For DX on 40 & 80, we'll have a HF2V vertical (40&80m) and a 18 meter (60 feet) high spiderpole that will be used to make a 1/4 wave vertical for 80 meter. Hope to work you.

But more important, I wish you better weather and safety. Oklahoma is front page news here as well.

Cedric

Hello,

A short message to announce that our team will leave for Jersey (MJ) this week. We will be operating from May 24th until May 30th in all modes and on all bands from HF through 2 meters. We will also participate in the CQWW contest next weekend.

You may also hear us /P activating some of the WFF references on the island.

All information on http://qrz.com/db/on6nb.

Follow us on twitter to get real time updates on where we are active. https://twitter.com/mj_on6nb

Looking forward to work you.

73
NB DX team

Hi,

How can I know the maximum voltage an air spaced variable capacitor can handle? E.g. for use in a magnetic loop or antenna tuner. I can measure the minimum and maximum capacitance with a C meter, and I can measure the distance between the plates. I also know the power I will apply to it, e.g. 100 watt or 1KW, from which I can derive the voltage that I will apply to it. But how to know now if the one in my junk box will be able to handle it?

Cedric
ON4CKM

Glad to hear we could give you a new DX. We have over 400 US stations in the log.

Cedric

It was a week day and we were only a couple of hours on the air from the mountain. That explains the low number of 2 meter SSB contacts. On 15 meters, we mainly worked south-east Asia where they are ahead in time.

Hello,

I've put up a movie on youtube about our dx-pedition to Liechtenstein. I hope you have as much fun watching it as we had doing it.

http://youtu.be/Aii_fAVI4No

73

Cedric
ON4CKM

I have a pair of Standard HX390U walkie talkies. I want to program them to put them in the 70cm band. The exact model is HX390UEF132. Does anyone have experience with programming these?

On the Internet I found a shop where I can buy a programming cable and mods.dk has software for download. Before spending money on the cable, I would like to hear some experiences.

Cedric

Hi,

I have an ICOM 706MK2. It has one ACC port (13 pins) but I want to connect 2 devices: a tigertronic interface for digital modes and a PTT cable that goes to my amp. Is there a way? Can I just split the cable without problems?

Cedric
ON4CKM

Hi,

I got a number of surplus toko coils. I tried to google for datasheets but no luck. Can anyone help me out or point me in the right direction?

These are the coils I have:

Code            Color   Shape
----            -----   -------
99501   52424   red      square
99501   82481   red      square
99501   82413   red      square
28071   83472   orange   square
27381   32072   red      square
28361   46wh   black      square
94ac   7a121   green   square
94fc   8a07sz   green   square
28291   46xc   yellow   square
28291   46wj   yellow   square
b0292   af622m   red   square
28291   15yp   yellow   square
53351         red   round
95673         yellow   round
95672         yellow   round
23841         orange   round
77402         yellow   round
76122         blue   round
bo353         green   round
158            black   round


Some have 1 number, some have 2 numbers printed on it. These are listed under code. A picture can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62383742@N07/7731392712/in/photostream/lightbox/.

Thanks for your help,

Cedric

The rest of the electronics is in the shack, only the sensor is in the mast. And I can shield it off there.

The couple of degrees is acceptable for me for a VHF yagi, but when it is 10 or more degrees it becomes annoying. For my rotary dipole on 20 meter, it is far less critical of course.

I think I will just go ahead and test it out. If it doesn't work, I can still go for a pot or a even a rotary encoder.

Cedric

Hi KA4POL,

I'm not familiar with Gauss. Is there a way to calculate how much Gauss my signal will generate if I know my output power, my frequency, the gain of my antenna and the distance between the sensor and the antenna?

Cedric

Don't know if it is of the flux gate type. I looked at the datasheet (http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/HMC6352.pdf) but can't find that info in there.

The datasheet does state that it is best to keep it away at some distance from soft metals, as they "bend the earth’s magnetic field". So the aluminium box doesn't sound like a good idea.

I don't mind about an inaccuracy of 2 or 3 degrees.

Cedric

Hi,

I'm building a rotator control unit for an old antenna rotator, using an arduino and an hmc6352 electronic compass. I want to attach the compass module to the rotator in the mast and read out the heading of my antenna. I have the basic setup working.

During my tests, I brought a magnet close to the electronic compass and as expected, it got confused by it and gave me wrong readings. But when I removed the compass, it was still giving me wrong readings. I thought for a moment that it got permanently damaged, but the next day it worked fine again. Seems like it needed some time to recover?

But this makes me wonder about how it will operate when it is up in the mast. It will be close to the antenna, both HF and VHF. Can it be damaged by the RF field, or temporarily be deranged? Does anybody have experience with this? Putting it in a shielded box is no option I assume as it can no longer read the earth's magnetic field.

Cedric

hi Rich,

in the fan dipole, the influence is mostly in the changing length of the dipoles. I read that especially with 3 or more dipoles, it takes some time before all dipoles are cut to the right length because every change you make to one has an impact on the others. by moving them 90 degrees apart, I hope to avoid this.

I once spent a whole day tuning a 5 band cobwebb. Not an easy task. want to avoid something similar for the dipoles.

cedric

I have a homebrew 20 meter full size rotating dipole. If I add a second dipole for a different band, e.g. 10 meter, on to the same feedpoint but 90° rotated from the 20 meter dipole, would both dipoles influence each other? So if the 20 meter dipole is north-south, the 10 meter dipole would be east-west. Both rotate together on the same rotor.

All literature I find discusses fan dipoles where all the dipoles are in the same orientation, and in that case there is an influence between the different dipoles. But I can't find any examples where the dipoles are 90° apart. Anybody tried this?

Cedric
ON4CKM