I put my 160 kit on my hytower 18ht this weekend. It is the highpower trap version that mounts on the top of the tower and is basically an inverted ELL. The tower is close on the other HF bands to where it was before. With some minor shifts. However the 160 portion is returning a high vswr. It appears to give a vswr dip at 1900 to about 4 to 1 vswr. I have 24 radials under the tower ranging from 130 feet (4) to about 35 feet. Random lengths. Feeding it with Heliax cable. I have usually had good sucess with Ell antennas and find this one a little puzzling. I plan on doing an impedance sweep to see what I really have. I am wondering If I am having a trap issue. Any thoughts.
Paul, K8IO

I was wondering if that could be done. I dont know how much interaction to expect from The V and U elements as I am sure there would be some, especially on the UHF side. Since the VHF element would be an odd multiple at uhf. I have thought of building something. But frankly I have to much to do now, To embarq on another science project :-).

I am looking for a dual band repeater antenna. Does anyone have experience using a dual band 144/440 antenna in repeater service? What would you recommend?
A little history, I am old school commercial, I like Grounded element antennas, AKA grounded folded dipoles and or Station Master storm king type antennas. RUGGED!
I measure antenna gain in DBD not DBI.  But we have a site where we really need a good dual band full duplex antenna. Looking at 100 plus watts per band again full duplex. And hopefully something that wont explode all over the place everytime the skys turn dark. I know I am asking a lot but is there something out there?

Thanks
Paul
K8IO

A lot of conversing and grumbling about freebanders here and how it is fall out of CB. I propose it isnt.[/quote]


We will just have to disagree, CB is the most popular reference though.


'
How is one illegal ops different from another??I think the only thing different is the fact that the FCC and then other goverments ignored the issue. Emboldening the freebanders. Then Manufacturers flooded the market with radios capable of freebanding with again no enforcement, and now that genie is out of the bottle.

 Well he was monitored from over 60 miles out initially, and was using a directional antenna. A lot of them would "go legit" faced with the option of that or a hefty fine or confiscation of equipment.

Ahh, to my point, last I checked WW2 ended in 1945


6 mhz, 3.4 mhz, I have even come across some guys operating on 35 Mhz using old FM surplus stuff.
http://www.freewebs.com/meterbands/echocharlie.html
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17165250


Its not about how easy it is, its about the fact you have to do something at all.


[/quote]

LOL, agreed on the handshake. I like the heirloom comment. Yea, interference like that ticks me off also. If they are speaking in a language I can comprehend. I might briefly let them know that they have passed into an area that people are watching who do care that they are there, and that they should leave. Doubtful they will leave right then. But if they know they are being watched they might not come back. I might even briefly suggest to them that they look up arrl.org about getting a license. I would NOT try to QRM them into leaving. Geez, that is just as bad or worse than they are.
  The point I would make is Bootleggers might become good HAMS. The guy I spoke of was a leader in introducing and experimenting with new modes to the ham community in his time. Like FM and ATV. Just because they didnt enter into the hobby the "right" way does not mean they are not worth mentoring or bringing along. In Amongst the idiots, I think there is some unrealized talent out there on 11 meters. These are the guys are interested in communicating and learning. Just like hams. Invite them to a club meeting, hold a class to become a ham. My father used to have a saying "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar". I would not operate Freeband, I do use a cb from time to time. And the locals know I am a ham and there are a couple studying for their license.
I hope they get them.

I dont know, does it? It is a statement of fact. Frankly I would not waste much time on them. It is a futile effort till the FCC decides it is a priority. 

Yes, I am. And that is the point I was trying to make. Freebanding is not new, nor exclusive to the 11 meter band.
Unlicensed operation is as old as Licensed radio itself. 

OK, Here we go. Stirring the pot just a bit.  A lot of conversing and grumbling about freebanders here and how it is fall out of CB. I propose it isnt. Here is why. I had a dear old ham friend who is a SK now. Tell me of operating on then 5 meters without a license. And they had quite a group of regulars that operated without licenses. And his Bust from the FCC. He said the fcc looked his station over and told him the only thing he needed was a license. Made him promise to NOT operate again till he got one. Which he did. This was LONG before CB was even a thought. There are freebanders operating on bands far removed from the 11 meter bands.  People want to communicate, but not all will go to the efforts to get a license. Some just like to resist authority. Others are just lazy. Manufacturers are only more than willing to oblige them and make a buck.
 
 

Having been through a couple sunspot cycles and having had the good luck during one of those cycles to be able to operate with mono band yagis I learned the patterns these bands develop. It is a circular pattern starting out in the morning hours with Europe coming in and then moving to the Med, Africa, the Americas in the afternoon and later to the South Pacific, Australia and wrapping up the evening with Japan, India and all things north and that is the usual time for long path. Then if the conditions are good enough it all starts over. I suspect what I was hearing was coming over the pole. And it was coming from an area where there must not be much activity on 27 Mhz. I am suspicious that the signal I heard was NOT an Italian.
73
K8IO 

That is truly scary. Man be careful. I lost a rental house to a space heater/bad wiring situation. Some knuckle head made a flying splice in the attic and buried his handywork in the cellulose insulation. First cold day of the year I get a call. The breaker is tripping and we reset it twice but now the power is out to the outlets. I said kill the breaker and I will head over. They had already shut it off. BUT it took me an hour to get there. Just in time fo find them coming out the door with the kids in tow and smoke coming out the eaves of the house. And Hubby inside trying to save stuff. I called 911 went in and ran him out. Fortunately the FD was there in 5 minutes. Saved most of their stuff. Still it was 67K in damage my insurance paid . And the house was empty 6 months. All because they didnt use a proper junction box. 
K8IO

Your own words,

"I always control the conditions I burn in (temperature, wind, humidity)"

We have no control over these conditions, things can change quickly,
on land, sea or in the air.

73 james
[/quote]

By choosing the conditions you perform a burn in you are controlling the conditions in which you burn not controlling weather but you can twist it anyway you want.
[/quote]
 
I think someone here is arguing because they like to.
That said, There are many risks one takes in life. If you accept the risk then it is YOUR business. I have on occasion refuled my generator "HOT". But it has been a critical situation. And my Honda EX 5500 generator is enclosed in a soundproof enclosure, it has a fuel catch basin is water cooled and has a USFS approved spark arresting muffler. SO I weigh the risk vs the reward. And as an enlightened individual I accept the good with the bad. Would I try a refuel on an open frame air cooled genny screaming away with the fuel tank a scant few inches from the motor exhaust and spark plug. Likely not. But I would not have one of those on a critical load either.
K8IO

YES, I have. And then I have listened to the frequency set for another 15 or 20 minutes as it was Stone quiet. That Ticked me off big time.
On another occasion I asked and they said it was they had a sked upcoming and sure enough in a couple minutes here they came. So no big deal.
What I dislike also is more than once on 40 I have called CQ had a guy answer and then he proceeds to Hijack the frequency with his Buds. Really? How rude.
If they'd have asked I would have said that's OK go ahead. But they thought they were being slick I guess. Like a bunch of snickering sophomores. What LIDs.

Paul
K8IO 

We have had a marvelous 10 meter opening today. As the day progressed I heard all parts of the world in my mobile today. As I checked out 10 at home tonite I noticed it was very quiet. Cept for the locals. So I started listening down in frequency to see where the MUF was at.
While passing by 27.335 a local watering hole for the more civilized CB ops in the Wilmington Ohio area. I paused to listen in. I noticed what sounded like CW very weak. Curious I dug in further. It was sending IU4T in MCW. I switched on my CB and inquired if anyone else heard it and they said they did. So I monitored a Bit.
I noticed on CB CH 15 a conversation in what sounded like Russian. But there was no other "skip" to be heard on the CB band. Anyone have a clue what I was hearing and or can you hear it? At about 04:00 GMT it has SLOWLY faded away and is gone now. It peaked as High as s-3 at one time.  Wierd.
Paul K8IO

Update, I sat down and took the time to trace out the circuits. For those of you familiar with the Viking II. I compared this to the Viking II manual I had and it appears to be the same in every aspect, RFI filtering, 6146 tubes, Plate choke placement the case top and labeling, EXCEPT r13 has double slider taps. No clamp tube or adjustment, no holes, just bare metal where they should be. And it has an extra wafer on the Phone/CW switch. This is to allow set up of the modulators screen bias and to set up the CW mode final amp screen bias. The extra switch wafer is to accommodate the extra switching needed. I can provide the schematic if anyone is interested. It gets its screen on Phone from a 20 K feeding from the modulated plate supply. And the modulator gets its bias from this resistor. On CW they switch off the Modulator screen and provide final screen bias from the second R 13 tap. I set it up to pull about 75 Ma key up on CW and 200 ma key down at about 90 watts out. I could get a lot more out on CW but at the cost of more current on the tube in Key up mode. If 90 watts wont do it. Put on the afterburner! The actual problem was R13 had some damage. A trip to the surplus store in Dayton and I found a "new" 20 K 50 watt ohmite dividohm resistor! On phone it is running about 210 ma putting out about 100 watts at 100% modulation on the scope. If I remove the RF drive on phone the plate current jumps up. But that is expected because the clamper tube is not there. I can live with that. I dont run transmitters without drive much.  Maybe some day I will find out if this was an early unit, a special, or what. Till then, I will enjoy putting it on the air.   
Thanks for all the comments.
De Paul,
K8IO

I have taken some time and looked over this thing a little more. Comparing it to the Viking 1 chassis photos it is slightly different. The placement of the plate choke is as in the Viking II. It is not a hinged top. And there is no evidence of any "hacking" to get the 6146 tubes in. Also the silkscreening on the front says viking II, It has all the TVI filtering in place. And the components in the screen circuit compare value wise to the Viking II, not the Viking 1. It certainly had me scratching my head. I will spend some time reverse engineering and create a true schematic for it to make sure there are not any other gotchas with it. Still hoping someone out there knows what this thing is all about.