[K3PZN-List] Passed Element 3!!!

[ARC]

very fine business !  certainly we need to arrange to get you on the air
from the club station.  and alerting other members to your interest in
acquiring a rig is a good thing.  

 

on building your first station --

 

(1)   antennas.  you need to gather some wire and coax to erect a dipole --
and scouting out trees, etc to hang it.  I suggest 40 or 20 meters, and
perhaps both -- i can explain at the club meeting.  insulators can be made
out of scrap PVC pipe.  Except for coax, not many $$ here.  so while you are
arranging to get a rig, do start here!  

 

I can build my own dipole, already have a choke balun and some coax
(probably 80'). I'm sure I'll need more since my run is currently going
under the back door sweep and just barely gets outside and up to the
antenna. Would be $35 for 500' of stranded 14 ga. wire at Home Depot for the
antenna. I have around 75-80' (maybe a little more) of useable space in my
back yard with trees on the north side (for a dipole) and I can use my
military mast on the south side guyed down. That's a litltle more than
enough for a 40 meter dipole at 7.225 MHz. The mast is about 30' I believe
With all the sections and top-hat, and the trees on the other side are
40-50' at the tops. The mast is already supporting a 75' long wire and the 2
meter jpole. I have a couple ceramic insulators holding up the long wire at
the moment but additional insulators can be purchased easily.

 

(2)   power supply.  first many 'modern' rigs require an external 12 volt
(actually 13.8 volts typical), 20 amp power supply.  yes 20 amps is what it
takes for a 100 watt rig.  example - Astron RS-20 may be the model number
(??)

 

I have been looking around at the p/s units as well. I actually converted a
computer p/s for my 2 meter mobile to use in the shack that runs 15 amps,
never gets hot at all...

 

(3) rig.  let's see what members of the club have laying around.  i have one
possible candidate, a TS-140 - but likely others could emerge.  

 

a solid state rig will give you less headaches, and should have a vfo
(actually a phased-lock loop) that is stable enough for digital modes.  

 

a used, entry level rig from the 1980's should run less than $300, but you
will need some additional dollars for a power supply.  and possibly
something even lower priced may be out there.

 

Yeah, I'm looking (drooling) at a lot of the units for sale online at the
new stores and eBay too. I am going to start saving up to go to the hamfest
in Towson in March so I can get the major pieces I need at that time.
Hopefully there will be a little bit left out of the taxes for me to do
that. Crossing my fingers!!! I am considering rigs like the older Yeasu
Ft-101, 726/757GXII and the older Kenwood TS 690s look pretty reasonable
too... I'm just really weary about buying a rig from eBay... Too many
variables to consider with sellers nowadays and there's no real
accountability unless you use PayPal and that doesn't always keep the burn
at bay either.

 

 

(3)   swr meter.  does not have to be ellaborate, but important to know what
is happening with antenna and feed line.

I have been looking at these as well; the mfj units seem to be the most
popular as far as higher wattage is concerned. I see radio shack sells swr
meters too...

  

 

(4)   microphone - usually a hand mic is stock with most rigs, and it is
best to match the manufacturer for ease of use. 

 

I think my dad is going to pass down a couple astatic desk mics that he
bought to use with the Viking II. He's just got to dig them out of the pile.


 

 

Any help anyone is willing to give would get me up and running just that
much quicker. Not asking for a handout just, looking for some good quality
elmer-ing I keep hearing so much about. ;p  I am also looking into building
a 40 meter qrp rig for cw so that once I learn the code, which can be of use
as well if the main rig is off the air and I don't have the phone side to
use. I'm really interested in the power back-up side as well. Looking into
the various backup solutions available (homebrew and store bought). I really
like the idea of using an older lawnmower engine and a GM style alternator
to charge 12v batteries for backup shack power. 

 

I'll keep watching and maybe something will pop up... 

 

73,

 

Anthony

KB3RJH/AG

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/k3pzn-list/attachments/20090126/d3a01eac/attachment-0001.html