I am contemplating a backyard 48 foot tower with a 3 element SteppIR. I am concerned that I have 3 story appartment buildings on the East and North sides of my property. They are about 100 feet away from the proposed tower location. I am guessint their height at 40 feet to their roofs. Will this affect the performance of the beam? Is the SteppIR a good choice?
73 de me BLB

I'm looking for the person who got me interested in amateur radio in the late 50's. His call was W9RVX and his name was Charles Bellinski (or sky) and we lived in Waukegan, Illinois.
Any help will be appreciated.
73 de me BLB
Bruce Brown Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

I am trying to receive the railroad frequencies on my TM-V7 at around 159 to 161 mHz.
Is there any way this is possible?
Thanks,
73 de me BLB

A few years ago, I had an R8 installed on my roof. It did not work as well as I expected. I tried to get a new 40 meter trap from the dealer but could not. So I wrote a couple of reviews to QRZ.
Now, I have appealed to Cushcraft directly to inform them that the unit was now totally unuseable.
Even though this antenna is well out of warantee, Cushcraft agreed to supply me with both traps and the matchbox at no charge. The only stipulation was that I return the defective parts for their evaluation.
The new parts have been installed and the antenna now works equally well on all bands and to specified parameters.
My thanks to cushcraft.
Bruce Brown
Winnipeg

I bought my R8 new in 2002. Most bands tested out per specs unti I lost 40M after about 2 months. After 14 months of haggling with my Canadian dealer and Cushcraft, I received at no charge, a new 40M trap.
This corrected the problem. Now 1 year later, the same conditions are appearing. No 40M. Infinite SWR. All other bands are "useable" but not great. 2 or 3 to one.
Has anybody else had this problem.
Rig is TS560 and all tuning and SWR measurements made at 5W. Could the "black box" at the base  cause a failure of the trap?
I won't be able to get to the antenna till spring but I want to be prepared as they say.
73 de me BLB

Oops, I apologize fer mspellin in my furst post.
However, the phone number I gave to the answering machine, was my home phone. If you are indeed, the good doctor that you claim to be, I would have received the call.
Fess up, who are you?
BLB

I think you have me mixed up with another person. I don't recall or see any reference to "your desperate" Besides,  I know how to spell and am considered somewhat a grammarian.
How come my phone call was not returned?
BLB

OK "DROLLTROLL, I checked out the very impressive web site. I strongly suspect that it isn't yours at all. I left a message for that person to call me. He apparently hasn't a clue as to who I am as the call was not returned.
BLB

Thank you "DROLLTROLL" for the words of your apparent wisdom. If you had the stones to put ypour name or address in your profile, I would have contacted you privately.
FYI, The new controller and modules were purchased from Farnbrook, NOT radio Shack!!
72 2U

This is probably off topic but I'm desparate.
I have a Radio Shack mini controller which used to control some lights in my home. Now, it has quit turning the lights on. It will turn them off, but not on. I replaced the remote modules and the controller with new ones. Same problem. I tried all possible switch combinations. Same problem.
Does anyone have any ideas?
73 de me BLB

My old Kenwood remote speaker has switches that refuse to quiet down even after spraying with tech spray silicone cleaner.  The pots on the TX are also noisy although I haven't attempted to clean them as yet What is a good procedure to clean these difficult to replace components?
73 de me BLB

When using this radio on SSB, How do you regulate the power output? I hate to blast my close qso's with 100W when 5 would do.
Thanks and:
73 de me BLB

My TM V7A started to keep transmitting last night. Tracked it down to a sticking #3 button! It acted as if the PTT was the culprit but it wasn't. Does anybody know how best to fix the sticky problem?
73 de me BLB

Do you need to "cycle" Nickle Metal Hydroxide batteries like Ni Cads? The Ni Cads have a "memory" so complete charge / discharge cycles are recomended. The NiMH batteries I now have do not specify to cycle or not. Any info on this will be appreciated.
73 de me BLB

I am learning to transmit (send) and bought a BY-1 Bencher. I want to learn the best way possible andwant to know how to position my fingers on the paddles as well as where the key should be located on the desk relative to the radio. I am basically left handed but can learn either hand. I thought I would learn right hand so I can use other stations rigs without too many problems. Any ideas will be appreciated and thanks.
         73 de me BLB