[SixClub] Any one hear any Aurora yet?

Fri Aug 6 15:42:54 EDT 2010

HUM,...........

TMS,.................

ROAD TRIP !..............................


                                                :-)    Joey
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger (K8RI)" <50MHz at rogerhalstead.com>
To: <sixclub at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 1:57 PM
Subject: Re: [SixClub] Any one hear any Aurora yet?


>
>
> On 8/6/2010 7:50 AM, Gary - N3JPU wrote:
>> For me I felt it was important to save .75dB.
> For me with 200 feet to the pigtails, minus the jumpers from the six
> pack to the bulkhead connectors at the bottom of the tower, and from the
> patch panels to the rigs I would have had about about 180' for each of
> (160, 80-10, 6, 2, and 440) or 5 runs. I've since simplified the system
> with the removal of the 144 and 440 arrays from the 45G and can get by
> with 3 runs of Heliax or LMR-600 from each station with 2 of them to the
> six pack. The third is for the 144/440 vertical side mounted at 50
> feet.  The TH-5 has also been removed and replaced with a 3L 40
> (40M3-125). I'm mounting a Force 12 C-19 XR at 50 feet with (hopefully)
> a WARC7 at 60'  at the West end of the shop.  That will be a run from
> the house of about 260 feet to the pigtails.To add that to the six pack
> would take an additional 80 feet of buried conduit from the 45G to the
> 25G, but would actually simplify the antenna arrangements. I could
> simply run the coax from the 6 pack through the conduit to the shop and
> through the metal conduit inside the shop which goes to the base of the
> 25G as the conduit is in place and the space is available for an LMR600
> or 7/8" Heliax. OTOH that makes the grounding much more complex and
> cross talk much more likely.
> For 6 meters which is the important one here, the 7L C3i (which is a
> great antenna except for the phasing harness/loop) the length of coax is
> going to remain the same so I'd have roughly 1 db gain with 1/2" heliax,
> but using LMR600 I have virtually the same loss and it's much easier to
> work with as well as being a much more robust cable for about the same
> as the best price I've found for Heliax (1/2" or 7/8") which was on the
> link Mike sent to me.
>
> Unfortunately as I've said before, I'm retired, on a pension, and with
> the market convulsions I'm not quite ready to purchase between 1000 and
> 2000 feet of coax and fittings even at $1.00 a foot including fittings.
> I'm even welding up my own tower bases and gin poles.
>
>>   Additionally I have found
>> on several occasion new LDF4 for $.75 foot and found cases of new
>> Andrews N's for $5 each. My last buy was less than 2 years ago when I
>> moved to this new QTH. I have N connectors on every antenna (6M, 3L
>> SteppIR yagi and even my 160M antenna), personal preference.
>>
>>
> I use all crimp connectors with one exception, although I do solder the
> center pin.  I did have all N connectors in the system, but had too many
> failures on 160 and 75 due to high SWR at the band edges and the
> associated high voltages when running the legal limit, and lightning has
> taken out a number of them. Davis Electric (makers of Davis BuryFlex
> which I now use for pigtails) located  UHF "clamp" connectors to fit the
> LMR-600 for around $13 each IIRC. Using a mill I bore out the inside
> flange which does not show a difference in impedance, but does greatly
> increase the break down voltage and have been using those.
>
> I believe in large coax for VHF and UHF due to loss characteristics, but
> for six meters the average installation of less than 100 feet would do
> well with virtually any of the RG8 types. I also use the large coax on
> 160 due to less IR losses which on that band are far more than the
> regular losses.
>> I could of made the gain up with the antenna, went back to a Directive
>> System 5L from a F12 9L. The 9L played very well but required a lot of
>> turning the beam since the F/B was so goo and beamwidth was narrow.
> I really like the directivity and gain with the great F/B, but maybe
> that's at least partly due to location being in Michigan. With good band
> openings, be they skip or AU I generally have a lot of stations audible
> off the back.
>>   Plus
>> I wanted to be able to put up the SteppIR I sold the 9L to Joey.
>>
>>
> And...because of my age and the requirement to now get a tower climber
> when needed with guyed towers instead of crankups I chose to stay away
> from the SteppIR (which is a great antenna BTW) due to reported
> maintenance. If I had a good, crank-up I would have gone with the
> Monster SteppIR in a minute although I'd still stay with the 7L C3i for
> six.  I do need to replace the phasing loop or harness with larger
> coax.  I heard it referred to as a fuseable link when running the legal
> limit.
>> Antenna gain makes all the difference in the world, back in the early
>> 2000's I ran only 100W and made WAS in 3 years (my initial VUCC
>> submission coincided with my WAS submission),
> That was when you could work the world with a piece of wire. I worked a
> guy testing his rig on the bench down in Central America. All he had for
> an antenna was a short piece of wire laying on the work bench and stuck
> in the coax connector. I don't know which of us was more surprised. <:-))
>>   but my antenna was a stack
>> of DS 5L's. I really liked that setup but no longer have the mast space
>> to accommodate.
> Being on a 200 X 200 lot in a rural subdivision severely crimps my
> antennas for the low bands and tower height for VHF and up.
> Although Michigan is not listed high in lightning activity we are
> apparently second in strikes and my location was way above average with
> 3 verified strikes a year for a while. So I have a small fortune in the
> ground system.
>
> The location is fairly low noise with a couple of intermittent
> exceptions. One is an electric fence of which they are happy to be
> called so the cattle don't get out. The other is the wide band noise
> that starts some where above 40 and extends above six. At least it's
> intermittent, but that's the one that hides every time I try to find it.
>>   May have to reconsider, I need 5 more for DXCC on 6 so
>> am getting hungry.
>>
>>
> The only award I've ever received was RCC and that was as a Novice on CW
> some 50 years ago.  I've never even tried for WAS or WAC although back
> in the 70's we had all continents in a single QSO.  A bunch of us had
> been talking for a while on 10 meters when some one asked where each of
> us was located. IT turned out that we had all continents represented, so
> we all exchanged calls and had WAC is less than a minute. The only
> continent I lack on six is Oceana and I should have that.
>
>> BTW, the SteppIR 3L on 6M is a poor performer compared to the dedicated 
>> 5L.
>>
>>
> I guess that should come as no surprise with the wide spacing and only
> 3L although it should be adequate except for weak signal work.
>
> My biggest drawback at present (besides lack of ambition) is the only
> rig in my den is the 144/440 duoband Kenwood TM-D710 FM. (I have to go
> to the shop to work HF and six) I've been trying to get new carpet in
> and the walls painted for nearly a year, but I have too much *stuff* in
> here and that's after moving all the station equipment to the shop and
> bookcases to the basement. I still have two computers, one book case, a
> computer hutch I can't even lift, and the printer stand loaded not only
> with a printer, but the cable modem, router, and 8 port switch.
> If I can move all of the networking *stuff* (This is a family group) to
> the basement, I can temporarily store the Epson R320 as we have a
> network printer in my wife's office, and I can get rid of the book case
> which would only leave the computers and hutch. I have most of my e-mail
> installed on one of the shop computers so I only have to finish that,
> then I can remove the computers and the hutch has to be dismantled to
> get it out of here.
>
> My wife tells me I suffer from CRS and TMS.  CRS = Can't Remember
> *stuff* and Too Much *Stuff*
> One other problem with the den...It's only 10' X 12' and with the two
> computers running let alone the big amp, it gets hot in here.
>
> 73
>
> Roger (K8RI)
>> Gary Mitchelson
>> N3JPU Davidsonville, MD   FM18
>> http://www.mitchelson.org/
>>
>> On 8/5/2010 22:46, Roger (K8RI) wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 8/5/2010 5:56 PM, Gary - N3JPU wrote:
>>>
>>>> You are pretty far south for AU (although on strong AU it will go far
>>>> south).
>>>>
>>>> Yes I have used a LNA Technology GasFET pre-amp on 6M, did not really
>>>> help much. When I did WSJT EME it did not help, worked stations the
>>>> same, pre-amp or no pre-amp.
>>>>
>>>> I use LDF-4 Heliax, saves a lot of loss over stuff like LMR-400.
>>>>
>>> 0.463 db/100' while LMR-400 is 0.9 That is about 0.5 db difference for a
>>> 100 feet. To me that is not a lot of loss saved. It's also a figure that
>>> is unnoticeable whether receiving or transmitting. You can't tell it on
>>> receive and the guy on the other end can not detect the difference.
>>> Add to that I have found 1/2" Heliax to be fragile and easily kinked.
>>> OTOH LMR-400 has a minimum bend radius of one inch, or a repeatable bend
>>> radius of 4 inches and it's quite rugged. I had two 100' runs of LDF4
>>> with N connectors given to me. I gave away one length and it's unlikely
>>> I'll use the other.
>>> NOW if I could come up with a couple hundred feed of 7/8" to 1 1/4" with
>>> connectors I'd certainly use it. No it's not very flexible, but it's a
>>> lot tougher than the 1/2". Unfortunately the last 7/8" run I had was
>>> taken out by lightning. It blew a hole in the dielectric about 20' from
>>> the antenna making it too short for me to use.
>>>
>>> In the past I have picked up large coils of 7/8" for the repeater system
>>> with connectors...cheap! When I need some it takes a lot of looking and
>>> I've still not found any.
>>>
>>> What I'd really like now are two 90' runs, two 60 foot runs, and three
>>> 100 foot runs of 7/8 to 1 1/4" Heliax with connectors, but my hunt has
>>> been unsuccessful so far. So I went with LMR-600 which is rugged and
>>> cost me $1.29 a foot two years ago.
>>>
>>> Yes, you are correct in that I do not like 1/2" Heliax. I've had too
>>> many mechanical problems with it.
>>>
>>> 73
>>>
>>> Roger (K8RI)
>>>
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