N1JAO: You haven't described this very well.  You said, "the swr on the rigs..."

The rigs don't have any SWR.  SWR is the ratio of your feedline impedance to your antenna impedance, and that's all it is.  It has nothing to do with rigs, transmitters, or amplifiers.

Can you describe with a bit more detail what's going on?

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

Sure.  The 22'er Mk II was the second-generation Clegg 22'er, built by E.T. Clegg Labs in New Jersey.

It was an AM transceiver that ran 40W output power, plate modulated, with a 144-148 MHz tunable receiver and a built-in (but separately controlled) VFO for the transmitter.  It had a built-in 120Vac power supply.  Just add a microphone and antenna and you're on the air.

This was actually a very nice rig, and had great modulation, as did all Clegg products.  (Clegg was a real fussbudget about modulation -- if it didn't sound great, he didn't want to sell it.)

Rig was on the market in, oh, about 1970, for a couple of years and was one of the last products ever made by Clegg -- although the two meter FM units, the FM27, FM27A and FM27B, and the FM28 that followed, kept Clegg popular in ham circles for a few more years.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

It would be best, if you're thinking of investing in a solar panel system, to buy the battery recommended by the solar panel system manufacturer; I'd invest in both simultaneously, rather than separately, to be assured of getting the best deal, and also getting compatible components (panels, chargers, batteries).

Solar panels have come down in price to the point where 12V systems are readily available for about $5.00 per Watt of DC power delivered.  That's still pricey, but way lower than they were a few years ago.

I've used the Solarex SX-80 and the Siemens SR-100 at Field Day, both are $5/W in cost and are user-friendly, resiliant products.

Try:

<http://www.altenergystore.com>

<http://www.allnaturalpower.com>

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

I don't know why you're using PVC, maybe for weight savings/portability.  In any case, you can make a 1/4-wave ground plane antenna out of the hamstick and four radial wires about 16' long each, spread out like spokes of a wheel (that is, one radial each 90 degrees around the circle), and drooping at a 45 degree angle down towards earth from the feedpoint.  The radials must be connected to the coaxial cable shield; this can be accomplished with most 3/8-24" stud antenna mount brackets, or could be accomplished by pinching the stripped ends of the radial wires to the PL259 outer shell using a 1" diameter hose clamp.

If you have a 20' PVC mast and use 16' long radials drooping at 45 degrees, the bottom ends of the radial wires will be about 12' above ground, which is a great idea because they'll work well up there and will be out of the way of people.  Tie each radial wire off with a piece of string and pull each one taut, then use tent stakes to hold the four strings in place on the ground.

This is an earth-independant ground plane design which will work very well and provide lots of contacts.  It will certainly work better than a "ground wire" connected to earth.  Cost is approximately "nothing" for the added performance provided.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

You obviously don't have this radio, or you'd know:

Press PWR (button)
Output power is indicated on display screen
To turn power up, rotate MULTI/CH control clockwise
To turn power down, rotate MULTI/CH control counterclockwise
(Power is adjustable in 5W steps from 5W to 100W)
Read display screen to see power setting
When you have the setting you want, press PWR again.

That's it.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

There's lots of things you can use.  Personally, I've used tennis balls with two slots (cut into each ball on opposite sides, using a pocket knife).  Cut the slots, push the ladder line through, pull it out the other end, run the line several feet and repeat the process.  Then I just use tape to tape the tennis balls to the metal mast.  Wonderful standoff insulators that are "free," since I'm an avid tennis player and always have lots of "dead" balls around.

Options abound -- surplus Tupperware containers, anything made of UV-resistant plastic -- it doesn't matter.  I like the tennis balls, though!

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

Yes, the European-made remote switches sold by SSB Electronic USA are pretty good, and I've used them.

However, again, the Transco mil-spec surplus motorized remote antenna switches need not cost $400!  I've bought them from Fair Radio Sales for $100, and found them at local swap meets (TRW Swap Meet, Redondo Beach, CA -- monthly!) for much less than that.  I think the last one I bought at the Swap Meet I got from Roger, K6SMF.  I don't have his phone # or e-mail address handy (don't really need them, he lives only two miles from me!), but he has an enormous stock of surplus items like this and might have some Transcos.  Try looking up Roger and see if he has one.

$400 is kind of ridiculous.  These products were manufactured locally (here in CA) and are abundant.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

A balun won't help with the system you describe.  A balun (BALanced to UNbalanced transformer) transforms a balanced load (dipole) to an unbalanced transmission line (coax).  What you describe is an unbalanced to unbalanced system, since you're end-feeding a long wire.

You could build an "unun" (UNbalanced to UNbalanced) transformer, and W2FMI's book on Baluns and Ununs describe everything you need to know regarding this; however, again, that probably won't help much because a long wire antenna will have a feedpoint impedance that varies tremendously with frequency.  When it's near 1/4-wavelength long at the operating frequency, the feedpoint impedance will be very low.  When it's near 1/2-wavlength long at the operating frequency, the feedpoint impedance will be very high.  A balun or unun can only be wound for one impedance transformation ratio, so will only be helpful on one band, and can only be calculated based on operating frequency and exact wire length.

What you really need up in the attic is an antenna tuner!  Realizing it would be very difficult for you to run up to the attic every time you change frequencies (to adjust the tuner to new proper settings), I'd recommend you use an "automatic" tuner that just finds the proper settings all by itself.  

SGC <http://www.sgcworld.com> makes excellent automatic remote tuner products that are very well accepted worldwide.  I've used theirs, and they work but are pricey.  LDG Electronics <http://www.ldgelectronics.com> makes less expensive auto tuners in both kit and factory-assembled form, and they work quite well also, but don't have the very broad range that the SGC tuners have.  And of course Kenwood and Icom have autotuners intended for use with their miniaturized transceivers (also rather expensive products).

But feeding a long wire antenna with coaxial cable, unless a tuner is placed right at the wire feedpoint (between the coax and the wire) is really a bad situation.  Any frequency where the wire will present a high impedance load for the cable will be disastrous -- literally ALL the signal (both transmitted and received) will be absorbed in the coaxial cable because of the high shunt capacitance presented by the cable (50 ohm cable is typically 26.5pf per foot!).  It's much better to feed a long wire antenna with the wire itself, allowing the wire (not coax) to come all the way into the shack, to a tuner near your transmitter.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

You're very observant!

The Ameritron hard-wired unit is good to 150 MHz, but I wouldn't trust it at 440 MHz.  Ditto goes for the (now obsolete, but still available "used") Heathkit remote antenna switch.

The WX0B Stack Match remote antenna relays: Ditto.  Handle lots of power, but only for HF.

What's a ham to do?

Try picking up a surplus Transco motorized coaxial switch!  They are readily available on the surplus market, last ones I purchased were from Fair Radio Sales in Ohio <http://www.fairradio.com>.  Transco made many varieties of true coaxial remote switches, good to way past 500 MHz -- in fact, some were good to 6 GHz.  They all have Type N connectors, but it's not "relays in a box," they are true machined coaxial switches that are motor driven.  Most, unfortunately, are set for operation on 26Vdc (and not the more convenient 12Vdc), but they will work with two 12Vdc power supplies wired up in series to provide 24V.

These were made mostly for avionic and military use and were horrendously expensive new...but can be found surplus in the $100 range, and very well worth it!

Good hunting & 73

Steve WB2WIK/6

With a QRP rig like the K1, it's pretty easy.  Assuming your scope covers the RF range and is reasonably well calibrated, just use it to measure the RF voltage across a 50 Ohm dummy load (resistor) connected to the K1 and key it up!

Power = E(squared) / R

P is Watts
E is volts
R is the resistance, which in this case is 50 Ohms

If the voltage, for example, measures 10V (key-down carrier), then in a 50 Ohm system, Power = 100/50, or 2 Watts.  If the voltage measures 15V, P = 225/50, or 4.5 Watts.

It's that simple.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

It's not just bunk.

Here are facts to remember about antennas and transmission lines:

1.  All power delivered by a transmitter gets radiated by its antenna, except that lost in the transmission line or dissipated in the antenna.  Period.  "Reflected power" gets re-delivered to the load, minus feedline loss, and does not get absorbed or dissipated in the transmitter.

2.  An ATU in your shack will be very helpful for antennas that cannot otherwise be matched.  However, dipoles can be built for resonance and an excellent match to coaxial cable -- in such cases, a tuner is certainly not required nor even desirable.

3.  The law of reciprocity applies to all antennas; any antenna is an equally effective and efficient radiator and receptor.

4.  "Full sized" antennas, such as a 1/2-wave dipole, which incorporate no traps or loading devices, nor resistive balancing networks (such as T2FD antennas have), are extremely efficient and dissipate almost no energy, provided they are built from good conducting materials, e.g., copper and aluminum (also brass, and other copper and aluminum alloys).

Thus, there is no reason whatever for using a tuner with a resonant dipole.  However, if multiband operation is intended with just a single dipole (which is cut for only one band), then a tuner can help a great deal by providing a better match to both your transmitter and your receiver.  The only loss in this case is that signal which is dissipated by the transmission line itself.  Since mismatched coaxial cable is considerably more lossy than mismatched open wire or ladder line, when you are intentionally using mismatched antennas it really does pay to use open wire or ladder line as opposed to coaxial cable.

The minor mismatch occurring at band edges when using a dipole cut for resonance in the band center is easily tuned out by a shack-installed ATU.  A 40 meter dipole cut for 7150 kHz and dipping to VSWR = 1.0 at that frequency will normally provide VSWR = 2.0 or so at band edges.  Unless you have an extraordinarily lossy feedline, this minor mismatch, tuned out by a shack-installed ATU, is very acceptable and you won't lose much.  The "serious" mismatch which occurs when running, say, 20 meters using a 40 meter dipole (VSWR = about 40:1) is something so severe that, even using a shack-installed ATU, will limit antenna performance very badly.  In such a situation, you'd want to use very low-loss feedline such as open-wire, or use an antenna matching network that is located at the antenna feedpoint, and not in the shack, to eliminate the added loss of the transmission line.

Antenna-mounted tuners still abound.  Today, they exist in all the mini-loop type antennas (such as the MFJ Hi-Q Loop products), and also in the form of "smart" autotuners such as those made by SGC.  The smart tuner, instead of using a rotary inductor driven by a motor, uses lots of small, fast-acting relays to place reactive components (L and/or C) in series/shunt combinations with the antenna to tune out the antenna's reactance and make it look like a 50 Ohm resistive load.  Phase sensing circuitry performs the function of determining what combinations of L and C are required, and nonvolatile memory stores the selection, based on frequency, so when you operate on that frequency again, the correct combinations will automatically be switched in, and the tuner won't have to "search" for them next time.

These work extremely well, although they are somewhat costly and have power handling limitations.

Cushcraft made a 1/2-wave, base-fed vertical antenna for 10-15-20m called the "R3" several years ago that had its own built-in, motor-driven antenna tuner located right at its feedpoint.  That was an extremely effective antenna, although not "automatic."  You had to engage the tuning motor using a control box in the shack and then use a separate SWR bridge to stop the motor at the "dip" point.  A great idea, and they sold thousands of these.  I had one, back in about 1978, and it worked very, very well.  The "multiband, no tune" vertical HF antennas today are not as effective, although they do cover more bands and require no operator intervention.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

I'd recommend making the ends a tad lower, to provide a more vertical angle to the slope of the antenna wires.  You shouldn't make the ends so low that people can come in contact with them, but 7 or 8 feet above ground is usually high enough, and will increase your "slope angle" to something more vertical -- this will allow the antenna a lower radiation angle and all-around better performance.

Also, contrary to one post here, I would recommend using insulated wire.  A nice, tough insulation will help reduce the cutting effects of abrasion caused by tree branches, especially when the wind blows.  I've had many seemingly tough antennas sawed in half by tree branches -- even using #12 copperweld, which is pretty strong stuff.  But my Teflon-insulated wires have taken a lot of abuse.

No advantage to 300 Ohm twin lead, I'd opt for 450 Ohm ladder line.  Whether you make twists in the LL or not (one post recommended a full twist every two feet), this won't impact performance and is usually recommended as a (receive) noise-reduction technique.  May help, may not -- no harm in trying.

And when cutting your "random" wire lengths, try to avoid making the antenna 1 wavelength long, overall -- this is a situation that is very difficult to match, even with LL feed and a tuner.  1 wavelength on 40 is 133', 1 wave on 20 is 67 feet, etc.  Sounds like you have enough space to intentionally avoid the 1-wavelength problem.  (Reason 1-wavelength overall is a really bad idea is because this presents an extremely high feedpoint impedance, probably >2000 Ohms, at this length.  That's tough to match with anything.  Since you're going "random," it should be easy to avoid.)

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

Having owned and used both, I'd opt for the MFJ-259B.  It costs a bit more than the RF-1 but has much extended tuning range, a pair of real analog meters which are much easier to work with than a digital display (you can "dip" a meter -- it's very tough, and time-consuming, to tune for a "dip" with a digital display), and has several available (optional) accessories which add to its functionality.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

I use (at home, not in the field) an industrial grade two-point electrical soldering station, it delivers 900W instantaneously (no warm-up time).  You place the two electric probes on opposite sides of the PL-259 body, depress the footswitch, and apply solder to the four holes.  Solder instantly flows and fills the holes, perfectly wetting the body of the connector in the process, and the entire operation takes about one second.  The finished results are very clean and shiny.  I suspect that many "factory assembled" cables are done this way, since labor is expensive and production throughput is important.  Using the 900W station, I could solder 4-6 cable assemblies per minute, or 240 to 360 per hour (if I didn't get tired).  The longest thing about the process is the cool-down time for the connectors -- they stay very hot for minutes, so you can't handle them.

In lieu of this, and the 900W station is not a "field portable" type of instrument: In the field, I normally use an "American Beauty" or equivalent very large-tipped iron.  Wattage rating isn't particularly important, although the higher powered irons will heat up faster.  But my old SP-120 Weller (120W) with it's big 1" wide chisel tip, while taking 5-6 minutes to heat up, does the job for PL-259's just fine.

It's not how fast the iron heats that matters: It's how slowly it cools off.  And the only thing that can make the iron cool off slowly is having a huge thermal mass, many times more thermal mass than the product being soldered to.  The tip's thermal mass greatly exceeds the load's, and as such when the tip is placed against the PL-259 body, heat transfers very quickly and the connector is not much of a "heat sink" for the iron's tip -- the tip is just too large to cool off.

Using the SP-120, I can solder a PL-259 connector body in about five to ten seconds.   The trick in all cases is to get "on and off" the connector body as quickly as possible, to avoid stressing the coaxial cable dielectric.  Unless it's Teflon cable, the other coax dielectrics melt at a low temperature and can be permanently damaged by prolonged heat exposure.

Soldering "guns" really can't do this job -- their thermal mass isn't nearly sufficient for the job; however, the electrical welding apparatus as described by Dale (BYU) in his post regarding removing the soldering gun's tip altogether and using the two electrical probes placed directly against the connector body, works well and is a small-scale version of my 900W Hughes soldering station.

The silver-plated PL-259's are much easier to solder to than other kinds, so I always use them.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6

I think you're confusing PLL with frequency synthesized.  

Also, the increase in noise floor and reduction in MDS created by phase noise (which is created by all RF oscillators to some degree, it varies by design and implementation) should have the same impact on 28 MHz as it has on 3.8 MHz; so I don't know why the effect you note is specific to 75 meters -- it shouldn't be.

Actually, if an effect is noted, it should be more strongly noted the other way around; that is, since atmospheric noise is inherantly higher at 3.8 MHz than it is at 28 MHz, "natural" or "sun" noise (broadband static created by solar emissions and lightning) usually masks weak signals much more so at the lower frequency, making the receiver itself much less prone to MDS reduction by phase noise at the lower frequency.

If there's an obvious difference in readability of signals on 75m when switching from one receiver to another, it's likely the difference is caused by other factors, unless the "PLL" radio has some specific problem.  

PLL alone is used to frequency stabilize tunable oscillators by phase locking them to a highly stable reference source, like a crystal oscillator.  That's all it does.  Frequency synthesis is a different thing entirely; this is creating signals using digital technology.  The signals so created are square waves, not sine waves, and are extremely rich in harmonics which must be filtered in order to make the synthesized signal useful.   Normally, frequency synthesizers are phase-locked to a crystal-controlled time base, so "synthesized" and "phase-locked" typically go together.

However, some radios, such as some Ten Tec models (among others) use analog VFO's (not synthesized) which are still frequency stabilized using a PLL.  They do tend to generate less "phase noise," and might indeed have a lower noise floor as a result.  But that noise floor would normally be masked in 99% of all applications using an outdoor antenna on a frequency as low as 75 meters.

73 de Steve WB2WIK/6