I am curious if I would create a bad situation if my ground rods I put in are connected to the electrical house service panel at one point and to one of the ground rods and water main ( watermain and house ground rod are already connected as part of house ground) would cause any issues.

My roof tower is close to one end of the house and my coax lines enter the other side of the house.  My electrical service is closer to the antenna and I assume the house has a ground rod there as well.

To keep the
ATT of the antenna ground as direct and unbending as possible I was thinking of running the tower to its own ground off the corner of the far side of the house.  I think that's my best shot of a non bending direct shot to ground.  I was thinking then of another ground rod between it and the service panel.  Then another rod in the middle of my backyard, I have an inverted V coming down out of the trees I could ground there. I have a vertical dipole ( no radials for this one) in the back corner of the yard I could sink a rod for as well.  Then another rod close to the other back corner of the house connected to the middle and finally a connetion to another rod near the coax entry and that also hooked to the house ground over there at the water main.  I think the distances on all this would work out to 16 feet between all rods if I do things just right assuming I can get them all 8 feet under.

I also read somewhere that if I run a copper strand around the outer edge of the yard not more than 2 inches deep connected to the rods it will act like a giant loop and further boost transmit and receive.

Here is a link to a crude drawing

www.am4l.com/stationkansas/grounding.jpg


Thoughts?  

Nothing in your motherboard BIOS to add the LPT or assign it?

Alternately, you could look for a new motherboard with a parrallel port and win 7 64 support.

Did some searching, motherboards with parallel ports are just about all gone.  I did find this one.

http://www.amazon.com/P8P67-M-PRO-REV-3-0-Motherboard/dp/B004QF0VEK

It won't be long until they are nearly impossible to find.

Just an update on this, this project should mostly be done by Friday.  Already seeing 2 S units in some cases over the vertical with the K4KIO antenna 10 feet off the ground.  I am seeing though that sometimes the vertical rakes in things the hex does not. Of course I do not have it rotating yet, so it will be interesting to see how a vertical behaves in contrast to a beam.

I will be keeping the vertical though, as well as the inverted V.  Will be fun to play with the diversity tuning on the flex as well once these are all up and running.

I'll provide one last update after its up, rotating and decently grounded.

Just keep in mind that on some of those transceivers you get a real second receiver you can plug into a second antenna.  I am already finding that having a horizontal beam and a vertical dipole has benefits when seeking DX's.  It's really sweet to be able to here both at the same time!

After looking at the brochure and specs these are interesting new radios.  I wish the price were not so high though, however, that said, for the right Ham the radio might be worth it's asking price.

Basically it looks like they have a digital sample of the bandwidth that they can split into 8 views, so saying it has 8 receivers if that's truly the case would seem misleading.  I think the limit of 8 is simply a matter of raw computing power.  What your really probably getting is a meta data graphical view of a slice of bandwidth.  It's clever but not rocket science.  So if you wanted to be monitoring 8 slices and bounce to a signle in any view on the drop of a dime, it's pretty slick.  

What's slick too is the computing requirements for the end user should be much more reasonable.  Why today with my Flex 5K dual receiver and all the junkola I run with it I am chewing up 8 zenon 2.66 cores.

I don't see why though if Flex had a competitor that as far as hardware goes why this couldn't be done cheaper.  What we need is more SDR transceiver competition.

As to the notion about all these comments on obsolescence I think at preset with the current price tag it would be like saying the latest Ferrari makes your VW Jeta obsolete.  What we are really talking about here in my humble opinion is more impact on Flexes competition that would compete in that price range.  IE, if I cant afford a Ferrari I cant afford it and it means little to me that it changed the game, as at that price it cant change my game.  And when we go there we just get back to SDR is not for everyone.

My definition of a game changer is something that the masses can access.  The price tag on this is for a minority.  In terms of price it's no more a game changer than the IC 7800 or FT 9000.

I try to shoot straight about all this stuff.  And SDR's are cool and fun, but I can't help but wonder in terms of pure haming if a rig like a IC 7800, or FT 5000 would discriminate and dig out some signals better head to head.  

So anyone got a place to see more info on the new Kenwood rig, I am curious about it?

I am going to let all the early adopters bleed the edge for me as far as the new offerings go and see if the market doesn't yield a lower price or a second gen offering before I leap.

The KF7P panel box went in today without a hitch.  Awesome product, Chris does excellent work!  Just thought I pass along my experience for others wanting to cleanup there coax lines into the house.  I got one with the arrestors and rotator cable terminal pre-installed.  As I said, arrived perfect, quickly and installed easily on the side of the house.

Next up this week are the ground rods and the beam!

Game Changer means more to fiddle with as far as I can tell right now.  Not so,excited about this announcement and am glad I am sinking my dollars this year into a better antenna system.

Maybe it's a box you can put as close as the antenna if you want, built in wireless router so you can access it without even cables.  You use your PC for the microphone if you want.  If you place it in the shack you can still hook up your amp and everything else like a regular flex.  The point is, you won't need a wire going to your PC.  Bet it has a built in ATU as well.  First offering probably more like a flex 3k but better dynamic range, ect.  This way it's always on because it's a network appliance and so if you want you can access it anywhere.  Think of SDR Radio as the model for the software interface.

I think it's that simple.

I was looking to rent one today, but the rod is 5/8 inch I believe and these are half inch max I think.  Someone else told me there was an adaptor, see the video below, I found one on eBay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJYhHZYu_4g&feature=youtube_gdata_player

There is this I found, but little info, so I did not want to risk getting it, although it may just be perfect.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-GROUND-ROD-AUGER-8-8-FOOT-11-16-GROUNDING-DRILL-/300340026491#ht_1600wt_922

I have some bulb planting dril bits, I just need an 8' extension! and some kind of mega drill to use with it!  Sure would be easier than digging a hole!

Just found this as well, might work my bulb bit.  Since I am thinking of a doped rod, a fence post auger could get me my first 3-4 feet and then a bit like this might get me the rest alone with a tap.  Then I could keep a recessed collar up in the wider part of the hole,near the top, to use for doping and a lid to keep mowing over it easy.

http://www.techtoolsupply.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=61%2D826

I have at least a few weeks befor I start this project though.

Built an 8' GME RT-832 Roof  Tower this morning.  A very nice product and the people at GME have gone out of there way to help me. Kudos to Amanda who all in one morning got my order ready for pickup in Boonville Mo.  Drove down yesterday and picked it up and constructed it this morning in the garage.

Other than some stupidity on my part this tower went together without any major hitches.  Instructions are a bit on the light side, you really just need to pay close attention to the picture and the order and orientation of how the parts bolt to the tower and all will be well.  Thrust bearing mounts nicely as well as the rotar.  The mass arrives tomorrow and the hex beam today.  So maybe the hex goes together tonight.  This is a super nice product and I have complete confidence that it won't be the failure point for me.

While expensive, there definitely is satisfaction in doing things right.  Captured some video and photos that I will eventually post to my website and you tube for future reference.

Will be interesting to see if I make it to have everything ready to go for the Saturday install.

How about a true SDR with knobs, Ethernet and USB... Don't knock it till you try it, I added,knobs to my flex and love it as it beats a mouse in many cases.  Such a box gives you the best of worlds with all the high speed visual elements and filters the SDR can provide but the ease of use and intuitive interface of a traditional rig. 

This would be a big stretch though for Flex as they would really have to get out of their comfort element, so I am going to say that it might be a Significantly better performing SDR with Ethernet or USb, VHF/UHF and some cool software options.  May they are collaborating now with WoodBoxRadio radio.

I did buy a few rods today to start, might take a bit for me to get them in the ground proper.  Have to start by getting dig safe out to mark up all my utility lines.  I need to research ways to easily get them 8 1/2 feet in the ground.  I think a fence post auger will get me 3 feet.  Need ideas for the other 5  1/2.  I'd like to have a coller and cover for them so mowing the lawn is no issue as well.  All this is adding up to some serious jack!  If I had a location where I could have done a ground based tower, I probably would have gone that route rather than the roof tower.  At least things will eventually be done fairly right. I need about another 8 to 10 years at this QTH as well, so I should get my milage out of the work I am doing.

I actually found a pro to mount the roof tower, in my case $250 in labor.  Just so people can use this as a reference in search, a 5 foot tower is about $500 by the time you get the lag bolts, grounding wire, rotar cable, thrust bearing, ground rods, ect.  Then your looking at $300 for the rotator and another $45 for the mast for the right size, grade ect.  Add that to the$700 for the antenna and you can see that it adds up quickly.  I should mention though that this gets you barely within spec on wind load.  Add another $200 for the 8 foot tower. To be extra safe on should really do the GME 8' tower to cover the wind load.  And while we are at it, add another $200 for a good entry panel, arrestor ect to make the install professional.  Don't forget quality coax at another $50-100 depending on how long the run is to your new panel.  All that said, basically in theory if all goes well I will be buying close to 2 full S Units over my ground based verticle.

I am lucky, no permit required!  Also bought the ice cables for the hex as it snows here.  I'll post some pictures and details when I am done for future reference in a new thread.

I like this one!  Thanks for your help!