I have made a new addition to the webpage. I am trying to keep events and contests updated 3 or 4 months in advance. http://www.semoarc.org/events.html

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William F. Buckley Meets Amateur Radio:

Spring has arrived and every young ham’s thoughts turn to...antennas! With Field Day approaching, portability and ease of deployment are important considerations when choosing antennas. This article will focus on what I have dubbed the “Paint Pole Vertical.” Designed for 20m, this antenna performs well on other bands with the use of an outboard antenna tuner. It is unlikely that I am the only one to have built one of these, but I can’t recall ever having seen one written up. So, here it is!

The Antenna:

The Paint Pole Vertical is based on the aluminum paint poles commonly purchased in grocery and hardware stores. These are used to paint elevated surfaces or to clean upper story windows. One end of the pole has a plastic molding that permits a variety of tools to be attached while the other has a rubber handle.

There are typically three 5’ sections that telescope to the pole’s full height of 15’. The two section “joins” are through plastic friction binding hardware. One merely turns one segment relative to the one it runs within to loosen the segment after which it can be pulled out to its fullest extension. Simply turning the segment the opposite way tightens the segments up again.

It is necessary to provide conduction between the three segments. I use two pipe clamps and two aluminum ground wires per joint to electrically connect the three segments. This also reinforces the twist joints thus ensuring a rigid, one-piece design when erected.

Fifteen feet is not really long enough to properly cover 20m. I added an extensible whip antenna to the top of the antenna (common replacement part sold through consumer electronic specialty stores). This provides the additional electrical length needed and also provides a means by which the antenna can be tuned. The whip antenna was taped over the aluminum pole making a sound electrical connection.

Connecting The Antenna:

At the bottom of the antenna, there is a rubber handle (it is a paint pole, after all). I cut away a section of the handle approximately 1” square to reveal the aluminum pole at its base. I drilled and tapped a small hole there into which I inserted a sheet metal screw. The “hot” side of the transmission line is attached there. My antenna uses ladder line and the other side (ground) is left open to accept the ground plane radials.

The Ground Plane:

At this time, I have three 20’ lengths of insulated speaker wire. These are soldered together at one end and have small loops at each of the three free ends. The soldered cables are inserted into an alligator clip. This is in turn clipped to the open side of the ladder line and the radials are spread out in three directions from the base of the antenna. The small loops at the far ends allow the radials to be tied to supports or pegged to the ground. A slightly more “stealthy” approach would be to use single stranded black un-insulated wires for the ground plane. Three wires are sufficient, but more radials would improve the antenna’s performance.

At the tuner end of the ladder line, simply connect a short length of coax and a barrel connector.

Set-up:

My shack is located in the back of my home on the second floor. The antenna is lashed to a large maple in the yard. I used nylon ties to tie the antenna to the tree. The base of the antenna is approximately 12’ from the ground. The tip is approximately 20’ higher. Radials extend from the base and are anchored to trees at the far ends of each.

Tuning:

Place an SWR meter in line with the antenna and transmit a brief signal. Note the SWR. Lengthen and/or shorten the extendable whip for lowest SWR. Tape the segments of the extensible whip to maintain the extension intact. Now connect the antenna to your tuner. Select the band you wish to use and tune for maximum noise. Then, transmitting a tone, tune for minimum SWR. Repeat for other bands.

Results:

When I first tuned up this antenna for 20m I was extremely pleased with the results. This antenna is hot! I was hearing many more loud stations than was the case with my G5RV. Using an MFJ VersaTuner, I was able to achieve 1:1 matches on 20, 40 and 80m. At the time of writing, I have not tuned for any of the other bands. These are the ones I use most commonly. On my “maiden voyage” I cracked a pile up into Curacao after only five attempts. Signal report was “5/9 – good strong signal” out of London Ontario!

Portability:

This antenna is easy to put up and take down. It is light and transports easily. Collapsed, it stows in a car to make the trip to field day, or to other events within the community. The price can’t be beat. Paint poles retail for around $35.00 CAN and the whip, wire and fittings cost no more than $20.00 CAN. Compare that to the cost of obtaining a suitable commercially-built vertical antenna. For cost, portability and results, the Paint Pole Vertical can’t be beat!

73

Charles, VE3HBB (London, Canada)

'On The Road Again... Sort Of'

"On the road again" sang Willy. But I'm singing a different tune, "On the air again!" I left ham radio about 8-9 years ago. I sold off nearly everything and thought the day might come when for whatever reason I would try it again so I kept up my license up.

Well, as luck would have it, a guy parked his car on my left ankle crushing it while at my job as a TV News photographer and putting me on a long road to recovery. I had purchased some still camera equipment with the dream of photographing around the country and selling prints at art shows. Well, just about 5 weeks ago any hopes of that were dashed when I slipped on some of the winter's last ice and broke my right ankle in 3 places. It's now apparent my dream of sashaying around the company in a travel trailer and photographing and selling prints wouldn't happen. Rather than have $10,000 worth of camera gear in the corner closet, I liquidated it on eBay and used the money to fund another run at ham radio.

I had plenty of time to do research, I settled on the Icom 756 Pro III based on the luck I had with my 746 some years earlier. I also bought an AH4 tuner with plans to run inverted L on the country property we own and plans to buy another AH4 for the little travel trailer we have. I was able to replace my Bencher, my Kenwood Dual band 721A, the trusty Icom 27A and the Icom W32A all from eVay searching. A very special friend came all the way from Los Angeles to 2-land just to help me get it setup. I can't do much in the leg cast these days. My friend Joe, formerly WB2SXG in another life some 25 years ago, has been pushing to get all the antennas up and ground rods set. He's done most of the hook up for me. I never had a real brother but I have every bit the knowledge of what it must be like to have one. Only thing is, a real brother would probably give me some lip! Joe just looks at me and ask, "what else can I do?"

As I rooted around in the shop, basement and garage, little things came back to me that fit my newly re-discovered interest. Found a toolbox I had nearly forgotten about filled with every kind of connector and adapter one could use for the hobby. The barn has two Ham IV rotators and controllers I only kept because I couldn't get any real value for them while liquidating. Now I find myself polishing them off and trying to figure where I could replace my KT34A on the Tri-X 50 foot powered crank-up tower. Replacing the 150 feet of 1/2" hardline at reasonable prices might be difficult as my friend retired from his Motorola job!

I did some mobiling years ago and that's the next project. Won't rest till I replace my little 746 that I had in my pick-up. You can see my former setup at qrz.com and searching NV2A. After 8-year hiatus my CW seems to have gotten better...or at least didn't get any worse! CW in the Mobile with the filters cut in is a real hoot.

I'm pleased I kept up the license. Happy the two rotators on hand allow me to expand the dream. I'm really pleased with the new 756 P3 and it's really nice to be back. I just need one favor from you all, someone please tell me the bands suck!

73's all

Ray - NV2A

Digital Voice Software Released

A new version of the Digital Voice software FDMDV is now available.

FDMDV allows you to transmit and receive Digital Voice simply by hooking up your PC to a standard HF SSB transceiver.

The key advantage of FDMDV is that it's transmitted bandwidth is less than half that of SSB, just 1.1 kHz.

The new version FDMDV 1.2 along with updated documentation can be downloaded from http://n1su.com/fdmdv/

Editor’s Soapbox SKCC 

Mark Saunders, KJ7BS SKCC 2240T

A co-worker popped into my office a few weeks ago and told me his dad was a ham years ago, but his dad wound up selling his equipment, National, Drake, and Heathkit, and has not been on the air in decades. My co-worker was curious about ham radio today and what it takes to get a license. We talked for several minutes while I explained the relative painless process to get licensed. He said, “is that all?”

Fast forward two weeks and my co-worker popped into my office again and sail, “I only missed two.” To which I replied, “two what?” He had passed his Technicians examination the previous evening. We went out to lunch and talked about all the things he could now do with his Technicians license. He was full of questions. How do I do this? Why can’t I do that?

And so on. He was hooked!

We talked at length about HF operations and he started “shopping” for a radio, comparing radios really to get an idea of what was available. He sent me an email with the Subject

“Here It Is”. When I opened the email, the image was that of an ICOM IC-746, a truly handsome radio. I could not help but tease him. I told him it was to much radio for him to handle. I compared it to giving a sixteen year old who just got his drivers license an new Ferrari. We both had a good laugh.

Now, he has his General class license and a vanity callsign, K7DAS and I hear “Have I told you today how I can hardly wait to get my radio?” I found him a Cushcraft R-5 HF vertical and we started designing a tilt over mount for it and talking about stealth antennas. Yes, he lives in what he calls a “Kommie Neighborhood” with an HOA.

As it turns out, his next door neighbors think it is neat he is a ham and have no problems with him having antennas up, and one of them is the HOA President. Now, K7DAS is on the air and full of questions. What is operating split? What are these weird sounds on the bands? What’s a net? What’s that strange muffled sound coming from my TV when I transmit? So I get to explain more stuff.

Then stuff really started to get interesting. He worked his first DX station and then another and another. Did I mention he is hooked? I introduced him to Ham Radio Deluxe for logging and rig control and integrated DX spotting cluster. He could hardly believe if he clicked on the callsign in the DX cluster window that the radio would go to the spotted frequency. He tried it. Did I mention he is hooked?

K7DAS is having a great time and so am I. It is neat to see his excitement as he learns new stuff and I easily see my excitement 15 years ago as a new ham when I see his excitement today.

The latest, “You know I have to get my Extra now.” Oh brother, I’ve created a monster.

6M Square Copper Dipole

Here is the parts list and dim. sheet for a 6m Square Copper Dipole, made
from copper water pipe.

Characteristics:

The Gamma Match:

Description:

Mounting:

Construction: