Fun -- From the Unexpected
 

My entry into HF has been a 10m sleeve dipole, discussed at length here
and still a work in progress. (The coax is out of the lower element, so
it's just a vertical dipole.) More about that below.

Today, at a local swap meet that features ham gear on the first
Saturday, I bought a little tuner for $5.00. It got my puny TS-120 onto 15
meters and I talked to a guy in Pennsylvania. Hot stuff! That was my first
QSO outside the local area, not counting IRLP. And this with an antenna
that's mounted only 18 inches above the ground.

I tried it on 20 Meters, but that was too much of a stretch. Very high
VSWR no matter what. Antenna must get bigger. How to make antenna bigger?
Add metal.

I grabbed a three-foot piece of meter lead with alligator clips on both
ends. I also grabbed a hank of TV coax and went out to the antenna (in the
dark with a flashlight), intending to stretch out the coax and clip it to
the end of the lower element of the dipole. I nearly tripped over a
retracted aluminum extension ladder laying on the ground. Ah, fate! I
immediately clip-lead-connected the ladder to the bottom of the lower
element of the dipole and went back inside, taking the unused RG-59 with me.

This time, the tuner had no trouble getting a very low SWR. I tuned
around and heard a guy. I called him and he came right back. From Hawaii.
He said I had a solid signal, although I'm sure his five-element beam was
doing much of the work.

I've heard stories about unusual antennas, including the one about
"loading up the bedsprings" but I believe a ladder laying on the ground as
part of an antenna is a novelty.

I tried 40 meters and got a good match. I could hear people but nobody
came back when I called. Maybe I needed to stretch out the ladder.

Back to the subject of the original dipole. I got a 1:1 balun at the
Ham Radio Outlet store in San Diego today after the swap meet. I will try
fitting it to the dipole as a possible cure for feedline radiation. Also, I
probably shouldn't have the dipole leaning against tree branches for
support.

73,
"Sal"

Fun -- From the Unexpected
 

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 22:15:51 -0800, "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

This time, the tuner had no trouble getting a very low SWR. I tuned
around and heard a guy. I called him and he came right back. From Hawaii.
He said I had a solid signal, although I'm sure his five-element beam was
doing much of the work.

I've heard stories about unusual antennas, including the one about
"loading up the bedsprings" but I believe a ladder laying on the ground as
part of an antenna is a novelty.

There you go! 90% of the modeling here is so much narcissistic
puffery in analysis and "science" when almost anything will radiate
(actually everything will radiate). If you want to mark it up to the
other guy's antenna, it all still works.

Glad you could touch the other side of the world (or at least a
quarter of the way there - there's nothing but sea, or Diego Garcia,
half way 'round).

Spread around some more ladders (cheaper than gaussian arrays).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Fun -- From the Unexpected
 

"Sal M. Onella" wrote in
:

I grabbed a three-foot piece of meter lead with alligator clips on
both
ends. I also grabbed a hank of TV coax and went out to the antenna
(in the dark with a flashlight), intending to stretch out the coax and
clip it to the end of the lower element of the dipole. I nearly
tripped over a retracted aluminum extension ladder laying on the
ground. Ah, fate! I immediately clip-lead-connected the ladder to the
bottom of the lower element of the dipole and went back inside, taking
the unused RG-59 with me.

This time, the tuner had no trouble getting a very low SWR. I
tuned
around and heard a guy. I called him and he came right back. From
Hawaii. He said I had a solid signal, although I'm sure his
five-element beam was doing much of the work.

I've heard stories about unusual antennas, including the one about
"loading up the bedsprings" but I believe a ladder laying on the
ground as part of an antenna is a novelty.

I tried 40 meters and got a good match. I could hear people but
nobody came back when I called. Maybe I needed to stretch out the
ladder.

You have to be sure you feed it with ladder line, Sal! ;^)

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

Fun -- From the Unexpected
 

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 22:15:51 -0800, "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

My entry into HF has been a 10m sleeve dipole, discussed at length here
and still a work in progress. (The coax is out of the lower element, so
it's just a vertical dipole.) More about that below.

Today, at a local swap meet that features ham gear on the first
Saturday, I bought a little tuner for $5.00. It got my puny TS-120 onto 15
meters and I talked to a guy in Pennsylvania. Hot stuff! That was my first
QSO outside the local area, not counting IRLP. And this with an antenna
that's mounted only 18 inches above the ground.
{snip...}
This time, the tuner had no trouble getting a very low SWR. I tuned
around and heard a guy. I called him and he came right back. From Hawaii.
He said I had a solid signal, although I'm sure his five-element beam was
doing much of the work.

I've heard stories about unusual antennas, including the one about
"loading up the bedsprings" but I believe a ladder laying on the ground as
part of an antenna is a novelty.

You have my sympathy...
You have become infected with an advanced form of the Ham Radio Virus!

You will no longer be able to go to any store without seeing double.
Every thing on the shelves will have its intended purpose and some
"repurpose" involving antennas. Most of the time you will think no one
else considered such matters in the same light.

You will have visions of writing books like "One Hundred Ways to Load
a Ladder" or "Beach Umbrella Stealth Antennas".

Collecting bits and pieces of aluminum will present a storage problem.
One man's junk is another man's antenna parts.

The virus may become dormant from time to time but it will not go
away. There is no cure.

John Ferrell W8CCW

Fun -- From the Unexpected
 

Aha! So that's what they call it! I have to laugh because it exactly
fits my symptoms! Until now I didn't have a name for it. "Repurposing"
is a great term -- I think I'm going to use it as well!

Incurable Irv, VE6BP

John Ferrell wrote:

You have my sympathy...
You have become infected with an advanced form of the Ham Radio Virus!

You will no longer be able to go to any store without seeing double.
Every thing on the shelves will have its intended purpose and some
"repurpose" involving antennas. Most of the time you will think no one
else considered such matters in the same light.

You will have visions of writing books like "One Hundred Ways to Load
a Ladder" or "Beach Umbrella Stealth Antennas".

Collecting bits and pieces of aluminum will present a storage problem.
One man's junk is another man's antenna parts.

The virus may become dormant from time to time but it will not go
away. There is no cure.

John Ferrell W8CCW

--
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--------------------
Irv Finkleman,
Grampa/Ex-Navy/Old Fart/Ham Radio VE6BP
Calgary, Alberta, Canada