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will be tough for him to reject the challenge. 73, NT1N > -----Original Message----- > From: Natan Huffman [mailto:force12e@lightlink.com] > Sent: Tuesday, February 29, 2000 7:48 PM > To: F12Reflector > Subject: [Force 12 Talk] The Illuminator > > > Here is more information about Tom's adventure with an > antenna that "works." > > 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 > > -------------------------------------------- Force12Talk mailing list provided as a service by Force 12 Antennas, Inc. 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