[HCARC] Field Day Antennas

Fri Jun 6 18:52:10 EDT 2014

"Rather than trying to set up a bunch of temporary antennas, i think the
club would be better off trying to improve the club station capability"

BUT, Field Day is partially about being able to set up Temp Antennas as 
needed, and unfortunately there is only one 20-10 meter antenna and one 40 
meter L.  With 2-3 radios running simultaneously that might be awfully 
restrictive.  I have no problem going up and picking up the club trailer to 
use as one support for additional 40-10 OCF dipoles (numerous club members 
are making them after Dale's class) and/or any other antenna someone wants 
to try out.  I have no problem bringing enough coax if necessary to run them 
through a window or door if necessary.

My other question might be why we have so many UHF/VHF antennas on the roof 
and virtually only the one 20-10 HF Vertical.  When was the last time 
someone talked on 70 cm, heck we hardly use 2m and if I am not mistaken we 
have two of those on the roof.  Not saying we might not use both 2m antennas 
in an emergency, but why not more HF.

I do agree we should ultimately improve the clubs station capability, along 
with trying to increase the club use of said station.  It's sad that we have 
a growing number of Tech's who have no HF capability and who would benefit 
from the encouragement gained by using the station radios on HF.  I could 
easily demonstrate this by merely counting the number of graduates of Dale's 
classes who are active, both on the air and in the club.  Unfortunately to 
many/most club members the Radio Room is a BIG MYSTERY.  It shouldn't be so. 
I have been a member of the club for working on 3 years and I have had 2 
chances to run the club station, both with the help and encouragement of 
Gale Heise.  Heck I have been secretary for working on 2 years and only have 
had a key for 2-3 months.

Gary J
N5BAA

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kerry Sandstrom
Sent: Friday, June 6, 2014 3:12 PM
To: Bill Tynan ; hcarc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [HCARC] Field Day Antennas

I agree with Bill, for Field Day, it seems disconnecting the 2 m and 432
antennas, if practical, might be the easiest solution.  Harvey, how long
are the coax runs?  M17/74, the current version of RG-8/U has a listed
attenuation of 1.5 dB /100 feet at 50 MHz and 4.8 dB at 400 MHz.
M17/29, the current version of RG-59/U which has the same nominal
diameter as RG-8X is not listed at 50 MHz but is 9.0 dB at 400MHz.
RG-8X is not a standard mil type cable.  It should work without any
problems at HF, particularly if its a run of 50 feet or so and power is
100 W or so.

The nominal OD for RG-8X is just under 1/4 inch.  It doesn't take much
space but would have to be pushed through with out connectors attached.

Rather than trying to set up a bunch of temporary antennas, i think the
club would be better off trying to improve the club station capability

Kerry

On 6/6/2014 2:24 PM, Bill Tynan wrote:
> Harvey et all:
>
> My recolection is that RG-8X is much more lossey than RG-8. For Field day, 
> you won't need the 2 meter and 70 cm antennas, so why not disconnect them 
> and use the cable for something - that is if they can be gotten to easily.
>
> Could you, temporarily run coaxs through the window or the back door?
>
> Just a few thoughts.
>
> 73,
>
> Bill, W3XO
> On 6/6/2014 7:43 AM, Harvey N. Vordenbaum wrote:
>> Due to the limitations of the building feed through conduit we only have 
>> a
>> few coax's (RG-8's) available.
>> The HF antennas are combined outside by a remote coax switch box.  There 
>> is
>> one spare feed through cable however.
>> There are separate coax's for the 2M and 2M/.7M antennas.
>> Fred has an idea of replacing all the present RG-8's with RG-8X cable 
>> thus
>> gaining a few more lines passing through. Someone could make a 
>> calculation
>> about how many lines would be gained. Making this change would not be 
>> easy,
>> however and time is getting short.
>> For field day we may have to pass coax through the partially opened 
>> window,
>> but then you wouldn't want a generator running nearby.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: HCARC [mailto:hcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Kerry
>> Sandstrom
>> Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2014 10:07 PM
>> To: Gary J - N5BAA; hcarc at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: [HCARC] Field Day Antennas
>>
>> Gary,
>>
>> You may only need to put an antenna up for the GOTA station across the
>> street.  Questions you need to answer are:
>>           1.  Do the existing 40 and 80 m dipoles have separate 
>> transmission
>> lines?
>>           2. Can you operate one transceiver on the 20/15/10 Vertical and
>> another on the dipoles simultaneously?
>>           3. If the answer to 1 is yes, can you operate with one 
>> transceiver
>> on 80m and another on 40 m simultaneously?
>>           4. Is operation even permitted on 30/17/12 m for field day, if 
>> not
>> you don't need any WARC antennas?
>>
>> If you can operate on 80 and/or 40 simultaneously with 20/15/10, then 
>> that
>> is probably all you need.  You won't be able to operate two stations on 
>> any
>> single band even with separate antennas behind the RC Building. I suggest
>> that if you really don't need to add any more antennas you shouldn't.
>>
>> You should check out all the antennas and transmission lines that are a
>> permanent part of the station a couple weeks ahead of time in case you 
>> need
>> to make any repairs.
>>
>> If you are operating as 2 or 3F (why not 4F!!) then I don't think setup 
>> time
>> is even a factor since the station is ostensibly part of a "permanent"
>> emergency fascility.
>>
>> Kerry
>>
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