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  #31  
Old 08-28-2017, 12:25 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Couldn't tell ya. I guess I'll figger it out when it comes in

My main motivation in getting it is that I was approached to be an NCS on the Maritime Mobile Net, as soon as I got my upgrade. They're in dire need of experienced net controlling stations, and I've been doing it on and off for a quarter century.

http://mmsn.org/about-us/net-control-info.html

Qualification #11: 11) CAPABLE OF TRANSMITTING A READABLE SIGNAL TO THE ATLANTIC, EASTERN PACIFIC, CARIBBEAN AND GULF OF MEXICO.

I just don't trust my Gonset to be up to the task just yet......it will be in time, but for now I just want to get a good HF station up.

HF antenna arrays, though, present a serious pain in the ass . But to the victor go the spoils I guess
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  #32  
Old 08-28-2017, 12:55 PM
madlabs madlabs is offline
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Gratz!!

Well, at least since the MMSN is on 20 meters the antennas aren't too large. You might try as big a loop as high as you can hang it. I just put a 160 meter loop (actually a little longer than that) and it is kicking ass. Only had it up a week so still figuring out just how well it does but it is beating the pants off of my 160 meter dipole.
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  #33  
Old 08-28-2017, 01:06 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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One thing that I've learned from my ham radio experience over the years is that hams fall in one of two categories.....the ones that will spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on gear and have homes that look like Radio Free Europe, or they're dirt cheap and cripe about actually having to buy a better antenna for their $25 Baofeng.

And no matter what, most every ham cheaps out when it comes to 2m/440 antennas. Most use homemade J-poles (never had luck with them for some reason) or coat hanger ground planes (which I used for a long time I admit). Hell, I could probably walk right over the top of most stations even if I QRP it and kick the power down to a watt or so . I put up a Tram 1480 on a mast about 20 feet up and I have to say that the great reviews on the antenna are dead on.

Here's what I'm thinking about getting:

http://www.zerofive-antennas.com/pro...dipole-antenna

Gear, I might change out frequently but when it comes to antennas I'd rather not screw around and just get something that does the job best given the area it has to live in. Zerofive antennas seem to have great reviews across the board.
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  #34  
Old 08-28-2017, 01:07 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Incidentally if you need one, Home Depot (yes Home Depot) has a STUPID cheap sale on the Tram 1480!!!!!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tram-Amat...1480/300026057
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  #35  
Old 08-28-2017, 06:16 PM
Bill R Bill R is offline
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Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
And then I promptly dropped some Benjamins on one of these.....

I upgraded to Extra last weekend, Then promptly spent almost $2000 on a new IC7100 and a new Yaesu FT60R and a few accessories. Got to celebrate somehow.
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  #36  
Old 08-28-2017, 07:10 PM
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davet753 davet753 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
Incidentally if you need one, Home Depot (yes Home Depot) has a STUPID cheap sale on the Tram 1480!!!!!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tram-Amat...1480/300026057
A buddy of mine just got one of those from Home Depot last month, and it works great for him. SWR was flat across the FM portion of the 2 meter band, right out of the box.

I ought to get one myself, and ditch the j-pole I'm using now. I went all out on a vertical for 6 meter FM (Cushcraft Ringo @ 45'), and skimped on the 2 meter. Of course, I'm also on 6 much more than 2.

You also mentioned a loop, and I can second that for SSB and AM operation. I went from an off-center fed dipole to a loop, and it was certainly a noticeable improvement.
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  #37  
Old 08-28-2017, 08:01 PM
centralradio centralradio is offline
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Incidentally if you need one, Home Depot (yes Home Depot) has a STUPID cheap sale on the Tram 1480!!!!!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tram-Amat...1480/300026057
Thats odd that Home Depot is into selling ham radio's.Maybe they will pick up where Radio Shack left off 25 years ago with parts.They already have hardware that we can use and irons /solder there.
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  #38  
Old 08-28-2017, 09:42 PM
madlabs madlabs is offline
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While I have had good luck with the ol' copper cactus jpole, for 2 meters/70cm I run a Comet GP9 with the tip at 72 feet. Works great.

My experience with low mounted verticals is that they can be noisy and that while there are workarounds there is no substitute for real ground radials and plenty of them. Efficiency usually suffers. I'm glad to see the one you are looking at recommends feeding with ladder line. One realization I have been coming to is that coax works best with a resonant antenna but you are better off with ladder line for multi-band antennas. This is because coax is lossier at high SWRs and ladder line isn't. It will tune up fine but that don't mean you are getting watts out into the air where you want it.

Haven't played with my new loop on 20M much yet as I just got it up. However if it performs as well as it does on 80m and 40m I think it is going to be pretty good. And with 8 full wavelengths and the height it is at I expect it will do really well. It does take a lot of room though and took some work getting it up there.
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  #39  
Old 08-29-2017, 06:00 PM
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Sandy G Sandy G is offline
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One of these daze, before I shake off this mortal coil,I HOPE I can beg, borrow, steal or whatever a 40-50' Rohn tower & mount my FM a top it. Right here in Greater Bugtussle, we have almost boresight from almost Atlanta to almost Roanoke, Virginia. There was an FM antenna atop my gran's apartment, I hooked it up to a 4.5" color TV/AM/FM all in wonder & FM was one solid signal one end of the spectrum to the other..TV, too,was "Blow Yer Mind" bunch of stuff I'd never seen before. Dunno how it would be now, never have tried Over the Air w/this new system... I've always, too, wanted to sneak down to Knoxville, & hook up one of the boatanchors to the WBIR TV antenna- It WAS the tallest thing in the World for a few months 1963-65...
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  #40  
Old 08-30-2017, 12:59 PM
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davet753 davet753 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandy G View Post
One of these daze, before I shake off this mortal coil,I HOPE I can beg, borrow, steal or whatever a 40-50' Rohn tower & mount my FM a top it. Right here in Greater Bugtussle, we have almost boresight from almost Atlanta to almost Roanoke, Virginia. There was an FM antenna atop my gran's apartment, I hooked it up to a 4.5" color TV/AM/FM all in wonder & FM was one solid signal one end of the spectrum to the other..TV, too,was "Blow Yer Mind" bunch of stuff I'd never seen before. Dunno how it would be now, never have tried Over the Air w/this new system... I've always, too, wanted to sneak down to Knoxville, & hook up one of the boatanchors to the WBIR TV antenna- It WAS the tallest thing in the World for a few months 1963-65...
The old WBIR tower is now home to 103.5 FM. A friend of mine is the engineer there, and he also has a 2 meter and a 6 meter repeater on that tower. The 6 meter one has great coverage, but not much towards Rodgersville because the antenna is on the opposite side of the tower. I believe the repeater antennas are 1500' above average terrain.
I bet it would still be fun-W/the exception of lugging a 100 lb Boartanchor around that hill. Dreamed of hookin' up to WBIR ever since they built it... From what I've heard, however, it never quite fulfilled their hopes for it. Often, WBIR would barely come in, but WEZK or WIVK would boom in like there was no tomorrow. .They never bragged on WIMZ, 103.5, it usually does pretty good, too. Always heard another lovely tale-a certain way, w/the wind blowing just right, the guy wires will just sing & sing, & sing. Sposed to be kinda creepy the 1st few times you hear it..

Last edited by Sandy G; 08-31-2017 at 10:37 AM.
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  #41  
Old 08-30-2017, 11:08 PM
Dude111 Dude111 is offline
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Originally Posted by Kamakiri
It took me 4 (yes 4) tests in the same day today
EXCELLENT!!!

Congrats
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