine and commercial HF radio may be actually more cost effective than a brand new amateur radio transceiver. The jury is going to be out on this one for a while.

Short top loaded vertical dipole, the DX king

2009-02-16T05:35:00.008-04:00

A few nights ago about 2.00 AM AST, 06.00 UTC, I passed through my radio operating room and could not resist the temptation to turn on the TS-940SAT and tune across the 80-meter DX window. There was a solitary G station calling CQ DX for North America. He was just on S-9 and I figured that he was either not beaming to the Caribbean, or he was not one of the big power stations like Alpha Mike Norway. Most G stations seem to run 4-square or some sort of vertical beam antenna, and would usually push my S-meter well into the red. Since no one on this side of the ocean responded to the G station's repeated calls I decided to give him a short call. All of a sudden the frequency went crazy with signals and I could not hear the G station come back. A few minutes later there were 14 calls in the logbook including some Italian stations, G stations, 9A3 and 9A4, with most them trying to break off my meter. I pulled the plug on the mini-pileup and went to bed to dream about how I could work 80-meter DX nightly, without depriving my body of its much deserved rest.

I have been ham radio operating for over 40 years and I have never been able to get hams across the ocean to put my S-meter so far in the red zone until I experimented with a short vertical dipole antenna. Being short has nothing to do with the antenna's performance, because you cannot see the -0.5dB difference between the short and full sized vertical dipole antennas on your S-meter. Neither can you hear any difference in the loudspeaker.

I have been using the Kenwood TS-940SAT since 1995 with various antennas, so I can really appreciate the difference made by the short vertical dipole, especially on this sunspot cycle curve. For the last couple years I have searched for another simple uncomplicated vertical antenna that can do better than this short home brew vertical dipole, but I have been unable to find even one. I now make it my mission to promote the 'short loaded vertical dipole' antenna. I firmly believe this antenna is the solution that many hams need in these times as it can help them to meet and overcome a few of the Dx-ing challenges they now face. Speaking personally it has done just that for me, and I believe that there may be a few ham operators somewhere on the planet in a similar situation like mine.

I need to work DX consistently on 40 and 80 meters but only have space for one quarter wave ground radial, maybe 2 radials if I agree to some sort of cock-eyed orientation. It is said that 4 to 6 elevated radials may rival the performance of the 60-120 ground radials, but 4 elevated radials is more than too much for my small city lot. Even if I had the space, given the global economic situation, I would think hard and long before throwing $300 to $600 uncle Sam after a ready made vertical antenna system, but of course, if it was a steal on eBay, I could be tempted. I use the words 'throwing' rather than 'invest in' because the ham radio hobby is just that, a ham radio hobby, and we should never loose sight of that, under any circumstance.

There would always be some hams who are unaffected by the state of their national economy, but if they do not use the right antenna for working DX consistently on 80 and 40, they will be just like the rest of us who are struggling to be heard on the other side of the ocean. You only need the correct tools for the job, and it does not matter if the tools have a gold edge to it or not. It it is like the PL-259 coax plug. I am yet to experience the difference working DX on 80-meters using a gold and silver plated $8.00 PL-259 and the "El cheapo" nickel plug for only 99 cents. On the lighter side though, you never know when you may need to consider using the gold4cash service, so maybe those gold tipped PL-259 plugs could look like an investment.

So the ham operator in Timbuktu, [please, no offense is meant to anyone in TZ], who may want to work 40 and 80-meter DX consistently but don't want to shin out the green stamps to send across the ocean to the cousin in the US to get his ready made DX antenna, does not have to be unduly alarmed because he knows that he can fabricate that $600K antenna for pennies if he really wants to. Where there is a will, there is usually a way. The Internet reaches into some places which we cannot fathom, and people in some very remote places on this planet have Internet and call phones, and can no longer be considered as being "behind God's back". As a matter of fact, no such place exist on the face of the planet today. Resourcefulness, creativity and innovation are available to all hams who are serious about working DX without breaking the bank.

All hams have read about the vertical dipole antenna in one handbook or another. For some reason unknown to me, there seems to be more information and propaganda associated with HF horizontal antennas, which are usually for 20, 15 and 10-meters. For many hams this is where the fun starts, and making DX contacts are relatively easy when there is propagation. Some hams never venture below 20 meters, and when they do it is with a G5RV or some variation of single band or multi band drooping dipole. Most of us have been there, and some of us get stuck there, but the more adventurous among us want to acquire and maintain a certain level of DX working consistency, which points us in the direction of a sensible antenna system. A real 40-meter horizontal antenna is twice as larger as a 20-meter antenna. Few of us have the capability for installing one of these 40 or 80 meter monstrosities on our property, if the government will allow it.

Sometimes I really feel it for our ham radio brother and sisters in countries where regulations prohibit them from using antennas that would augment their ham radio experience. Those of us in less developed or developing countries are not plagued with these regulations as yet, so let us enjoy building and using our ideal DX antenna while we can. I will not encourage any ham to break the law, but the short loaded vertical dipole antenna seems to have exploitable stealth-ability.

If you want to work DX on the low bands the logical antenna to use is a vertical with no less than 120 ground radials. If you have limitations and cannot get the 120 radials, try for 60 radials, and worst case 16 radials. If you are like me and can only make 1 good radial which is totally unacceptable, you have to look for the alternative to radials and counterpoise. Enter the vertical dipole. First problem, it is to long. Solution, make it shorter. Result, it is not working right. Solution, use the correct configuration, top and bottom loading. Read all about it on the Internet, join our verticals2 yahoo group and talk to other vertical antenna experimenters.

Something that I have found to be critical to my short loaded vertical dipole antenna's performance is feeding the antenna with a solenoid balun. If you are unfamiliar with this balun check it out here. The only other balun I use is made up with Teflon coax cable and ferrite beads. The ferrite bead balun works after a fashion because I can see the result, but the solenoid balun is significantly more effective, like chalk and cheese, and I encourage hams to try the solenoid balun on their vertical antennas. I would go even further and encourage hams to put a solenoid balun on all their HF antennas. For me it is not about style and looks, it is about getting the ultimate in technical performance.

Recently I lost a balun price argument to one of the V4 ham brothers, who has proven to me that the solenoid balun is rather more expensive, than his air core balun on a shellac treated cardboard toilet tissue paper tube. We have not tested the home brew solenoid balun and the "toilet" paper roll balun products side by side, but I am confident that the solenoid will win hands down, every time. I cannot see why the solenoid balun has to be 'expensive' with the miles of coax cable thrown away at the landfill by the local cable TV company, but of course, this is just my viewpoint.

So what's up with your low band DX antenna? Are you missing out on the low band DX action?

[To be cotinued]

Old rigs never die 3

2008-10-25T08:03:00.000-04:00

This content first published at V44KF.spaces.live.com on 30th September 2008

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Last week I finally acknowledged the fact that 'old rigs never die' ... but they can most certainly be killed by their owners through a lack of knowledge. The resurrection of old rigs can come with a cost but it is my preferred option. From 'old rigs never die 2' posted here on 27 April 2008, I made two observations. [a] The ham rigs with the best receiver specifications were made in the USA and [b] more than half of the ham rigs with performance figures above the minimum specification for the standard ham radio receiver, were manufactured before 2004, and were no longer in production. So it is a fact that more than half of the top ham radio receivers that meet today's high quality receiver specifications are old rigs, with most of them dating past 7 years.

Among the many things that hams are good at, it is telling the ham equipment manufacturers how to improve the performance of their ham gear, after the fact, with circuit updates called modifications. These updates fix and repair the 'engineering design discrepancies', that affect proper operation of the equipment. At the end of day the ham operator has a much better than 'off the line' ham radio product. Most modifications are pretty simple, from changing components to substituting new values, which can be performed by the ham operator, with a little technical ability. But that was once ago, because I understand that in the modern rigs of the last few years, with surface mount technology, the average ham could be out of his league. But getting the appropriate technical assistance is not usually a problem. The old rigs still provide a means of hands on for those of us who still want to feel modern around an ESD pencil soldering iron and solder sucker.

Modifying the old rigs can greatly improve their performance/specifications, sometimes to the point where they could exceed the performance/specifications of other models that are in a higher price bracket. The price tag on any ham radio receiver out of the box is determined, among other things, by [a] the selectivity and [b] the frequency stability. These two parameters are what separate the $10K rigs from the $1K rigs. Or maybe more correctly, these parameters are what seem to determine the price tag. Of course these days the Japanese add a host of bells, whistles and lights, probably to justify the top of the line price. But when you look at the top of the line gear of yesteryear from the same Japanese maker you have to wonder what happened, because sometimes the older gear outperforms the newer ones. Older ham equipment was not made with upgrades in view, but some ham gear is more amenable to modification, and I have personal knowledge of and experience with the Kenwood brand of ham radio equipment. But then you only have to peruse the modification implementation methodology and draw your conclusions.

For the purposes of our ham radio hobby selectivity and frequency stability does not play an extremely critical role, and the out of the box radio is what most of us require. But when you live in kilowatt alley or on an island where hams live within 300 meters of each other, you may have to seriously think about the selectivity of your receiver. But this is only necessary if your ham neighbor will be operating less than 10KHz away from your frequency, and both of you are chasing DX at the same time or working in a contest. To operate interference free you have two options. First, you can get the top of the line receiver with all the bells, whistles, lights and stuff which will work superbly out of the box. Secondly, you can get a not so modern receiver and install INRAD filters for improved selectivity. For low band operating and DXing selectivity may become an issue for some hams. Otherwise than that selectivity is not usually an issue. And frequency stability does not factor into any ham hobby operation at all. Radios with 30PPM are coexisting with radios of 0.5PPM and everybody is happy.

But there is more to the ham radio hobby than just chatting to one another. Our hams are prepared to give service in emergency situations. It is necessary that we know what level of service we can give. This is determined for the most part by the ham radio equipment that we will be using to interface with internal and external agencies. This sounds simple enough but when you drill down to the roots you will discover that the agency you must interface with require that your equipment is compliant with a technology standard to ensure that our equipment can sync up with the external radio network. If for example we have to establish a a communications link/interface to a "warship" or an "aircraft", in the course of an emergency operation, will we be able to conduct efficient and reliable communication? Yes we can, if our hardware is compatible through compliance.

The agency or institution that our transmission equipment will interface with during an emergency operation will be using commercial grade equipment that is compliant with the NTIA specifications. Ham radio gear is not usually built to that specification, so only one or two pieces of ham radio equipment off the shelf can interface with the commercial communication system. The one parameter where almost all ham equipment falls short is frequency stability. The NTIA requirement is better than 0.67PPM for +/- 20Hz. The $10K+ rigs meets this requirement. Most rigs with their TCXO options could meet this requirement, but unfortunately most of these options are no longer available over the counter. But all is not lost because hams can fabricate their our TCXO options to meet or better the NTIA spec.

Armed with the above information I am now working to make my old rig NTIA compliant. That will put it in the league [frequency stability wise] with rigs costing $10K uncle Sam. And all that I need is a $150 TCXO, a soldering iron and a little time.

[To be continued]

Old rigs never die 2

2008-10-25T07:42:00.000-04:00

This was first published at V44KF.spaces.live.com on 27th April 2008.

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The ham radio equipment makers have to market a new rig every year if they want to stay in business or be forced to follow in Kenwood's footsteps. Given today's technology some of the new high tech rigs seem very overpriced while others with apparently better receiver specifications are still priced to suit the average ham radio operator's pocket. No matter the price tag all rigs are treated equally, and usually end up on the test bench in various institutions like ARRL and Sherwood Engineering Inc, to verify the 'claimed' and published performance data, and of course to see how they stack up against each other. In light of the latest Receiver Test Data table, dated 15 February 2008, produced by Bob Sherwood of Sherwood Engineering, http://www.sherweng.com/table.html, I may have to change this blog subject because these old rigs seen to have something extra about them, more than just design and components, that the modern and recent receivers of today seem to be lacking.

With a DRNS, Dynamic Range Narrow Spaced of 80 dB at 2kHz given as the minimum specification for a receiver to adequately cope with contest QRM, the kilowatt alley guys and the full assortment of lids on-the-air these days, Bob Sherwood's receiver test results indicate that only 15 ham receivers meet or exceed this minimum specs that everyone seems to be in agreement with. I notice that half of the qualifying receivers were made before 2004. Bob Sherwood's top 15 receivers in order are, Elecraft K3, Flex 5000A, Ten-Tec Orion 2, Ten-Tec Orion, Icom R9500, Drake R-4C/CF-600/6 [January 1974], AOR AR-7030, Icom IC-765 [December 1990], Atlas 350-XL [October 1977], Kenwood TS-830/YK88 [May 1981], Ten-Tec Omni VII, Icom IC-7800 [June 2003] , Elecraft K2 [March 2000], Ten-Tec Omni VI+ [November 1997] and Yaesu 901-DM [November 1978].

Here are the remaining receivers, in order as they fall below the minimum receiver spec, and these range from DRNS 79 dB down to DRNS 56 dB at 2 kHz spacing. Ten-Tec Corsair, Icom IC-720A, Kenwood TS-820S, Kenwood TS-850, Yaesu FT-1000 MP MkV Field, Ten-Tec Omni 5, Atlas 210/215, Icom IC-756 Pro 3, Icom IC-756 Pro 2, Drake TR-7, Heath SB-104, Icom 706 MK2G, Ten-Tec Omni-B, Icom IC-730-781, Kenwood TS-9S, Icom IC-701, Icom 756 Pro, Icom IC-761, Kenwood TS-870S, Yaesu FT-1000 D, Kenwood TS-430S, Yaesu FT-1000 MP, Signal One CX-11A, Kenwood TS-180s, Icom IC-735, Collins KWM-380, Icom IC-751, Icom 7000, Yaesu Ft-2000, Kenwood TS-520, Yaesu FT-One, Yaesu FT-980, , Yaesu FT-101E, Yaesu FT-757.

These are all pretty good receivers in times of peace and quiet, but you will definitely have a problem when you enter the DX and contest arena and want to work a weak station who is only making S-2, and there is another station just 2 kHz away trying to choke you off with splatter or has his boots in you face. With a good DX antenna like mine, it is not unusual for YV, HK and KP4 stations to be trying to break off my S-meter around sunset. So how on earth do you expect me to hear the weak DX signals unless my receiver is selective enough and has a great immunity to strong signals 2 kHz off my frequency. When the station is 20kHz off your listening frequency there is usually no problem at all. But there will always come a time when you hear the weak ones that you really need. Most times they may hear you, but you have problems receiving them. Now that we know why, we can elect to improve our receiver to get it to perform just like today's $10K+ radios or maybe better, but without the $10K+ price. In my particular case the Kenwood TS-940SAT [1986] is fitted with INRAD filters and all the factory approved modifications and then some more.

Don't be alarmed by the number of older rigs which have just refused to die. There are a few white and green papers around that clearly explain the phenomenon, for those who want to believe it is. But what all this translates into is something that you may wish to consider the next time you feel the urge to add another receiver to the station line up. You may need to think twice about upgrading to what may be advertised as one of the latest technologically adept receivers. Many science fiction movies now depict us in the future and going back to the old and obsolete equipment for survival after the great high tech war to come. Maybe we are already living in that dimension with some aspects of the fallout but we just do not fully comprehend that as yet.

I will not debate the 'quality' of the older receivers, suffice to say that their eBay prices have been steadily going up for some time now, and most of them are being given "collection" status as they can now be totally refurbished with brand new parts. The move is on, and the choice is yours. For my part I may just collect a couple of the top old models and incorporate a few 'official' circuit modifications to get them over the edge with a better DRNS specs than the IC-756 Pro 3 and the FT-2000 and to have them rubbing shoulders with the IC-7800, Orion and Elecraft. I think I can do that for under 200 bucks each. From what I have read, Kenwood seem to be the least trouble to modify, update and upgrade, while it appear that Icom may be at other end. In any event if one exercises due care and attention all things become possible.

By now you would have noticed that it is all about receiver selectivity and a serious attention to some construction specifics. An investment in an INRAD filter can help your receiver to move up the table to the point where it may even exceed the minimum specifications. Most receivers that show a DRNS of 70dB and can be out fitted with INRAD filters, usually realize an 8 to 10 dB improvement to just about the DRNS 80 dB figure. Another couple dB may be available from circuit and component tweaks. So it is really not that difficult for your receiver to make the minimum specs, as long it was properly engineered from its creation. Looking at the receiver test data table again, all the receivers from number 16 to number 47, that can be fitted with INRAD filters and can entertain a few circuit tweaks, could have the ability to meet the minimum specifications of DRNS 80 db at 2kHz.

I can now see why the old time rigs on eBay are still selling high after 10, 15 and 20 years. Given the present world economic situation, old rig prices may not drop down quite to where we expect they should, and the other Japan rig makers may be forced to follow Kenwood's lead. But all may not be lost because the USA rig makers seem to have the solution well in hand, and it can prove to be a very interesting situation in the not too distant future. But while we are looking for that bargain on an old but capable second rig, or maybe first rig for some, we may also have to consider the fact that the most capable top-of-the-line-rig, the Elecraft K3, made in the USA is now available brand new for less than 20% of the cost of the most expensive top-of-the-line Japanese rig made by Icom. To me this warrants serious consideration and seems to fit into the camp of a once in a lifetime deal. It is extremely difficult to get any better than this.

Fishing could be a serious hobby

2008-10-25T07:25:00.001-04:00

This content first published in V44KF.spaces.live.com on 26th December 2007

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This is the season for rum and fun in the sun for some of my friends. However, I have an increasing number of friends who do not celebrate the Christian Christmas. This is now something new for some of us, but it is not in our place to question.our friends beliefs or point of view, but to respect them, and in this particular case to avoid any discussion on any aspect or topic tangential to that system of belief. Taking a line from the ham radio license guidelines, one should refrain from discussion of religion and politics, probably because these tend to support the most controversial subjects. Be that as it may, my friends and I converse, sometimes profoundly on various matters which sometimes touch on religion and politics, without descending to a doctrinal level and therefore we never have cause for mutual disagreement or disrespect.

I am fortunate to have friends who share more than one hobby, and that makes for a closer friendship. I am trying to get some of the amateur radio buddies to get back in touch with some of their other hobbies so that the ham fraternity could enjoy the pleasure of greater comradeship. I guess in time it will. Photography and Ham radio are my prime hobbies, since before 1968. And this seems to be a universal hobby combination. Bicycle riding and fishing are relatively new hobbies, with the cycling more for exercise than for sport. Girl watching is a natural human process so it does not need highlighting, buy some people make it a full time hobby, and invest in the equipment and tools to derive maximum enjoyment and pleasure. Because this is what you are supposed to get from a hobby, including relaxation. I guess that girl watching, especially through those thousand dollar digital binoculars, could prove to be rather exciting and even stimulating. Irrespective of the hobby, your investment in equipment and tools, tells the world how passionate and/or serious you are, so proceed with due care and attention.

My latest acquired hobby is fishing. This hobby has given me the opportunity to learn so much more about nature and the environment. I have even learnt a few things about myself, adopted new habits and changed others. Fishing does something unexplainable to you. You have to experience it for yourself, if you can. I would like to encourage all my friends to try your hand at fishing, whether it is your calling or not. Whatever you learn, no matter how small, will be of tremendous benefit to you on this life's journey. You will see.

Life seems to be a road of two lanes and we are free to choose which lane to trod at any point in time, in respect of any issue, action or activity that confront us. Our life is therefore one of making continuous decisions. In looking at our hobbies, we consciously or unconsciously, decide which path or approach to follow. To wit, whether a professional or an amateur approach. Professional meaning that you embark on a study of the field or subject and seek to maximize the end results while amateur means just the exact opposite. Amateur could be further subdivided into a [high] serious approach or a [low] trivial and unimportant approach. Pretty simple. For a hobby like fishing most persons may take the Amateur [low] approach. Just pick up some stuff in the tackle shop find the fishing ground and try something. And they do catch something.

Having an engineering background I decided to take the professional approach to fishing after my introduction to the fishing grounds. I had never bothered to teach myself about fish, even though I am a great lover of fried fish, especially doctor fish, with angel, old wife, thumb, butterfish, Welshman following close behind. That was fried fish at Euclid's [RIP]. Commercially those fish might be caught in a fish pot but you are now on the rocks or the pier, [no boat], and you are now spinning with dead bait or live bait, and you have to know what fish you are after, because different species of fish react differently to the same bait. This therefore suggests that one needs to acquire some knowledge of the type of fish in the bay and to use the methods and techniques and bait to pursue and catch the fish. Sound simple enough. The Fisheries Department with offices overlooking New Town Bay is the place for local information on local fish and fishing.

You have the choice of casting for any and every fish that is not wise enough to ignore your presentation. Or you can cast for specific fish species using specific techniques and fishing rigs. There are fishing tools and fishing aids to make the job of catching fish more scientific, but most local fishermen do not seem to believe in spending money on the tools and devices that can bring positive results sooner rather than later. One of first tools I procured was "the angler's edge" made by www.speedtech.com

Continuous research will reveal lots of data not readily available to fishermen. I am not saying that the data is purposefully hidden but some fishermen do not reveal anything about techniques or hardware they use, while there are some others enlightened fishermen who seem bent on sharing what they know with others. Every hobby fisherman should be armed with the book "The Complete Book of Baits Rigs & Tackle" by Vic Dunaway . 256 pages of information that you need to know.

Some fish puts up a serious fight when hooked and that tests your fisherman skills to the max. Setting the drag and using it correctly seems to be the single most challenging event for fishermen the world over. So I did some digging on this and discovered a few things.

[a] The drag is set to 25% to 33% of the line pound test weight. So that if you are using a 20 pound test mono main line, the drag is set at 5 pounds and not more than 7 pounds. And it is no way that any fish can burst your line. If you had the drag set at 20 pounds or greater, a jumping fish would burst your line. Commercial drag checkers are available to help you guarantee making boat side with your hooked fish.

[b] The pound test of the line used much match the capacity of the rod.. If the rod manufacturer claims that the rod can take say line 15 to 30 pounds test, you had better test it yourself. Using a home made test jig I tested the 4 rods I have, and discovered that they were all good to only 75% of the manufacturer's claim. Therefore I could break my 30 pounds max capacity rod if fishing with a 30 pound test line and I hooked a big one and had a good fight, further assuming that I did not set the drag to 10 pounds or less, but instead tightened the drag to 30 pounds or more. That would snap the rod or burst the line, whichever was weaker. But since the tested 30 pound capacity rod is actually 22 pounds capacity, I will use a 20 pound test line with it and set the drag to 5 pounds. That will give me and the fish all the fight and action that we want, within the capacity of the rod and line I am using. Really quite simple, when you work the math.

I am now looking at having some fun in the Bay with the Tarpon fish. These fish are referred to as "bass" by some local fisherman. They are not that easy to hook and land, but we have some tactics to try on them. Some of the fishermen are looking for Gar, and that requires a different technique and presentation to Tarpon. I am intrigued with artificial lures and will be specializing and experimenting with the selected few that claim to land the species we target.

As the effects of global warming continue to affect the planet we expect to see more change in the fishing patterns and I guess we have to adapt to that. We have to try new techniques, like chumming in the shore or off the long pier. I have a batch of home made chum ready for testing. It could do with some menhaden oil to top it off, but such ingredients are not available here. The million dollar fisheries complexes that we have here on the island, are only for selling fish to consumers, they are not here to serve any other need of fishermen nor the fishing community. That is very sad because we [the fishermen and the country] need services that they should be offering. Someone, somewhere, has a limited outlook or perspective on National fishing. It is a pity. We are dead in the water before we start.

Another down side is the closure of the one and only tackle shop on the island in the Pelican Shopping Mall. I have no public comments to make, except that it is regrettable. But all is not lost because we can order directly from Captain Harry, in Florida, a bit expensive, but he seem to have almost everything that fishermen need. Here is where fishermen cooperation will continue as we help each other to import the equipment required for our hobby or livelihood.

Maintain you health at all costs

2008-10-25T07:03:00.001-04:00

This content originally published in V44KF.spaces.live.con on 18th December 2007.

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As you get older and wiser you recognize that age is just a number, and the Might Sparrow was right, yet again. After a while, unless you are one of those self centered egotistical persons we are blessed with as friends or associates, you reach the point of almost forgetting that you have the traditional birthdays to celebrate. Actually you may be preempting something as you are that much closer to the end, because the beginning is eternally lost in history, and there is nothing you can do about it. I think you can call this reality. The real world situation that some of us seem to feel does not exist just because we think so. Thinking does a lot of things to and for us and may even play a significant part in your reality, but you better get this reality thing right, because your life and survival or maybe even your existence on the planet could depend on it. So before you come to talk to me about reality please learn about it on Google and maybe for just once in you life, try something on your own.

Most people seem to be of the view that because they do not feel sick that they are healthy. I am not going to argue, debate or discuss this issue with you as it may have some impact on your bubble and I do not wish to contract any bad vibes from you. I need to keep receiving your good vibes, all the time. I keep reading about people who were over their weight, according to the published human data and specifications for 'healthy' people, who were doing well and just suddenly took sick. I do not believe sickness just drop on you like a big stone from nowhere. Anything to do with Nature moves rather slow. Even the mighty hurricane. I think that when the body can no longer manage the bad situation that could result from an abusive owner, it has to give some external indication that internal housekeeping matters need to be addressed pronto. In extreme situations the body may just crash, like a computer, and some lucky owners get the chance to reboot, but some of them unfortunately, do not reboot at all.

The forgoing may sound cold, crude, callous and bizarre, but it is a real world situation that most of us create, most times unintentionally, but we really have no excuse, because of the abundant information and data libraries available to us on the Internet. It has to do with our comfort zone and the concept that if it is not broke do not fix it. That statement is 100% applicable to everything. But the extension to that should be 'to just tweak it to perfection' instead. By now you should be aware of how your body works and what it needs for maximum efficiency. And how what you you are supposed to eat, drink and do, impact upon the body and its designated purpose or function, by you, whether as a tool, weapon, machine, or whatever. Some people never reach the point of thinking about their function or purpose on this planet, so they never really see the big picture, assuming there is one for them to see, and further assuming that they are in the select group allowed to see. Sounds complicated. Everybody may have a different calling and it is often said 'what is for you is for you' and your experiences may certainly not be mine.

I guess it is easier to visualize your body as a vehicle to transport 'YOU' around. I am not getting in the talk of spirit, soul, consciousness or whatever you want to call it, the bottom line is that it is YOU. And move around you must, unless you weigh 600 pounds, and relax on the third floor of a New York City apartment building or set out to enjoy a similar experience. But in addition to transporting YOU around your body can be used, by YOU, for just about anything you desire. Just take a look at the TV and you will see some of these applications. "RIPLEY'S Believe It Or Not" TV program only highlight some applications that you may not want to believe, and there are lots more unbelievable[s] out there. But there is one common thread in all the various applications of body use around the world. So You and your body are not unique. If you want to be a perfect performer on the stage of life you need to take your body to that edge of its perfection, as applicable to your present social status.

Let me explain. If you are going for the Ms Universe Beauty queen title you will not put you body through the same preparation and regime as if you are going for the Ms Universe Bodybuilding title. It is the same body [unless you have a clone] but different applications, and when you peak it for one function or the other, that had better be your life goal because changing to the other function may not be that easy to achieve, but it may be possible. Maybe in time to come the Ms Universe Beauty Queen and Ms Universe Bodybuilding may be merged into one, or in the worst case, they may just both cease to exist. So based on what you are doing with your body, you have to adhere to the guide lines and follow the rules. It is as simple as that. So you do not have to worry about any diet and whatever else after you have identified what your body is supposed to do for YOU. And all the information on how you need to handle your body is available for YOU on the Internet. Just a little research and YOU are home free.

Most of us are caught in the home-work-home loop. And never really get to exploit our body and its development for maximum enjoyment or pleasure in our life time. Some people take their body seriously and make the body exploitation their life work. I have not heard of bodybuilders quitting. I do not think that Beauty Queens do either. Certainly not the Celebrities. They keep on making come backs as is necessary. So what is wrong with our people that we can not look and learn? Especially given the data and information at our fingertips on the Internet today. Maybe it is just the "since it is not broken it does not need fixing" or the "leave well alone" mentality. And those who support that view is welcome to it, but please stay far from me. I believe you are dead wrong and making a bigger mistake, but at the end of the day, it is all about 'free will and choice', so you are right, but you will lie and lament in the bed that you have made.

Now, for the rest of us who are a little wiser and will try to take control of our body and try to tweak it for perfection, HEALTH can only mean one thing. Eat - Drink - Exercise - Sleep. Eating and drinking the correct foods and liquids in the right quantity, volume, weight, frequency, etc. It may mean that you consume only 2 to 3 ounces of you favorite relish instead of the 8 or 9 ounces or more, like before. You may move from a 12 inch diameter platter heaped with Uncle Ben cooked rice to one spoonful of Guyana rice. Drinking that 1 and only Carib Beer instead of the 5 or 6 Beers on Friday afternoon. Certain foods you may now pass over and your body will not miss them, but of course, your can always indulge. New foods will be added to your diet and you will know what "acquired taste" really means. Eating and drinking healthily can be likened to five star hotel style dining, at home and without the price tag and service charge. If you can handle that then you are safe. The food channel on the local Cable network can provide some motivation and experimental menu data.

There are a few things that you will notice in time, like a reduced food shopping bill. I will not give you any ideas, as you may not be eating broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, sweet pepper, onions, garlic, celery, cauliflower, raisons, figs, bananas, at least every other day like me. But since you are a working person that should not be a problem, I mean treating yourself to the best food available here, and it is only pricey in that 'particular' grocery or supermarket. Can you put a price on your health? Did not think so. But you know there are some people who will.

Exercise. Walking in the office and to and from work may not be enough. I have some friends who try to walk 5 miles per day. But exercise by itself without the complementary dietary adjustments will not bring you to or keep you at your "correct weight". As you get older it is more difficult to drop the weight fast without doing something drastic. And doing this 'drastically' you had better be under a properly trained and qualified sports trainer. But I am speaking to the ordinary folks not those who wish to make their body into a weapon, like a Navy Seal. I guess going to a public gym is cool but I prefer the private home gym where you can work out at your leisure. Anyone proud of their body will invest in some form of exercise equipment. But, as has been proven at my home, sometimes the will to work out is lagging way behind. My next gym tool will be a jump rope. Skipping rope, if you will, to add to the treadmill, the cycle bike, the thigh trainer and the trampoline. But to me it can never beat putting the track suit and walking shoes on and leaving the house just before daybreak to walk around Basseterre and be back home before sunrise.

The scientist say that eight hours sleep is the minimum. You can not burn the candle at both ends and expect to live to 100. Learn about sleep deprivation and do not fall into that trap. You only get one shot at life and living so do not miss and mess it up.

Maintain your sanity

2008-10-25T06:51:00.001-04:00

This was first published in V44KF.spaces.live.com on 17th December 2007

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Every now and then reality hits some of us very hard. Only yesterday you saw your neighbor or friend and today you hear he/she has vito excedo, passed on. Of course that is something that we must all do someday, whether we have prepared for it or not, we are born to die. But the question may be what can we do while we are waiting for the inevitable. Some people may never think about 'life and living' in their lifetime. I am no philosopher and can only speak to my own 'situation' and maybe share some observations and experiences from my life's journey up to this point. Some people spend more time planning the future than trying to live in the present, and it is usually too late when they wake up and realize that they missed living in the present only after it has become the past. I hope that all my friends can spend their time wisely living to the max in the present because that determines the future and nothing else.

Some people may have difficulty accepting the concept of living in the present, but it is what we do, and we are doing now. Think about it. Where are you now? In the past, present or future? You are right, the present. This is the present and what you do with and in it now will determine the future. Real simple isn't it? What happens tomorrow is a result of what you do today. Where you are today is a result of what you did yesterday. So you do have some measure of control over your future. You don't know when your number will be called up on the big computer upstairs so maybe you should live today like it is your last and do the best you can for yourself and the rest of us. This does not mean that you should try anything and everything once, as some folks believe. Even if it adds value to your life, but it is your call. Your free will and choice.

There are only 2 states to our life. Asleep or awake. And the scientists can tell us how to get the most benefit from both. Since it is our life we are free to try a few things with it and of course take the responsibility for the outcome. Personal hygiene is a must and we always smell sweet, but maybe some us need to read the label on some of the products that we use and also do research on the manufacturers, lest we become like guinea pigs or lab rats. Your skin is one of your organs and you have to care for it just like your heart, lungs, liver, kidney, etc. So watch it. What we eat is critical to our longevity, survival, if you will, but people seem to pay less regard to this. I am no nutritionist but I am trying to rationalize the quote " Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince and eat dinner like a pauper" as it pertains to health and fitness.

I see some of my friends getting bigger especially around the waistline and that is because they are not eating breakfast, lunch nor dinner in accordance with the quote above. It is hard to eat dinner like a pauper, especially for the affluent. And this is where you have to decide if you will run your life from your heart or your brains. I do not know if there is any scientific data correlating affluence, gray matter and brain cells, but sometimes we seem to disregard information, data and knowledge that would keep us healthy, as in being alive longer, just to satisfy an insatiable urge to stimulate our taste buds and palate, just one more time. Mind you, there is not a whole lot of wrong with this if it is done in moderation, according to the written wisdom, or if we desist from the foods that were designated as NOT TO BE EATEN. In case you have forgotten, update your memory with Deuteronomy Chapter 14, KJV. And if you need the scientific proof, search Google.

Water may be even more important than food because three quarters of your body is water based. The scientist says we should drink a certain volume of water daily but many of us do not heed that advise. And we suffer the consequences. Search Google for water and health and get your act together. While you are searching Google for water read up on bottled water quality and see if you will continue to drink our bottled water or you will be led to manufacture your own drinking water. St Kitts is blessed with natural water sources but water is imported and bottled for local consumption. Maybe it is just a lack of knowledge on our part that reselling water is now big business. I have nothing against the water resellers but our population need to know the truth about bottled drinking water and how they can have their own 'purified drinking water' for pennies rather than dollars. I guess that we do not have a consumer protection or similar agency here yet so our people will continue to get exploited legally or otherwise.

Work provides some of us with all the exercise that we get. In some cases the exercise may be enough but in more cases it is not. Driving and walking to and from lunch, if you leave the office compound at all, is not the level of exercise that the body needs daily. You can read all about exercise on Google so I will not comment, suffice to say that if your don't get with the exercise program, you loose. In the simplest form, take a daily walk around you village, down your street and back home, once, or twice. As you get more comfortable 3 and 4 times, then 5 and 6, and gradually increase until it is a habit and you can't do without it. You will learn something about youth again, and then you may agree with Slinger Fransisco that "age is just a number". Life is an uphill and downhill ride. You alone determine when your life starts on the downhill run. Some people start the down hill run as early as 25 years of age, others at 65 plus. It is entirely up to you, your mental, spiritual and physical well being are the determinants here. But many of us are so taken up with our supposedly personal lifestyle, which most times emulate "our idol" that we do not recognize the 'slow, curve up ahead' or 'slow down' signs on our downhill racetrack. I believe that our time is best spent going uphill until we reach the clouds. Going down hill should no be on our agenda.

AS you get older it is from home to work and home again. Marriage adds another dimension to your life and if you do not have the right mindset, it can shorten you life, fast, really fast. Some lucky persons get out of their 'reality'. Marriage is cool if you run it on mutual respect and agape love. Some concept, but think about it. Anger is the one element that causes disruption in everything. If you can kill that trait you are off to a good start. in life. I have come to appreciate everybody for who they are. Not physically but spiritually. You have to learn to see and reach beyond the facades people create. It is just the way all life is and if you do not seek self development, you will be just like another crab in the barrel, stomping and being stomped. Anyway, between home-work-home you must have time for yourself. Personal time. That is where a legitimate hobby or pastime comes in handy. Legitimate because it should not get you into any 'trouble'. Let me explain. If fishing is your hobby you can go by yourself or pick up a girl friend or a chick on the way. Carrying the lady friend will cause trouble at some time in the future, because someone will make it their duty to report it to the wife or the main squeeze, with the usual added embellishments, whether they actually saw you or not. It is just the way life is. So stay legal and avoid the stress. It is not worth it, and it only helps you to go downhill faster. The classic is when you and the main squeeze go fishing and later someone calls her to report that you and some chick, bird or bat was out fishing on the rocks .... boy, how fast can they get. And because she is a true lady she is not going to tell them it was she, but she will encourage them to continue being a good watch dog. This is the nature of life.

What you do in your personal spare time should add some value to your life. You should get a kick out of it. It should be fun and you should feel the achievement. You may not even require egoistical recognition, because you are doing it for free, for the rest of us and not for your personal aggrandizement.

A hobby is essential. Get one. Revive any old hobbies , irrespectively. If it is girl watching but you are now married or going steady, you may have to readjust that to watching something else. Spend quality time with yourself, it is all that you will ever have and own. Mental health and wellness is the key.

Old rigs never die

2008-10-25T06:36:00.001-04:00

This was first published in V44KF.spaces.live.com on 3rd December 2007

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Old and older rigs never die. They get victimized by their owners who might be trying to play keep up, or who feel they have to update their radio station to maintain a level of communications compatibility with their ham counterparts on the other side of the world. But most of the old rigs are compatible and could be made even more compatible with the 'modern' stuff with just a little effort and a couple components. But most modern day hams have more money than time so they go on eBay and bid for a good deal. The hams on a tighter budget resort to trade in sometimes for a not so old radio. I believe the trade in business is getting licks, but that is the nature of business.

I had two amateur radio photo albums here. The 'Today and Yesterday' album highlighted some of the rigs used by ham radio stations in St Kitts and Nevis over the last 40 years, as far as I can recall. Back in those days the better radio stations were considered to be a separate receive and transmitter, which provided the ultimate in frequency flexibility. Some transceivers also had an external VFO, with a price tag to rival a receiver, and the top of the line transceivers had two selectable VFOs in the one cabinet. The top rigs of that day allowed you to read out frequency to 1 KHz or less on a dial or display. There were also some pretty good rigs that gave a dial read-out to 5 KHz.

The other album 'tomorrow' highlighted the top of the line rigs which most of us would like to put in the ham station today. There are a couple old rigs here which can be modified to serve specific functions in the ham radio station.

Over the last few months I have compiled a dossier of all the old compatible rigs and their Internet published modifications. Compatible in the sense that they have the ability to be upgraded to meet the minimum specification for a modern day receiver. It is all about the receiver. It is all about sensitivity, selectivity and overload. How the receiver handles signals under varying band conditions in the field. The other features which are sometimes referred to as the bells and whistles are not critically important, but some of them do enhance the receiver experience.

New amateur radio station operators are faced with either [a] to buy a brand new rig or [b] to buy a used rig. As a new working ham who can afford it, I would go for the brand new rig. There are not many to choose from so it is relatively easy. But I am an old ham so I have a different approach and it does not have to do with any ham equipment cost. For me it is all about quality equipment engineering and easy after sales maintenance. I will not go into the debate on quality equipment suffice to say that all top of the line series rigs ever made are easy to spot and they represent quality engineering. For example, take the Kenwood TS-9XX series. This is a short series run where the TS-950SDX is the king. You can look at the TS-8XX series too. I use Kenwood for the example because I have a bias towards Kenwood gear. I find them easy to modify as in upgrade, and spare parts are not a problem. It is most unfortunate that Kenwood seem to have dropped out of the Ham radio equipment market.

So I am not in the market to give advice to any new ham station operator. Most likely they will not take it anyway, because that is the nature of most people, young or old. They stop you from what you are doing, ask for your opinion, then they get vex with you, when you give them your honest opinion, so I steer clear of giving advice, solicited or otherwise. The secret is to tell them what they want to hear, but then that comes with it's own set of horrors too. But they can still be pointed in the right direction, to read and research on the Internet, and there are plenty of testimonials available. Actually, the only piece of advice I will give is that after selecting the radio you think you will be happy with for the next 12 months at least, surf the Internet till you drop, and compile a dossier of all updates, upgrades and modifications you can find for that model. If you are willing to undertake all those modifications to put your 'new' rig on the DX-ing edge of perfection, no problem at all, go for it. But if you have any apprehension or doubt at all, it should be back to the drawing board. In any event, it is your call, and what you buy you will wear. A word to the wise is enough.

At some point in time you will become a collector, hopefully later rather than sooner. It is neither strange or unique. It has to do with sentimentality, not a sign of old age, but maybe related to age. For some strange reason hams do not wish to part with their first ever ham radio transmitter, transceiver or receiver. On the whole hams do not throw away stuff, equipment, accessories, or anything else. When anything is thrown away it is really dead, done with, of no further use to anyone except the sold waste landfill. And then again, ham stuff sometimes get retrieved from the landfill. I don't know if this is the nature of global ham radio, but it happens.

There are radio collector groups which provide all that you need to refurbish 'your special radio' to mint condition. You could invest more than the cost of a new radio in refurbishing but that is part of the hobby enjoyed by some hams with or without time and money on their hands. Some rigs never die they are given a new lease on life. But ultimately the old ham passes on and the XYL, harmonics [if not hams themselves] or estate executor, put your priceless and vintage ham radio stuff on eBay and start the bidding at 99 cents. Surprisingly though, I have not heard of any ham ghost coming back to haunt anyone for that. Could be they finally got their dream rigs.

But Life goes on.

You win some, you loose some.

It could be more than the antenna

2008-10-25T06:25:00.001-04:00

This was first published at V44KF.spaces.live.com on 25th November 2007.

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16 months later, and yet there is no sign on the horizon of a simple antenna than can out perform the 20 bucks home brew double tee, top and bottom loaded, vertical dipole antenna.

Some of my ham radio buddies are running from building this antenna just because I am pushing it, but whatever they construct and tryout fall far short and will continue to fall short. Eventually they will accept the fact that a 'vertical antenna' is a 'vertical antenna' and it will always perform the same way every time no matter where or how. And if they really want to work DX on the other side of the world for pennies, without a tower and a beam on the low bands, this is the only way to go. Just like the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, no matter where you go on the planet, this short top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna will work superbly. Because that is its nature, and nothing we can do about that.

The antenna is one of the single most important components of a ham radio station. Some hams may argue that the rig is the key. I am not going to argue that, because over the last 40 years of my ham radio hobby I have been close to the receivers in various rigs, from the Eico 753, Heathkit SB100 and SB101, Collins KWM-1, Drake TR-3, TR-4, TR-4C, TR-4CW, R4-C, National NCX-3, NCX-5, Icom 745, Kenwood TS-520S to the Kenwood TS-940SAT. Not a whole lot of receivers, but enough for me to see what goes into them and why they tick the way they do, and also even why they did not tick.

All ham radio receivers can get down to the noise floor. That is, when you connect the 40 meter antenna you can hear atmospheric noise in the speaker. If you don't hear any additional noise over the background hissing noise of the receiver, that rig needs to visit 'emergency' or 'out patients' asap. Every rig, modern and not so modern, should pass that sensitivity test. If the radio doctor gives it a clean bill of health and you still can't get the atmospheric noise in the speaker, that rig need to visit the tune up specialists, to tweak resistors and capacitors, and optimize the receiver circuitry.

I do not understand why a receiver manufacturer would place a 5 watt audio amplifier in a receiver and then fine tune the circuit parameters to only deliver 1/4 watt to the speaker. Maybe it has to do with the price tag. So with a little tweaking you can get up to 2.5 watts of audio output like the bigger brother rig, but without the additional 500 bucks. Maybe it has something to do with the marketing strategy of those days. But these same rig manufacturers also produced a top of the line rig with all the bells and whistles, and technology of the day with a 4 figure price tag. After 20 years some of these rigs are found on eBay at just under half the price of when they were new. So hams waiting for prices on these rigs to drop still further may never get a rig.

The new rigs of the last 5 years do not readily support circuit tweaking by the average ham operator without electronic servicing and maintenance training. That include hams like me. But then if I get the latest 5 figured uncle Sam Icom or Yaesu rig I should never need to do a modification on it. Unfortunately, if you think so you may be quite wrong. No matter how expensive and sophisticated the rigs are they all come off the assembly line with a bug, two, three or four, which hams will discover and write and publish a mod for. I was getting ready to pick up a Yaesu FT-1000 Mark 5 as that followed the TS-940SAT as the top contest rig a few years back, but according to the mods.dk listing Yaesu has propagated the same noisy diode problem over all the models and versons of the FT 1000. That itself is bad, but the procedure to replace that diode is not as simple and easy as it is written. For a pro service tech that may be a walk in the park. But not for me.

So where does that leave us older hams with 10x magnifiers, arthritis, a weller solder gun or 60 watt pencil iron? Maybe looking on eBay for the top equipment of yesteryear. And there are lots of them on eBay these day. Recently I saw a user group where some old timers are not only rebuilding these 20 year old rigs but also offer parts kits for other rig owners to restore these fine rigs. After restoration the only thing old about the rig is the original manufactured date. But the rigs are now working to the original specs or even better, and it did not cost you the arm and leg of a current model rig.

So what are some of the rigs that we can find? Check the Sherwood Engineering receiver data at www.sherweng.com and take your pick. My favorite rigs are made by Ten-Tec, and of course I have a bias. I can always get parts when required, even outside the 7 year availability time frame stipulated by law. It is unfortunate that hams in the USA are not buying more local rigs, made in USA, but are still taken in by the fancy rigs made in Japan, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Of course the Ten-Tec could also look like a product from JA, if they wanted it to, but maybe the price tag would also be different. You can't have your cake and eat it. DX hams want performance not bells, whistles and styles. IMD is a real big thing for Dxers. The spec is not hard to achieve with the 20 year old rigs, Inrad filters and a mod or two. Not bad for a couple bucks.

But when all is said and done it comes back to the antenna. If you do not place your signal at the right take off angle over the horizon, you can't work the DX no matter how sensitive and selective your receiver. Take off angle and propagation go hand in hand. There is propagation software to help us maximize our operating but I don't get caught up with that unduly, but just stick with the sunrise and sunset tables from On4UN. That is all I really need, but you may prefer more. Vertical dipoles give the low angle that is required for DX, and like I said, it is their nature

This spaces.live concept is rather interesting and I will have more to say on ham radio, but I feel the need to digress on to other topics, including, but not limited to Carnival without the politics, Photography without Art and Artists, the Youths and the dress code in Public schools. I will also add some photographs to spice things up and see where this can go.

Have a great day, enjoy your ham radio hobby, and if you find the time to comment on anything I have said, constructively or otherwise, Thank You.

Verticals, the choice antennas for low band DX

2008-10-25T06:07:00.001-04:00

This was first published at V44KF.spaces.live.com on 16th July 2006.

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I have enjoyed every moment of my Ham Radio hobby since 1968. But over the last year or so I have found it even more enjoyable since I began experimenting with home made short, top and bottom loaded vertical antennas. Low band dxing has never been easier with 100 watts given the prevailing propagation and band conditions from the Caribbean to the rest of the world.

My band of choice is 40 meters but I am now experimenting on 80 meters and also on 20 meters. In the old days I used a 5 element beam, CA-155, on 15 meters with an Icom IC-745 and that worked nicely into Japan at afternoons. I also had a Mosley TA33 Jr but I was forever ordering the driven element insulators and I don't recall having any fun with that beam. I also played with the delta loop when that antenna was the talk of the day and my best contact was with a YB0ADI or YB0ADM on 14.185 MHz one morning on my Collins KWM-1. Those days there was a Pacific DX net running on 14.185 MHz, with 6Y5GB and 8R1CB being the big guns of that day, using Hallicrafter Hurricanse and Cyclone, etc.

Those days I though I was having a lot of fun, but today I am enjoying a new level of ham radio fun and excitement, performing experiments with antennas, specifically short, top and bottom loaded verticals. In order to help spread the word about this, back-to-basics, antenna configuration I started verticals2@yahoogroups.com This yahoo group is also to show case the experimental antennas at this qth and also antenna installations of ham radio stationss in V4 land. I hope that it will also serve as a motivator to all V4 hams [and other hams too] who should seek to improve their antenna installations so that V4 signals can be the loudest on the bands.

After a few years of ham radio activity some hams, like me, develop a preference for one or two ham bands. Some hams would therefore focus attention on using the best single band antenna possible, while others prefer a multiband antenna configuration. I am yet to find a ready made mutiband antenna that would match or outperform an optimized single band antenna. Maybe it's out there somewhere but I have not been introduced to it as yet. I was intrigued with 40 meters, maybe it is because my ham radio activity was mainly afternoon to night to morning, and having to work an 8 to 4 day job. Of course all the Caribbean stations were also on 40 meters.

I have also experimented with 1/4 wave verticals with elevated radials, but the 120 degree long radials worked best. I had fair success with phasing the verticals but the present experiments with short top and bottom loaded vertical dipoles show me that simple basic antenna is the way to go. Ask Force12 about that. I notice that a few serious hams are now manufacturing real back-to-basics antennas for the rest of us. If you are like me and don't want to invest a small fortune in these ready made antennas, you can build it yourself. All the information is available on the internet. All the parts are in the hardware store, so are the few hand tools that you need. Most of you hams are lucky because you can get the raw materials at the store. We are not so lucky here and have to recycle antennas and aluminum tubing.

My experimental 20-ft top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna produces the biggest signal on 40 meters out of V4. There is the talk shop net on 7.195 MHz every day with the Net Controller from the US starting at 06.30 AST, 10.30 GMT. You have to listen and hear my signal for yourself. I am told that it is really big. But that is what an antenna is supposed to do, and I expect it to do just that. So if you are not being heard by the DX you may need to try this antenna out. If you can manage a full sized vertical dipole that's great, but if you are limited in space like me, and can't put a 40 meter or 80 meter beam on a tower, maybe you need to try the short, top and bottom loaded vertical dipole antenna.

I will take some photos of the antennas later and upload to this space.

Join the verticals2 yahoogroup http://groups.yahoo.com/group/verticals2/ and get more info on verticals and other antennas. The antenna is what makes hame radio enjoyable. You hear more and you are heard by more. My 20 meter vertical is only 8-ft long, but contacts into the US are 59+. I have not run any comparisons with any other V4 station. As long as I get 59+ out of the US I am pleased.

Have a nice ham radio day. I hope that this would help even one ham operator to give his or her antenna a second look. If it's a vertical antenna make sure that it is properly installed. If you are not using a current balun on you vertical antenna you better get one or two and install them ASAP. I make my current baluns up with the parts [ferrite beads and coax cable] from www.thewireman.com but the baluns are also available ready made. Place one balun at each end of the coax cable feeding the vertical. My 3 feedlines for 20, 40 and 80 meter antennas go to a BW antenna switch. Each line on the switch has a balun and a balun also connects the switch to the transceiver, TS-940SAT. In theory these baluns may be helping to create the great on-the-air signal reports I receive.

Have a nice ham radio day.

73s

Keeth
V44KF

Spaces live ...

2008-10-18T12:03:00.001-04:00

I have been running a general multi subject blog at V44KF.spaces.live.com for over a year, but that just does not seem to be working out for me. The windows live writer program assists the content creation, but I must have missed some important detail in the spaces live tutorials.

Some software makers seem to create these programs for geeks and only those born in this generation, who seem to interface with today's devices as soon as they can roll back their eyelids and gain control of that index finger ... and not for the senior citizens like the rest of us. Since we are all born to die, everyone has a chance to become a senior citizen, as long as we can survive, given the escalation of criminality and terrorism perpetrated from the downtown sidewalks right to your dining table. There is lot to talk about but this space is only for amateur ham radio, hopefully.

I will now migrate all my V44KF spaces live amateur radio content here where I believe it is better able to serve my PR and other needs.

Various aspects of this ham radio hobby keeps me relatively busy, but I have some friends and associates who believe that my other interests which include photography and certain biased views on the local politics should be shared with the rest of my friends on the planet. That much can be said for freedom of speech.

I was ignoring the local politics, but with the stupidity promulgated, and the new levels at which it is exhibited by the supposedly "knowledgeable" including the tamarind tree political scientists, it is difficult to remain forever quiet. So when my patience runs out and I find the time, I will 'let off' in the appropriate forum. Politics always seem to make supposedly brilliant people act stupidly, all the time. Irrespective of race, color or creed.

Amateur radio is a great hobby for some, for others it is like a job. The tools are the same, but some hams never get the opportunity to move off first base, while others get to max it out. Early in ones 'ham radio hobby career' the decision should be made, notwithstanding the fact that we cannot tell the future, as to how deep we are willing to delve and dive into our ham radio hobby. Some will want it all, but some will be content to camp just outside the fence.

The good thing about ham radio is that you can change your position anytime, and pretty easily jump over the fence and go for the Gold or vice versa, without someone looking for you with a baseball bat or an 18-inch length of 3/4" galvanized water pipe wrapped up in tomorrow's newspaper. I should qualify this statement, because I am talking about back home here in V4. Things may be significantly different in Countries outside our own [V4] St Kitts - Nevis, or maybe more correctly St Christopher and Nevis, territorial boundaries.

No matter what, enjoy your ham radio while you can, because there may come a day when it may be illegal to even think about amateur radio. I just hope that it NEVER comes to that given some of the continuing posturing in certain quarters, and I sincerely hope that I am not around to witness or make up the statistics.

Anyway, what are you doing today about Amateur and Ham Radio succession and continuity for and in your local community?

Have a great ham radio day.

73
Keeth