[SMCARA] Antenna Setup

Rene Ramirez w3bnyren at gmail.com
Tue Nov 25 10:55:04 EST 2014


Without having a chart infront of me, the loss at HF frequencies shouldnt
be much more than a 1db tops.

On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 10:45 AM, Bill Jones <merc669 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I figured there would be some. How much, maybe not a lot. But that
> loss could be a contact(s). I was trying to save a buck or two and
> probably not worth it. And a 125 to 150 foot run should not be that
> expensive.
>
> Bill
>
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 10:39 AM, Daniel Metcalf <kb3uun at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Bill,
> >
> > When I was a teenager I had a job that enabled me to work on the S-3B
> > Viking II (one of the aircraft I worked on is in the museum parking lot
> > it has 770 on the side of it). I worked on two projects for that
> > aircraft namely the AG-65M Maverick Missile Installs where I was in
> > charge of the wiring harnesses from the fuselage to the weapons pylon
> > and the second project was a test kit to verify wiring of the aircraft's
> > radar altimeter. Several S-3s were lost during night-time carrier
> > operations due to the fact the radar altimeter was indicating that is
> > was safe to retract the landing gear and flaps and when the pilots did
> > they stalled and dropped the plane into the ocean. Several crews were
> > lost. We went to Jacksonville, FL to examine the aircraft from the
> > Checkmates squadron before their deployment and I am glad we did. With
> > what we discovered it was amazing the systems worked at all. Anyway I
> > digress.
> >
> > It was working to verify the wiring of the radar altimeter systems that
> > I became very familiar with using a TDR. This device sent a signal
> > through the wiring and was able to graphically show us where each of the
> > bulkhead connectors were and any defects that may have been in the
> > wiring. While examining a aircraft one day, I was told by an engineer
> > that at each of those bulkhead connectors we were losing approx. 3db of
> > signal. Which to put in simple terms, through each bulkhead connector we
> > were losing approx. half of the signal. Now I understand the frequencies
> > we use are much much lower than that used by the Radar Altimeter system
> > and at those higher frequencies it does not take much to cause loss. But
> > if I am not mistaken there is still some truth in the logic that there
> > is loss of signal each time we go through a in-line barrel connector. It
> > may not be 3db like it was in the aircraft but there is some.
> >
> > Dan
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 2014-11-25 at 10:03 -0500, Rene Ramirez wrote:
> >> Honestly.  Ive never EVER liked that crap.  Its just tar/mastic and if
> >> you ever have to get into that barrel connector, you are better off
> >> just cutting it.  Either that or a whole bunch of mineral spirits to
> >> help loosen it.  Seriously..cut it.
> >>
> >>
> >> That being said.  If you must use a barrel connector use Scotch-3m
> >> linerless rubber tape and 88+ (its thicker) followed by a liberal
> >> amount of scotch-kote.  That combination is good to like...88Kv,
> >> buryable and comes off with a little pursuasion from a razor knife.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 9:44 AM, Bill Jones <merc669 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>         I was going to ask your #2 also since I have the end-fed to a
> >>         post and
> >>         thought of just extending it by 100feet what the downside
> >>         would be if
> >>         I barreled connected it and then sealed it with coax seal
> >>         rather than
> >>         pull a new cable from the shack to the new antenna I was
> >>         thinking of
> >>         to replace the end-fed next year.
> >>
> >>         Bill
> >>
> >>         On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 8:37 AM, Daniel Metcalf
> >>         <kb3uun at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>         > Good Morning All,
> >>         >
> >>         > Just wanted to get some thoughts on a personal antenna
> >>         installation that
> >>         > I have been considering. Please let me know what you think.
> >>         >
> >>         > Earlier this year I purchased a 160 sloper from Jim (KJ4WAS)
> >>         but have
> >>         > not installed it yet for a couple reasons. First, I needed
> >>         to get
> >>         > everything together to do the install and Secondly, I needed
> >>         to wait for
> >>         > the leaves clear off of the tree that seems to be the best
> >>         candidate for
> >>         > the installation. Lastly, having two back surgeries in a
> >>         single year
> >>         > have limited my ability to get it done.
> >>         >
> >>         > A couple things have been ringing in my head as possible
> >>         issues so when
> >>         > my launcher failed (line broke and I lost the weight on
> >>         launch) last
> >>         > night I was not too heart broken.
> >>         >
> >>         > Possible Issues:
> >>         >
> >>         > 1) Between my house and the tree in which I would like to do
> >>         the install
> >>         > is my vertical antenna and radial field. I have been
> >>         considering the
> >>         > effects that could be caused by running the new feed-line
> >>         either over or
> >>         > under the existing radial field.
> >>         >
> >>         > 2) The tree in which I would like to do the install is ~60ft
> >>         tall and
> >>         > greater than 100ft from the house so I am seeing that I am
> >>         going to need
> >>         > ~200ft of coax (which I already have) the thing that I have
> >>         been
> >>         > considering is if I should leave the feed-line as one piece
> >>         or put in an
> >>         > in-line adapter at the base of the tree.
> >>         >
> >>         > My current thinking is that Issue #1 is going to be the
> >>         bigger issue. So
> >>         > much so that I might need to consider a different tree or
> >>         would be
> >>         > inclined to move the vertical antenna to another part of the
> >>         back yard.
> >>         > Which for anyone who has installed a vertical would know how
> >>         much of a
> >>         > pain that would be especially with buried radials, coax and
> >>         an 8ft
> >>         > galvanized pipe driven in the ground as the base.
> >>         >
> >>         > For Issue #2 I am thinking of just leaving the coax as a
> >>         single piece to
> >>         > avoid any possibility of water getting into the connectors.
> >>         The losses
> >>         > for the coax at 200ft is only ~0.66 db on 40m to ~1.76db at
> >>         6m based on
> >>         > JefaTech's Website and based on needing the full 200ft of
> >>         LL400 so the
> >>         > distance is not that big of an issue.
> >>         >
> >>         > Any thoughts?
> >>         >
> >>         >
> >>         > Thanks,
> >>         > Dan Metcalf -- KB3UUN
> >>         >
> >>         >
> >>         ______________________________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>         --
> >>         KC3DEZ
> >>         www.qrz.com
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> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> KC3DEZ
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