On Tue, 7 Dec 2010 12:52:17 -0800 (PST), KD7HB
wrote:

On Dec 7, 12:34*pm, John Ferrell wrote:
It seems awfully quiet here lately...
Has every one moved to another location or could it be everyone but me
has all their questions answered?

John Ferrell W8CCW

John, the weather is just now getting to where we can begin working on
antennas. 4" snow on the ground and rain predicted. Perhaps tomorrow I
can start working on tightening up the four corners of my 160 meter
horizontal loop. Or finish tuning the 5BTV out in the pasture.

Have been thinking about a Beverage. Have mile or more of tiny
shielded wire I got at Boeing Surplus years ago. It's about 1/16 inch
diameter. Silver plated copper. Used in aircraft, somewhere. Figured I
would tie inner conductor to shield. Use 1" pvc pipe about eight feet
long for supports. Drive rebar into the ground as far as possible
(18") and stick the PVC over it. Put the wire in a slot at the top. I
can run the wire SW almost 600' before I hit the edge of the property.
Then a 2 watt carbon resistor to ground. Need a transformer at the
house end to match to coax.

Also need to get started on cleaning up and painting the tower.
Haven't had time to get it up. Mayby have to wait for another 5 years!

There, is that enough about antennas?

73, Paul KD7HB

Great post! I am always interested in the projects of others...and the
results, good or bad. I quit thinking about a Beverage due to
unwelcome horse traffic. For some reason when people get a horse they
think that it comes with a license to treat their neighbors property
as open range! I don't mind the traffic, it is the risk of the horse
getting tangled and injured in my ever changing antenna projects. And
then there is the matter of the ever present Road Apples that my dog
finds so attractive...

There is never "enough" information and experience reports on antenna
experimenting!

An Interesting incident this past week:
A few days ago I was chatting with a friend on the telephone and
tuning through the 20m PSK-31 when I heard a 3 land call with a CQ.
Since most PSK contacts are a matter of a few keystrokes I answered
him. I needed to verify the SGC-237 tuner was working properly on the
30 foot vertical anyway. From that point I just had to share the QSO
with my buddy Bill on the telephone. It turned out that the contact
was Maritime Mobile off the coast of Angola Africa where he is the
Captain of a sea-going tug (220 Feet!) that re supplies oil drilling
platforms!

I keep hearing that it takes a beam antenna way up in the air and
lots of power to work DX. I was running 30 watts PSK into an end fed
half wave vertical that is a ground level.

I keep hearing that the problem with verticals is that they radiate
equally poorly in all directions...

Those Hams that complain that they cannot work HF because of antenna
restrictions could do the same with a flag pole antenna.

John Ferrell W8CCW