Y’know how a quarter-wave stub of coax feedline has interesting properties? Like, if you attach one end to an antenna analyzer and left the other end open at 1/4λ down, then the open circuit looks like a short on the analyzer; zero Ohms resistance. And if you short the end, it looks like an open; …
Tag Archives: radio
Visual Mismatch
Sonofabitch. As it turns out, the 60-ish feet of 50ohm RG-8 coax feedline I “rescued” from the disused tower at my last office is actually 75ohm T-1253A. I should’ve looked at the silkscreen more closely. I’m a blind fool. That might explain some of my inability to match my antennas on some bands. The SWR …
On the Cosmology of Infinite Dreams
Dreamed a movie of an invading gang of heroes in a truck going down guided stone hallways, taking the right turns at the forks, further into the stronghold to the goal of finding the unseen villains, fighting the evil, saving the day. Holding on to the memory of the track back out, running out of …
Magnetic California
It’s not going to win any beauty contests, but with my slapped-together Small Magnetic Loop Antenna (small MLA), I just worked two stations in the San Francisco Bay area with 20 Watts on FT8! (11pm CDT, 20-meters, antenna in living room.) By comparison, it takes me over 40 Watts to do the same on my …
Rebalanced
Took out the drill and did repairs to my 1:1 and 4:1 baluns. Made the holes wide enough and at the 3/4″ centers necessary to accept the banana terminal blocks. Sealed the interface between the case and the block with a flattened piece of Coax-Seal(tm) for water protection. Looks better, and now the terminals won’t …