I have seen these military surplus fiberglass poles being sold on eBay and wondered if it was too good to be true.

I am also rethinking the use of a tree and house, but I may be using up to 100 feet of coax to connect tail of G5FRV and radio. I think I can knock it down to 75 feet.

Feedback on PVC by all is much appreciated and will nix that idea of building a reinforced mast out of it.

I need to build a mast on a limited budget and was thinking of using PVC. I have a G5FRV antenna that I would like to string from my house to a PVC mast that would be used to support the other end of the G5FRV. A tree was my first choice but no suitable trees near the house. I was intending to use 2.5"-3" PVC in three or four ten foot section. I also intended to reinforce the PVC with 2" circular wooden poles that I have in ten foot sections. The base of the mast would be mounted to a 6 foot section of 4"x4" wooden post that is already sunk into the ground. To join the sections together I would use oversized PVC and screw into place. What are your thought on even using PVC in this manner? Any suggestions on this design or an alternative? I thought the wood inserts would stiffen up the PVC and reduce any listing.

I recently purchased a Kenwood TS-440AT and I have a question on how to step. I can easily move from band to band by hitting the up or down button. Once on particular band and I want to move from say 28.351.0 to 28.352.0 I find that have to tune from 28.351.0 through .1, .2, .3, etc, .8, .9 to 28.352.0! Is there a way to step from tenths to say ones, tens, or hundreds place?

Whenoperating the auto-tuner on the 440 there are 4 switches and the sequence they need to be in to properly auto-tune. The switches in question are: send/rec, auto/thru,AT Tune/Off, and ATT. When I want to tune-up on a band would I engage the send, auto, AT Tune, and ATT switches? Once tuned do I turn them off to rec, thru, off, and disengage ATT?

Local report from a station about 7 miles away reported low audio and some distortion when using the Kenwood. When using the HTX-100 my report was little distortion, if any, but still a low audio. Rigs are properly grounded and antenna is approximately 50 feet away.

OK. I will try MIC gain adjustment and take it out of the ALC region. I do agree the other problem could possible be high SWR. I was told that an auto-tuner will not work properly with a dipole and will have a problem tuning. However, I assumed if I turned off the auto-tuner and set the auto/thru to thru I would by-pass the auto-tuner. Since I am using a 10 meter dipole and trying to broadcast in the band I would think I'd experience good results. Finally running my old HTX-100 through the new Astron and the dipole does yield good results. Any comments appreciated.

I recently purchased a used Kenwood TS-440AT and a new Astron RS-35M. I am using a 10-meter 1/2-wave dipole antenna and I have been TX/RX only a frequencies within that band capable of being serviced by that antenna. I have a few questions: the first is on the Astron. When the rig is powered up TX or RX I am reading solid 14 volts on the meter and drawing a couple of amps. When I transmit volts holds steady at 14 and the amps don't jump beyond 12 amps on the meter. On transmitting I expected to draw quite a few more amps. I thought I would draw up to 30amps. My signal reports back so far report some distortion. Is it possible that there might be a problem with the power supply? To compound the problem I am thinking my 1/2-wave dipole cut for 10 meters can be the problem, is it possible that it is having a problem with the AT feature on the 440? I did hook-up my old HTX-100 to the Astron and transmitted and made good contacts with good signal reports, amps drawn was a little less than 10 on the meter which is what I thought was right for the HTX.

The Huntington Amateur Radio Club is a loose affilation of hams in the Huntington, New York area that meet one Saturday morning a month at the Huntington Diner on Main Street over coffee or breakfast. Our membership is always in a state of flux but generally 5 or 6 or more of us meet to discuss technical issues, chasing DX, and the like. Their is no membership fee, officers, just a common interest of amateur radio, if you would like to learn more drop me an email at kc2exw@arrl.net - thanks!

Exactly my point is to use my home-brew 1/2-wave dipole (it does not have any traps) exclusively for 10-meter. I am not looking to work out of the band or hoping that the auto-tuner will allow me too. I am just looking to use this wire antenna temporarily until the weather breaks and I can install a new veritcal.

I just purchased a Kenwood TS-440AT. I have a 10 meter 1/2-wave dipole antenna that I would look to hook the rig up to but heard that it is not recommend if a rig has a built in automatic antenna tuner. Is this fact or fiction?

I just got a hold of sealed rechargeable batteries that were from two APC UPS-1400. They are two sets of 4 seperate batteries. One set reads 12V, 7.0AH and the other set reads 12V, 7.2AH/20HR. I have a 25-watt/5-watt rig that I would like to try on these two bricks but wanted some feedback, thoughts, comments before I did.

I'll check the website out.

I'll take a look at this- thanks!

I have a Realistic HTX-100 10M mobile rig that I would like to work on a camping trip. The rig can be set to use 5 Watts. I am looking for some practical feedback on methods of powering the rig. Ideally I would liked to get 3 hours of up time and don't want to have to rely on my actual car battery, if possible.

OK. Got it. Will look for an arrestor for feedline and then ground arrestor. Thanks!