I like it!    Sort of like those dipstick heaters they use for cars that live in sub-zero winter climates! HI.

Assuming your KX1 (like mine) has the ATU, then two legs of 33' each will work quite well on all those bands (same bands as on mine). I usually place one leg vertically in a handy tree, the other laying out in a straight line on the ground (if possible) and bring the two ends directly to a banana jack/BNC connector right to the rig, no balun. This works very well (especially at the beach). It is also a great configuration if you are traveling and staying in hotels. Let one leg lay on the floor of the room, the other one just drape on the side of the building out a window (always ask for a high floor!  ). Alternatively, of course, you could string that wire up as a dipole (vertical or horizontal) but then you need some feed line to the rig.

Specifically, a 1:1 current balun made from about 30 tight-fitting ferrite beads over the outside of the coax will work pretty well on all the bands in HF.

BTW, if the ground rod you mentioned is for lightning protection, don't stop at a single rod. Get two more and place them 15' away from the center rod in opposite directions and tie them with as big as you can afford solid copper wire placed at least a few inches below the ground. You can continue to add to this configuration in the same way if you want. This method will dissipate a strike much more efficiently than a single rod.

Definitely a ferrite core balun and ditch the coax, ... if you can. I had only 30' of coax going to a big loop and once I swapped it out for ladder line (real ladder line!) the difference on reception was about 6 dB! 

The trouble with recommending a balun ratio for a multi-band doublet, in my experience, is that one size doesn't fit all. You could still have one or two or more bands with very high SWR, made worse, for instance, by a 4:1 balun between the antenna and rig. In the past I've set up knife switches so that I could bypass the 4:1 balun. If I have a short run of coax from that, though, I always have a 1:1 ferrite bead balun on that coax.

Ken,

If you're trying to create an electrical ground, you should use solid wire instead of coax braid. The way you've done it is better than nothing, but since your equipment is also going to be grounded via the AC wiring in your house (unless you're running purely on batteries) you will have a potential difference between the two grounds that will show up in your equipment one way or another.

Robert,

What you're experiencing is completely normal. There are a minority who have an aptitude for things like the Code (not me!), the rest of us must work at it, and then work at it some more. You have to "let go" indeed, let your brain's learning process do what it must do. I'm happy to see that you are using a high enough overall speed and character speed to overcome the natural urge to count dits and dahs (never do that!).

Some suggestions:
- if you have a receiver, tune it to CW bands and just leave it on in the background while you do other things. You'll be surprised how much this helps. Even better than using an RX (IMHO) is to tune into CW using one of the many WebSDR sites. This way you can even see the signals and not waste time turning the dial on the RX hunting.
- don't just use one program. G4FON I can recommend as it has a lot of settings you can play with so you don't get in a rut for too long (but expect plateaus in your learning, that's part of the process). One thing about the Koch method is, if you use it straight, is that when you get up to about 10 characters or so you are hearing a lot less of the new characters. G4FON or maybe the program you're using, can compensate for that.
- always try to use a speed that feels like it is just beyond your comprehension. That's how you increase speed. When you're getting above 80% copy, move the speed up a notch.
- most of all, have fun with it. If you think you're anxious now, just wait until you have your first CW QSO!   We all go through this, so don't worry, keep your eyes on the prize, it will be worth it.

73,

Casey, TI2/NA7U http://cloud-warmer.blogspot.com

Thanks Michael, just bookmarked that one!

Not sure I get the question either, but here's my stab. 

There isn't a standard calling frequency/tone if that's what you mean. You can call CQ from anywhere in the passband. Your tone will vary from low to high (L to R in a vertical waterfall), but it doesn't have anything to do with calling CQ.

Hope I understood the concern.

Why make this so complex? I don't think you mentioned which rig you're using or if you have an ATU available, but if you do, you can simple cut two wires 33' long. Throw (or us a slingshot) up in  a tree a piece of fishing line and haul up one wire vertically with that (so that the end towards the ground is at a convenient height to connect to the radio/ATU. The other wire just lay out in more or less a straight line on the ground. I've used this time and time again with a K1 or KX1 that had built-in tuners and worked 40 and 20M FB, over thousands of miles with QRP CW many times.

My usual philosophy is to start simple and cheap, see how it works, then improve from there. If I start off complicated I usually end up mothballing the project.

GL DX!

You could start off by using the 259B and a dummy load. You should have a good dummy load already, but if not, for this test, since the signal is so small, use a non-inductive 50 ohm resistor or some combo of resistors to get 50 ohms.

MFJ259B -> ATU -> [SWR meter] ->Dummy Load  is the circuit. If your ATU has an SWR meter already then you don't need another one in the circuit.

Set the analyzer to whatever band you want, probably one that matches whatever antenna you have now. Set the ATU to Bypass if it has that setting and you should read SWR 1:1 on the analyzer and the ATU/SWR meter. Doesn't have to be exact, but close. If it's not 1:1 then you probably need to adjust the SWR meter. Often there is a small screw on the meter for adjustment.

If you get that far then replace the dummy load with your antenna. Now set the analyzer to whatever frequency you want to use your antenna for and adjust the ATU knobs to get as close to 1:1 as you can (don't worry, anything under 3:1 will probably work with your rig). As you go through each band write down the ATU settings. You'll start to notice a pattern.


What might not work in the above is that the SWR meter may not be sensitive enough to register with such a small signal from the analyzer. In that case, you'll have to substitute your TX, just use low power.

Maybe you should mount a remote-controlled air horn near the feedline that you can set off when the SWR changes. 

All OSs have install and get-it-working problems. Most of the get-it-working stuff I find is not with the OS but having to re-install/re-configure all my apps again. 

Windows 7 is pretty good overall. The only problems I seem to have with it are getting older (like 5+ years) peripherals working with it, sometimes. It can't find the drivers. It is much better, however, at finding drivers on the 'net automatically than XP ever was and for that I'm grateful. The more I play with it the more I like it, too. There are a number of conveniences (some stolen from the Linux world) that previous versions of Windoze didn't have.

I'd recommend, too, a clean install, that is the easiest way to avoid many issues. I'd also recommend that after the install you install VirtualBox or some other kind of virtualization software so that you can run additional OSs, such as Linux. There are a LOT of apps that Windows doesn't have (at least for free).

Here's a simpler setup to at least get your digital modem software to work on receive. Don't use the SL thingee right now.  Just put the radio speaker near the computer and plug in a PC mic to the PC. Set the digi software (digipan is easiest to start with) to accept audio from the mic (which is probably plugged into the mic port, the pink one. In digipan this is Configure->Sound Card and select computer soundcard in the top pulldown, and Preferred soundcard in the Input field. You may have to open either Configure->Watefall Drive within Digipan or your windows soundcard driver to run the mic level up a bit.

You should see the waterfall, blue background and yellow vertical traces. You can click on any trace and it will decode in the receive window or you can hit the Multi button at the top and all the traces will decode in a separate window.

This is the least complicated setup to test that your able to decode signals.

David,

If you are still monitoring this thread ... a toroid based 4:1 voltage balun would be a better choice for a doublet as it will work over a wider range of frequencies than the air-core balun. Whichever one you end up using I'd recommend following it with a 1:1 current balun to suppress common mode currents, also. This could be air-core, but better if you can make one with ferrites.