[Lowfer] A little more antenna work done today - kinda long reading

[Andy - KU4XR]

--- On Sun, 10/3/10, Ralph W5JGV <w5jgv at spectrotek.com> wrote:

> #16 copper wire has a DC resistance of about 4.094 Ohms per
> 1000 feet, so 320 feet should measure about 1.31 Ohms.
> 
> Check your coil by itself and see what it reads.  If it's reading 
> a lot different than 1.3 Ohms, check your meter.
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Hi Ralph:  I was mainly checking for continuity in the foil tape.
I did connect the meter from the down lead wire ( about 30 feet )
to the top of the coil, and it did read in the 1.3-ish Ohms range.

The reading went to 4 Ohms after I connected the clip leads end 
to end, and inserted the meter into the line, then parralled the 
meter ( across the antenna ) from the end of the down lead wire 
to the top hat. I was checking the antenna as you would a resistor.
I did not short the long line of clip leads to see if the meter
zeroed, hurrying too much. The clip leads were lying on the ground,
as was the meter itself. I may not have gotten a soild electrical
connection between all the clip leads. THIS MAY BE THE ISSUE :::
at the top of the coil, the antenna changes from copper to aluminum
the rest of the way up. About 19 feet of the PVC that's covered with 
the foil tape, and the top hat. Plus I put a strap wire from the
tip of the top hat down the PVC mast and connected it to the top
of the coilto insure continuity in the aluminum portion of the ant.
I think aluminum has more resistance than copper does, and when I
connected the meter from the end of the down lead wire which is copper,
all the way to the end of the top hat which is aluminum, that's when 
the resistance went to 4 Ohms.

I did not think to measure only the aluminum portion of the antenna
to see the resistance it shows. I will do that to see if the 
aluminum portion of the antenna shows the extra 2.7-ish Ohm reading.

73 :

Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN. USA
LOWfer Beacon " XR " @ 185.29875 KHz ( QRSS-60 )

*** Temporarily OFF, while constructing a new antenna ***

Coordinates:  N:  35º 43' 54" - W:  84º 3' 16"
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