The other day, I battled the heat and installed more radials for my Hustler 4BTV. I have an extra 14-gauge wire left over from when I first installed the radials, and for some time, I was planning to install the remainder, but never got around to it. Well, it is now done, and I am about 15 radials richer, bringing the total to close to 40. After the install, I was wondering if my radiation pattern has changed at all? I connected my WSPR transmitter over the period of 24 hours. For some reason, when I set it up, it was only sending signals out on 20 and 40m. I found out I neglected to save the settings, and the 20m and 40m setup was from the last time I used it. So I only have at this time data for those two bands. 

Below are the patterns before the radial additions. 

After the radials upgrade  

Hello and welcome to Episode #585 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts review the SDR++ fork known as the "Brown" edition. Topics include installation, basic configuration, features and more. Focus is also on special features of the fork including audio filtering, KiwiSDR and WebSDR support and more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Ham College episode 126 is now available for download.

Ham College 126
Technician Exam Questions Part 13
T4A – Station setup: connecting a microphone, a power source, a computer, digital equipment, an SWR meter; bonding; Mobile radio installation.

Download
YouTube

Have a look at the above picture and see if you can see an issue? I operate SO2V in contests now, and this shot was taken during the RAC Canada Day contest on July 1. Operating SO2V is new to me, and I am still getting used to things. If you are familiar with the Icom 7610, you may see the issue in the picture. 
Now that you have looked at the picture, let me tell you what I did.....Since I am new to SO2V, I have been trying to get used to VFO A sound in my left ear and VFO B in my right ear. At this time, I had been listening and operating on 15m but just had 20m up on the screen with no audio. Things started to pick up on 20m and drop off on 15m. I then pressed a key on my keyboard (Pause key), and this put me back on 20m and set up N1MM+ to log contacts on 20m. 

The odd thing was I was calling CQ contest on 20m for about 5 minutes and no answers. I could hear a noise floor, but I was not getting any replies to my CQ. Then it clicked, I looked at the radio and forgot to take VFO A off mute! The orange light you see in the picture on the main VFO AF/RF control means the audio is muted for the main VFO. I was hearing VFO B in my right ear but I did not click into that. Who knows how many ops called me, but I just could not hear them as the audio was muted. Live and learn, I guess.  

My Hustler 4BTV has now been up for 5 years and is serving me very well, I might add. I felt it was time to take it down and clean it. I know, as Murphy would have it timed that something went wrong and it would be the middle of winter on a very cold and windy day. The items I used were a wire brush to get inside the tubing to clean, 99% alcohol for cleaning and a roll of 3M 33+ tape. This tape has a good temperature range. Finally, a Scotch Brite pad....which I never ended up using. I had read online that it was great for cleaning the aluminum tubing....found out not so much. It has been retired to the kitchen for pots and pans. 

Top of spider arm

Bottom of spider arm

Example of clean trap

Damaged spider arm

Inside tubing

Base section before cleaning

We're coming up to our club's 50th Anniversary and this is another big issue, with a look back at our history, great articles, and our regular columnists.

Now read in over 165 countries, this issue brings you 130 pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and around the globe. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

Download the July - August 2025 Communicator in 
LARGE or SMALL format, or read it on-line like a magazine

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We now have a comprehensive searchable index back to 2007
HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is August 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at [email protected]

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

The Table of Contents for the July - August 2025 Communicator issue: