I had a contact with a newcomer recently, and struggling to hear him, I learned that he was using the 3030 antenna described in the WIA’s “Your entry to amateur radio” 2nd ed, the Foundation licence training manual.
Category: Amateur Radio
Foundation manual on power measurement
My article Foundation watts explained triggered some discussion on the thorny issue of compliance with power limits of the LCD.
One correspondent was confident that the Foundation candidates are properly trained, which leads to examining the training materials.
Cobwebb antenna impedance matching scheme
From time to time, correspondents have asked how the Cobwebb antenna works, and particularly how the impedance matching scheme works.
Firstly, what is the Cobwebb?
It is an innovative antenna for small spaces, quite compact and as I recall originally intended to cover five amateur bands from 20-10m.
Measuring common mode current on coax
In Common mode current and coaxial feed lines, I mentioned that common mode current is easily measured,
Common mode current and coaxial feed lines
An antenna feed line is intended to convey energy from the transmitter to the antenna, and usually without giving rise to radiation itself.
The term “common mode” comes from consideration of the currents on an open two wire line, and it refers to the net or unbalance current, ie the current that would give rise to external fields, to radiation.
This article looks at the equivalent common mode current in a coaxial transmission line.
RG174 for portable HF operation
There are frequent recommendations of RG174 for portable stations (eg SOTA), usually running QRP, principally because it is light and easy to wind up into a small package to fit into a pack. RG174 commonly uses silver coated steel (SCS) centre conductor, sometimes copper clad steel (CCS), sometimes copper.
New ham licence, finally!
On 10 December 2013, the ACMA issued a notice as a result of a single complaint from a member of the public, the notice essentially requiring that I obtain a new call sign.
Speaker cable as RF transmission line
Speaker cable and similar Figure-8 twin in various sizes is popular as RF transmission line, particularly with QRP operators, especially those operating portable in the field (eg SOTA activators). Indeed, SOTA seems to have triggered a revival in the use of these cables. With the large number of online recommendations, one could be forgiven for thinking that a dipole and feed line formed entirely from #24 speaker wire is the antenna of choice.
With that in mind, this article looks at the performance of Jaycar WB1702 speaker cable, 14×0.14mm conductors (#24) with PVC insulation, cost $0.50/m.
Windowed ladder line loss – G3TXQ
G3TXQ has published (undated) a set of measurements on commercial windowed ladder line at Wet ladderline (accessed 10/01/14).
His measurements are of interest as there is a dearth of credible measurement data for these types of lines below 50MHz. Continue reading Windowed ladder line loss – G3TXQ
Wire dipole on 160m
Discussion with a correspondent recently ranged onto the effect of some conductor materials in antennas. This posting reports the feed point impedance and internal efficiency (meaning power not turned into heat in the structure divided by power input at the feed point) of a 160m half wave dipole (80m long, centre fed, 20m above average ground and using 2.6mm diameter single core wire).