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eHam Forums / Antennas and Towers and more / RE: real north versus magnetic north
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on: March 06, 2012, 06:17:25 AM
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I used the stick and solar noon method to align my antennas and solar panels. Very precise. 1. Select a straight stick or pole, about 3 ft long. 2. Pound stick into ground a few inches. Align stick to be perfectly vertical using a level. 3. Enter your longtitude in solar noon calculator to get time adjustment for solar noon vs time zone noon. http://www.solar-noon.com4. Get time zone noon for your month and day from calculator. At my place in Colorado, for example, time zone noon (for solar noon) will vary from about 11:45 to about 12:15, depending on date. If you are near an edge of a time zone the difference will be greater. 5. At the prescribed time zone noon, mark the shadow from the stick. That is exactly true north.
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125
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eHam Forums / HomeBrew / RE: Sourceing glowbug transmitter parts
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on: March 04, 2012, 07:30:10 AM
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Brian, most vintage type parts are not available from current suppliers. Some are, but prices are super high. Local hams (vintage like me) might well have big junk boxes and would be willing to part with stuff. Also hamfests are real good sources, especially the big ones like Dayton Hamvention. Another possibility is to purchase a homebrew transmitter on ebay for parts. Usually the homebrew stuff goes for very little. Another possibility is a "for parts/repair" commercial rig that goes cheap.
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126
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eHam Forums / Antennas and Towers and more / RE: Trimming a trap dipole? How much?
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on: March 04, 2012, 07:24:34 AM
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Although you have finished your tuning, just a suggestion for future tuning. Rather than cutting wire, I double back the excess wire and use small split-bolt clamps to hold the wire. Split-bolts are available in electrical dept of hardware/Home Depot, etc. That way you can continue to adjust without permanently making the wire too short!
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127
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eHam Forums / Antennas and Towers and more / RE: V Dipole antennas
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on: March 04, 2012, 07:21:14 AM
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Rotating one pair aroung the center support would help decouple wires. IE, if one pair is north/south, least coupling of a second pair would be oriented east/west. For three pairs, orienting 60 degrees apart would work. Disadvantage is that radiation patterns would also change due to rotation. More spacing than one ft would also help. You could also create a trap 20M dipole with 15 and 10M traps so that there is only one pair of wires. I would think that would work at least as well as separate pairs. John.
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128
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eHam Forums / HomeBrew / RE: Drilling holes in sheet metal
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on: February 16, 2012, 05:23:34 AM
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Two more suggestions: (1) drill a 3/8 hole. Use a tapered wood rasp (type with 1/4 shaft for drill or drill press) to enlarge hole. When getting close to final size, continue to expand from both sides to reduce the taper of the hole sides. (2) use a hand reamer, most go to 1/2 size.
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129
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eHam Forums / Antennas and Towers and more / RE: Question on inverted L
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on: February 14, 2012, 07:01:31 AM
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Perhaps you could change the feed point on the bottom of the vertical section, to be up in air about 10 feet or so. Then move your radials to that point (would be 10ft at tower, 6ft at fence). Three elevated radials should work well, much better than radials on ground (or partially on ground).
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130
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eHam Forums / Clubs / RE: What are some of your favorite presentations at club meetings?
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on: January 15, 2012, 06:38:45 PM
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A little more info re my post up above, our club is W0ERH, Johnson County (KS) Radio Amateur Club. Most active (and growing) club in Kansas City area. Members have conducted numerous Tech and General classes - over 650 newly licensed hams in last four years. One young member has been ARRL Youth editor until recently. Another, 14yrs old, has been club VP for couple of years. Both have participated in the Youth DXpeditions to Costa Rica. Meetings consist of business meeting of some 15 to 25 minutes, followed by program, which might be 30 minutes, up to max of 60. Most are 30 to 45 minutes. Two meetings a month. John.
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131
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eHam Forums / Clubs / RE: What are some of your favorite presentations at club meetings?
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on: January 15, 2012, 08:22:20 AM
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EZNEC demonstration of dipole and G5RV patterns, etc. Show and tell on mobile installations. Hidden transmitter hunts. Demo using various types of test equipment. Youtube ham radio video clips. Video of last years field day. Remote radio demonstration. APRS demo and assistance on setup of software (members bring their laptops, software is installed during meeting). SHow and tell on homebrew equipment. Demonstration of propagation program (HamCap). Soldering equipment demonstation. How to use logging programs. QSL card show and tell. How to solder PL259 connector. Discussion/show and tell about various types of transmission lines/cables. Some theory programs re SWR, coax loss, antennas. How to operate in contest. Show and tell video/photos of club member stations. Ins and outs of RFI, clamp on ferrites, etc. How to use MFJ259 antenna analyser. Demo of some new equipment. Talk by area ham radio store owner about new stuff. How to program HT. Site visit to club repeater installation. Program about how repeater(s) work, how to properly use.
Also if other clubs in area, borrow presenter from that club to do same program at yours.
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135
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eHam Forums / Misc / RE: LOTW logging
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on: January 08, 2012, 06:21:38 AM
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Jim, I also use AC Log, but wasn't aware of that capability. How do you do it?
Hold on, I just noticed the LoTW button at the top. Will look into it. Thanks for hint.
Just tried it. Worked great! Very simple. Only change to default was to change path to add (x86) since I am using Win7. John.
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