HCRA Blog – Page 40 – Hampden County Radio Association

Home Made Off Center Fed Dipole

Here is my first attempt at an article. I wanted to make a all band antenna without the long tail of a G5RV. I did some research and remembered that awhile back I had received an antenna from a fellow ham that had been struck by lightning. It was a 40 meter Carolina windom.

Started by taking the 2 baluns apart to see what they were made of. Found the upper one was a 4:1 to 1 balun. It had 15 turns around a 3/8 ferrite rod.

Mine was burnt and broken from the lightning hit.

Searched on the internet how to make one (new they are approx. $20-$30). I wound 10 turns of the 14 gauge wire on a small piece of 1 inch O.D. PVC pipe. This was then enclosed in a small piece of 1 1/2 inch O.D. PVC pipe and end caps for weatherproofing. Two stainless steel eye-bolts are used to attach the antenna wires and another to support the balun.

(photos were taken from the internet)

Buying one probably would have been easier but there is no experience in that.

Next was to take apart the other balun and see what made it tick. There was no damage to this one just a rattle (curiosity killed the cat). This one was a 1:1 Choke balun to dissipate RF. Took it apart and found the ferrite rod hand broken. Guess I need to make another. Back to the internet.

Here is what I found

I needed a choke balun to keep RF from getting back into my radio and finding new ways to make sure I stayed awake late at night. I found instructions online for a simple and cheap coax 1:1 choke balun. It is supposed to handle 160 meters to 10 meters which is perfect for my application. I made some modifications to the construction but I kept the critical parts intact. Mainly I added HF connectors at each end so that it can go inline in with my coax to the antenna. I figure I can also use it later for other antennas because I can simply make an adapter that screws onto one end to allow me to hookup wires directly to it for either ladder line or antenna wires. It’s a bit heavy so it’d have to be supported by some rope instead of just the wire if I needed to have it up in the air, but that isn’t a big deal really.

Here are the beginning parts of the 1:1 coax choke balun. I have about 21 feet of RG-58u wrapped around a 3″ PVC pipe form that I drilled two holes in to feed the coax into the inside of the pipe. At the bottom you can see the end caps with the SO-239’s installed already. I bolted them in with 6-32 screws with a nice large fender washer to provide a strong backing and to spread the stress out across the cap so that if it has anything hanging on either end it will not break the cap and pull out. Everything is sealed up with some really nice 35 year, silicone impregnated, permanently flexible clear caulking to provide a weather proof seal that should last a long time. I also tacked down the winding in place using a few beads of the same caulking to keep everything nice and tight.

Here is a close-up shot of the two end caps where you can more clearly see the method I used for mounting the SO-239 connectors. With the fender washer as a backer it would take quite a bit of force to pull the connector out. Odds are the coax will pull apart first, but let’s be honest, it’d be a lot easier to fix a piece of coax than it would to rebuild this thing!

Here is a shot of the coax and how it is hooked up to the connector. The center conductor is soldered in and the braid is attached to a ring terminal which is then bolted onto one of the bolts using another nut. It’s a pretty solid construction and should last a long time, I hope.

Here is the fully assembled choke balun. I drilled a small hole in the pip to allow air to escape when I pushed the two ends on, otherwise it would have acted like an air spring and forced one end back off. It will be sealed up with caulking once the PVC cement dries. Overall length from tip to tip is about 13″.

(Some wording and pictures were taken from internet)

Being that I was building a 10 thru 80 antenna ( if you remember it was a 40) I had to change the length of wire also.

Holding true to the original Windom formulas, I used a ratio of 37.8% for one side and 62.2% for the longest side after determining the half wave length at the lowest operating frequency…. This is the 200Ω point, hence the 4:1 balun. (50Ω to 200Ω) The antenna is very simple. As already mentioned it is fed at the 1/3 point. So for 80m and up, you have one leg that is 45 feet long, and another leg that is 90 feet long. Some tweaking may be needed, but mine was built within an inch or two of those measurements.

The 10 feet vertical radiator really does radiate, and offers vertical radiation to the existing horizontal radiation, and therefore adds to the low angle omnidirectional radiation. The line isolator stops the vertical radiator radiating all the way back to the shack. Ideal height for the feed point is around 30-35 feet.

This is the same design as the ‘Carolina Windom 80 Special’

Hopefully Every one enjoyed this

KB1NWH

Activating Crag Mountain, Northfield, Mass.

Around midnight on Friday (Aug. 31) night Jim/KK1W emailed me that he, Nick/K1MAZ and John/Kx1x would be activating Prospect Hill the next day. I had already activated Prospect Hill this year, so I decided to do Crag Hill in Northfield and snag a sure S2S (Summit to Summit). Jim was going to use NE1SJ so I used my own call. Nick and John used primarily NE1C, the Venture Crew’s call. (You can see their posting on this Group site from a few days ago.)

I set up a segmented 20/40 meter dipole, supported in the center by my new Jackite Pole at about the 20 foot level. On 40 cw, I got on and called cq and worked Boston & Maryland. Then I spotted an alert and put 8 more in the log, including NE1SJ and K1MAZ (on cw!). Then I switched to 20 meter cw (being lazy, I discovered that the KX3 tuned the 40 meter dipole fine on 20 meters). Sent an alert on SOTA, and 10 quick QSOs. Got briefly unlazy, and removed the jumpers to make the antenna a 20 meter dipole. 2 more contacts. Switched to 15 meter cw, reverted to being lazy and the KX3 tuned 15 meters fine on the 20 meter dipole. 14 Qs on 15. Then back to 20 cw for a few more. Recap: 41 QSOs, 2 S2S.

Conditions were good, weather ideal. The view of Northfield Mountain was great. The KX3 performed well. A 2.6 Ah LiPo battery weighing 8 ounces powered the KX3 for the entire operation, with room to spare. The segmented dipole is a pain to change singlehandedly, thinking of making a trap dipole and/or experiment more with an end-fed wire.

Frandy, N1FJ

KX3 vs FT-817 Receive Comparison

Now that I have your attention let me tell you what this post does NOT say!

This isn’t a technical comparison between the two radios. Nor is it meant to infer one radio is better or worse than the other. You have to look at all the features/benefits and figure out what works best for you. And, unfortunately, it points out my amateur video capabilities 🙁

Background

Here’s a little background to help fill in the blanks. Both radios are (or more accurately were) owned by me. The FT-817 was purchased new around 2003, the KX3 was received in August 2012. The RX comparison came about from a 75m conversation with Ken/KF7IYQ. I mentioned I would like to do an A/B comparison between the two radios and he asked if I could shoot a video of the test.

Test conditions

The video was shot in my shack on a typical Monday evening. The antenna used is a 3 element SteppIR at 50′, aimed west for the test. Both radios were powered from the same source, a 6.6 Ah LiFe battery and the antenna switched between the two with a Daiwa two position switch. I attempted to find a very weak station with one radio, then switch to the other to see what it sounded like on that rig.

The KX3 has far more features than the FT-817. The only option in the Yaesu is a 400 Hz Collins IF filter for CW. The CW filter was selected for the tests. On the KX3 noise reduction (NR) was off and the CW bandwidth was set at 400 Hz to match up with the Yaesu. 20 meters was quiet and both radios had their preamps on (IPO off on the Yaesu).

Conclusions

There aren’t any! The videos show what the typical operator would hear when they come home from work on a Monday evening and get on 20 meter CW. It’s up to you to decide which rig, if either, has a leg up on the other.

Full disclosure. Just hours after this test the Yaesu was packed up and sent to its new owner. As much as I like both radios the KX3 offers many features beyond the FT-817’s. I simply didn’t envision the Yaesu getting much air time in the future. That being said I’ll still miss the little 817, it really offers a lot in a small package.

Here’s the videos. Try not to doze off while they’re playing 🙂

Thanks for watching and reading – 73!
Jim/KK1W

September Zero Beat is live, on the web and in your email box

Don’t forget! Our first meeting of the new season is this Friday, September 7th. Read all about the meeting, upcoming raffles and more in the September issue of Zero Beat.

Frandy once again has put together eight pages of HCRA and local interest for September. Enjoy!

From the Shack – September 2012

“Welcome back my friends…..”

Welcome to the NEW HCRA – new meeting hall, new website, new raffle and more! I hope your summer has been interesting and exciting. Now, as the leaves begin to turn and there’s a bite of crisp autumn in the air, it is time to re-energize your activity in amateur radio! The new HCRA has lots of stuff in store for you – read on.

New Meeting Location

Thanks to the efforts of John/Kx1x we have secured a new meeting hall. Starting with the September 2012 meeting our meetings will be held at the Auxiliary Conference Center at the Holyoke Medical Center. Many of you have been here before, it’s where the Western Mass VE Team has given examinations for close to a decade. We have all the details of the hall and how to get there on our website. Simply click this link!

What does the new location give us that prompted the change? Let me count the ways. First off the location is free. Your board has decided to make a donation to HMC for the use of the facility however we’re still saving over $500/year in room fees. That’s just the start of good things. Our new location is newly renovated with state of the art heating and cooling, comfortable chairs, a complete A/V setup including screen, projector, sound system and wifi. Handicap access, convenient rest rooms, vending machines and 24/7 security round out the list. I think you’ll find it a superior alternative to our old location.

If, after reading the information about the location, you have ANY questions concerning directions, parking or anything else send me an email or call and I’ll do my best to help ease the transition. All my contact information can be found on the ‘Contacts‘ page of the new HCRA website. Speaking of the website, this brings us to our next major improvement…

The NEW HCRA Website!

When we launched our first website, sometime back in the 1990’s, we were ahead of our time as amateur radio clubs go. However over the ensuing years everything around us changed and we didn’t! What was cutting edge became ‘old fashioned’ and we didn’t do anything about it. Sure, our facebook page is an example of forward thinking but we needed to get our website into the 21st Century too.

The board discussed improving the website for over a year. Unfortunately the folks with the time didn’t have the skills, and the ones with the skills didn’t have the time. One night, after the HCRA meeting and over a beer or two, Jeff/NT1K volunteered to take on the task if we wanted him to do so. Heck yeah, we had been talking about it for months and now, here’s someone that actually has the skills AND the time to ‘get er done’. You’re looking at the results of a few solid weeks (40 to 80 hours) of work – and we’re just getting started!

The new site promises to be interactive and will improve the exposure of HCRA to the amateur radio community around the world. We’re learning to use the new tools available and there’s more to come. Two things on the top of the ‘to do’ list are a swap & sell page and a page where you can actually join or renew on line. I’m thinking we’re off to a pretty good start, don’t you?

As with everything new there will be growing pains and some concern over change (aka “not doing things the old way”). If anyone feels we’ve missed the mark in a few areas please let us know. Better yet, sign up on the website and leave some constructive comments. That’s the beauty of the new site, it offers a chance for everyone to have a say in the execution.

Jeff will be presenting a website tour at the September meeting. After the presentation please take a moment to thank him for his efforts. The change involved a lot of work that easily goes unnoticed.

Back by popular demand – the KX3 Raffle!

The Elecraft KX3 continues to be the hottest transceiver to hit the market in quite some time. A few years back it would be difficult to imagine a compact, all band HF transceiver with DSP, ATU, keyer and more wrapped up in a package weighing less than two pounds. That’s the good news, the bad news is it will set you back at least a kilobuck AND there’s a 120 day waiting list – you just can’t go out and buy one and put it on the air today.

Enter the HCRA KX3 Raffle. For as little as a $10 donation you get a chance to take one of these bad boys home! Only printed 250 tickets have been printed so your chances are very good it could be YOU! (Ask Dan/KB1VWQ about that). The rig is already on order so when the drawing is made, you get to take it home – right then!

Tickets go on sale at the September meeting and are sure to sell out quickly. Be sure to grab yours now before they are all gone. Read more about the raffle here.

Renewal Time is here!

Once again it’s time to open your wallets and support your favorite radio club. Our fiscal year ended August 31st. If you haven’t renewed yet, please do so at the September meeting or by mail using our handy application form. We have worked hard over the past ten years to control our costs, provide quality events for our members and NOT raise dues. By becoming a member you will help keep dues low and fun high! See Rich/N1KXR or Dave/N1MFL at the September meeting and stay current with HCRA. If you can bring a completed application with you it will make the process quicker for everyone.

Still not convinced? OK, here’s some incentive. If you join or renew your HCRA membership by the close of the October 5th meeting you could be the winner of a TYT TH-F5 dual band HT with rechargeable batteries, desk and mobile charger. Getting the bulk of our memberships early in the season allows us plan the year ahead. Help us out by renewing early and we might help you out with a new HT. Fair enough?

Notes from the cluster:

The HCRA October meeting will feature Tom Homewood/W1TO. Tom will be showing us how to get on radio teletype (RTTY), one of many exciting digital modes. Besides a RTTY primer W1TO will talk about RTTY contesting and the Yankee Clipper Contest Club. This will be a dual meeting – it will also be a YCCC meeting and you will be able to join or renew your YCCC membership at our meeting.

The Silent Auction returns at our October meeting. We’ve secured some nice donations over the past few months and will be offering them up to our members at realistic prices.

We will be putting out annual auction ‘on hold’ for 2012 in order to concentrate on getting all the new changes under our belt. It ‘may’ return in 2013 – at this moment it is too soon to tell.

The MTARA picnic is September 9th, just two days after our meeting. HCRA members are most welcome to partake in the fun, food and drink. Purchase tickets from Diane/KB1KST. Info about this and other upcoming events is on our website under the heading of, you guessed it, events!

I think it’s time to put the closing paragraph on this month’s From the Shack. I hope everyone feels all the changes are positive and position HCRA to grow as an amateur radio club and local area resource for years to come. Please, don’t hesitate to voice your thoughts, good or bad, about the new HCRA. Most importantly continue to be the engaged and active amateur radio operator as you’ve always been. That’s the attitude the brings new folks into our fun, exciting and, when disaster strikes, necessary hobby.

’73…
Jim/KK1W

NE1C SOTA Activation Review – September 1, 2012 – Prospect Hill

Nick (K1MAZ) and I, along with Jim (NE1SJ/KK1W) made the trek to Prospect Hill, MA (near Athol) for a SOTA (Summits on the Air) activation. Great weather and great propagation made for a perfect day!!!

We hung a mini-G5RV from the fire tower (up about 80′ sloping to a tree branch). We used KK1W’s FT100 to make contacts using 55w and mini-G on 20m, 15m, and 10m SSB. We used the FT817 and the mini-G to make PSK31 contacts (yeah, 5w) on 20m.

We also used a home-made “tape-measure” 2m beam to work a few local contacts on 146.52. If you’ve taken 146.52 out of your scanning sequence, you might consider putting it back in, especially on weekends when local hams may be looking to make a contact with you.

Stay tuned for more NE1C activations, coming soon! Thanks for all of you that we contacted today, and all we’ll contact in the future!

’73 de Kx1x, John J. Pise, Jr.

Hover over a thumbnail to see the description, click any thumbnail to start the slideshow.

NE1C Activation Logs

2012 Field Day Summary

Last June Hampden County Radio Association once again participated in the annual ARRL Field Day event. This year we added an additional transmitter, which put us in the 8A category. As usual, the event was an overall success with our members and visitors having a great time while operating and enjoying each other’s company.

And like every field day, the successes were accompanied by a few problems that no doubt affected our overall score and morale for a short time during the event. However, solving those problems was an excellent test of our ability to troubleshoot problems under pressure. Although there were problems with the antenna for the 15 meter and 20 meter SSB station, the 40 meter SSB station led by band captain Jeff – NT1K set an all time record for points for that station at Field Day and helped pick up the slack while others worked to get the other stations back online. Jeff even brought in operators from New Hampshire and New York.

Nick – N1MAZ picked up the responsibility for the wireless network this year and a combination of Nick’s excellent support and operators getting more comfortable with the N1MM logging software gave us our most successful year using that combo to network all of the stations together. During Jose – N4BAA’s late night visit, it was quite fun to see operator’s names in the log change to “CW GOD”, “North Korea” & “CW is lame”. Nothing like a little humor at 1am to help wake you up and keep working stations!

Back again this year was Jim – NN1Y with new assistant Mike – KB1VHS keeping everyone well fed and happy. The pavilion provided a great place for everyone to take a break from the dits, dahs and static and catch up with each other over some great food and drinks.

Dianne – KB1KST graciously volunteered to coach the WB1Z GOTA station and was able to get a few new operators on the air as well as some folks who aren’t so new!

And it wouldn’t be a Field Day in New England with out some summer boomers moving through. Friday afternoon brought some lightening as storms to the south of us moved through. And again on Saturday, big storms blew in and stations were shut down until it was again safe to operate.

The big change at Field Day this year was the use of HF triplexers and a reduction in the number necessary towers. What did we learn? That the triplexers work great, but that if one antenna has problems, it affects more than one station! What did we really learn? Don’t have antenna problems!

No field day summary is complete without some ideas for next year. The big one is probably better distributed management, specifically with the towers. Some have suggested tower teams consisting of several workers and a tower manager for each tower. Managers would be experienced with installing AB-577 tower and the antenna going on top of it and would then direct the rest of their team on how to put the tower and antenna together in the proper and safest manner. Others have suggested fewer stations. It has also suggested that we focus less on bonus points and put more focus everyone operating as well as making sure that volunteers with non-radio related jobs get plenty of time to operate. All of these boil down to management and we’ll make sure to take them all into consideration for next year.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make field day a fun, educational and radio filled event. It’s the biggest event in our club each year and without everyone’s help we wouldn’t be able to pull off such a large operation that brings new hams into the hobby each year.

See you in June 2013!

Matt – W1MSW

Here is our score summary:

Score Summary:
CW Digital Phone Total
Total QSOs 1253 36 1615
Total Points 2506 72 1615 4193

Claimed Score = 8,386
Bonus Points = 1850
Total Points = 10236

Help Wanted

Our club is looking for a few volunteers for the upcoming 2012/2013 season. Here’s a chance for you to give something back to your fellow club members. The pay is little (well actually none!) but the rewards are great.

KX3 Raffle Coordinator
As coordinator you would actively promote the raffle at HCRA meetings, local hamfests and flea markets. Money is turned in at the end of each meeting so there is no worry about cash accountability. Imagine the enjoyment you’ll get when the friend you sold a ticket to is the winner!

Meeting Hall Supervisor (or some other name – couldn’t think of a good one)
We need someone to arrive about 15 minutes before the meeting. Make sure it is unlocked, grab a few early arrivals and get the chairs setup. During the meeting make sure any trash is placed in the proper receptacles. After the meeting return the room to its original condition.

Holiday Party Coordinator
We have the restaurant reserved and the menu pretty much under control. We’re looking for someone to promote the tickets, get the word out and make sure we have a proper guest list for the party. If you have some ideas to ‘liven up’ the event let’s hear them too. This is a one time a year, fun job – who wants it this year?

Apply in person or via the web. Education or past work history not important, only a strong desire to make HCRA the best amateur radio club on the planet!

Thanks for making HCRA the great club it is!

Jim/KK1W

New KX3 Raffle – starts at the September 7th meeting!

We were one of the first clubs in the world to give away an Elecraft KX3 – and we’re doing it again! Tickets will be available starting September 7th during our kick-off meeting at the Holyoke Medical Center. A $10 donation puts you in the running. Only 250 tickets will be available and the drawing will be held March 1st, 2013.

Mark your calendars now for September 7th. You don’t want to miss our very first meeting at the new location. We’ve other surprises scheduled for the meeting too – stay tuned!

Treasurer’s Report – August 26, 2012

Income:

Park Refund: $746.00
FD Raffle: $380.00
FD Food: $260.00
Membership: $15.00
Silent Auction: $87.00

Total Income: $1483.00

Expenses

Hall Rent: $90.00
FD Parts: $21.23
Trailer setup food: $50.00
Crew Charter: $20.00
KX3 (long term raffle prize): $1026.80
Web Hosting: $88.00
Triplexer/bpf filters (Field Day): $670.85
Field Day Food: $500.00

Total Expenses: $2378.88

Starting Balance: $6613.69

Ending Balance: $6017.81

Notes: (added by KK1W)

Field Day Expense Breakdown

Field Day Food: $110 (after FD raffle profit of $130 and donations of $260)
Field Day Equipment: $692.00 (Triplexers, BPF filters, misc. parts)
Field Day Equipment Trailer: $700 (expected 10 year life)
Dufresne Park Rental (3 days): $746 (the ‘Park Refund’ is the return of our 100% security deposit. Actual park cost for the three days including the kitchen was $746)