ARRL

Register Account

Login Help

N9AAT

Joined: Sat, Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Roles: N/A Moderates: N/A

Latest Posts

Topic Author Posted On
What to look for in a radio? KF5SQL on 11/5/12
There are all kinds of "stealth" antennas in the catalogs today, since this is a growing problem. Whenever I go to take classes in Oklahoma City at the FAA Academy, I stay in apartments and take along the elements of my HyGain mobile whip with a clamp base that goes out on the balcony. That's for HF, of course. VHF should be easy.

In my opinion, any good base station will beat an HT if you're on the air and ragchewing for long periods of time. HT's get hot or power themselves back if transmitting too long.
radials SIZE358 on 11/5/12
I agree, the longer the better if you want a ground system. Shorter radials can become part of the radiating system itself. The radials for my multiband vertical are a ground plane for 10-15-20 with little affect on SWR (mostly angle). However, because of the length I've chosen they become "elements" on 40, which does directly affect my SWR. On 80-meters they don't seem to do me any good at all.

Try using the EZNEC programs to experiment. With that you can also raise your system up and down relative to ground.
Sun spot activity in the ARRL Letter W2YX on 11/5/12
I think propagation will ALWAYS be something we have to chase, which to me is part of the allure of amateur radio. It wouldn't be as much fun if too predictable. Yes, I could have picked up a cell phone rather than wait to get through to South Pole Station on 20m, but where is the challenge in that?
Wideband RFI Bursts - Please Help! AC0XU on 11/5/12
Be cautious with this one. I work for the FAA and we recently had a similar problem; owner would NOT grant access, and we finally had to have the sheriff come out. Our techs cut off one circuit at a time until they found a chandelier base with an added piece of Romex which went through a wall, and then nowhere. Our people left and the sheriff followed up. We never heard, but it may have been a secret room with a lab inside. Just a word to the wise.
High Voltage power lines N0LD on 11/5/12
Like AA6E I've never seen problems from HV lines in VHF, or even on HF, but there's always a first. HF noise is already high enough from all sorts of sources, which is why we don't worry that much about receiver sensitivity. I've worked a lot of RFI issues but so far none involving high voltage transport lines.

Back to Top

EXPLORE ARRL

Instragram     Facebook     Twitter     YouTube     LinkedIn