>>> Mobile or fixed antennas for HF?
 JE>> Most anything works pretty good for 40m, as long as it's
 JE>> resonant. But, it's a tricky situation on 75 and especially
 JE>> on 160m.  There never is enough capacitance for that low of
 JE>> frequency, so some extra is needed. John/WA5BXO used to use
 JE>> HF in his pickup truck - and he created a PI network to
 JE>> better match the impedance of the 102" whip he used, as well
 JE>> as raise the "Q" of the circuit, for a particular frequency.
 >  I use a short,2-3',length of RG-58-u to get a bit of
 > capacitance into the feedline which is usually RG8-U for HF.
 >  The different velocity factor and capacitance of the RG-58
 > seems to help outin broadbanding an HF antenna.
 > I used this method to get a 2MHz. bandwidth out of an RM-11S
 > 11m load a long time ago.
But, Rob - there's a BIG difference in operating on 10/11m, and making the 
thing resonant way down in frequency - like 1.8 or 3.9MHz.
 >  I'm anxious to see if this will work on 80 and 160 when I get it going.
You going to find that you'll need a WHOLE LOT more capacity down frequency!
 JE>> Sounds good.  Remember the added capacitance for easier
 JE>> loading at lower frequencies.  Even Hustler antenna needed
 JE>> 'em.
 >  Will try it out if I can get the rig I want.
 JE>> Can you operate 20m CW up there?  If so, name off a freq and
 JE>> time, and I'll try to meet you there, somewhere.
 >  Nope. Restricted to 80 and 160m until I get 12wpm cw.
 >  Want to try 80m or 160?
75m Antenna erection is scheduled for this weekend (today, actually - but 
there was a day of mail delay, and I've been sitting here, WAY too long!)
 >  Weekends seem to be my only `free' time right now.
maybe around 3725kHz?  How about 7:30CST?
 JE>> One of the grids started drawing excessive current (cathode
 JE>> to grid shorts are not uncommon) and eventually took out the
 JE>> little RF Choke that went between the bias supply for the
 JE>> driver (12BY7A) and the 2nd control grid of the driver.
 >  If the chooke was soldered across a resistor (Heathkit did this
 > alot)the rating of the resistor may have been low enough to heat
 > the choke and fry it.
This choke is an RF choke.  2.5 milli Henry.  it's about the diamater of a 
just smaller than a dime, there are 4 sections wrapped, and it's wrapped with 
40 or 50ga wire.
 JE>> Anyway, was back on the air last night, and made a couple of
 JE>> contacts - it actually seems to be working better than it
 JE>> was!
 >  Good job.
;-)  Does feel good not to have to take your rig to the shop, everytime some 
small craps out on it! 
 JE>> One thing I've noticed lately on the air is that while
 JE>> there's still a plethora of CW activity, why is it that the
 JE>> people who ARE making the contacts on CW all think they've
 JE>> gotta run a kW?  KB5PX in New Orleans was
 >  Because they -have- the KW.
 >  Those that have the juice insist on running it full-time when
 > 20w or less will do to get you thru.
Hehehe - I can see both sides of course, on ssb - even heard one guy say: 
"Life is to short for QRP!" };->
 >  I laughed at the guy who broke a QSO up on 80m with several US
 > and Canadian hams round-tabling with a guy in the Samoan
 > Islands.
 >  He wanted Samoa so bad he was cranking up into splatter and
 > overdrive on his amp and getting people 20Khz. either side of him
 > ticked off. The laugh is I worked the Samoan station with 50w.
Just goes to prove that regardless of how much power you're running, you're 
just not going to get out as well as if you had a RESONANT antenna!
Hence, I just don't believe in impedance matching devices (called by some to 
be 'antenna tuners'), unless you're loading a 300ohm open-line, from a 50ohm 
output rig!
An 'antenna tuner' is something I hope to be either today or tomorrow, when I 
start pruning on the new antenna 
=========================================
73 = Best Regards                ka5thb@bigfoot.com
-Jeff KA5THB
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