New Home Page Test

NOTE: Using my OWN call as a test since there should be no QSL requests..

I am inviting folks who are a little more isolated than others to pop in at 11:00am each morning.

All you need to do is get your callsign in my log and I’ll call you in for a 30-second over in time.

If the net is too big, I can invite a secondary net to drop down 3kHz etc.

All you need is the target frequency and velocity factor for this one. However, if using economy coax, your quoted VC may be off, so if that’s the case, you may want to measure a 90 degree test piece (that’s also shown in the calculations).

To check for accuracy, you can cut a 90 degree section of coax and short out the end. Attach to your analyser and you should get zero SWR at the target frequency. Just a tip.

Here Is the Excel Spreadsheet: phasing harness calcs

MMANA 2 Element Delta Loop modelling: I mentioned this on Saturday’s LiveStream. You can download it and have a play, rotate it, delete the reflector etc:

DOWNLOAD HERE >> 40m 2-ele delta loop <<

Remember, DON’T email me, but comment on the channel. Thanks!

I have custom boxes made that keep my shipping cost effective, staying under 1.2m in total length.

Kits are shipped in the oblong boxes and single poles in corrugated cardboard.

Trying to find the DX Commander Lite 7m multi-band vertical on YouTube? It’s here:

Click Here for YouTube

Need a quick logger in spreadsheet format?

• DOWNLOAD m0mcx sample contest logbook

Confused? See the film here:

I notice that CamDesk is offline. This is my download which I originally deleted – but since I have discovered that CamDesk is offline, I managed to find it in my recycle bin for others to use.

This is a ZIP file. Obviously take necessary precautions when unzipping etc. I’ve had this installed for about 2-months.

NOTE: It’s a self executing program file. It doesn’t need DLLs and doesn’t “install” itself in Windows. It just runs from the install directory and you can move it around, say on a USB stick if you like.

• camdesk-1.2.1

When is an Ugly Balun just dead weight? Check out my facts and figures for Choke Baluns.

How to make high quality local contacts within a 500 mile radius.

Fan dipoles are the easiest multi-band antenna you may wish to have a go at.

You can buy an expensive switch box to accomplish phased array system. But to test out the theory if you’d like to go down this route, you could try a simple vertical yagi?

Check out my film and decide for yourself.

Make your decision wisely.

Tips for new Ham Radio (Amateur Radio) operators.

We have all made mistakes when we buy the wrong radio.

I give you some tips to work out how to achieve perfection. Well, certainly a balance!

I thoroughly recommend adding a dimension to your club station or special event station by live-streaming your event.

It’s not as hard as you think – and the tools are free.

Check it out.

I have since learned that some radios are more susceptible to causing this problem than others, however in my opinion, keeping your ALC to tick-over and no more will be the best policy.

Check the film.

We’re always told to check our house before accusing neighbours of local noise.

Oh heck, I wished I had listened nine-months ago!

Check my results.

So I had a requirement to connect my RE20 / PR40 / Shure SM58 / SM57 professional microphone to my Ham Radio (Kenwood TS2000 / TS590 / TS990s) and I show you an easy trick.

The pin outs are all over the internet, so I won’t bore you with them here.

But check the video.

There are benefits to both. Height above ground will kill a vertical. But do you have the height?

What a fabulous microphone.

Check back for review and shoot-out of RE20 and PR40 soon.

Many people have got one of these. But what are they really like?

I show you.

Some people aren’t quite sure how easy it is to build a mono-band quarter wave. They are cheap and extremely easy to build.

Check out the video.

Surprise surprise. I was astonished that a cobweb isn’t as bad as I thought it was, certainly in software modelling.

Check it out.

A G5RV is really a doublet, using the feedline to transform (automagically) some pretty nasty impedances to a suitable impedance for coax.

I explain this here:

I’ve discussed this before. 40m band quarter-wave does resonate on 15m.

But is it worth it?

You bet.

An inverted L is just like a vertical apart from the fact that instead of going straight up (like a tuned quarter-wave), it turns 90 degrees somewhere.

I discuss this in this video:

I cover this in my youtube video. CHeck it out.

Here’s the spreadsheet:

EXCEL: <quarter wave vertical calculator> link

In this video, I show you why you shouldn’t worry about height for your wire dipoles and loops.

Unless you can achieve leaps of a quarter-wave in size, just go with the flow (or put up a DX Commander All-Band-Vertical!

All contests have some sort of report, mostly the signal report then additional pieces of information, from your age to your shoe size (seriously).

Here’s me on 15m during IOTA 2017:

(100 Watts, recorded straight out the TS590SG into Audacity)

Antenna: DX Commander Vertical 80m-10m

(read more…)

Compare Red 5/8th -vs- Blue W/wave

Anyone who has mucked about with verticals will no doubt have worked out that a full-sized quarter-wave for the 40m band, more or less tunes up for 15m band.

It wasn’t until my entry in IOTA Contest this year that I convinced myself that they are not a cloudburner (as many people suggest) but compare favorably with a quarter-wave, even producing more gain by 2 dB at 10 degrees above the horizon.

OK, so 2 dB isn’t a huge gain, but hey – it’s free. Take it when you can!

Don’t forget, you can do the same for 10m band too by making an element 6.83m long and folding it back a further 1.11m (for 28.5 MHz). So you’ll need nearly 8m of wire. Don’t forget, that’s insulated wire!

I’ve recently “made” a 4-element Yagi in software for my YouTube channel which should give a great match to 50 ohms.

If you’re into MMANA software modeling, here’s the file:

• lfa 2m band 4-ele

NOTE: This is a ZIP file because my Content Management System doesn’t like files ending in MMA. By all means have your Virus Scanner check this Zip file. There is only one file inside this ZIP. Just the MMANA file.