[Hallicrafters] 40 m antenna used on 80 m - what to expect?

[Carl Nord]

In 66, as a 13 year old expectant novice I was worrying a lot about my
dipole.
 
Nowhere could I find if the center conductor of my coax should go to the leg
closest to the station, or furthest away. Laugh if you want. But show me
where it says it shouldn't be hooked up a certain way! Clearly that was
knowledge that others had that did not or should not need to be written down
 
One wrong connection might ruin the rig, null out the signal or maybe cause
global warming. After all this was a mighty Johnson Adventurer that was
going to be sending the full power of an 807 into the atmosphere
 
Carl
WA1KPD
Visit My Boatanchor Collection at
<http://home.comcast.net/~chnord/wa1kpd.html>
http://home.comcast.net/~chnord/wa1kpd.html
  _____  

From: hallicrafters-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:hallicrafters-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Brannigan
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 8:43 AM
To: Oliver J. Dragon; Waldo Magnuson; Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Cc: Waldo Magnuson
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] 40 m antenna used on 80 m - what to expect?
 
Had to laugh, yes ignorance was bliss.
I recall the novice goal was to get any wire outside, feed it with something
and transmit.
Making ANY contacts made it a good antenna!!!
 
I remember Harrison Radio on Greenwich St. with rows of Collins gear
 
Jim
?
 
Skip,

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. (my ignorance, in this case).

Upon receiving my Novice class ticket in 1960 I immediately put up a 40M
dipole about 25' off the ground and fed 
it with 70' or so of RG-59 directly to the pi-net output of my just
completed Knight Kit 50 watt transmitter. 
I had two 40M crystals & had a great time. The SX-99 was connected to an 80'
#12 copperclad longwire (the wire still 
had the 'set' and coiled back up close to original shape when I took it down
9 years later). Didn't have to worry 
about an antenna change-over relay - just turned down the RF gain on the
SX-99 when transmitting. 
Of course, both antennas were erected during a snowstorm - can you think of
a better time?

Anyway, after about 3 weeks on the air I got the bright idea that 80M could
be real fun, so I went over to 
Harrison Radio (225 Greenwich St., in Manhattan and picked up two 80M xtals
& proceeded to run the Knight straight
into the 40M dipole on 80M. No problem. Didn't know what the swr was (no swr
meter); didn't know how many of the 35 or so input watts
showed up at the antenna (no wattmeter) but I worked up & down the east
coast from NY; out to the midwest (Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis). 
Had more fun on 80 than on 40. Less qrm andmore slow-speed guys to chat
with. 

Only problem was with harmonics. My 3704kc xtal doubled to 7408kc and
careless dipping one day to the harmonic
earned me a 'special official reception report' from the FCC. Solved that by
more careful tuning and a harmonic trap courtesy 
of QST.

Bottom line - give the 40M dipole a try on 80 and you might be surprised.
Have fun.

73
Ollie



 
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