First 160 AM QSO of the 2013/2014 season
VE3LYX:
I am good to go now. I have an ARC5 moved down to 160M and cathode modulated. I have never been on 160M till this week and never had a QSO yet there. Hope to change that this week. AM hanging around 1885. Hopefully that is a good thing.
Don
KA0HCP:
The Mighty ARC-5 can do anything!
W3GMS:
Quote from: W8ACR on November 06, 2013, 10:12:57 PM
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Hi Joe,
I have refined the antenna further since the last post. It now consists of a 30 foot vertical section with eight top hat wires each eight feet long. After some mathematical calculations, I thought I had chosen the proper top hat length to resonate the antenna at about 3800 kHz. It actually has a resonant frequency of about 4100kHz, so I was a bit off on the calculations, but I was proud that I came even that close! I shortened the vertical section slightly from 31 ft to 30 ft to gain some mechanical strength. I had considered taking it down again and lengthening the top hat wires, but I chose to stick with what I had because it was quite difficult to get the antenna up and get all those top hat wires untangled and straightened out!
I have a roller inductor at the base that can resonate the antenna at any frequency on 160. The Rrad is about 5-6 ohms on 160 and I match the antenna to the feedline with an unun. On 75 meters, I use just a few turns of the coil, and the Rrad is about 22 ohms. Again, I match it to the feedline with an unun. On 40 meters, the antenna is close to a 1/2 wavelength vertical, but can be matched very well with an "L" network.
I've had several chats with KL7OF on 160 using this new configuration, and it seems to work pretty well so far. We still haven't had great conditions on 160, but the early returns are promising. My next two projects are a 160 meter 1/2 wave dipole fed with open wire line, and a Beverage antenna pointing east. I don't know if you have 160 capability, but if you do, I hope we can meet on the air sometime.
Ron W8ACR
Knox, ND
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Hi Ron,
Sorry for the late response, but I normally just check out the QSO and Tech section of AMfone so I need address some of the other sections of this site, especially after posting something!
Yes, I do have 160M capability but its pretty much a cloud warmer. 260' center fed up 60'. I want to put up a 3/8 wave inverted L but as yet have not done it. The inverted L should work out much better for longer distances. I am putting up a new tower in the spring, so when that gets done I will put up the inverted L.
73,
Joe, GMS