[Lowfer] WM appears from the past
jrusgrove at comcast.net
jrusgrove at comcast.net
Tue Feb 10 13:01:05 EST 2009
Bill
Figured it was practical matter rather than design...although sloping downward legs of a diamond or triangle probably cut ground losses some.
TAGman is in WOLF mode for the winter so can't give a comparison report.
Glad to see WM back at the watering hole!
Jay
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Ashlock
To: lowfer at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WM appears from the past
Hi Jay,
Well, in response to your two questions, it's all about shooting an arrow using the smaller #15 fish line over the tops of a number of trees and having it go farther than I anticipated. The #30 line that I had been using over the last three years up there wouldn't reach far enough in the horizontal dimension. My final shot was after loosing my first two arrows with the #15 line so I wasn't about to chance another shot. One arrow broke off from the line instantly because I had forgotten that I need to double back the line before tying it to the arrow for line under #20. Could have nailed a moose way down range, for all I know :) The other got caught on the way down and I broke the line while trying to free it. So I'm cheating a bit on the horizontal dimension but still keeping the conductor 200ft long. Then, too, this isn't a perfectly true triangle and has rounded corners. Also I will try to free the wire from the tree forming the east support so that the loop will have a more rectangular shape.
BTW, what kind of signal am I registering at your base? And more importantly: How do I compare with Mr TAG?? The loop has an E/W orientation so that's about 3db less strength for you, everything else being equal.
Bill
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From: jrusgrove at comcast.net
To: lowfer at mailman.qth.net
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:37:16 -0500
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WM appears from the past
Bill
Inquiring minds want to know...
#1) Why you selected a triangle? A 200' perimeter triangle has about 30% less area than a square. It's bee a while but beacon VD used to run a diamond (50' on a side square...standing up on a corner).
#2) How does your Part 15 argument for a 50' X 50' loop work with a triangle.
Jay
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Ashlock
To: lowfer at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 11:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WM appears from the past
Hi Mitch,
No kidding on being "a ghost from the past"! I just got my first look at Steve's Grabulator after arriving back in Andover just a few minutes ago. What a thrill! Here's the scoop on this Ellsworth loop:
This is a #10 stranded insulated conductor loop in the 'Ashlock' configuration, and is 200ft in perimeter and totally tree-supported: IE: no support ropes at all, and the tree limbs provide the springiness to keep the wire taught. Its max height is about 80ft and has a general upside-down triangle shape. Should be low in ground loss due to the high average elevation of the return legs. Will measure the Rac on the next return. When the snow melts in the spring I plan to use the #10 to pull up a RG-8 conductor but right now that's buried under 3 ft of snow and 3 in of ice.
I tried a new trick to tune the final because of the cold outside temperatures which worked very well. I first used my inductance meter to determine the loop inductance. Then I modified my bench test coil so that it had exactly the same inductance. I connected the test coil to the final while inside the shack and sitting next to the exciter. Then I modified the resonant capacitor bank inside the final's enclosure to resonate the test coil at 185.300. When the final was installed outside at the base of the loop (in bitter cold and wind) the tuning came out to be very close and required only a slight tweak of the trimmer cap. My previous approach was to calculate the capacitor bank capacitance from the measured loop inductance, but this doesn't account for the stray capacitance of the loop. Apparently the test coil has a similar value if stray capacitance even though it is a multi-turn coil.
Anyway, I welcome any and all reception reports. I have no feel of how the mountain environment will effect both the surface and sky wave radiation from this loop.
Bill
Beacon Wm
> From: mitch.powell at sympatico.ca
> To: lowfer at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 21:17:38 -0500
> Subject: [Lowfer] WM appears from the past
>
> Bill - I believe I am seeing a ghost of the past on Steve's grabber.
> Is this
> the beginning of a gathering of the 185.3 people of the past ?
>
> Nice signal and it must be you - but from where ?
>
>
>
> Mitch Powell
> mitch.powell at sympatico.ca
>
>
>
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