Topbanders
Here is my favorite article on ground radials by Al Christman K3LC.
https://ncjweb.com/bonus-content/k3lcmaxgainradials.pdf
Great reading but I continue to add more radials thus exceeding Al's suggested
number. I also use Eight 3" aluminum irrigation pipes under each vertical that
Hello Roger and Topbanders
I heard G3YRO last night at 0024. You were good copy at S4 with heavy qsb. I
threw every watt I had (120w) toward G3 but didn’t make it. You did send me a ?
but no contact.
Hang in there. I’ll have the amp cooking on 160 soon and we’ll get a contact in
the log soon.
Hello Dan and Topbanders
Great condx here in WI last night. Lots of activity from EU. ON4CT and OM2XW
were particularly strong. S7 signals typical.
I’m running two base loaded 70’ verticals in phase 1/8 spacing for general Omni
TX/RX and 130w on this end.
MX and HNY
Carl W9LF
Get Outlook fo
Greg and list
I started from scratch with my two element ground mounted vertical array. I’ve
set quite a few radials and installing more before the snow hits here in the
north woods.
After doing lots of shopping for surplus wire I’ve settled on private sellers
on eBay. I just purchased two 100
S9OK was light with me last night here in northern WI but I could copy.
Listened to the pile up...up...upwith lots of east coasters calling from NA
but hearing VERY few stations west of me.
I was listening on an 80m vertical so less than ideal RX antenna.
73,
Carl W9LF
-Original Mess
Hello Topbanders
Another question for the experts...
When installing ground radials on a ground mounted vertical, how critical is it
to connect those radials together at the far ends? Some technical references
show the outer tips of the ground radials connected with what they call
'perimeter
gain
Carl W9LF
From: Carl Braun
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2021 3:26 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: New Subject: 160M array feedline question
Hello Topbanders
I am currently awaiting the snow to melt here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin
before starting the construction of my low band vert
Hello Topbanders
I am currently awaiting the snow to melt here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin
before starting the construction of my low band vertical array. My verticals
will be mounted in a low ground area near a lake and the area tends to get wet
and sometimes floods in the early spring.
Art
I use two 65' verticals on 40/80/160. HALF WAVE tall (electrically) and
spacing on 40m with LC network at the base to tune...QUARTER WAVE tall on 80
with same spacing and EIGHTH WAVE tall and spacing on 160m.
Both verticals are fed in phase on 160 now but I have plans to add an LC phaser
John and fellow Topbanders
I'm running a similar setup...and have my two 65' verticals spaced at 71'. I
have custom matching circuits that allow me to use the verticals on 160m
(inductively base-loaded) at 1/8 wl spacing...80m (1/4 wl tall) at 1/4 wl
spacing...and 40m (1/2wl tall) at 1/2 wl sp
T32CO and Eugene RA0FF were both booming in this morning here in San Diego.
Nice to see the activity from these guys.
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of David Raymond
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2016 10:10 AM
To: TopBand
Subject:
o we can better answer your question, and hopefully I have not
messed something up with my quick analysis/approximation.
Don (wd8dsb)
On Sat, Feb 13, 2016 at 4:53 PM, Carl Braun
mailto:carl.br...@lairdtech.com>> wrote:
I have revised my question to correct the length of the antenna in
I have revised my question to correct the length of the antenna in question
Topbanders
In the past, I've posted some questions related to making my 80 meter verticals
(64' tall ground mounted) work on different bands. The pair is spaced at ¼ wl
on 80m and then I switch in base loading to reso
Topbanders
In the past, I've posted some questions related to making my 80 meter verticals
(64' tall ground mounted) work on different bands. The pair is spaced at ¼ wl
on 80m and then I switch in base loading to resonate the same pair on 160m
which are then effectively spaced at 1/8 wl. Now
Don't the new auto tune amps have the ability to retune with a single dit?
My old Henry takes a lot more than a dit when retuning from 80 to 160. Hi
Carl AG6X
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jan 17, 2016, at 4:37 AM, "Kenneth Grimm" wrote:
>
> My take on it was that "the dit marks the spot" either f
Thanks Doug.
Awesome read. Has me wondering about our guys on the island.
Maybe the "darkness" of the island has something to do with the S9+ signals
we're seeing here in San Diego. Hi.
Carl AG6X
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jan 16, 2016, at 1:26 PM, "Doug Turnbull" wrote:
>
> Dear OMs and Y
Tony
I have similar birdies on 160 but my worst one resides at the bottom of the 75m
DX window at 3790 or so. It's 5kc wide and sounds like a digital warbler. Some
say its a neighbors noisy router that peaks at S9 when I switch to the
southwest.
My nice neighbor lady with the megawatt solar
;> pennant, deep fade at my sunrise to ESP. Working mostly JA's but
>> trying for NA.
>> (Although
>> at least once K5P called for EU!)
>>
>> Tim N3QE
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 5:48 AM, Carl Braun
>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> At
At 1040z here in so cal the K5P station went from NIL to 599 on Topband. Maybe
someone found the ON button for the amp?
Carl AG6X
_
Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
JC hit the nail on the head...lets identify those who are using RHR openly. My
preference would be a specific suffix designator that would identify the
transmitting station and then let's see if anyone wants to work a RHR on the
air.
I witnessed a local san diego station working RHR last Chris
Herb and Topbanders
I, too, heard K5P on TB well after my sunrise here in San Diego...about 25
minutes past SR. In fact, the K5P signal on TB was better than it was on 80M.
I witnessed some real QSB fades on 80 and saw none of that on 160. The pile up
on 80 was also much less organized than i
Hello John
I, too, have experimented with base and top loading with verticals on Topband.
No question about it, the toploading is much better. Just take a look at your
feedpoint impedance with the base coil vs any sort of top loading.
One point to note, a specific coil that will resonate th
Hello Topbanders
I have a two element array 1/8wl away from my 90' Skyneedle tower with Telrex
yagi atop. I want to electrically isolate this tower from the array by
dropping a shunt wire from near the top of the tower down to the panel where I
have an MFJ model 931 artificial ground (input) t
nd let you know how things develop.
Thanks again
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: Richard (Rick) Karlquist [mailto:rich...@karlquist.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2015 11:02 AM
To: Carl Braun; topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 1/2 wl verticals and spaving
On 11/28/2015 6:2
Barry and fellow Topbanders
I used an Icom 7800 for diversity reception and found it to be a wonderful
performer. I would listen to my vertical array on 80 while monitoring the same
signals with my second receiver connected to either a Pixel loop or a rotatable
80 dipole.
Now I am back to m
Topbanders
Im currently using a two element vertical array that I'm able to use on both 80
and 160M by switching in two different feedlines and matching schemes. The
system works well using a Comtek switch box on 80 with the verticals spaced at
¼ wl and the classic Christman method of feeding
0 and 1.5:1 at 1.895 MHz.
I'm eager to get back on the air tonight and tomorrow morning to see how it
plays
73
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-----
From: Carl [mailto:k...@jeremy.mv.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 1:22 PM
To: Carl Braun
Subject: Re: Topband: Shunt feeding the Skyne
; Additionally the VSWR may/will change with added radials and ground moisture
> conditions.
>
> Im going out for several hours so no rush on the answers.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
>
> - Original Message - From: "Charlie Cunningham"
>
> To: "
for cutting asphalt...we'll see.
Thanks again
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: Charlie Cunningham [mailto:charlie-cunning...@nc.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2014 8:18 PM
To: Carl Braun; 'ZR'; '160'
Subject: RE: Topband: Shunt feeding the Skyneedle - new develo
the amplifier below 500W.
I'm definitely ready to get the RX loop up as listening on the needle is rough.
Thanks Tom
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: Tom W8JI [mailto:w...@w8ji.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 12:17 AM
To: Carl Braun
Cc: 160
Subject: Re: Topband: Shunt feedi
All
Moisture has gotten to the copper. I've heard white vinegar may work. Its
cheap...give it a try
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Andy Ikin
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 3:10 AM
To: Dave G4GED; Topband Reflector
Subj
-100 radials under each antenna
ranging from 40' to 80'. I can change the height of these verticals from 33'
for 40m to 66' for 80m. 1/2 wl spacing on 40 and 1/4 wl spacing on 80.
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: Charlie Cunningham [mailto:charlie-cunning...@nc
Charlie
The cap is no where near maxed out. I'm using approx 150pf of a 1050pf
variable cap.
Carl
-Original Message-
From: Charlie Cunningham [mailto:charlie-cunning...@nc.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2014 6:37 PM
To: Carl Braun; 'Tom W8JI'; '160'
Su
our radial field!
>
> 73,
> Charlie, K4OTV
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Carl
> Braun
> Sent: Friday, February 21, 2014 8:46 PM
> To: Charlie Cunningham; 'Tom W8JI'; '160'
&g
Charlie Cunningham [mailto:charlie-cunning...@nc.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2014 5:21 PM
To: 'Tom W8JI'; Carl Braun; '160'
Subject: RE: Topband: Shunt feeding the Skyneedle - new developments
Well, Carl
I plotted your 45-j11 load on a Smith Chart (normalized to 50 ohms) and
All
Topband list
If you've followed my efforts to shunt feed my Skyneedle tower you'll know that
I settled with a tap point of 67' and 30" or so of spacing with my feed point
reading 42 + j0 ohms. This reading was taken at the interior of my 20 x 30 x
8" steel Hoffman enclosure with the vari
you improve the radials, you may see that
> 42 ohm resistance drop a little and your BW decrease as you reduce the
> ground losses and the Q of you antenna system increases! I've had that
> experience in the past.
>
> Anyway, Carl, sounds like you have it playing pretty well! Hav
All
I decided to take a chance at tapping the tower at 67' and apply some series
capacitance to see how the structure would work there before tapping it at the
90' level. Here is what I found:
The gamma arm spacing is at 33" and with 140pf in series I see 42+j0 ohms at
the feedpoint. Inside
Tom
After reading your post yesterday I had a dream that I woke up and saw one of
those flying monkeys on top of my tower laughing and sawing away.
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: Tom W8JI [mailto:w...@w8ji.com]
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 6:02 PM
To: Carl Braun;
is with the re-built loss table, Carl
73,
Charlie, K4OTV
From: Charlie Cunningham [mailto:charlie-cunning...@nc.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 11:35 AM
To: 'Carl Braun'; '160'
Subject: RE: Topband: Still in search of resonance - Detailed Observations and
Calculations
t; wrote:
Well, here it is with the re-built loss table, Carl
73,
Charlie, K4OTV
From: Charlie Cunningham [mailto:charlie-cunning...@nc.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 11:35 AM
To: 'Carl Braun'; '160'
Subject: RE: Topband: Still in search of resonance - Detailed Observa
Tom and all
Thanks for the responses.
I was under the assumption that I would find a 50 ohm tap on the tower but with
a lot of reactance requiring a cap that would tune out the X but leave the 50
ohm resistive value in place.
I knew my tap was too low at 46' when I saw less than 50 ohms with
50 Ohms *and* the bandwidth would be much
> wider. Even three parallel wires spaced 12" or so would have a much
> greater effective diameter and would reduce the step-up you see by
> a great deal.
>
> Of course, if all you can do is a single #14 wire, use an Omega
> match or a
ing is 1:1 at
> 1356 kc.. At this point you are shooting in the dark in a dark room..
>
> You may or may not have an adequate ground system, but that doesn't lessen
> the need to know what it is you have... and you don't.
>
> 73 GL
>
> Dean W5PJR
> Tijeras,
List
Some of you may have followed my efforts in trying to shunt feed my 90' Tri-Ex
Skyneedle with 20 meter yagi at 93'. I'm still unable to find any sort of
resonance point on the tower. To refresh everyone's memory here are the
specifics:
90' Skyneedle that is 12" round at the base and 4"
Bruce
I work with AC inverters for industrial motor control and their presence
obsoleted one of my competitor's overhead crane radio control product
practically overnight. A simple hand held AM "transistor" radio was placed
within 50' of one of these motor Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) contro
Thanks for the input Tom
The only variable cap I have is the EF Johnson which is 60-160pf. I have some
ham radio stuff at my parents house not the least is a Jennings 1000pf vac
variable rated at 5KV or 7.5kv. I was hoping to use that with a 12v motor for
QSYing up the band for contesting. I'll
nt
frequency.
Comments please
Thanks
Carl AG6X
-Original Message-
From: ZR [mailto:z...@jeremy.mv.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2014 8:13 AM
To: Carl Braun; '160'
Cc: 'Tom W8JI'
Subject: Re: Topband: Shunt feeding the Skyneedle
Any idea how much top loading that 5 el 46&
rent so hot over sand and added a mesh extending 50' from
> the base.
>
> The gamma rod was the shield of 3/4" CATV coax about 2' from the tower and
> the best tap point was around 60' if I remember.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
>
> - Original Me
ailto:w...@w8ji.com]
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 8:58 AM
To: Carl Braun; '160'
Subject: Re: Shunt feeding the Skyneedle
the vertical section was still suppressed and the top 29' was resonating.
With this in mind I decided to run a shunt wire from the top to see where
the ant
Topbanders
If you followed my post on 'In search of resonance' you'll see that I was
struggling with feeding a 160m inverted L up close to my 90' Skyneedle. Tom
W8JI suggested that I cut back the L to 129' but the same phenomenon was
seen...that being the VERTICAL section of the inverted L wa
> wrote:
Carl,
Are you sure your MFJ meter isn't being overloaded by a broadcast station?
Thats a very common problem especially on 160 meters.
73
Frank
W3LPL
________
From: "Carl Braun" mailto:carl.br...@lairdtech.com>>
To: topband@contesting.com&l
m: chetmoore [mailto:chetmo...@cox.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 6:22 PM
To: 'Tom W8JI'; 'Tree'
Cc: '160'; Carl Braun
Subject: RE: Topband: In search of resonance
Thanks for this tidbit of information. As soon as this white manure melts
(some people call it snow
27;t being overloaded by a broadcast station?
Thats a very common problem especially on 160 meters.
73
Frank
W3LPL
From: "Carl Braun"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 4:16:53 AM
Subject: Topband: In search of resonance
Hello to the group
I'm a newbie to 160 having only participated in various contests over the
course of the last two years. I used an 80 meter aluminum tube vertical with a
Reyco trap affixed to the top with a horizontal "L: wire heading over to the
palm tree. I've since converted that antenn
All
I'm working on installing an 80/160 inverted L that will be approximately 165'
in total length with the vertical portion being 88' tall and the rest of the
wire (77') running out to a 80' tall palm tree. This will give me
approximately 5/8w on 80 and 5/16w on 160 and will allow me to use a
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