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echo: amateur_radio
to: Ed Vance
from: Roy Witt
date: 2014-05-07 18:37:40
subject: Resurrected

Greetings Ed!

 RW>>>> This kind of antenna experimenting is what brought me to
 RW>>>> Amateur Radio in 1970...now that I could work VHF and UHF, the
 RW>>>> antennas I built were much easier to handle...

 EV> Yes, VHF and UHF are small antennas to build.

I started a new project today after weeks of building and final assembly
of an AR-15 rifle.

 EV>>> Another antenna I had 'thought' about almost 50 years ago, but
 EV>>> never made was the 6 Meter Corner Reflector mounted horizontally. I
 EV>>> thought it looked real neat, but even if I used Hardware Cloth for
 EV>>> the reflector element it would probably get Blown Down in a Storm
 EV>>> as big as that thing would be if I made it for 50.7 Mc/s.

 RW>>> You don't have to use hardware cloth to accomplish that. My
 RW>>> corner reflector yagi for HDTV is made of tubing. At 6mtrs, it
 RW>>> would be half the size of one for 10/11mtrs.

 EV> A 10M yagi with a Corner Relector would be a monster antenna???

Could be, depending on the number of "radials" and the length of the
boom...

 EV>> You're right, I have seen photos of corner reflector antennas built
 EV>> using Rods for the reflector.

 RW>> 8^) I have one on my rooftop tower. My bowtie antenna also uses
 RW>> rods to make up the reflector.

 EV> When I was thinking of making a 6M Corner Reflector antenna I thought
 EV> that it was BIG if I had built it.

Only about half the size of a 10mtr or 11mtr antenna.

 EV>> If I ever wanted to use 6 Meters AM again, I have that 5 element,
 EV>> Beta Matched Beam still in the box, so I wouldn't need to build a
 EV>> Corner Reflector for 6.

 RW>> But you could, if you had an inclination to do so.

 EV> Only one 6M rig in my shack, so won't need any second antenna for it.

LOL! I won't say it.

 EV>> I don't use the Heathkit Sixer anymore because of learning my
 EV>> neighbor's TV Set was receiving the Audio and I don't want to cause
 EV>> them any inconveience(sp?) when they are watching a show on their
 EV>> set. When I watch TV (whenever) I wouldn't want any outside
 EV>> interference overriding the Video or Audio.

 RW>> Ummm. If he's using an HDTV these days, your sixer wouldn't
 RW>> interfere with his TV. There's a big difference between an
 RW>> analog signal and a digital signal. Most likely, your sixer's
 RW>> signals mixed with his old tv's frequency multipliers or
 RW>> mixers.

 EV> I wouldn't know if the set they have is HDTV or not, I don't have
 EV> anything HDTV here to test to see if my SIXER would bother it or my
 EV> neighbors TV.

It probably won't interfere with a standard TV either. At least not one of
recent manufacture.

 EV>> I know that neighbor wouldn't write the FCC about MY 6 Meter Signal
 EV>> being received on his TV Set, but another neighbor may not be so
 EV>> kind and understanding and I get a Pink Slip from the Friendly
 EV>> Country Cousin that limited my 6 Meter operating hours.   .... ..

 RW>> When I was a youngster in the 50s, we had a ham that lived two
 RW>> houses up and across the street from us. His xmitter interfered
 RW>> with our TV reception and my parents complained to him about
 RW>> it. He didn't xmit during primetime TV and everybody was happy.
 RW>> I don't think my dad knew that if he complained to the FCC,
 RW>> they'd put a stop to his interfering, but I know my dad never
 RW>> complained to the FCC.

 EV> When I started High School in 1956 the School Radio Club got so many
 EV> complaints from one household that had an older TV Set with a IF of
 EV> 21MC/s was being interferred with by the clubs KW AM XMTR on 15M that
 EV> the Radio Classroom Teacher pulled out the 15M plug-in coils and put
 EV> 20M coils in it.

 EV> The club didn't get any RFI complaints after that mod was made.

8^) Of course not. 15m is on the 21MHz band...20m is in the 14MHz band.

 EV> I'm thinking the Finals in that TX were 810's in push-pull.
 EV> Can't remember what tubes they were Modulated with.

12AX5s?

 EV> The Rack Cabinet was over 6 Feet tall for the TX.
 EV> -snip-

That would house a complete 2mtr repeater, with tuned antenna cavities.

 EV>>> I 'Think' I recall that several Transmitters on different
 EV>>> frequencies could be connected to the Discone (through Antenna
 EV>>> Tuners) and used at the same time.

 RW>>> That's how a repeater works. It uses tuned cavities to allow
 RW>>> the xmitter to use the same antenna as the receiver w/out
 RW>>> interferring with each other.

 EV> You're thinking VHF/UHF, the Discone was HF.

If they were xmitting on the same frequency or in close proximity to it,
they'd use tuned cavities. If they were using one band to xmit on and
another band to rx on, they wouldn't need tuned cavities. i.e.
crossbanding. I have a radio that will do that. It receives on one band
and repeats it on anothere, VHF to UHF...

 EV> I got out of the Navy in 1962 and the only thing I could remember
 EV> aboard the Ships I were on that used tuned cavities was the Radar
 EV> sets.

A user of frequencies in close proximity?

 EV>> The Navy Air Craft Carrier I was on used the Discone just for HF
 EV>> Transmitting, and they used seperate Vertical Antennas for Receiving
 EV>> HF.

 RW>> I'll bet that they still needed tuned cavities to use those
 RW>> antennas, unless they shut down the receivers during xmit.

 EV> There wasn't any Antenna Switch used, the HF RXs had seperate
 EV> Antennas from what the HF Rigs used.

 EV> Up 3 or 4 Levels above the Flight Deck there were some 300MC/s UHF
 EV> gear but I can't remember if they were Transceivers or Transmitters,
 EV> all I remember about them was they had a 4X150A Final that the ET's
 EV> (Electronic Technicians) had to replace after so many hours of use.

Whether it was worn out or not.

 EV>> And then there was a person who had both a Citizens Band Call for
 EV>> his self and a 27 MC/S Business Band Call for his business, who
 EV>> would sometimes use the Business Band RF Amp when he talked on the
 EV>> Citizens Band Frequencies (Channels).

 RW>> I don't recall there being a business band on 27MHz...

 EV> Sure was, it had a FCC Class Letter but I can't remember if it was
 EV> Class C service or what.

Class C was remote controlled hobby toys. Model airplanes, etc. Still used
today, btw...

 EV> I think the old 365MC/s CB was called Class A???, IIRC there were
 EV> four Citizens Band Classes A through D, one of them was for 27.255
 EV> Radio Control Model use that was shared with 11M Amateur Radio
 EV> Operators back then. -snip-

The FCC gave RCC more bandwidth when CB was made available. There are
still some spaces between CB channels for that. I thought that 27.255
was/is channel 23 and channel 24 is 27.235 or 27.245 on the new bandplan
of 40 channels.

 RW>> Well, in those days most hams thought that the FCC (expletive
 RW>> deleted) them by giving their 11mtr band away for a citizen's radio
 RW>> service.

 EV> I'd figure it was some one in Congress or the Senate that pushed the
 EV> idea.

Could be. Whoever it was provided a lot of fun for the citizens back then.

 RW>> Thus the name, bootlegger...

 EV> No, Bootlegger's are anyone transmitting on any unauthorized Freq. or
 EV> using any unautorized Mode, or unautorized Power Level.....

You know, I looked all over for a defintion of that phrase, but all I
could find were references to moonshiners.

 EV> Just like bootleggers in Kentucky and elsewhere who ran Stills to
 EV> make Moonshine Whiskey without a Government Distillary License to do
 EV> so. -snip-

8^) That terminology deosn't apply today, as there is no license required
to operate on the CB channels.

 EV>> Sorry I was wrong, I'll watch what I type in This echo, if I can
 EV>> remember not to say any discouraging words about NON-CB Operators
 EV>> who use their TOYS for their own enjoyment, until they get caught.

 RW>> Say what you want...we've been off-topic just in discussing TV
 RW>> antennas and I won't object to that because it also includes
 RW>> topical things related to radio. And it keeps the echo alive,
 RW>> which is also very important.

 EV> VHF and UHF Antenna design is the same (except for the frequency) for
 EV> both the Amateur Radio Service and Commercial Radio/TV Services,
 EV> AFAIK we've been on topic talking about Antenna Design.

Yes, but television isn't radio. BTW, I started to build a LPA antenna
tody, using the layout from that antenna I provided a link to on YouTube.

Since it is for UHF only, I'm using 3/8" copper tubing with #12 house wire
for the "radials"...and I'll use phenolic or PVC blocks to insulate each
boom from the other.

 EV> I've haven't got a Pink Ticket from the FCC (yet), but I did get a
 EV> White Slip of Paper from he FCC just after I built my Heathkit DX-40
 EV> on around September 1958.

I got a visit from the FCC way back in the mid-90s...it seems that my
wife's manic-depressive daughter was using my modified VHF radio to
broadcast her snide comments on the police frequency.

I used to monitor their comms, but the intent was to use the radio with a
group that had commercial radio on the same band. The FCC engineers wern't
very happy about the mods and I had to promise to disable that radio to
get out of their confiscating it. I complied and never heard from them
again.

 EV> I never could figure out why no one ever answered me on 7173 KC/s
 EV> when I called CQ, but I made QSO's all the time on 3720KC/s just
 EV> fine, until I got that white slip in the mail from the FCC Monitoring
 EV> Station in Laurel, Maryland that said that my signal had been heard
 EV> on 14.346MC/s.

8^) Was that a common problem with those radios?

 EV> So off my DX-40 went to Benton Harbor, Michigan by way of an Local
 EV> Heath-kit Dealer. When it came back, the bill for the service was for
 EV> replacing a RF Tuning Coil in it.

 EV> After that I finally could make QSO's on the 40M Novice Band.

8^)

    Have a day!

         R\%/itt - K5RXT

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