Hello, I'm not necessarily a doomsday fanatic, but there is about 10% of my life philosophy that says I should prepare something in case of a so called "Armageddon". I have a large, completely aluminum (& some stainless) locking suitcase. I was thinking of storing my emcomm TS 480HX, Tuner and several HT's inside this suitcase, and drilling a hole where I can install a ground lug to connect to a cold water pipe or 8' ground rod. Would this be satisfactory protection against an EMP? Thanks for any info.

73, Todd - KT0DD

I need 2 stainless steel pulleys  to attach to the house and a out building
and wish to do it once, not over and over again.
Does anyone have any favorite manufacturer or supplier?

Thanks for your time
N9HPO, Art

Hope not to start a stink, (and no, I'm not planning a purchase), but I am curious about the tiny footprint Isotron antennas.  The curiosity comes simply from never seeing them mentioned, save for one little post that brought them to mind.  Whether they work or not I will leave to those that have tried them and the 'experts'.  I tend to be a sceptic though I enjoy experiment with radiators up in the air... like most of us!

So, what's the scoop?

My antenna set up will be much easier if I ground the antennas to a cold water pipe along with the equipment.  Is there any problem with this as opposed to grounding the antennas (straight wire) outside with a stake in the ground?

Thanks,

Sam

Some of us are (or were) active contesters.  That skews the numbers the other direction.  I have more QSOs with Japan than you have in your log! 

I am sorry to keep bugging you guys but you are my only source for hard questions and the help is greatly appreciated.

I know that any location questions are very subjective and hard to answer without a "try it and see what happens" testing, so I am hoping for a broad general answer.

I have two options for installation of my off center fed Hy Power Dipole.  The first would be about 16 feet above ground but only 10 feet from an aluminum sided 2 story house.  This option would have the coax run down for about 5 feet and then 90 degrees and 12 feet into the house.  The second option would be be about 25 feet from the house but about 6 feet loser to the ground.  This would have the coax feeding at 90 degrees and running about 27 feet.

Generally, am I better off getting away from the house but losing height or not.

Thanks,

Sam

One more question, what do you do for your rotator cables?

I still disconnect everything when not in use - why invite trouble - easy for me, since I am a small station.

Thankfully these are rare in my collection, however, the ones that I do have, I have successfully managed to incorporate the missing country name onto the card as inconspicuously as I possibly could....What say you? Is not having the name of the country on the card a big deal with some of you?  And is it big deal when using the card for awards?   Love to hear your opinions on this one....

V
KA3NRX

I feel stupid that I don't know this, but... on my tower, I have three ground rods, one for each leg.  Wire attaching the legs to the rods.  The third rod, I have attached back to my ground rods that comprise my grounding system for the shack (3 rods, and includes the service ground rod).

However, do I need to connect the other two ground rods together to the third rod?  Or does the tower take care or that?

If I do, can I use one wire underground to connect the tower rods together?

Right now, I think I have it ok, but I want to make sure.

Does anyone know or have an idea why in these times when the suncycle is suppose to be on the rise and band conditions should be getting better conditions are getting much worse. The SFI has been dropping in numbers everyday.Lots of noise on most HF bands and poor communications. I thought that the rise of sun cycle 24 should be making things much better? The SFI today is only 80. Thanks and 73 Jim. W5JJG

You can add some amount of protection from some induced currents and voltages on a ladderline dipole, however that may not be enough to save your rig from damage.   Protection from a direct lightning strike is probably more trouble than you are willing to go to, and may be impossible depending on space and resources available to rebuild your antenna system.  Ladder line cannot carry lightning current.  It will simple evaporate.  When that happens, there is no way to control the lightning path.  With the ladderline entering the house thru the attic, you should hope the antenna never takes a direct hit.

The ICE open wire suppressors are for lines with impedances of 300 to 600 ohms.  That means an open wire line with a matched antenna (300 to 600 ohm antenna).  A ladderline fed dipole with no matching devices at the antenna doesn't qualify.  A line with high SWR could trigger the suppressor depending on power level and where the suppressor is located.  I don't know what level of voltage the ICE suppressors pass, but on a 600 ohm line at 1KW PEP (rated for the unit), it has to be very high and will be greater than that which will damage a receiver (even passing thru a tuner in the reverse direction).  So this kind of protection does not guarantee no damage.  

A better surge suppressor for a ladderline fed dipole would be some kind of disconnect between the ladderline and tuner.  The ladderline should then be connected to ground.  This of course offers no protection at all for a direct hit.

Jerry, K4SAV

Kingman would be a chip shot for me - even with the demand that must be there, (since it hasn't been activated in 11 years). Navassa and Malpelo would also be somewhat easy - but the pileups will be fierce.

Great that Malpelo is going to be activated, and I have a gut feeling that Navassa will be - since Decheco turned out so well and was also great PR for the ham community.

I think Campbell / Auckland might also be a place that can be activated - but I think its also an environmentally protected area. I think environmentally protected areas will be put on hold for a very very long time.

I wonder if any entity has ever been deleted for "environmental concerns"?