the scientific experiments continue

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 ....