AmateurRadio.com

This antenna works great! In my earlier post I mentioned that SWR was high on 30m, but last night I let the automatic tuner on the TS-440S match it — and ES3AX gave me a 579 from Estonia! 4Z5MU (Israel) went into the logbook last night, too, but that was on 20m.

A couple weeks ago I published my son’s take on Antenna-Days #1 and #2. Here is his take on the rest of the project:

Helping Dad Build His Antenna, Days 3-5
by Antonio Mitchell, October 20, 2011

Building the antenna has taken a bit. It has been fun for the most part. We finally have it almost finished. The past couple days have been really busy. I hope that I can remember them so that I may provide my readers with an understanding of what we did.

It was pretty chilly on Monday. The wind was blowing pretty hard so we did not get to go on the roof. We spent the day getting the antenna wire cut and put onto the balun. Once we were done with putting the antenna wire on the balun my dad had to put it on to the pulley attached to the aluminum pole. My dad and I put the pole against the house and took the two ends of the antenna wire and tied ropes to them. After that we took the ropes and tied them to some trees. It was so windy that it was hard to hold the pole. While I was holding the pole my dad took the SWR meter and tried to figure out if he needed to add or take away some wire from the connectors on the balun. It did not work so well. [Being so close to the ground, SWR was sky-high on 40m.] We took the pole and the ropes down and called it a day.

On Tuesday we first shot a weight over the house so that we could get a safety line over the house. The safety line was for when Dad went on the roof. It took us quite a few tries to get it over the house. Once the line was over we attempted to put a line over the tree which is where one end of the antenna wire is going to sit. Using my slingshot did not work. My dad went up to Runnings to get ground wire and PVC pipe to build a potato launcher. It took him a little while to find all of it. When he came home we assembled the potato launcher. After supper we tried to get a line over the tree, but it was dark and windy. We did launch a potato with a screw in it. It did not go over the tree because of the wind. It went over a couple trees. We could not find the potato.

Wednesday we did manage to find the potato. We had to cut some of the line we used. My dad decided he would get the line into the tree when he was on the roof. A friend of my dad came over and helped put the aluminum pole with the antenna attached and the other pole into the tripods. The antenna is finally up! My dad just has a few final touches to do and then it will be up there for good I hope. Last night my dad was able to talk to some people on the air using the antenna that is now on the roof.

With Halloween just a few days away, the Pumpkin Patrols will be rolling out. Here’s a few tips to keep in mind if this is your first one. If you’ve done PP before, feel free to post other tips based on your experience. Hopefully this year will be “uneventful” but in a good way!

Courtesy of KB2MOB

So how do you keep yourself occupied for those few hours you are sitting in your vehicle, watching out? How about a nice audio book? Toss it into your car’s CD player or rip it into your iPod or mp3 player and play it through your stereo. No headphones, as you need to also have your radio’s volume up to hear the check in calls on the repeater. Why not a Nintendo DS or a game on your smart phone? Well, you need to be using your eyes to make sure no one is doing something they are not supposed to out there. Music is good too.

If you do see someone, the number one rule is, DON’T GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE. Your job is to observe and report. Call it in to the net control and they will alert the police. Get as much info as you can. Is there a car? Make, model and color? A license plate number? How tall were they? Did they wear hoodies? Hair color? How old did they look? The more info you have to give to the police, the easier it is for them to find the people. Having a notepad and something to write on and with is a must have too.

And remember to bring a little snack and drink in case you get hungry or thirsty. And also, and I can’t stress this enough, GO TO THE BATHROOM BEFORE YOU GO OUT. I’m sure you catch my drift as to why right? Nothing is more embarrasing then standing outside your car, and missing your check in. Yeah.. it can happen.

So anyone else have any tips? Share them here.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne

The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast, episode 48 is now available to download or stream.  You can subscribe via iTunes, Zune or stream directly from MyAmateurRadio.com.  Want to stream on the go from your favorite smart phone device?  You can do that as well from our mobile site.

In this episode I discuss all that awaits those US Technician class operators once they upgrade to the general class license.  Of course, I’m talking about the world of HF.

As a member of both the ARRL and RSGB, I share what I feel is the importance of both belonging to and supporting our national organizations.  I discuss briefly the RSGB upcoming extraordinary general meeting taking place on 19 November and encourage all RSGB members to educate yourself and vote.   Links are provided in the episode 48 show notes available here.

During our featured website segment I introduce listeners to the DXCoffee.com website.  Tomas Mesta, K6THM provides the featured Elmer Connection article on MyAmateurRadio.com.  Finally I round out some of my own amateur radio adventures in the last month.  Thank you for listening. 

Welcome to Handiham World.

Dale and I stringing the long leg of the New Carolina Windom.

Well, it’s almost done! The antenna is in place, optimized, and operational. Last night my son helped me finalize the connections at the ground rod and string the coax and ground wire into the house. There are only a couple of details to take care of before winter sets in, but they shouldn’t take much time — I hope to be done with them by next Monday’s end if not sooner. I hope to find time soon to write up some of the lessons I learned.

I couldn’t have done it without the help of my son Antonio and my friend Dale (“half squirrel, half monkey”), not to mention the encouragement my wife kept giving me. My son was my constant companion, “go-fer,” and an indispensible helper on many tasks. And Dale might have saved my life since I’ve no business being on the roof with a bum leg. He did the lion’s share of the work up there the day we put up the masts and the antenna. He’s so good on a roof I think he could have run laps around the perimeter, while I clung for dear life to a safety line when getting on and off the ladder.

SWR is below 2:1 across all of 40m, 20m, 17m and 10m (except for the first 100 KHz of 10m, but even there it’s still below 3:1). It’s high on 30m, 15m, and 12m, but I’ve read that this can be improved by running radials from the bottom of the RF choke. I’ll let you know how that works.

Last night I made one contact after tidying up the connections in the shack: TX7M, a DXpedition in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. That was a first for me, working a DXpedition. It was decidedly unsatisfying — the ultimate antithesis of a ragchew with a worthless signal report (just a recorded “599″ that goes to everybody, regardless of their true readability, strength, and tone). But it was still encouraging, especially since it was on 17m, a band I’ve never even touched before I built this antenna.

I have never been off the continent before, and the only other country I have been to is Canada. So I think my travel experience is kind of lacking. But I can live through Randy, K7AGE, vicariously! Randy went to China some time ago, and he posted a video on his YouTube channel.From the description on the video:

I visited Beijing China during the first week in March 2008. I was able to visit with several Beijing hams, their homes, the CRSA and a club station. I had a great day. Hams are great the world over!

There is also a link to an article written by Larry, KH6ITY, that talks more about Ham Radio in China, but it seems to be a dead link. If anyone knows where to find the article now, please let me know.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne