Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

I am very new at ham radio and find myself confused over an installation of a Carolina windom 80 special.

I attatched a 20m run of coax to the line isolator. When I switch on the rig I get nothing, even on strong BC stations. I assumed it was a coax prob and striped my plugs down etc. I then discovered that if the shielding was not touching the socket on the rig I got a very good signal. So I assumed there was a short in the coax. I checked the plugs and they seem fine but I note that even when I have just the co-ax plugged in (ie no windom) I get a good signal unless the shielding is connected. (I guess that would make sense though I thought the shielding stopped the centre core picking up a signal.

So where is my problem? Is it the antenna? Is it the ine isolator. (There is no indicator which way round it goes so I presume it is universal.) I have no tset equipment as yet so an easy solution would be valuable.


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Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

On Sun, 27 May 2007 13:40:06 +0100, "Andre C" wrote:

I am very new at ham radio and find myself confused over an installation of a Carolina windom 80 special.

I attatched a 20m run of coax to the line isolator. When I switch on the rig I get nothing, even on strong BC stations. I assumed it was a coax prob and striped my plugs down etc. I then discovered that if the shielding was not touching the socket on the rig I got a very good signal. So I assumed there was a short in the coax. I checked the plugs and they seem fine but I note that even when I have just the co-ax plugged in (ie no windom) I get a good signal unless the shielding is connected. (I guess that would make sense though I thought the shielding stopped the centre core picking up a signal.

So where is my problem? Is it the antenna? Is it the ine isolator. (There is no indicator which way round it goes so I presume it is universal.) I have no tset equipment as yet so an easy solution would be valuable.


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An inexpensive volt-ohm meter, $10-20 American, would allow you to
test for shorts or continuity.

(Or maybe you could rig a flashlight to test for shorts.)

bob
k5qwg

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

On Sun, 27 May 2007 08:26:24 -0500, Bob Miller
wrote:

On Sun, 27 May 2007 13:40:06 +0100, "Andre C" wrote:

I am very new at ham radio and find myself confused over an installation of a Carolina windom 80 special.

I attatched a 20m run of coax to the line isolator. When I switch on the rig I get nothing, even on strong BC stations. I assumed it was a coax prob and striped my plugs down etc. I then discovered that if the shielding was not touching the socket on the rig I got a very good signal. So I assumed there was a short in the coax. I checked the plugs and they seem fine but I note that even when I have just the co-ax plugged in (ie no windom) I get a good signal unless the shielding is connected. (I guess that would make sense though I thought the shielding stopped the centre core picking up a signal.

So where is my problem? Is it the antenna? Is it the ine isolator. (There is no indicator which way round it goes so I presume it is universal.) I have no tset equipment as yet so an easy solution would be valuable.


--------------= Posted using GrabIt =----------------
------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
-= Get GrabIt for free from http://www.shemes.com/ =-

An inexpensive volt-ohm meter, $10-20 American, would allow you to
test for shorts or continuity.

(Or maybe you could rig a flashlight to test for shorts.)

bob
k5qwg

Most, if not all, Carolina windoms use a voltage balun and therfore
will show continuity between the coax's center conductor and shield.

Danny, K6MHE

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

On 27 May, 14:59, Danny Richardson wrote:
On Sun, 27 May 2007 08:26:24 -0500, Bob Miller
wrote:



On Sun, 27 May 2007 13:40:06 +0100, "Andre C" wrote:

I am very new at ham radio and find myself confused over an installation of a Carolina windom 80 special.

I attatched a 20m run of coax to the line isolator. When I switch on the rig I get nothing, even on strong BC stations. I assumed it was a coax prob and striped my plugs down etc. I then discovered that if the shielding was not touching the socket on the rig I got a very good signal. So I assumed there was a short in the coax. I checked the plugs and they seem fine but I note that even when I have just the co-ax plugged in (ie no windom) I get a good signal unless the shielding is connected. (I guess that would make sense though I thought the shielding stopped the centre core picking up a signal.

So where is my problem? Is it the antenna? Is it the ine isolator. (There is no indicator which way round it goes so I presume it is universal.) I have no tset equipment as yet so an easy solution would be valuable.

--------------= Posted using GrabIt =----------------
------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
-= Get GrabIt for free fromhttp://www.shemes.com/ =-

An inexpensive volt-ohm meter, $10-20 American, would allow you to
test for shorts or continuity.

(Or maybe you could rig a flashlight to test for shorts.)

bob
k5qwg

Most, if not all, Carolina windoms use a voltage balun and therfore
will show continuity between the coax's center conductor and shield.

Danny, K6MHE

I have done some tests and am happy with coax. So I am left with the
antenna.

I am sorry but the quoted comment means very little to me in my newbie
status.

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

helmsman wrote:

PLEASE set you character count, so it fits on a line in the window.
Like 90 characters per line.
Thank You


Or, you could use a newsreader which does proper line wrapping,
regardless of the format proposed by the sender ...

Thunderbird is excellent, even OE can do it ...

JS

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

On 27 May, 18:14, John Smith I wrote:
helmsman wrote:
PLEASE set you character count, so it fits on a line in the window.
Like 90 characters per line.
Thank You

Or, you could use a newsreader which does proper line wrapping,
regardless of the format proposed by the sender ...

Thunderbird is excellent, even OE can do it ...

JS

Thanks for the lessons. I use forte Agent but just happened to be on
another computer and needed to post in a hurry.

Any chance my problem could be explored further? I have now also ruled
out the line isolator as a problem.

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

PLEASE set you character count, so it fits on a line in the window.
Like 90 characters per line.
Thank You


GEE, That was helpful. Please set your character count to zero and ...

Thank YOU

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

Take your coax loose from the isolator. Get some kind of continuity device
(VOM / battery and bulb / etc) and check to see if your coax is shorted.

If so, there's your problem. Then you can work on finding the short. Each
time you do something, check continuity again to see if what you did clears
the fault.

If your coax is OK, then call the folks who made the antenna. If it's Radio
Works, they're very helpful. They can talk you through some simple things
to try to further troubleshoot.

Confused over coax and windom - newbie
 

Andre C wrote:
I am very new at ham radio and find myself confused over an installation of a Carolina windom 80 special.

I attatched a 20m run of coax to the line isolator. When I switch on the rig I get nothing, even on strong BC stations. I assumed it was a coax prob and striped my plugs down etc. I then discovered that if the shielding was not touching the socket on the rig I got a very good signal. So I assumed there was a short in the coax. I checked the plugs and they seem fine but I note that even when I have just the co-ax plugged in (ie no windom) I get a good signal unless the shielding is connected. (I guess that would make sense though I thought the shielding stopped the centre core picking up a signal.

So where is my problem? Is it the antenna? Is it the ine isolator. (There is no indicator which way round it goes so I presume it is universal.) I have no tset equipment as yet so an easy solution would be valuable.


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OK. Let's apply logic here ...

1) If you have used a VOM and there is continuity between the center
conductor of one end of the coax, with the center conductor of the
opposite end of the coax, the center conductor is ok.


2) If you have continuity between the outer conductor of one end of the
coax (shield) with the outer conductor of the opposite end of the coax
(shield), the outer shield of the coax is ok.

3) If there is NO continuity between the center conductor of the coax
and the outer conductor of the coax, the coax has checked out completely.

Without knowing the construction details of the "line isolator"
(probably a ~6:1 balun or rf transformer of some sort) it is impossible
to know whether a short in this unit is normal (ok) or not. However, if
the center conductor of the coax connector on the "line isolator" shows
continuity with at least one leg of the windom, it shows there is
continuity through the "line isolator" from the coax center conductor to
the antenna proper. And, if there is continuity to at least one leg of
the windom to the outer conductor of the coax connector on the coax
connector on the "line isolator", it demonstrates there is continuity
from the outer conductor of the coax to the antenna proper.

At this point, I would assume the "line isolator" to be defective in
some unknown way (most likely improper hookup at the factory, solder
short, open winding, etc.)

I am afraid that is the best I can come up with.

I am taking it for granted the antenna is the "Carolina Windom 80
Special" made by Radio Works and is 66 feet long (well, short
actually!) 80 - 10 meters and can be found on this page:
http://radioworks.com/ccwcover.html

Warmest regards,
JS