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HAM SIGNAL

Thoughts,observations,experiments, and ramblings in Amateur Radio by N1DAY and KC4SIT.

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An update on getting around the HOA rules

04/19/2018

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

02/23/2018

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

02/18/2018

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
Coil Size and Antenna Efficiency on Low Bands

02/05/2018

Up until a few days ago, I was of the opinion that an efficient induction coil for the low bands was one that had a form factor somewhere around 1:1. Another way to put it is that the length and diameter of the coil were approximately equal. In an attempt to get away with a single coil for both 2200M and 630M, I constructed a coil that was 17" in diameter. It worked great on 2200M, but when I transmitted at 630M, I began to notice a profound drop off in stations that were reporting receipt of
Roger Roger Roger

01/22/2018

For those who insist on Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger Roger
Are you &!#$ing me?...,or the case of GWDS

01/20/2018

Title seems appropriate. I spent over a week trying to figure out why my Hafler P1500 only delivered half of its rated mono power mode. Channel A - 70 watts, Channel B - 70 watts...Bridged Mono - 70 watts. How could it be that each channel was working perfectly and that bridged mode wasn't giving me any power boost? Theories abound.... My fellow Cellar Dwellers had some good theories in attempting to fix this. 1. We are transmitting into something other than 12.5 ohms... hence the voltage
Inside tuning on low frequencies

01/18/2018

Anyone who has spent any amount of time on 630M or 2200M knows this drill. Get the antenna tuned in the late afternoon to that near perfect 1:1 SWR and wait for sunset. Then fire the radio up a few hours later and quickly find out that the SWR is rapidly approaching 2:1. That 40 degree difference between afternoon and darkness, especially in northern climates, can play havoc with keeping a narrow bandwidth antenna in tune. So flashlight in hand, like soldiers, Cellar Dwellers march out to
No More Clipping - Taming the Hafler

01/16/2018

As described in earlier posts, I am eyeball deep in getting the kinks worked out of 2200 meters right now. I am using one very cool QRP-Labs Ultimate 3S transmitter to generate a 136 KHz signal at 200 milliwatts which is being piped through a vintage Hafler P1500 Transnova audio amplifier. For those who do not know, the Hafler P1500/3000 amps are odd birds in the amplifier world as their frequency response range goes up to 300 KHz when most amplifiers' audio response ranges stops at 20 KHz.
The 630M/2200M Antenna Recipe

12/29/2017

I have recently received a couple of emails regarding the specifics of my MF/LF antenna that is installed at my qth and KC4SIT's QTH. We have both had good success on the low bands with this antenna and because of it's size and rather unique vertical element arrangement, it also tunes well on all bands from 160-6M. So I am gong to describe the antenna in as much detail as I can here. The vertical elements The vertical portion of the antenna should be as high as you can possibly go.