Hmm.  Should I wire the diode in the positive power lead, or across the two terminals, or what?  I'm looking online, and all I can see is that Schottky diodes are good for reverse battery protection, nothing about isolation.

I currently use a "battery tender" to keep my batteries charged.  I don't have an uninterruptible setup at the moment -- that's what I'm hoping to design here.

The reason to support two batteries is bifold -- with Field Day rules, a battery-powered station can charge its batteries offline using wall current or generators and still count; and in a real-life emergency situation, I'd probably want to switch without shutting down everything.

I looked at the latest QST and didn't see the battery article.  Could you tell me which article you saw?

A similar post was made to rec.radio.amateur.misc.

My goal is to design a station that:
 * continually charges its batteries,
 * maintains power uninterruptedly when commercial power fails, and
 * can handle batteries being switched in and out.

My goal is to use two power panels -- one for consumers and one for producers.  The two panels would be connected together by thick wire terminated in Anderson connectors.
The producer panel would have one connection for the power supply, which leaves four connections for batteries.  The batteries are all the same make and model and age, all large deep-cycle batteries.

Is it really this easy?  Am I missing something?  Should I modify the power supply so it doesn't get zorched when commercial power fails?  Should I install some kind of relay between the battery and the panel to prevent the battery from being damaged by low voltage?  Will I have any trouble with the radio equipment if I plug in a fresh battery in parallel to a nearly-spent battery before unplugging the nearly-spent battery?

Here's an update on the antenna situation.

I set (most of) it up yesterday and got great reception on several bands.  I didn't install the third "inverted vee" dipole for 10m, but the 40m dipole and the 20m dipole work wonderfully.

I tuned up and found out about the California QSO Party.  I was able to get 72 QSO's from 1700 PST yesterday to 1500 PST today, with plenty of sleep and rest.  I ran into a problem which is probably very familiar to you in that people didn't think I was from California at first, but it all worked out in the end.

http://www.twilley.org/~jmt/feedpoint.jpg - an image of the feedpoint, showing the ends of the dipoles and the feedpoint, including the choke on the feedline.

http://www.twilley.org/~jmt/outerstake.jpg - the outer support is flexing under the load.  If I had only used two supports, the dipole would have been a vee -- with four supports, it's now something like this: --\/--

My plan is to boost the feedpoint on its own support, which will relieve stress, straighten the wires, and allow for that third dipole to be installed.

Thanks again for your help.

While I would dearly love to have one sixty-foot support instead of four fifteen-foot supports, that can't happen at my current location.  Fifteen feet is about as high as I can go without moving.

Besides, it'll be better than my current antenna, which is none at all. :-)

I have the opportunity to set up a dipole sized for 40 meters.  It occurred to me that maybe I should consider setting up additional dipoles sized for 20 meters and for 10 meters.

I will have four supports approximately fifteen feet in height and arranged in a line.  

What would work best:  having all three dipoles collinear  and with their insulation touching, or to have the 40 meter dipole be flat, the 20 meter dipole be an "outer" inverted vee, and the 10 meter dipole be an "inner" inverted vee?

I have an MFJ Versa-Tuner between the antennas and my Kenwood TS-420, if that helps.

First, of course, one would have to define goals for Field Day.  For me, those goals would include in no particular order:
 * introducing the public to ham radio
 * practicing emergency comms under disaster conditions
 * scoring well

The following requirements would then follow, again, in no particular order:
 * the ability to run a generator 24/7
 * the ability to camp overnight
 * the ability to set up or string up antennas
 * public visibility

What do you think?

I'm writing an APRS client in Ruby, so I've spent a lot of time staring at packets. I think I understand how RELAY works -- whatever station repeats RELAY packets replaces RELAY with their callsign. WIDE works the same way, but what about WIDEN-n? I've collected some packets with my AEA TNC to demonstrate my confusion.

KE6STH>W6CX-3*>WIDE>SWRRSR:'1PQ!68k/]"4%}Sione ke6sth@arrl.net
KE6STH>W6CX-3>W6CO-5*>SWRRSR:'1PQ!68k/]"4%}Sione ke6sth@arrl.net

In this case, WIDE is being replaced with W6CO-5 when that station repeats the packet. That makes perfect sense.

K6HG-9*>WIDE2-1>S7RURP:'2]1l sk/]"3q}
K6HG-9>WIDE2*>S7RURP:'2]1l sk/]"3q}

What station is repeating this packet? I can't tell. What's supposed to happen here?

KE6TIP-3*>WIDE4-3>APRS:!3757.24NN12218.40W#PHG4268/A=000850/SanPabloRidge,Richmond
KE6TIP-3*>WIDE4-2>APRS:!3757.24NN12218.40W#PHG4268/A=000850/SanPabloRidge,Richmond

This fascinates me. Why does the same station -- the originating station even -- repeat a packet and decrement the counter?

Help!
 

I'm writing an APRS client in Ruby, so I've spent a lot of time staring at packets.  I think I understand how RELAY works -- whatever station repeats RELAY packets replaces RELAY with their callsign.  WIDE works the same way, but what about WIDEN-n?  I've collected some packets with my AEA TNC to demonstrate my confusion.

KE6STH>W6CX-3*>WIDE>SWRRSR:'1PQ!68k/]"4%}Sione  ke6sth@arrl.net
KE6STH>W6CX-3>W6CO-5*>SWRRSR:'1PQ!68k/]"4%}Sione ke6sth@arrl.net

In this case, WIDE is being replaced with W6CO-5 when that station repeats the packet.  That makes perfect sense.

K6HG-9*>WIDE2-1>S7RURP:'2]1l sk/]"3q}
K6HG-9>WIDE2*>S7RURP:'2]1l sk/]"3q}

What station is repeating this packet?  I can't tell.  What's supposed to happen here?

KE6TIP-3*>WIDE4-3>APRS:!3757.24NN12218.40W#PHG4268/A=000850/SanPabloRidge,Richmond
KE6TIP-3*>WIDE4-2>APRS:!3757.24NN12218.40W#PHG4268/A=000850/SanPabloRidge,Richmond

This fascinates me. Why does the same station -- the originating station even -- repeat a packet and decrement the counter?

Help!

I have a Kenwood TS-520.  I bought a CW7 and built it according to the directions and tested it every way I could.

When I connect the kit to the rig, I get a constant tone as if I were holding down a straight key.  Disconnecting the kit breaks the circuit.  I figured that there was something wrong with my construction and called Ramsey, but the tech I talked to couldn't find anything wrong.

I bought another kit and assembled it.  I was careful and tested everything I could.  I finally finished and to my surprise I got the same exact result.

It's possible that I screwed up both kits in exactly the same order.  I don't think that's the problem.  I suspect that there's something about my rig that doesn't like this kit -- does anyone know what I need to do to make this work?

The group wasn't that helpful.

I disassembled the radio, ensured that the cables were all connected properly, then reassembled the radio.

It's still broken.  I guess I'll have to call Kenwood.

I've emailed that list.  Maybe they'll have a useful suggestion for me.

Thanks!

Every once in a while, my Kenwood TH-D7 does this inverse video thing.  I can see all the LCD stuff "turned on" that's normally turned off, and vice versa.  If the TNC is turned on, I don't see TNC, but I see STA and CON, for example.

In addition, the text window is inverse as well -- all dark instead of blank.  The really wierd part is that often the text is upside-down.

What's the best way to make this work normally again?  Usually I just wait and eventually it stops being broken, but I'd rather take some kind of proactive approach this time.

I have this same exact problem.

The manual mentions *nothing* about closing the key.  Here is that last section:

--begin section--
PLATE AND LOAD TUNING

CAUTION
When the MODE switch is in the CW position the final tubes draw full plate current in transmit.
Final tube life is directly related to the length of tune-up periods.  Do not transmit with the tubes out of resonance for more than 10 seconds at a time.

Turn the MODE switch to CW, turn the METER switch to RF, and set the stand-by switch to the SEND position.  Quickly adjust the PLATE control and then the LOAD control alternately to peak (maximum meter deflection) the power output.  If necessary, adjust the RF Volt control on the side panel to bring the output reading to about a 2/3 scale rating.
--end section--

The other times I've tuned it up, I haven't had to close the key.

If new tubes will help, I'll go tube shopping.  I'm also interested in an email copy of the service manual.

I'm using the house itself as a lightning ground, as neither of my antennas is any higher than the house nor are they further than ten feet from my house.  Yes, it kills performance, but on the bright side, the  house itself will be more likely struck by lightning.  I will probably set up a lightning ground in the future as my antennas grow but since my backyard is only nine feet deep, there's not much that I can do there.

This is the second reference I've seen to flat copper instead of wire for RF grounding but I haven't seen any explanation for it.  I confess my experience with grounding is limited and I have none with RF grounding, so I'm terribly curious as to what's behind this rationale.  Also, is this something I can pick up at Home Depot?  I'll ask about "flat tinned grounding braid" but I suspect I'm going to come up dry.

Thanks for the reminder with regard to the Field Day rules.  My day-to-day operation will have four deep-cycle batteries between my equipment and the wall socket -- I'll have to be sure to set them up in pairs for the event.  Charging one pair while working the other is acceptable if I read the rules correctly -- feel free to correct me, please!