[Lowfer] Definitely did something wrong !! But fixed it.

[Mike-WE0H]

Hi Andy,

When that loading coil/variometer/antenna is dialed in, so to say, you 
won't be able to walk within 10 feet of the antenna without causing 
serious detuning. Then you will see how nasty it is to try and tune the 
variometer. Adjust, back away while watching the field strength meter, 
adjust again, screw up, adjust again the other direction...Swear at the 
f-in thing...hi hi...well maybe not too harsh of words, but you get the 
idea. It will be so freakin sensitive that you never want to bump the 
coil while mowing the lawn, and dare any kid that thinks they are gonna 
play around the antenna.

Mike
WE0H



Andy - KU4XR wrote:
> Hello all:
>
> After trying different combinations of fixed coil placement on
> the paint bucket," for best efficiency ",the fixed coil was put
> back towards the top of the bucket. The FS reading came back up
> after the ground had a chance to dry out for a couple of days.
> I still have to accept the wet ground issue. I'm thinking of
> during the winter after mowing stops, of putting down some 
> #14 solid / insulated copper for the radials. At the present,
> I'm using aluminum electric fence wire ( bare ) on the ground.
>
> A couple of other notes: 
>  
> " Drilling holes in the bucket " :::
>
> I drilled 3/4" holes, side by side, all around the bucket. All
> the windings go across the holes. The only difference I have
> detected is a small reduction in needed Inductance. It went
> from 2.54 mH down to 2.48 mH. I also drilled holes in the 
> plastic coffee can I'm using as the vari-coil.
>
> " Cutting the bottom out of the bucket " :::
>
> Lee posted a reply on the LWCA message board that drilling the
> holes really wouldn't be worth the effort. However he recommended
> cutting the bottom out of the paint bucket as a way to help
> reduce losses in the coil form. OK !! I tried that just to see 
> what would occur. I did not see any improvement in output, or
> coil " Q " ( tightness in tuning ). But what DID happen was a
> large increase in Proximity Effect around the bucket now. Before
> removing the bottom; I could lay my hand on the bucket and the
> output would just barely move. Now, if my hand gets within 3 to
> 4 inches of the bucket, the output drops drastically, and if I
> place my hand over the top of the variometer within 5 inches,
> it drops to Zero. So my experience with this one is that no
> improvement was seen, and the coil became super sensitive to
> anything nearby. Might be time for some Duct tape ! hi - hi .
>
> I hope this is of interest, and useful to someone.
>
> 73 for now :::
>
>
>
> Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN.
> LOWfer Beacon " XR " @ 184.322 KHz ( QRSS-60 )
> Coordinates:  N:  35* 43' 54" - W:  84* 3' 16"
> http://www.myspace.com/beaconxr