This year we’re just doing it once a month, second Saturday from 9 – 11 AM on the North side of Lake Manawa (500 yards So. of the Casey’s gas station on Hwy 92). Saturday in May we had:
Keith KEOAEP and his IC-7300
Don WOAF
Ron KRON
Wayne KNOWDJ
Craig KDOYTI and his blue 3wheel motorcycle
Rich WAOZQG with a 220 J-Pole – no workie
Jamie WOZWA
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AEP had a Bienno 20Ah battery to run the 7300 and a 49 to 1 balun for an End Fed Half Wave antenna. The military was running a cross band contact contest, transmitting on various freqs above our 20M band and listening down (on stated freqs).
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Keith AEP, Don AF, and Ron KRON took turns contacting one station. The military people cheated. They had a girl at the mike. Very nice voice.
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SAGA OF THE 220 J-POLE
This is like a Shaggy Dog story that ends badly on the living room rug. ZQG brought a homemade 220 J-Pole made with #12 house wire on a PVC pipe form. Keith AEP, as requested, brought his fancy RigExpert antenna analyzer that covers continuously (unlike the MFJ) HF through UHF including 220. ZQG also brought two (2) Baofeng UV5Rs, the x3 models that do 220. At the last minute he realized he also had a fifty dollar TINY SA spectrum analyzer with continuous coverage (thru 220) with a calibrated receiver.
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With Craig YTIs help, ZQG drove a quarter mile away (Hy-Gain Antenna, before being bought by MFJ, used to have a 1500 ft antenna test range down in Lincoln off the Waverly exit. A tower and 1500 ft of grass.) to coordinate with Craig who switched back and forth between the rubber duck and ZQG’s fancy dual element J-Pole, a regular J-Pole built on PVC pipe with a phasing coil to delay phase 180 degrees, and second half wave radiator for increased gain.
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The calibrated receiver on the Tiny SA showed a half inch tall signal on the display using the rubber duck antenna. When Craig YTI switched to the homemade J-Pole the signal halved, a quarter inch tall, more than a 10dB decline. THE J-POLE WAS WAY BELOW A RUBBER DUCK.
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Keith AEP’s Rig Expert had shown the same thing, a high SWR all across the band. In fact, Keith remarked to ZQG, “Are you using that 75 Ohm coax again?” The observations were consistent with a shorted coax at the antenna feed point, but that could not be determined at the lake on Saturday. More on this later.
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PHOTO CREDIT: ZQG. Persons shown: Don WOAF seated next to Keith AEP at the radio, and Jamie WZA (ex KFOFAP) standing.