[OKDXA] Good Stuff

[Kim Elmore]

Hi Dave and the Gang,

The whole thing sticks up 36 feet, from base to top.  It has two sets of 
guys -- I used 1/8" black dacron from Davis RF -- and *sits* on the 
ground.  Yes, that's right: there is no poured base and no hole.  A 16" 
piece of steel rebar is used as a central stake,, driven in about 12", and 
the base tube is simply set over it.  My location has very sandy soil, so I 
drilled a hole in a cinder block patio stone.  The rebar extends through 
that and the antenna sits on the patio stone.  This way, the antenna won't 
slowly auger itself into the ground and loosen the guys.  The antenna has 
"T" bars at the top and bottom for end loading.  These are between 20 and 
25 ft long, so they stick out a fair distance to either side.  The antenna 
is omnidirectional, so the orientation of the T bars is 
inconsequential.  Yes, it twists around in the wind a bit, but not as much 
as you might think. Force 12 is working on a 160 m version that will be 46 
ft tall but cost about $1k.

I heard F5IN Monday night, but the pileup was instantaneously huge (danged 
internet clusters!) and his signal was pretty poor here.  I couldn't 
compete with the East Coast or Upper Midwest stations.  What's worse, he 
was not working split, so things got ugly very fast and I gave up.

Like 160, I'll bet that EU is not as common on 80 as on the higher bands, 
and that E-W paths are much easier.

73,

Kim

                           Kim Elmore, Ph.D.
                        University of Oklahoma
         Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies
"All of weather is divided into three parts: Yes, No, and Maybe. The
greatest of these is Maybe" The original Latin appears to be garbled.