Just wanted to share...

[VE3GZB]

I pulled down my antenna last night and used clear 16ga speaker wire to make what I hope will be a 2 band inverted Vee.

I got some pieces of white PVC pipe, drilled them and use them as spacers, hanging the pipe from the 40m leg of the antenna to support the shorter 20m lengths.

I'll try to set it up this evening and see how it tunes up!

73s geo VE3GZB

[VE3GZB]

First results of the new all 16 gauge speaker wire antenna this evening on 40m.

First QSO was on 7163 with K4YYY, he rated my signal in South Carolina at +10 over, sometimes it peaked at +20 over.
Second QSO was on 7213 with KD0KYZ. He rated me at +10 over in Iowa.
Third and last this evening was also on 7213 with K5TLJ, he rated me at 5X7 in Arkansas.

My signal set off the kitchen carbon monoxide detector while QSOing with K5TLJ. The first time the detector went off was the other evening while I was transmitting and the display goes all scrambled. The north leg of the antenna is visible from the kitchen window and it never went off for no reason before, so my guess is that the RF is messing with the detector's electronics.

I'm running max. 120 watts PEP. into a KW EZee Match Tuner which feeds the speaker wire transmission line.

QRM on 40 was quite dreadful, minimum S5, peaking at S7.

QRM on 20 was quiet but when I tuned up (and yes it did tune up ok), I didn't make any contacts. I'll see if I can try tomorrow morning on 20m (after I shut off the CO detector).

73s, geo VE3GZB

[VE3GZB]

Lots of QRN this morning, even on 20, but I still managed a QSO with KF0UR just before 10 am local time. Signal strength wasn't that hot but it was still audible just above the thunderous crashes.

73s geo VE3GZB

[K1JJ]

Geo,

Congrats on the initial contacts.


Terry: Thanks for the heads-up on the spreaders. I missed that. I corrected the post so not to confuse him.
T

[W2PFY]

Also, treat the speaker wire as if it were open wire line.

He made spreaders for the line.

So Geo, did you notice any ease of tuning since you added the spreaders? This certainty will cure your loss that you had before with that wire spacing. How long is the flat top?

so my guess is that the RF is messing with the detector's electronics.

I think that is "Near Field" radiation. What kind of ground do you use on the system?

[Steve - K4HX]

Here is a twisted pair cable that was sold in the late 30's.

   The "stuff" that was made in the 30's was called EO-1 cable.  
   It was cloth covered twisted pair, looked like lamp cord.

   RCA made a verson with low loss insulation that had an impedence
   of around 150 ohms.

   The old rubber zip cord was very lossy but the later plastic zip is
   much better at lower RF frequency's.  I've used the #16 cord to
   feed a dipole on 10 meters for field day in the past but it was only
   20 or so feet long: it did work...  

[W2VW]

1 pair of a CAT-5 cable works as a twisted pair feedline in a pinch. Just let the others float.

[VE3GZB]

Also, treat the speaker wire as if it were open wire line.

So Geo, did you notice any ease of tuning since you added the spreaders? This certainty will cure your loss that you had before with that wire spacing. How long is the flat top?

so my guess is that the RF is messing with the detector's electronics.

I think that is "Near Field" radiation. What kind of ground do you use on the system?

Yes, tuning was much improved and my SWR on 20 AND 40m was unity or nearly unity (no worse than 1.1:1 which is as good as unity).

My ground is just a 4 foot copper pipe hammered into the earth here as far as it will go (we have a strong clay substrate here about 6 feet below ground surface, i used a big chunk of cement to hammer it with an Iron rod into the earth as far as it would go, and about 6 feet is as far as it will go no matter how much water I soak into the earth). The ground wire, number 14 ga, comes right into the house and I've soldered it to the water piping before it connects to the transmitter and tuner.

73s
geo VE3GZB

[W2PFY]

Glad it works better Geo!  Happy DX OM

[VE3GZB]

Yup!!

And this evening I picked up 4 copper pipes and soldered a pair of 10ga insulated wire, 2 wires on each pipe. Tomorrow evening after work while the kids watch Yvonne I'll go to the backyard and hammer them in as far as I can.

73s geo VE3GZB

[VE3GZB]

I just worked Italy this evening on 40m! IZ6CLZ !!!

My signal measured 5X9 at his QTH. He came in at a 5X7 here in Grand Valley.

All on lossy speaker wire!

73s
geo

[Steve - K4HX]

Good to see you are having fun. Forty meters is open for DX for about 16 hours a day during this time of the year. In the winter it is more like 18 hours a day. I've worked tons of stations in Europe running only 10 watts, many with indoor antennas. I've also worked probably 20 mobiles in the last few years. One of the best shots was talking to a guy in Qatar who was using a mobile whip set up on the ground in the desert.

[VE3GZB]

Gee, that's awesome!

Yea, during the winter I only had a 20m dipole up so I couldn't get much on 40m.

I do like to try to work European contacts though. The imagination lights up at the thought of those radio waves bouncing between the Atlantic and the sky.

Last night I worked 9A7R on 14.244 Mhz using the 20m part of the dual band inverted Vee. I tried to work a JY7 last night on 14.225 for about 45 minutes but the traffic was insane, it was like out of one of those National Geographic shows where all of the Salmon jump and swim over and on top of each other, each clamouring for position over the other!

I browsed around and caught 9A7R, made a contact within a minute, went back to 14.225 and it seemed that the JY7 went to bed. All of the hub-bub had died off and someone else was now on 14.225 chewing a rag.

After that I worked K3GEN on 7239, we had a nice ragchew there for about 20 minutes.

Nice tall trees are in my mind now, to have a big property and nice tall trees in which to hide nice tall wire antennae!

73s geo VE3GZB

[VE3GZB]

Yesterday (April 16) afternoon on 20m was fantastic!

G5KC   14.201
DL7OK 14.271
MM0CXZ 14.310
M0OGY 14.184
G4ZWY 14.265
S53IV 14.212 
G5FZ 14.275
9Y4D 14.216
DL0XL 14.200