Here's an ad for the Gonset bantam bowtie beam.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?pdzdbz39c9r1yr0

I worked TR8JLD in 1983 and immediately sent a card to his stateside QSL manager but he returned it because he didn't have the logs yet. A few months ago I was looking through my old logs and found my notation of what happened. I tried again via the QSL manager and finally got the card 29 years later.

Your videos are very good because you use a tripod and you immediately dive right into the subject. Many other Youtube videos start with an unneccessary rambling talking-head monologue.  However, in this video most of the front panel views are out of focus. This is ok with low-definition video but it shows up in HD.

Here's one amusing way to handle a tail-ender.  Suppose W6XXX was incessantly calling on top of a station you are trying to copy.  After finishing, say "The XXX station next". After W6XXX replies, say "The XXX station only please all others stand by".  After repeating this several times, say "Sorry XXX you are being QRMed. QRZ anybody else?".

Menu item 068 will allow a user-selectable delay of 15 to 30 msec between when the key is pressed and the RF is transmitted to the amplifier. This prevents hot-switching of modern linear amplifiers. Older amplifiers might require more than 30 msec. This will delay the entire code sequence and not just the initial dit.

Your audio stages could be oscillating when the mic is connected or your mic may be picking up rf. Does the problem exist when the audio gain control is turned all the way down?

I suggest you get a stiff wire and bend a hook at the end. This tool is handy for routing the string around. Cut some small strips of masking tape and have them handy. Whenever you loop around a pulley, loosely apply a bridge of tape on the pulley to prevent the string from slipping off. Start from the end which doesn't have the spring. Finally slip a small screwdriver tip into the spring loop, stretch the spring, and lever the loop over the tab. Then remove all tape.

You can possibly isolate the problem IF stage by doing the following.

Remove tube V503 and insert one lead of a 0.01 uF capacitor into pin 5. (Caution high voltage present at this plate pin). Connect the signal generator to the other lead of the capacitor and set the generator level for the same output level you used in previous tests. Repeat the drift test. If it still drifts, the problem is after V503. If the drift disappears, the problem is in front of V503 so reinsert V503, remove V502, insert the capacitor at pin 5, and repeat the test. Work your way back up to the input tube V501 until you find the drift occurs.

You can also perform this isolating test by inserting the signal generator at a tube grid instead of the plate. The tube must be in place so you have figure a way to route the signal generator signal under the IF subchassis.

Does your spectrum analyzer have an input attenuator?  If so, increase the input attenuation through several steps and note the shift in the spectrum display.  The fundamental and all of the harmonics should decrease by the same amount as attenuation is added.  If the harmonics decrease more than the fundamental then your analyzer is generating much of the harmonic spurs due to overload.

That was probably the Gonset bantam beam which was available in a 20-meter or a 15-meter model. It sold for $63 in 1959.

There was a ham (N6NB) who had a crank-up tower mounted on a trailer. He would drive to various ham stations and set up a reference antenna at the same height as the station antenna and measure relative antenna gain. He then compared the relative gains for different station antennas. His main purpose was to compare quad antennas vs yagi antennas but he also made measurements on tri-band trap yagi antennas.  The results were published in one of the ham magazines. He concluded that the trap yagis had a narrower bandwidth so when adjusted for optimum gain in the phone portion of the band, the gain was much poorer in the cw portion.

If you use a common passive splitter as a combiner you will often have a loss from each antenna input to the output.  For example if you use a two-way splitter backwards as a two-way combiner, there will be a 3 dB loss from each input to the output.  However in the rare case where both input signals are equal in amplitude, frequency, and phase, there will be a 3 dB gain from each input to the output.  If there is man-made noise in your area, you want to avoid the possibility of the noise at both combiner inputs being coherent in phase.

If you misplace your calculator, another handy thing to remember is there is roughly a linear relationship in dB vs voltage factor from 0 to -3 dB. This is not true beyond the 0 to -3dB range.

0 dB = 1.0 X
-1 dB = 0.9 X
-2 dB = 0.8 X
-3 dB = 0.7 X

If you square the voltage factors you get the power factors:

0 dB = 1.0 X
-1 dB = 0.81 X
-2 dB = 0.64 X
-3 dB = 0.49 X

I once purchased a Collins 75A-3 with a bad front panel, pitted chassis, and open power transformer for $100. Unusually, it had a 4:1 vernier drive. Over time, hams would advertise they were looking for certain 75A-3 parts. I sold the S-meter ($20), PTO ($35), cabinet ($115), slug rack cover ($20), round dial ($20), ps choke ($20), and audio transformer ($15). I kept the vernier drive, mechanical filter assembly, tubes, and knobs for myself. I made a few bucks and helped restore seven other 75A-3 receivers. However, you should realize there is a larger demand for 75A-3 parts than 75A-1 parts.

I made one from a screwdriver with a thin blade 7/32" wide. I used a Dremel motor tool with a metal grinding tip to grind a slot 5/32" wide and 1/4" deep. This left a fork tip with two 1/32" tips.