JY1

As a young ham, King Hussein took the time to talk to me about the future of radio telecommunications and technology as he saw it, despite a pile up.  We continued occasional QSO's and he always was cordial to us young hams.  He helped ratify my decision to pursue an an engineering career.

West Coast US stations - I recommend watching for them on 40M CW starting ~1300 UTC.  I worked them on the long path on my first call.  The op was specifically asking for W6/W7 only and his signal was pretty strong.   Great operators so be patient and jump in on the TX frequency used the previous contact but do follow the DX code of conduct.  Good Luck..

Mounting the vertical at that height mitigates both ground return losses as well as absorption losses from nearby objects.  It will be a good performer as long as you have four, or (preferably) more radials for 40m. Three radials/band for the upper bands should be sufficient

You may change your interests in the future and may well be glad that you can measure the antenna's reactive component(s). 

If you are dead-set on not ever wanting to better your antenna situation, then a simple SWR meter is sufficient.  You don't even need one of the analyzers that you mention.

Here's my $0.02 based on real-world experience.  I have a 43 ft fiberglass vertical (I am stuck with this because of CCR's).  I have run tests using it as a 43' vertical with matching LC at the base with about 30 1/4wave radials on the ground.  Over a course of three months, I compared my reports to Europe on the long-path with other US west coast stations.  Results were very good - comparable to 2 element yagi's at 50' or less (most reports on the long path to Europe - a sizable path length - were at par or 1 S-unit less than the yagi's.  As expected, yagi's at higher elevation would result in an 1-2 s-unit advantage, BUT many times I was at par with them).

I subsequently changed the vertical configuration where I raised the radial plane to 10' above ground and base feeding the remainder of the vertical (33 feet) at 10' above ground.  I have 20 raised (at 10') 1/4wave radials + isolation balun at the feed point.  The result, as measured by almost a years worth of comparison reports to Europe via the long path from California, is that I easily compete with 2 element yagi's - that means that I usually receive the same signal report in Europe as the 2 element yagi's; at times an s-unit less, on occasion, an s-unit more.  This assessment is based on a couple of hundred DX long-path contacts to Europe and middle east.   I have to say that every 3 element yagi that I have competed with inevitably received a couple of s-unit better reports.  I continue to receive comments from DX stations that my signal is loud and most are surprised when I tell them that I am using a ground plane vertical.

What is most striking are the comments received from competing stateside stations that have a hard time comprehending the cost and effort of their yagi installations compared to my simple raised-radial vertical.  There are lots of literature that articulates the attributes and shortfalls of vertical antennas using both ground and raised radial configurations but my real-world experience galvanizes the fact that, for long distance communication, a properly designed vertical is a good performance alternative to a lot of steel and aluminum (read $$) in the air.

A couple of suggestions - I assume that your vertical requires 1/4 wave radials. If the 3 ft. pole above the roof can not accommodate the stress from the vertical in windy conditions, fan the radials from the top of that pole (at the base of antenna) as guy wires.   Cut the wires to 1/4 wavelength.  You can also fan the wires from the base of that 3 ft pole along the roof surface but subtract the 3 ft from the radial 1/4 wave lengths.  I have done so in the past with excellent results.  If the base is 20m feet above ground, you should get acceptable results on 20 through 10 meters with 3 or 4 radials per band. Don't expect great results on the lower bands unless you have more radials but even 4 should allow adequate performance.  Raising the vertical to roof level mitigates problems with surrounding RF obstacles (buildings, etc) so you're on the right track.  There are lots of articles about vertical counterpoises - if you want more details, conduct some web searches but bottom line is that the more radials you have, the better your TX performance will be.

If the flagpole (vertical) is ground mounted then the length of the radials is not required to be a quarter wavelength at each operating frequency. The radials help reduce the ground loss in this case so the more the better.  Some people say that about 10 foot lengths are sufficient as long as you have a number of them because the RF current is greatest near the base of the antenna.  I would recommend at least 8-10 radials double that amount if you can.  A screen mesh is even better.  The vertical should work well for you especially on 20 meters and above.

Hi - I have the EDX-2 working with an ICOM IC706.  Works great.  
Step 1 - you need to obtain a 4 pin Molex connector that is compatible with the IC-706 (which is 4 pins).  The EDX-2 stock connector is 5 pins, as I recall.

Step 2 - Connect EDX-2 wires into the new 4 pin Molex connector as follows:

   Pin 1 (the first pin adjacent to the pointed edge of the connector(<====)) : Green
   Pin 2 : White
   Pin 3: Red
   Pin 4: Black

Step 3 - enjoy.  

P.S. You should confirm that ATU connector outputs on different ICOM rigs are wired the same.  I would guess so, but you may want to confirm this.

Feel free to e-mail me at w6qw@sbcglobal.net if I can provide additional assitance.  I don't look at EHAM forums all that often.

Regards,
Don
W6QW

Hey Terry - just thought of an idea.  How about a tape measure reel.  Not sure if you can find one narrow enough to fit within the telescoping tube.  You may even want to buy a replacement reel (I think they're pretty inexpensive) and try trimming the tape width with metal shears.  

Cheers.
Don - W6QW

Jim - I live close to 200KV PGE lines and got the same response from the PG&E service guys.  Pragmatically, the PG&E service guys are bound by too much work / not enough staff to make this a priority so I can understand where they are coming from.  But, never the less, it was frustrating to be told no.  So, after about a month of dealing with their service supervisor and getting nowhere, I wrote a letter to the president (CEO) of PG&E outlining my complaint, the FCC requirement for emitted noise, who I talked to / their response - all without too much condemnation.  About two weeks later, I received a call from another service manger asking to come to my house to discuss how to mitigate the noise.  They eventaully obtained use of a truck with a turret mounted infrared camera to pinpoint which insulators were susceptable to arching over time (due to dirt/salt buildup).  They got to the root cause quickly and now the noise level is very low.

So I would recommend that you do your homework and then write a constructive note to the president.

Good luck.

Don
W6QW

I, too, was skeptical of the quality of Yaesu's factory service based on the postings.  I sent my FT-920 in late October for calibration, some repairs, and updating to the current level.  The results were wonderful and I have a first class radio again.  The quality of results met my expectations.  The only (minor) complaint was that it took about three months before they shipped the radio back.

I, too, was amazed at the stories previously posted about poor Yaesu service.  For what it's worth, I have to say that getting the right service tech makes the difference between satisfactory service versus a poor result.  As a corollary, I was a test equipment calibration/service tech one summer back in my college days. As I recall, three things were prevalent: (1) if the tech 'judges' that a part is required, the service company needs to charge that part against that customer - service companies do make money on the parts; and (2) if the tech 'judges' incorrectly, service companies do not, typically, reverse the parts charge and (3) turn-over of service techs can kill the quality of service - although I was pursuing an electrical engineering degree at the time, I was essentially being trained by that company to repair and calibrate very expensive test equipment - my knowledge of the test equipment and repair 'street smarts' were less than stellar at that time.

This is no different than one might experience with automobile repairs at dealerships.  So if you can find a service tech that appears to be trustworthy and, more importantly very experienced, save his name.

Joe - you are absolutely correct that CB regulations forbit amplifiers above the (5watt) FCC limit.  The FCC restricted the sale 10meter amps a while back because of this situation.

Regards,
Don

Thanks - been there, done that.. I guess I'm just too paticular.  Grew up with Collins - the synthesized radios of today are just not the same....  Think I'll try to get a copy of the service manual and check out the tuning.  Thanks Again.

Don

Hi Chris - The FT-920 menu allows you to shift the IF center point for TX (as well as RX).  Take a look at menu descriptions U-59, U-62.  This effectively widens the TX passband.

Regards,
Don - W6QW