Slim Pickins' Journal

#297150

Gotta fly back to work today for another couple of weeks. Two weeks in the middle of nowhere should give me time to think about what kind of beam I am going to get. Right now I think I am leaning toward a Yagi on the flat with a vertical above it. I want to go with an aluminum vertical again because I have been so happy with the one I had. I have seen some 5/8 vertical groundplane antennas with short radials made by Sirio but I am only beginning my search. Probably end up with a 4 element beam because we get a lot of wind here and anything much bigger scares me. Then again.....what about a cubical quad???

73s
Paul

#297175

Good choice. Personally I like quads. Not sure how having an omni above a quad will affect the radiation. Quads can be touchy about metal in their proximity. Also thinking that you might not need a set of radials on a big metal tower.

Going bigger then 4 elements is a point of diminishing returns. You will get more gain but, progressively less so.

#297217

There are just too many choices. Good thing I have time to decide. By the time I am ready to stand the tower I should have everything figured out..,.yeah right.

#297964

Thought I would throw in a pic of where I live when I am working. Last night it was -40 Celsius

#297968

I don't know what -40 is in F, but I know that a - F is cold, so -C is beyond cold (putting it nicely).

#298209

I think -30 is the point where the 2 systems meet, so - 40 C is a little colder than -40F. It'll get worse

#298802

Home from work for a week. Hoping to get a little work done on the tower. Hopefully the wife dosen't have too big of a to do list for me. I will post pics if I make any progress.

#299261

Well back to work today and no progress on the antenna/tower situation. Oh well 2 weeks at work then I am off for 3 weeks over Christmas. Hopefully I will find some time then. Still have the mobile though so all is not lost

#299281

um that was a fast week?

#299286

It sure was

#299936

Just bought a Yaesu FT101E. Can't wait for it to come.

#299963

If you don't know about it already here's a site that has information for the older and newer Yaesu rigs.http://www.foxtango.org

#300013

Thanks Nightcrawler, good link with lots of valuable info. It will probably be a couple of months before everything is up and running but I am really looking forward to using this rig

#301388

Ok, the last couple of months have been hard on radio gear around here. Dropped the groundplane while trying to put it back up and broke off the radials

. Tried to drive the front of my truck into the garage to fix the wipers during a rain storm and snapped off my Predator 10k

. Talking skip today on my Realistic TRC 457 and all of a sudden no output

, tried 3 mics and 2 meters...nothing.

73s and thanks for looking
Paul

#301565

Well I replaced the busted 10K with a 3' Firestick which was all I could get locally. Looks real nice

. And, I got my Yaesu FT101E in the mail this morning. It is in really good condition and has all the crystals including 11m. I took a few pics with my Blackberry and will post them as soon as I figure out how. Can't wait to get this thing on the air.

Paul

#301599

Ok, here are some pics of the new radio

Thanks for looking
Paul

#301609

Congrats Slim,
That is a great looking rig. Im glad it finally got there.

#301613

Thanks Gunny, now I just gotta finish getting it all set up and try it out

#301635

If your interested in replacing the Analog Readout with a Digital Display add one of these the cost is around $50
http://www.aade.com/applicati ... html#FT101
http://www.aade.com/manuals/DFD2-101.pdf

#301643

That looks like a pretty nice feature to add on. I might give it a try once I get the new tubes I need and get the rig up and running properly.

73s
Paul

#303608

I finally wrote the exam for my Ham license today. I now have all the same privelages as a US General license allows.

Paul

#304144

Congrats on the License. You said that you have all of the same privileges... What is the license called?

#304160

There are only two classes of license in Canada. The Basic and the Advanced. To have HF privalages you have to score over 80 on the basic exam. The pass mark for the Basic exam is 70 and a score between 70-80 will give you vhf/uhf/6m privalages. I have HF privalages because I scored 97 on the exam. I think the next one I will work on is cw. That is, if I can get some internet here at work so I can practice in my spare time. Not gonna try that on this darn Blackberry.

#304168

that seems like a much more simple way of doing it

#304232

Slim Pickins wrote:I think the next one I will work on is cw. That is, if I can get some internet here at work so I can practice in my spare time.

Here's a good site for cw practice at level 6 it generates a QSO with questions at the end of it that's how it was done at the FCC office years ago when I took the test so probably that's the way it's done in Canada now.
http://aa9pw.com/morsecode

You could also listen to code practice on your Yaesu here's the ARRL Schedule and Frequencies.
http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-operating-schedule

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