Biggest surprises and Biggest disappointments - Rigs and Antennas

[K1JJ]

Open for Business.



My biggest rig disappointment was buying an Apache and SB-10 and getting on 75M ssb in 1965. A W4 alligator group told me I was constantly off frequency, had carrier, no sideband supression and to basically hit the road. It left scars for life...

My biggest rig surprise was building up a pair of 813's X 813's and finding how much cleanly modulated power that little rig could put out! Too bad other power tubes weren't built like the 813.

My biggest antenna disappointment was the 75M bi-square. After spending days putting up a 2el version, I found my low dipole worked as well into Europe. It's average height is low, so killed any low angle. 

This is tied with the Gotham vertical in '64 where I called CQ on 3716 for three days as a new Novice - no answers.
 
Biggest surprise?  The day Chuck/K1KW equaled my ball-to-the-walls wire 18 el Sterba curtain into Eur on 20M using his broadband log periodics. He could rotate them and go from 10-20M - while I was stuck in one direction and one freq for optimization. I tore it down that same day in disgust.

T

[k4kyv]

My biggest disappointment is the K6STI 160m. receiving loop that I built per Sep 95 QST.  After spending well over $100 for materials and at least a week carefully laying it out and constructing it so that all the dimensions were precise and everything completely symmetrical, the thing didn't work any better than a random piece of wire.  According to the articles, computerised modelling showed that it rejects groundwave some 20 dB, the source of most local electrical noise.  I checked the strengths of several local BC stations, comparing them with skywave signals, and strength ratios of local (groundwave) vs distant (skywave) signals was the same, regardless of whether I used my 80m dipole, indoor "shielded" loop, or the K6STI loop.

And to boot, the tuning network I constructed for the thing is intermittent.  It goes dead, and to get it working again, I have to zap it with a little rf - my vfo is usually enough.  I suspect corrosion on the wiper contacts of the variable tuning cap.  It is mounted inside a small sealed plastic box on a pole outside, and probably enough moisture has migrated inside to cause the problem.

The K6STI loop failure motivated me to try a Beverage rx antenna, which  allows me to enjoy 160 (and 80m) reception like I had never experienced before.  Unfortunately, I have only one Beverage, directed to the N-NE from here.  I need to put up anther one for stations to the west, although I have not found the one I have to be extremely directional.  But it does frequently pull weak, barely detectable AM signals right out of the background noise to comfortable, if not "armchair" copy.  In winter months I can listen to Europeans ragchew amongst themselves on SSB, down below 3700. At times I can get readable copy on the French-speaking AM group that operates on 3550 kc/s.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Biggest disappointment - rig: Royce 23 Channel unit (It had no 'swing')
Biggest disappointment - antenna: Antron 99 (was just another mud duck with this dummy load on a stick)

Biggest surprise - rig: My first FT-101 (covered all 40 channels and bunches more I never heard of before)
Biggest surprise - antenna:  Moon Raker (worked vertical and flat side - WORLD WIDE!)

[wa2zdy]

I grew up down the street from a CBer who had what I would learn were two Moonraker 6's side by side on one tower.

CB or not, that was impressive as hell looking.

I don't know what was connected to the other end of the coax, but he pretty well kept me off 10m in the mid and later 1970's.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Don, get that west beverage up before this fall!
Heh-heh...

..

[W1RKW]

Biggest Disappointment:  I was a teenager and just got my Novice.  Got my first station setup which consisted of an HW101 and a store bought trap vertical.  Vertical was ground mounted with very little height with a ground rod as a ground system.  The antenna was deaf and dumb.  After spending the money for the antenna I couldn't afford to buy another so I decided to try my hand at building a homebrew multiband dipole.

Biggest surprise:  The dipole made the HW101 come to life and I work many stations the first day effortlessly.
Even bigger surprise: when my father chewed me out for using all his wire for the antenna and hanging wire and cable all over the yard.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Heh, heh. Trap verticals. I wonder how many Novices got burned by those things? I wonder how many gave up on radio because of them? Anyone elmering or teaching Novice classes back in the day should have required the noobs to use a dipole. They work better, cost less, and the noobs could build one, thus getting their feet wet in construction/building.

Not sure if this was my biggest surprise, since I had done a bunch of research on it before trying it, but it was gratifying to see it work and work reasonably well: Tuning up my 75 meter open-wire fed dipole on 160 meters and making contacts! It dispelled the myth (at least the one I had in my head) that I didn't have enough real estate to get on 160.

[k4kyv]

Heh, heh. Trap verticals. I wonder how many Novices got burned by those things?

With a ground rod and no radials, to boot.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Indeed. It's all about utilizing the lack of knowledge about how antennas work (or the suspension of disbelief by those who do) to sell something that looks simple, small or easy to use. Key phases to look for are

"No radials needed"
"Wide flat bandwidth" [So does a dummy load!]
"Efficient loading"
"No tuning or band switching required"
"Works DX and locals equally well."

[k4kyv]

"Works DX and locals equally well."

I like that one.  Translation: equally poorly.  0=0, always.

[K1JJ]

Gotham Vertical Ad:

"You're 59 in Algiers!"
"Work the world with a Gotham vertical!"


"Here's a list of stations I worked on 20M:"

PY7AB
G3WXX
SM7ER
KZ5TGH
W6YUU
UA1WW
etc.


"Then I switched to 10M:"

BY7AV
JA1GYG
VE2YYK
KL7YUI
etc.

"Then I switched to 160M:"

0


"Then I switched to 75M:"

0



Then I switched to my Saws-All.


T

[WB2CAU]

This is tied with the Gotham vertical in '64 where I called CQ on 3716 for three days as a new Novice - no answers.
 
Then I switched to my Saws-All.

I hope that the recycled aluminum was utilized for something more useful.

[Glenn NY4NC]

Like most hams of my generation, I've always built my own HF antennas but about ten years ago, I figured I'd give one of the commercial verticals a try. got tempted by the claims and got snookered ,,, bought a Gap Voyager, turned out to be a large aluminum dummy load!... what a piece of crap! both performance and construction wise.....Learned an important (expensive) lesson... 

Indeed. It's all about utilizing the lack of knowledge about how antennas work (or the suspension of disbelief by those who do) to sell something that looks simple, small or easy to use. Key phases to look for are

"No radials needed"
"Wide flat bandwidth" [So does a dummy load!]
"Efficient loading"
"No tuning or band switching required"
"Works DX and locals equally well."

[Ed-VA3ES]

When I first got on the air, I used wires. First, a random length job tuned with an L-network; later a dipole. Both worked well. 

Then in 1972 I erected a 14AVQ on top of a roof 35' up, and I added 6 radials per band, plus 2 extra for 20 M, and 2 extra for 10.    Now that antenna got out!  Of course, my buddy with a 3-el beam  was always 10dB stronger than me, even with my amp!   

[Ed-VA3ES]

Like most hams of my generation, I've always built my own HF antennas but about ten years ago, I figured I'd give one of the commercial verticals a try. got tempted by the claims and got snookered ,,, bought a Gap Voyager, turned out to be a large aluminum dummy load!... what a piece of crap! both performance and construction wise.....Learned an important (expensive) lesson... 

GAP's are notorious in the industry, for being junk.   A Butternut would have been better, and Butternut tells you up front that you need   radials.

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

You just gotta love those Gotham Verticals and their advertisements. I wonder how many aspiring JN's thought thy'd be the only antenna they'd ever need?

I'd like to find one just to put it up and (if) I got a contact, I could say: "antenna here is a Gotham Vertical" OM, what's yours"?

Regards,
           Joe N3IBX

PS: I used to have the little B&W version of the Gotham. It was called an "apartment antenna", or for those with restricted space, just hang it out the window. I actually worked a guy who was using one from Western Pa one night on 40M. He had it clamped to his window sill!

[Glenn NY4NC]

Ed,

You reminded me... I DID own a Butternut vertical some years ago...I believe it was the HF6V... It actually was a great antenna, big airwound coils. Ground mounted with about 40 radials it worked pretty good. Unfortunately I was on a city lot surrounded by tons of noise sources...

Like most hams of my generation, I've always built my own HF antennas but about ten years ago, I figured I'd give one of the commercial verticals a try. got tempted by the claims and got snookered ,,, bought a Gap Voyager, turned out to be a large aluminum dummy load!... what a piece of crap! both performance and construction wise.....Learned an important (expensive) lesson... 

GAP's are notorious in the industry, for being junk.   A Butternut would have been better, and Butternut tells you up front that you need   radials.

[K1JJ]

Anyone remember the "JoyStick" antenna ads in mid 60's QSTs?  Maybe someone can scan an ad... Bruce? hint-hint.

"An apartment dwellers dream!" It looked like a 4' plastic pole with a coax coming out. I've never seen one nor heard one on the air. The ads mysteriously disappeared. (And maybe later became the Isotron, I dunno)   

T

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Anyone remember the "JoyStick" antenna ads in mid 60's QSTs?  Maybe someone can scan an ad... Bruce? hint-hint.

"An apartment dwellers dream!" It looked like a 4' plastic pole with a coax coming out. I've never seen one nor heard one on the air. The ads mysteriously disappeared. (And maybe later became the Isotron, I dunno)   

T

Tom,
      Could it have been a 6' pole with RG-59 coming out the bottom of it? I think one variant was called  "pole lamp" antenna. It was 6' or so tall, brown in color, with gold end caps. You adjusted it by varing the length of it physically, and by screwing the top gold end cap in and out.

Unfortunately, I don't have the ad for what I described, but used the actual antenna which I had a long time ago.

[KB2WIG]

It's named the Isotron 'caus it isolates one from making contacts???   klc

[Glenn NY4NC]

It's magic!!!!!

[K1JJ]

An Isotron was used to pull him in:

[W3SLK]

I know this isn't going to sit too well but I used to have all kinds of luck with my Hustler 5-BTV. Although the resonator for 80/75 was worth a fiddler's f&*@k, the rest of the elements worked pretty darn good. I used to chat with the AM crowd on 40, and pounded a helluva lot of brass on 20M and 15M. 10M SSB worked pretty darn good too. I did take the time to tune and prune each section pretty meticuliously. I didn't have any regrets.

[K1JJ]

I know this isn't going to sit too well but I used to have all kinds of luck with my Hustler 5-BTV. Although the resonator for 80/75 was worth a fiddler's f&*@k, the rest of the elements worked pretty darn good. I used to chat with the AM crowd on 40, and pounded a helluva lot of brass on 20M and 15M. 10M SSB worked pretty darn good too. I did take the time to tune and prune each section pretty meticuliously. I didn't have any regrets.

That makes sense, Mike -

As you double the frequency,  the optimum take-off angle roughly gets halved. So, if the optimum angle for say, Europe is  50 degrees on 75M,  then 25 degrees on 40M is best, and 13 degrees on 20M and 7 degrees on 10M.  It does work out that way in the real world, I've found. So, for USA work, you might apply the same rules, but with higher angles.

That said, we can see why a vertical would be a good performer on 40-10M due to the lower angle of a well radialed vertical. 

Another important factor is that a short 18AVQ, etc, is closer to a full sized vertical on 20M and above, as well as a short radial field being closer to the required 1/4 wave radials on 20M, etc.

So, bottom line, on 160M and 75M, a shortie vertical has two things against it... the angles needed are quite higher than the vertical produces for local and closer in DX work, and it's length is too small = coil losses... plus the radial field has to be huge on 75-160M.  On 20-10M  and even 40M to some extent, a vertical's charactoristics and physical size work out rather well.

Of course, as someone here said, a Yagi on 10-40M will take out a single vertical by a good 10db in the real world. But the difference in effort and expense is obvious - no free lunches.

73,

T

[Tom WA3KLR]

I bought a Hustler 4BTV in 1972 while in the service.  It is still in use on my pole barn for 10, 15 and 20 meters.  I took the 20 meter trap off after deciding to run 40 meters with a separate dipole instead.  So it is a "3BTV" for many years now.  Very reliable, no rotatin', plug and play.

The pole barn was re-roofed with a factory painted sheet steel product, decent ground planium.