• ODT Gun Show & Swap Meet - May 4, 2024! - Click here for info

Ham Radio People Metro ATL

Yes, it’s an HOA, but the bigger problem is the shack is on the top floor front of the house. We have a walk-out basement so the back yard is three floors lower than the shack. The house sits in a hole, geographically, surrounded on all sides by higher elevation.

One, given my available time and energy right now it would be too much trouble to run a long wire in the back, and I’d have to invest in a good bit of materials. (Just sent $250 to my son to help him with a problem, none left for me. )

Two, I’ve made some contacts in Germany, Texas, Maine, and Mexico with the bad antenna, but it’s really hard. I’m just looking for small improvements for now.

Here’s what happened for those interested: I swapped a homemade RF choke (coax wound around PVC) with a commercial 1:1 balun. 20m was fine at 100 watts transmit power, but 40m overloaded the transceiver or antenna tuner with RF at above about 60 watts. I’m guessing I need the choke between the balun and the shack.

I’m going to use the new system which will be balanced better, and experiment with the balun/choke combination (and whatever else comes to mind). If you hear me on the air you’ll know it’s a bit better!

73
Greg




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yes, it’s an HOA, but the bigger problem is the shack is on the top floor front of the house. We have a walk-out basement so the back yard is three floors lower than the shack. The house sits in a hole, geographically, surrounded on all sides by higher elevation.

One, given my available time and energy right now it would be too much trouble to run a long wire in the back, and I’d have to invest in a good bit of materials. (Just sent $250 to my son to help him with a problem, none left for me. )

Two, I’ve made some contacts in Germany, Texas, Maine, and Mexico with the bad antenna, but it’s really hard. I’m just looking for small improvements for now.

Here’s what happened for those interested: I swapped a homemade RF choke (coax wound around PVC) with a commercial 1:1 balun. 20m was fine at 100 watts transmit power, but 40m overloaded the transceiver or antenna tuner with RF at above about 60 watts. I’m guessing I need the choke between the balun and the shack.

I’m going to use the new system which will be balanced better, and experiment with the balun/choke combination (and whatever else comes to mind). If you hear me on the air you’ll know it’s a bit better!

73
Greg




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Check out HRO (Ham Radio Outlet) they have a web presence and a physical store on Buford Hwy so might not be too far for you. I have a G5RV but could never get it up high enough in the trees and far enough away so that the ends were separated enough.

I'm not in a HOA so I ended up with an MFJ 42 foot vertical tilt over 80 meters to 6 meters vertical. I operate with a tuner and it works pretty well. I am just now getting everything back together as the snow storm from last winter took down a lot of limbs and banged the vertical up along with a couple of dipoles for 20 and 15. I'll be back on the air pretty soon but the sunspot cycle really sucks as far as working much DX.

Don't have anything set up for 2 meters yet but I noticed the HRO catalog was out and opened to some 2 meter equipment so maybe my wife is either shopping for me or wants something other than more guns to waste my time on.

If you go to HRO, they have a lot of equipment out and it's just like a candy store. They also have all the bits and pieces to build your own dipoles with nice insulators and balum and coax and PL239 and all that good stuff.

Enjoy
73
N5GWU

Oh, and I have a neighbor down the road that had a nice 2 meter or EME array on top of a 30 foot tower. Nothing is on the tower now. I know who he is by looking him up on QRZ by his address and I dropped by to introduce myself but he wouldn't come to the door. I'll catch him out one day when he's cutting the grass and can't get away and maybe I can talk him out of the tower or something.
 
Good luck, Klif, getting it all back together. I received the MFJ antenna today -- maybe I'll be able to install it over the weekend. I'll have to get or improvise some standouts (a/k/a standoffs) to run the feed line a few inches away from the attic trusses. We'll see whether anything improves . . . .
 
So what is the consensus here about the recent Federal banning of the Chinese dual/tri/quad ban radios?
The Baefong UV-5R was licensed to operate under Part 90 rules however the FCC found that the radio could be programmed to operate on Part 87 Aviation frequencies as well as Part 80 Maritime Frequencies. This was also alluded to in the operator's manual. The radio was capable of operating outside of the frequencies it was originally licensed for so the FCC instructed the Amcrest (parent company) to correct the problem and stop selling the existing radios.

I think it was more of a licensing issue with the FCC than anything nefarious.
 
So what is the consensus here about the recent Federal banning of the Chinese dual/tri/quad ban radios?

Apparently, some are (were?) Part 90 compliant and some were not, perhaps because they weren't supposed to be marketed in the U.S. Same model, different configuration. I bought a Baofeng UV-5R, but there was no Part 90 sticker inside the battery compartment despite being advertised as Part 90 compliant. I inquired of the retailer, and was told it was a manufacturing error -- it was Part 90 compliant but they left the sticker off. They mailed me a sticker. I don't know whether it's truly compliant or not, but I have assurance that it is and I stay in my lane so I figure it'll be OK.
 
I installed that G5RV Junior antenna in my attic last Saturday, oriented roughly West Northwest by East Southeast. I placed a 1:1 balun between the ladder line and the coax going into the shack, with a homemade RF choke in between the balun and the shack. Suddenly I'm getting nice, strong signals and a lot less noise, and no RF in the shack. I received very nice, clear audio on 80m that I'd never heard before.

I haven't made any contacts yet but I haven't had time to try it much. I did learn that my Cabrio washing machine causes RF interference -- you can hear the various rhythms and cycles as noise in the receiver. I'm not going to worry about that.

73
 
A couple of years ago I purchased a tiny Chinese 5 watt all mode HF radio that covers the ham bands from 160 meters thru 10 meters. I usually take it with me when I travel out of state and use it with a Alpha Mag Loop Antenna or an end fed wire. My home HF rig is a full size Yaesu radio and I have several Ten Tec radios. Most of my HF operation is QRP and a lot of my equipment is home made.
 
Back
Top Bottom