Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Antenna Magic
A Ham buddy 's son just got his General ticket, and asked for my
assistance in making a surprise contact with his Dad for his first HF QSO. He had bought a nice 100W HF rig with an auto tuner, and an 40M-10M coax fed multi-band doublet antenna that was to be put in his attic initially. He lives about 100 miles from his Dad. I thought this was really cool, so I said I would set the whole thing up. Suggested 80M early evening for that distance would be best bet. He told me the auto tuner would not tune the 40-10 antenna on 80M (5to1 SWR). He then asked (here is the magic part) what he could do in 1 hour to get the antenna to tune on 80M. I told him to short the 40M loading coils, and add enough Home Depot wire to each end so that the auto tuner was happy. He had a 100' extension cord that he cut up and got the auto tuner happy 1.5 swr. At QSO time he could hear neither his dad or myself, and we gave up. Not to be discouraged he removed the shorts and additional wire, the tuner provided a 5:1 swr, and he had a nice QSO with his dad. He also stated he heard a lot more signals than before. Other than the obvious (he was mistaken in what he reported to me) any ideas as to what went wrong? I don't think he will ask for any more advice from me. Gary N4AST |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
69xx what is the magic? | Shortwave | |||
(OT) 'Magic' | Shortwave | |||
The MAGIC of the Hundred Foot (100') Long {Random} Wire Antenna for the Shortwave Listener (SWL). | Shortwave | |||
What is the MFJ magic circle ? | Antenna | |||
FA: RCA "Magic Eye" Capacitance Tester | Boatanchors |