Roy Lewallen wrote:
Mike Coslo wrote:

Roy Lewallen wrote:


A step attenuator which is completely adequate for HF and can easily
resolve 1 dB can be made from a few cheap slide switches, some PC
board material, and a handful of ordinary 5% quarter watt resistors.
Detailed instructions can be found in numerous sources, including the
Web -- a Google search brought a large number of hits, the first of
which was http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/9506033.pdf. But I'm
afraid that this level of homebrewing is beyond the interest if not
the ability of the majority of today's amateurs.



Got it - Thanks, Roy!

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -


You're very welcome.

The reason for my rather grumpy comment at the end is that I've
recommended countless times for many years that people interested in
evaluating antennas build a simple step attenuator -- an evening
project. It allows you to make direct, quantitative comparisons between
two antennas -- yours or someone else's, as well as calibrate your "S"
meter. But to date, I've never gotten an iota of feedback that a single
person has actually taken the trouble to build one. Rather, they
continue to debate, ad nauseum and without any meaningful data, whether
one antenna is better than the other, or at best quote differences in
"S-units" read from their meters, without the foggiest idea how many dB
it might represent or how different it is from someone else's meter (or
from the same meter on a different band or a different part of the
scale). The conclusion I've reached is that A) Hams would much rather
argue than actually determine the facts, or B) The vast majority are
unable to build a homebrew project consisting of slide switches, circuit
board material, and resistors. I'm afraid both are probably true.

Maybe you'll be the first to actually build one. If so, please drop me
an email and let me know -- it'll make my day!

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

I built one, on reading your advice, many moons ago. I'm glad I did.
Thanks, Roy.
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH