another experimental vertical antenna
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.
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.
73
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