630M Microtuner

An update on getting around the HOA rules

Since writing about  hiding an antenna in an HOA,  a few  additional observations have been made that can help those who are in a situation where an antenna out in the open is not possible. The original article can be viewed here:  http://hamsignal.com/blog/home-owner-associations. The first is the attic antenna.  Apparently there are a number of people who are installing long wire antennas and dipole-type antennas in attics.  I have never been a fan of such antennas due to the potential for

Inducted Deltaloop Revisited

With all the recent changes to my 630M antenna which used to share TX responsibilities with several HF bands, I lost access to 80M.  Well, I actually didn't lose 80M access as I was still able to marginally tune 80M on my 160M inverted L.  But even though I was able to make my Icom 7200 happy after my indoor tuner, the resulting SWR on the feedline was 6:1. That was not acceptable.  So, I decided to take down a 40M delta loop, and resurrect a compressed 80M loop that I experimented with

A lesson in basics

Over the past few weeks of low band activity, I have noticed a gradual drop-off in performance at station N1DAY.  I kept attributing all of this to the mountain behind me, weather, solar conditions etc.   But the fact was that I was no longer receiving or hearing west coast and other distant stations to the extent that I was before I got into all of the recent 'improvements' to the station that were primarily aimed at my comfort. So I sat back and looked at my station's evolution and suddenly