Time's Just tickin' Away...

I didn't realize it had been that long since I posted last! Not a whole lot going on around here...

- continuing to work on the tower (Allen got the mast holder parts back to me, he did a GREAT job on them!) I have re-assembled it and I am finishing getting the last of the loose rust off of it so I can prime and paint it.
- I am still having fun on 10m...up to 17 states now! I am way behind on QSL'ing.
- I am still intending to flip my shack PC to Linux...I have Ubuntu 6.06 installed on a second removable drive, I just haven't had time to play with some of the details (getting Wine running so I can continue to run N3FJP's Amateur Contact Log, some of my packet programs, etc.). We'll see...

Next stop...the Bolingbrook Hamfest this Sunday- also the site of the ARRL IL Section Convention!

FRRL Hamfest

I attended the FRRL Hamfest today- not completely as a spectator though. We were displaying for both ARES and the Red Cross (Matt KC9HRH brought their communications trailer out). We all had a great time, and the weather was PERFECT! I will try to add pictures tomorrow.

Fun on 10m!

Wow! While I was in the shack working on this and that tonight, I turned on the TS-450 and decided to listen to 10m...just to see if anything was happening. All of the sudden, in pops KR4EX, calling CQ from NC. I called him back, and he heard me! 10m was open! Didn't get much done after that...I was too busy talking to NH, NY, AL, and 4 other states I can't remember- all inside of an hour. And then...oh my is that PSK I hear on 28.120???

This is gonna be fun, people!

The Tower

I had not much to do on the 4th of July, so I decided to work on another project that had laid dormant for awhile. About 3 years ago, I had picked up one of those heavy-duty 10' TV tripod-towers along with a 10' section of heavy-duty mast from someone that was throwing it out (it was one of our newspaper customers, back when we did that-but I digress....) They had it on their curb with a sign marked 'free'. Well- I couldn't resist that!

Anyway, I took it home, and started to clean it up, but like other things, more important projects came up, and it got put aside. I didn't want to give it up though, and moved it not once, but TWICE. Anyway, with the opening on 10m starting up, and the 10m dipole laying in my yard that was given to me, I put two and two together, and...

I pulled the tower out and discovered that it had taken on a bit of rust sitting out in the yard (surprise!). So, I started working on it. I found a wire wheel that would fit my drills and began going at it. I borrowed a DeWalt grinder from my neighbor across the street and cut off the 6 bolts holding the mast into the tripod, the 3 bolts holding the upper mast support to the tripod, and the 3 bolts holding the 3rd tripod leg to the supports. I took the wirewheel to it, cleaning as much as I could before it got dark.

At that point, I kinda got a an impasse...as a lot of the rest of the work to be done required tools I didn't have. Enter my friend Allen KB9VO, who is a tool designer/metal worker. "Eric, Eric...why do you trouble yourself so...I have a SANDBLASTER." He is coming over Saturday morning to take a look at things. Stay tuned- to be continued...

So, About That Antenna...

OK, I probably left some of you with a question or two about my 'fan dipole' that is cut for 80/15m. Let us see if I can answer those.

This antenna was actually made and used for our club's 80/15 CW Field Day station 2 years ago. The dipole is actually constructed out of 450-ohm ladder line, fed by coax. One 'side' of the ladder line is cut for 80m, and the other 'side' is cut to 15m. The center insulator is a Ten-Tec "Acrobat" (see "Up On The Roof", below for a close-up of it). At the insulator, on each side the two ends are brought together and mated with either the center conductor or shield of the coax feeder. The antenna is strung from a tree in my front yard to a tree in my neighbor's backyard, in a roughly N/S configuration. The center point is conveniently over my roof, so it's an easy matter to get the coax through a roof vent into the shack.

So, how does it perform? The antenna is cut for the CW portion of the band- so, my TS-450 can tune it reasonably for SSB, but it is a compromise at best. However, on PSK...it rocks! Now, I have discovered that I can also tune it OK for 40/30/10m also. Again, a compromise...but you use what you have, right? It actually works well in all these bands- go figure!

Will I put up a better antenna someday- of course. But for now, it works and the best part is that it was free- given to me by a club member when I was starting out in HF and didn't have anything else. So, I make it work and either enhance it, or pass it on when I get something better.

And isn't that what Amateur Radio is all about?

Up On The Roof...

No, we're not going to talk about James Taylor today...last week, a connection in the center insulator of my 80/15 'fan' dipole gave out. It is a Ten-Tec "Acrobat", and is fairly open on all sides, so I knew it was only a matter of time before the weather would take its toll. Well, it finally did.

I found out in the worst way...went to go for some PSK on 40/30m (Yeah, I know...using a 80/15 dipole for 40/30m? That's another story.) turned the antenna switch from my 20m dipole, and...silence. Borrowed a friend's MFJ analyzer...oh yeah, there's a short or open somewhere, got infinity SWR...up on the roof, and yup- the center conductor side of the coax has broken right off. So OK, let's fix it...but wait- there's too much tension on the dipole to fix it in place. OK, a trip to the tree in the front yard- climb the tree, undo the guy rope, lower the one end of the antenna, climb down the tree, carry the ladder back to the deck in the back yard, get BACK up on the roof...NOW we can fix the antenna!

Folks, this is NOT a fun connector to have to work with- especially when you are sitting on the roof, trying to a) brace yourself as to NOT fall off of the roof, b) hold the ends of the dipole so they don't do what they want to do (slide off the roof), and c) reconnect the dipole ends and the coax in the insulator. The whole process took about 2 hours. re-cut the coax feeder and got a clean end, did the same with the ends of the ladder line, and put everything back together JUST in time for the Monday night City Of Lights 10-10 net at 8:30pm (10m too on this dipole? Yeah, you'll hear how and why later).

I know, I know...why not just take the whole thing down and fix it on the ground? I mean, Eric you DO have your dipole hung so you can easily raise and lower it, right?

Um, no. But that's yet another story.