Well, I've been sucked into playing with receive only antennas. I picked up a few matching transforms and resistors to build two pennant antennas. The antennas are triangles turned on their sides and with the larger end facing the desired direction. The pointed end has a 950 ohm resistor for terminating purposes. So far, I'm reasonably happy. I have one pointed NE and one pointed west. They seem to have directivity, but I really need a little more gain, so I'll probably come up with some type of preamp for them. My 210 beverage antenna seems to work a little better on 160..but the pennants work better on 40.
 
I'm going to try to record my antenna work better this year. That was the main goal of starting this web page...oh well! Any how, I've been hard at work with antennas again. I took down both dipoles for 10 and 15 and replaced it with a two-band rectangle loop aimed NE/SW. I haven't had much of a chance to test them though...not many signals on 10 and 15. Also, I've added an 80M inverted V to compliment the 1/4 ground plane. I've added 160M to the ground plane too. A 203.5 mH inductor and a 10pF capacitor (about six more feet of wire past the trap) is now attached to the top of the 80M GP. It resonates at 1829 mhz and works OK, but not as well as the 160M L.
 

Jack, W0UCE, helped me install a hustler 4BTV February 15th. After a fine day with my wife on February 14th, Jack and I devoted a good chunk of Sunday to the 4BTV. Jack was kind enough to assemble the antenna during the week. We hauled it over to my QTH Sunday morning. We placed 24 15 foot radials on the ground for the ground plane. Tuning the antenna was quite a challenge. After several hours we called it a day with just 10 and 20 meters tuned. Jack treated me to a fine steak and 807s afterward.

Monday evening I played with it some more in the few precious moments of sunlight after work and manged to get 15 meters to an acceptable SWR...40 meters is still up in the air...

3:1 is the best I can get it in the CW band, but I'll go with it for now. This antenna will serve mainly as a second radio antenna during this weekend's ARRL CW contest.

 

After a week of a lot of antenna thoughts, I managed, with help, to add a few to the farm. First, the Cushcraft A3S went up on a 23 foot wooden mast last week. It's aimed South at the moment, but I may point it west. This antenna came from the Estate of KE4GY, Frank Moore. Frank suddenly passed away this past December. Frank was a good man and is deeply missed. He was a regular at the PVRCNC meetings. Bert, N4CW, is in charge of the radio equipment from the estate. Thanks for

The A3S is working well. The intention is to use it for mults to the south in DX contests.

This past Saturday (Feb. 7th), my good friend Jack, W0UCE came over to help me install an antenna that favors the Northwest. After much thought, we decided to take the easy route and go with a driven element from an old tribander. The antenna is very high for my QTH, it's near 80 to 85 feet up. It tunes well on 20 and 10 and it's acceptable on 15M. It compliments the existing antennas very well. Special thanks to Jack for helping out.

 

I'm in the process of gearing up for the ARRL DX CW Contest. Today I picked up a Cushcraft A3S and began plotting where to place it in the antenna farm. The plan is to put it on a 25 foot mast and aim it at South America. So far, so good. I built the mast today from treated 2X4 lumber and hoisted it up. The antenna is on the ground and hopefully I'll get a chance to raise it as well on Sunday.

 

One rig I've never had is a Kenwood TS 450- until today! I got a good deal on an excellent condition 450S through ebay. So far, so good. We'll see how it holds up in a contest with my trusty ICOM 765 transmitting nearby during SO2R. I'm not a huge SO2R guy, but I like to have the option.

 

Just as I was giving up on a the idea of a good opening to Europe, UA3TCJ chimed in to lift my spirits. From that point, about 60 more Europeans went in the log as the sun was rising across Europe. I've never had a run to Europe like that on 160 with 100 watts. I was in the chair from 3 p.m. to about  5 a.m. local. I managed 551 qsos during that time and bagged 38 additional countries to bring the point total to abput 248K. I closed the station down after a QSO with KH6CC at 0947 UTC. I may pad on a little more in the final hour late this afternoon.

 

I spent three hours in the CQWW 160 CW contest last night after spending time with the family. I managed 228 qsos, 37 sections and 10 DX countries. The rates were good, but there wasn't enough gas in my body to continue past midnight local. I was falling asleep literally while sending exchanges! I'm planning on operating more tonight, I just don't know how much. 

 
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