I recently built a FoxDelta FOXTRAK APRS tracker.
FoxDelta supply the FOXTRAK with firmware by DK7IN, but also recommend APRSTRACKER by PE1RXQ and PE1ICQ.
APRSTRACKER v0.11 was trialled as it offered promise of a better SmartBeaconing implementation and support for altitude, course and speed reporting. Continue reading Review of APRSTRACKER v0.11firmware
AS/NZS 2272.2 sets out in Appendix E a method for calculation of near field strength of antennas, citing ANSI C95.3—1973 as authority.
This article comments on application to antennas other than those with a circular aperture. Continue reading Estimating near field strength with small antennas
An opportunity presented to measure the loss of a sample of JSC windowed ladder line. The line uses single core #18 CCS conductors and is equivalent to products sold under various proprietary names. JSC Wire & Cable is now known as Seminole Wire & Cable, and this is their 1318 product. Continue reading Loss of JSC ladder line at 160m
I attempted to decode APRS on 147.175MHz, most traffic being received from two fairly local digipeaters (VK2AMW and VK2RHR). Continue reading The extent to which APRS works is often an accident
In a QST column in 2008, a correspondent asked the question
… I have the ladder line terminated to double coaxes that run about 12′ (4m) inside the house to an antenna tuner. Should this pair of coaxes be grounded at one end or both ends?
The Doctor gave a detailed diagram (above) and his advice was… Continue reading Spoiling balun action with ‘shielded twin’
Some four months ago I sent VK3FI in Mildura a QRSS keyer to try on his 600m beacon. The keyer hardware and message content are described at Simple Morse beacon keyer for VK3FI on 600m.
Above is a capture with Spectran received at my location in Bowral tonight 760km east of VK3FI, QRSS3 on 473.000kHz (well perhaps 2Hz higher, Dial freq 472.2kHz USB for the above display). Continue reading VK3FI QRSS on 473kHz – 19/06/2014
Martin Ehrenfried (G8JNJ) conducted some interesting experiments on a small transmitting loop.
The loop above is 3.45m perimeter of LDF4-50A Heliax, and uses the full length of the Heliax as a stub for tuning the loop to 5MHz. Continue reading Thermograph of small transmitting loop
The Double Bazooka seems to have popped up on several fora recently, QRZ, eHam and VKLOGGER.
The Double Bazooka employs a pair of coax stubs as a device for compensation of feed point impedance, extending the VSWR bandwidth, principally to reducing loss in the feed line. Continue reading Double Bazooka magic
This article explores the radiation efficiency of KP4MD’s (Milazzo 2012) small transmitting loop (STL) using a set of NEC-4 models of the loop at varying heights above ‘average’ ground. Continue reading Ground effects on KP4MD’s 0.9m loop on 28MHz
A ham posted online:
I spent several happy hours this weekend building the DE of the 6M Quad described in the June 2014 QST, p 30. When I got it completed, I put the antenna analyzer on it, expecting to find a nice resonance in the 50-51Mhz region and an impedance of 120 ohms or thereabouts. To my surprise, the radiation resistance in the couple of dozen ohm range, and resonance, if that is what I can call it, depends on how am I holding the loop.
After a bit of QST bashing in the thread, he later reveals:
The trial with the analyzer was about 2′ of RG-8X with PL-259s on each end, to BNC jacks on both antenna and analyzer with adaptors.
Much as the chap expressed his lack of confidence in modelling tools, NEC reveals what is happening. Continue reading Analysers – help or hindrance