August 17, 2009, 9:15 am
ND2E is back on the air. For a few details about what was done see the article on the web site. So now it is time to get back into a daily operating routine and try to finish the WAS on 20M PSK before we are overtaken by good propagation.
There are still a couple of antenna experiments that need to be finished plus the build of some sort of 6 M antenna for use when we finally get some sun spot activity.
I also need to check out 10 M since my first tests on ten meters didn’t show that I was putting any power into the antenna. I don’t know what was wrong but I do know that the FT-857 is really finicky about the loads it will feed. So it is possible that the AT-897 auto tune unit just isn’t capable of tuning to the 10 M portion of the HexBeam. I need to break out the antenna analyzer and see what kind of impedance I am actually running. I need to characterize the antenna now that I have it in place and have good coax to it.
I will publish the impedance run when I have it finished.
August 7, 2009, 9:52 pm
Today, I was able to finish getting the connectors and surge arrestors installed. All that is left is one more run of Heliax and connect the rotator to the low voltage surge arrestor.
The surge units are Polyphasor units, while the rotator is protected by and ICE low voltage (50V) 8-position protector. All are mounted on the copper ground bar that I picked up at HamCom several years ago and had been using at the Wylie Tx house before we moved to Gray.
I took a few photos today to show what has been done. Hopefully, I will have a chance to upload them as soon as I finish the Central Holston Christian Church Web Site. Maybe late tomorrow.
August 5, 2009, 10:23 am
Since I started the station antenna and ground rebuild back in July, I have cut the 4-inch hole in the block, installed the 4-inch PVC to line the hole, and knocked a hole in the brick so I can get the Heliax through the wall. I have installed the bracketing and the box on the outside and mounted the antenna ground bus with surge protectors on the inside. Hopefully I will take some photos of the installation and do a section on the web site showing how I did it.
Last year we built a big patio off the walkout basement. When it was built, I had them bond the rebar so I could use the patio as a really big Ufer. It will be bonded to the basement footing Ufer at the power ground rod.
The patio Ufer is grounded to the antenna radio panel with a short ground rod at the entrance to stabilize the area and serve as the connection point for the #8 ground wire. Hopefully, when my wallet recovers a bit, I can replace the wire with a copper ribbon for lower impedence.
Two Heliax runs are installed and waiting for me to install the connectors. So today, I hope to install connectors and pull the third of four Heliax runs to the radio position.
Once all the mechanical work is done, I will still need to get the FT-857 up and running and debug the old PSK interface that I built for it long ago.