A K S
"A"lways "K"eep
"S"miling
Lets talk about ...HAM RADIO, ANTENNAS and AMPLIFIERS ...
In these areas of
Lets ALL get along and do what we can to help up build our ham
ops, and then see the new licenuates, and new techs thrive in the richness of the Ham
Radio Arts. Perhaps they too, will see the importance of keeping our heritage
the way it is.
Sometimes there are just no easy answers to clean up
some nets. I became an official observer with the ARRL, and wrote these
guys cards, on top of cards for their violations, and seems like they did it
more and more regardless of what I did trying to help them out. One of these lids was very brazen, to the extent even of
sending me a Christmas Card that year. He said its
only fair since I had sent him so many OO cards in that year, that he
would send me one in return.... I would rather he would have took notice, and straightened up his act... But what can you
do with someone who will not listen..? At least, I did try to help out
some. Gladly, tho,
I can say that I have written very few cards for anyone here on the local
repeaters. I prefer to use tact,
and diplomacy, like a telephone, rather than a card. Its HF that I
am more interested in cleaning up since our local guys and YLs
do their best to follow the rules.
Not that I wouldn’t write a card if necessary.
All the DX windows are fun too,
but I don’t spend too much time in these windows. I choose to spend
time in actual QSOs rather than chasing DX all the time. I do enjoy working DX,
and will work it if it is there, and getting a contact and QSLs,
but give me a good ole ragchew QSO, and I am
very happy indeed.........,
LETS TALK ANTENNAS !!!!
One of
my favorite subjects
The Antenna…. the
very heart of any Amateur Radio system. You can have a beautiful Kenwood,
TenTec, Yaesu, Solaris, JRC, or any
other radio system that cost you thousands of dollars, and then have a fifty
cent antenna, and you still won’t have much of a radio at all. Ask any old ham. The most famous is the inverted vee dipole antenna. They have been used for decades,
and still they reign as a supreme antenna. You can buy the best antennas, or
make your own, but one fact still remains that you CANNOT get by, and that is
the better you make your antenna, the better your station. Antennas, whether they be preconstructed ,
or do it yourself, definitely make all the difference.
Beams are a super fantastic
antenna, if you have a place to put them up. One of the best kept secrets in Amateur
Radio are the
Most Technicians know that 468 /
Frequency in Mhz will give you the
length of a half wave dipole in feet,
so it stands to reason that a full wave loop antenna will work better. About the only frequency I have
had trouble with tuning on my delta loop is 10 Meters, and particular 10FM. For that reason, some tuners need
a little tweaking. You can do
this several ways, and the best way is to alter the tuners inductor by one
turn, either forward or backward, and adding another inductor notch, or use one of the lowest connections for
this alteration.
When you
have made your antenna the VERY BEST
YOU CAN MAKE IT, then and ONLY THEN, you can think about adding an RF
amplifier. You will
notice the best gain is within the first 500 Watts, to 1 Kilowatt. If you cannot reach your goal with
the legal limit, then chances are you would have to double your power in order
to make any difference at all. There are many good amplifiers on the market,
and I will discuss with you, some of my favorites in the next portion.
One more
thing too, especially if you plan
on using an amplifier with your antenna, make sure that the antenna is high
enough so that no person or animal can come in contact with either the antenna
leads, or the physical antenna itself. Serious burns can occur, plus you
also can risk RF radiation if the antenna runs near another persons
home. Although you and I both know
that RF has little to do with human flesh, and some people are sensitive to RF
or even the sunshine, and some heating is normal. The FCC does require that you have RF
evaluation data if you don’t live out in the country. See the FCC data sheets for the
information on RF exposure levels, and maintaining a log if necessary.
LETS TALK AMPLIFIERS !
There are so many more facets of Ham Radio
that are here with us now, and a lot of them use computers for their operations
and also, the use of computers becomes more and more dependent each day. Pakct, Amtor,
and many other modes of communications depend on computers. Unlike the day when I could run back and
forwards, trying to set the SWR on my dipole antenna, the new modern tuners
tune an antenna in milliseconds sometimes,
Punch a button, hear a little noise, and the next thing you know you are
on the air and ready to talk.
Most amplifiers are either ceramic tube or
completely solid state units now, and it robs me of the warm glow, and
happiness that I see each time when I fire up an amplifier. Thank goodness, theres
still the technology to have the old tubes. The workhorses of old, the 3-500x the 4-400x still are
being crowned for use in some homebrew amps, and still in some modern tube
design amps.
My first amp
was an Amp Supply Company, and it
used the sweep tubes 6LQ6 types, and would run most of the time about 6 to 7
hundred watts. HOW SIMPLE could
anything be.!!! Right behind it, I got one of the
greatest amps that I could have ever purchased. A Heathkit SB-220… I could not have wanted any more of a quality
amplifier, but of course you know me and the glow of glass envelope type
tubes. I got one
of the cheapest to operate amplifiers that is on the market, and I do mean
cheap in operation, not cheap in quality, and that was the Ameritron AL-811-H . Dollar for
dollar, Ameritron has got a winner here!
I learned from an engineer that the Amateur Radio workhorse 572B tubes would be a lifetime
replacement for the 811-A, and one set yes, could be a lifetime tube for the
Ameritron AL-811 H. When I put them
in the Ameritron, I found they did the same processes, acted the same,
neutralized the same, and were exactly what I wanted. Unless the glass envelope gets broken, I
lose a filament, grid fails, or something catastrophic (God Forbid) would
happen, they indeed could be a lifetime tube for the Ameritron. They are only a few millimeters taller,
and still have the same operations. The only drawback I see is that the
transformer cannot use them to their full potential, but that is the plus.
Doubtful if they will ever be damaged in normal use or service. The 572Bs from
I LOVE THE
LONG MAY OLD GLORY WAVE
LOVE THEM 572s and a list of
others,
but
also love the 833A too..
Click on tube to send me some email
833-A
Commercial radio broadcast tube
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