www.bay-net.org/baycon-radio-conference.html This event is free to attend and is a fundraiser. While the content in this all day event is great there are also amazing prizes - Plus it supports a critical resource in the SF Bay area - the Bay-Net repeaters. www.eventbrite.com/e/baycon-2021-the-annual-baynet-radio-conference-tickets-131420465149?ref=estw
Do you have a video to go along with the new multimeter presentation slides that were referred to in the recent Ham Radio Workbench podcast ? Your presentations are excellent and most certainly feed my addictions for new instrumentation.
That W2AU balun was probably a tap which fed the Belar AM modulation monitors. I forget just how the Collins 21A modulation monitor tap worked, but I do remember installing a coaxial relay next to the modulation monitor when we added a Harris MW5A at WBAA to switch the modulation monitor automatically to the transmitter which was connected to the antenna.
Hi Mark, I just watched your video on your slot antenna experience. Thank you for making this video, the content is really useful to me. However I want to make a completely different observation and I want to comment specifically on your presentation, and even more specifically on the energy and enthusiasm that you brought to the camera. While your content was simple to understand and presented in a logical, easy to follow manner, what I enjoyed the most is that you made me feel you were sincere and personal and honest and all those good things. You presented a great topic in a cheerful manner that was easy on the eyes and ears. Thank you. Leon Uys ZR6N (AG5RH when I visit the kids in Texas)
On the subject of the Double DELTA Slot or HF Slot antenna; If size were not so restricted and for a permanent application would there be any benefit in super sizing it? ie. Having something on the idea of a 16 to 24 foot cross section and whatever complimentary hight increase might coincide? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you kindly Gary
GREAT VIDEO! I enjoy watching it to learn more techniques. I recently retired from servicing medical electronic equipment. I have been a ham since 1977 & ARRL life member for 40+ years. I never had the opportunity to use “real” radio test equipment. Back in the day tuning my 12 channel crystal Clegg 2 meter rig all I had was a 150MHz Weston frequency counter and a Bird 43. Enough ancient history. I’ve purchased a NanoVNA, tinySA & tinySA Ultra. I’m very happy with the tinySAs as they also function as signal generators that produce AM, FM-W & FM-N. I purchased a DE-5000 as a direct result of watching your YT. Looking on-line I notice several different “brand names” for BG7TBL devices. Are you aware of any fake BG7TBL devices being sold? Or can I expect the same quality for devices labelled BG7TBL? Dave WB1COB
I'm busy building 1 of these, with 3m spreaders as a starting point, and intend (depending on results) to use longer spreaders when the fiberglass tubes arrive, as I believe it will perform better, It's basically a double delta loop.
Well geeze mister you told everybody where the copper is. Them Delano Citizens will have that shit cleared out before that museum opens. interesting stuff though thanks for the education!!!!
This is great information. Are you planning on putting links to each presentation in the description? That way if someone is interested in one topic, they can find it quickly?
A wonderful "No" nonsense easy to follow review, Wow you can spend a lot of your own money before coming to the same end result , a fantastic shortcut to getting some good honest gear without all the RU-vid promo bullshit where channels have been heavily endorsed to push there gear Thank you very refreshing.
Nice presentation, Smitty. You expanded a LOT on areas that W6NBC did not elaborate upon, particularly the phasing and resultant patterns. My two cents for you: 1) Your 1:1 balun is raising havoc where it is located, as it cannot properly handle the complex, high-impedance load on the antenna side. It's anyone's guess what type of saturation loss and/or impedance transformations are occurring in your balun. IIRC, Portune mentions placing a CURRENT BALUN (common mode choke) on the TX side of the tuner, and not a voltage balun. Big difference there. He also states that the ground terminal of the RT600 tuner should be tied to a ground rod, strongly implying that his double delta is NOT intended to be fed as a truly balanced, isolated load. His article stresses numerous times to NOT place a balun in-between tuner and antenna. Your less than satisfactory matching results are suspect. 2) Portune has no issues whatsoever having his RT600 tune the double loops on 80m, nor anywhere else 80 - 6m for that matter. Two loops in series is approx. 100 feet of wire...pretty darn close to a 1/2 wave on 80m. The antenna is only slightly short electrically...and should not appear as reactive as it does on your installation. Again...I suspect that the 1:1 balun location is causing problems. 3) I use an RT600 to successfully tune a VERY short (20') vertical on 80m. A properly-constructed 4:1 UNUN, designed to accommodate a highly-reactive antenna load, makes the high-impedance load a lot easier for the RT600 to tune, but it is not an absolute necessity. Search for the articles by G8JNJ where he discusses the use of baluns and ununs in-between a remote tuner and a highly reactive load. His research and supporting test data are real eye-openers and likely will apply here as well. Thanks again and 73, W1LJ
How can you possibly expect to tune this antenna through a 50 Ohm choke(UNUN/BALUN). Put the choke on the coax side of the auto tuner, where it can do it's job. Are the .s1p files with or without the choke? If it is without the choke, the parallel has impedances from 2.2 Ohm to over 300 Ohm. A LC tuner should tune this to a very low SWR. And Mark, put the links in the description, so they are clickable. LB8X
Extremely knowledgeable and valuable review of use cases against gear choices in Ham radio. Found this after listening to your interview on Hamradioworkbench. Probably the best review I was exposed to of gear choices, with data driven explanations for what is driving the recommendations.
sorry to be off topic but does anybody know of a way to log back into an instagram account?? I stupidly forgot my password. I would appreciate any help you can give me.
@Vincenzo Mekhi Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and im in the hacking process atm. Takes a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Very good explanation of various levels of test gear for hams. I'm wondering if you prefer the individual instruments path than the radio comms test sets that are now within ham budgets. the IFR 1200S, Marconi, HP sets. This info does open up the new equipment route with the Chinese products as opposed to 30 year old test sets! Primarily just wanting to tinker with old HF radios. Vk5LTD
The all in one boxes can be a good idea. The IFR units aren't nearly as accurate as the HP. Here is a comparison page www.amtronix.com/diff.htm. But these days you might want to get more modern units.
Doug, thanks for the informative video. I enjoyed it and I learned a few things. I especially gained enough knowledge about LCR meters from about 18:32 through 21:03 that I'm now awaiting the arrival of a new DE-5000 with all of the available probes. This will enhance my work bench and become a very welcome addition in my lab. Thanks. 73 de Chris W6NOB DM14ei Wrightwood CA USA
How do I get my hands on the 2:4 remote antenna switch shown at 15:23 in the video? That is exactly what I've been looking for. Is that going to be a HRW kit board?
This is truely Amazing . Heard about it from WIA broadcast in Australia. Looking to get into Amatuer radio. Very interesting and sad to see such engineering now defunct. Good to see some of it was preserved. Good work all involved.
Such a fascinating thing to see, to see how gear of this power rating was done... Makes you separate "coax" into "co-axial", and stop thinking about RG-58 or RG-8U or whatever. :)
I'd just like to say thank you for publishing these individually. I've watched all the content, so I'm not watching them through right now, but I imagine I may well come back to some of them later, so I appreciate having them as individual topic/talk-based videos. :) 73s! - KF6HFQ
