On 18 Aug 2004 11:47:24 -0700, (Doug Goncz) wrote:

Could any of you tell me where I can buy some pretinned 1/8 stereo
phone plugs with metal sheilded barrels? The ones I buy at Radio Shack
don't tin well with rosin flux and a fresh tip, using 60/40 solder. I
have to scrape them to bare metal and heat them so much the plastic
insulators soften a little. At these frequencies, that matters. Yes, I
replaced the polyethylene between the legs with hot melt. Of course I
did. But still, see below, there are refinements.

Hi Doug,

Sounds like you need more practice soldering. All this scraping you
describe is unnecessary because you should already have bare metal.

I don't know what engineer at Wizard decided to run their dipole
antenna in through a phone jack. Fer cryin' out loud, was it just
because the line output is a phone jack and they couldn't spare two
cents? What a hassle.

The jack is not particularly an issue for its use, it is your attempts
to connect the twin lead to it (if that is what you mean by twinax).
You need to go to radio shack and buy a TV-Coax BalUn. You can
recognize it as a small (little finger sized) device that transitions
from twin lead to Coax connections. It usually has a twin lead dangle
with female Coax connector. Then obtain some small diameter Coax (it
doesn't really matter what impedance, so go for esthetics). The small
Coax should more readily adapt to the phono plug and not be so stiff
as to strain it. Choose a long lead of this Coax and attach the phono
plug at one end, and the F connector at the other (make sure to buy
one you can solder to if you are getting smaller diameter cable, and
practice your soldering with the expectation of wasting something
before you succeed).

There is nothing particularly precision about this, so close attention
to spacing, such as you describe it, is not very productive. If what
you describe as twinax is Coaxial cable, you have more issues of
soldering skills and antenna placement (get it outside).

By using the VU meter on my Cool Edit, I was able to point the
antenna. I braced it off the ceiling with a cigarette pack and a strip
of double sided foam adhesive tape, then tapped it with a wooden
paddle to move it about a degree at a time. It's not an RF meter, but
it does get an optimal result. T and I will switch positions next
time, so I can interpret the varying audio levels during transmission
as indicators of reception quality. Variability was over 30 db. I'll
provide a better estimate when we swap positions. I was the one moving
the antenna this time.

For the distance between you and the station, try to get the antenna
higher (yes I know you are against the ceiling, this too may be an
issue). If you can, move it outdoors and UP. Your VU meter is all
you need to confirm signal strength (at least to find the signal). To
insure you are doing your best move the antenna left-right/up-down to
find all 4 points where the signal completely goes away, and then
split the difference for a center. From your pictures it looks like
you have an outside antenna and not rabbit ears anyway (you need a
picture more removed from just looking at wire connections).

If you
stand too close to it, the signal fades, even though it is sheilded.

Skip all considerations of ground. Your problem is YOU reflecting
signal and acting as a second antenna - another reason to get the
antenna outside.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC