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d come up.. Looks like Tom will have a guest op this weekend (not sure who ), but he did pick up a 1000 watt incandescent bulb and plans to use this as an antenna. Maybe he plans to use more power!! The bulb does have some type of reflective material to direct the light, so it will be interesting. I to ld him to put it on a rotor (Hi Hi).. Also he plans to use the original bulb (I believe) and use a StackMatch ( WX0B) to phase them or do some comparisons. He should have a good story after this weekend. Lets hope he does not put himself and the other antenna mfgrs o ut of business (Hi Hi). It will be interesting to see if he can break the pile -up for Clipperton! Kevin --> WN9O "Patton, David" <nt1n@arrl.org> wrote: OK, now Tom has to install parasitic light bulb arrays and stack them--it 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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