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73 Natan W6XR/2 FORCE 12 East Ithaca, NY A 150 watt bulb was selected and a TS-805S transceiver was used, which had been adjusted to run a bit more power than normal. The bulb was mounted on a porcelain base atop a wooden fence post at a height of about 4'. The bulb is fed through a Force 12 B-1 current balun with 3" leads and the coax feedline is 9913 Flex, to minimize loss. The feedline runs straight down the fence post, then along the ground. There are no other antennas within two wavelengths on 10 meters, but to make sure, the closest Yagi was kept with the elements at 90 degrees (ends-on) to the target area. The VSWR of the 150 watt bulb was about 4:1 and the built-in tuner matched it easily, but there was a little problem. As the filament heats up, the impedance changes, so I had to hit the tuner button at random moments in order to have a good match when sending. One operating technique developed, which was to use the XIT, transmit for a second off frequency to heat the filament, turn off the XIT and make the call. I eventually used an external tuner, which made operating much easier, as I could make real time adjustments as necessary. The first time "The Illuminator" was on the air was during the latest 10-10 contest. I operated a total of about an hour. All of the contacts were in the Midwest. Experimentation showed that if a station moved the S-meter to S-3, I was fairly sure we could make the path. Many of the QSO's were with one call, no repeats, no comment about how weak the signal was. Interesting. It was obvious that the station on the other end was providing the majority of the resources to make the path. Nevertheless, it "worked." I remembered the many times I have heard how well an antenna "works", because of the number of countries that have been worked. All right, then, maybe we can do even better. The A.R.R.L. DX CW contest was coming. Our weather was not very nice, with heavy rain and high winds. The QTH is on a small hill and the wind is usually extremely strong, but at least I did not have to be concerned about the rotator on the light bulb! Trying to complete some outside work between storms, I got on the air. I have operated contests for more than 35 years, but I never felt so ill equipped to call someone. It was mid-morning on Saturday and the first station I decided to try was V47KP. Send my call at 36 wpm - he comes right back - one call, perfect. Just like using a "real antenna." Hey, that is not only a new country with a light bulb, but a new distance record. My sporadic operating produced 14 countries the first day. I brought the log to the Paso Robles Amateur radio Club pot luck dinner that evening and Larry, W7CB noticed I was missing Africa for worked all continents. Aha - another challenge! I figured the best bet would be if Jim Neiger, ZD8Z were on. The sun had begun to illuminate the morning sky and I was tuning across the band with "The Illuminator." By the way, the band is really quiet on this antenna. I hear some one. Sure enough, there he is. He was having trouble maintaining his frequency and hearing through some European stations. His signal was less than S1 on the meter, so I knew I would have to wait for conditions to improve. About 90 minutes later, the sun was fully up, and so was ZD8Z, reaching S3/S4 on peaks. It took a few calls, but we made it: the first Worked All Continents on a light bulb. Now I was really motivated, but there was more work outside before the next rain. I decided that short "rest periods" were necessary every hour. The country count at the end of the contest was 28, with 41 stations worked. We now know that truly, everything works. The performance envelope is the important factor. Although I had fun using the light bulb, it certainly would not promote my interest in amateur radio if it were my only antenna. Radio would be boring and frustrating, to say the least. Adding a kilowatt amplifier would allow more QSO's to be made, but I would hot hear any better. I would not be aware of the sea of activity on our bands. The more efficient our antenna, the more enjoyment we can get from our wonderful hobby. Looking back to the basic chart, a dipole in the clear is a wonderful antenna and having a 2 element Yagi gets us a long way to a world class potential station. While everything "works", some antennas certainly "work" much better than others. -------------------------------------------- Force12Talk mailing list provided as a service by Force 12 Antennas, Inc. Force 12 Web site: http://www.qth.com/force12 Force12Talk Message Archive: http://www.qth.com/force12/list/force12talk To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to force12talk-leave@qth.com For problems with the list, contact force12@qth.com |