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Message from starsonesp at Thursday, 17-Mar-11 07:37:14 GMT
Just jumping in to say, yes, THANK YOU Dick for your magnificent contribution. I've quite fallen in love with African DX over the last few years and it's nice to see what local stuff I can tune on your receiver. It helps me to get a sense of how far the regional stations travel on the continent, as I'm trying to determine the best country to visit for a DXpedition later this year. Thank you again! > Myke
Message from zs6ro at Thursday, 17-Mar-11 07:57:55 GMT
Myke, I remember back around 2007, users around Europe commenting that they would rather listen to MW on this Node than pick up their local stations direct .. Apparently its way too crowded in that area - which is understandable ...
Enjoy whichever choice you make regarding your DXpedition - wonder if its Ham-related or SWL ...
73, Dick ZS6RO
Last edited by zs6ro at Thursday, 17-Mar-11 07:59:09 UTC
Enjoy whichever choice you make regarding your DXpedition - wonder if its Ham-related or SWL ...
73, Dick ZS6RO
Last edited by zs6ro at Thursday, 17-Mar-11 07:59:09 UTC
Message from starsonesp at Friday, 18-Mar-11 00:45:39 GMT
Thanks, Dick! It'll be strictly SWL. My fourth trip after expeditions to Spain, Bulgaria, and the United Arab Emirates...
Message from Calico at Friday, 18-Mar-11 09:50:38 GMT
It's a pleasure to discuss and help with ideas about loops if at some point you decide to move in that direction :)
I am referring to wide wire aperture loops (terminated or not), which like TFD are superb regarding low noise, wide bandwidth and good directivity, too.
Regarding costs, it can be home brewed, we'll get it to be very affordable!
Speaking of directivity, what bearing (degrees) does your random wire responds the best ?
As mentioned in a previous communication, it will be profoundly interesting to know if and when your ham antenna (i.e. 20m Yagi) will be available, as your location is perhaps our best bet to receive stations in Antarctica!
73 es gd dx,
Tim (Dorset, UK)
I am referring to wide wire aperture loops (terminated or not), which like TFD are superb regarding low noise, wide bandwidth and good directivity, too.
Regarding costs, it can be home brewed, we'll get it to be very affordable!
Speaking of directivity, what bearing (degrees) does your random wire responds the best ?
As mentioned in a previous communication, it will be profoundly interesting to know if and when your ham antenna (i.e. 20m Yagi) will be available, as your location is perhaps our best bet to receive stations in Antarctica!
73 es gd dx,
Tim (Dorset, UK)
Message from zs6ro at Friday, 18-Mar-11 11:39:53 GMT
Well Myke, thats one way of getting around - World-trotting - SWl DX-peditions .. Its a lot of fun and educational - gives one an idea how the other half live *Grin ...
Enjoy the weekend ...
73, Dick ZS6RO
Enjoy the weekend ...
73, Dick ZS6RO
Message from zs6ro at Friday, 18-Mar-11 11:58:49 GMT
Tim, I'm always receptive to ideas and suggestions, so keep 'talking' Smile ... There is a lot of experience out there I'm sure ... I'm retired about 6 years now and my career was in telecommunication, mainly radio, from DC(!) to uWave, based in Head Office in Jo'burg and travelled the country and was 'fixer-of-last-resorts' !! ... Enjoyed it immensely ...
I would reckon the random-wire would appreciate signal more from north and south, than west and east - but then again, there could be lots of pattern-skewing from surrounding objects ...
Thats an interesting idea regarding the tri-bander of mine ... It would mean manually replacing the coaxial leads around on the PCR-1000 to enable the yagi on the radio (and remembering what I have done!!) .. It would of course be very poor reception on all other frequencies and bring the wrath and rage from other non-interested users *BIG Grin ... At the moment the beam (yagi) is facing north - the rotator is not functioning and I suspect the control-cable - been rather lazy in inspecting the cable !!
73, Dick ZS6RO
I would reckon the random-wire would appreciate signal more from north and south, than west and east - but then again, there could be lots of pattern-skewing from surrounding objects ...
Thats an interesting idea regarding the tri-bander of mine ... It would mean manually replacing the coaxial leads around on the PCR-1000 to enable the yagi on the radio (and remembering what I have done!!) .. It would of course be very poor reception on all other frequencies and bring the wrath and rage from other non-interested users *BIG Grin ... At the moment the beam (yagi) is facing north - the rotator is not functioning and I suspect the control-cable - been rather lazy in inspecting the cable !!
73, Dick ZS6RO
Message from Calico at Friday, 18-Mar-11 19:29:14 GMT
Interesting career you seem to have had Dick! Personally I like your current career the most, being retired! Can we swap for a week please ? :-)
Yes, the random wire can be a general solution provided:
there is some sort of good ground (counterpoise etc) to tune it against
and maximum signal transfer is enabled by some L-C circuit to get impedances matched while QSY-ing. We used to use wires with SAIT, JRC etc consoles, using the sea for ground, but now this all is in the past.
But since you may have room for more, I was wondering what spaces and hardware you have available so as to keep budget low ? Would there be any low noise pre-amplifiers and baluns available, e.g. 16:1 ? Ladder line at all? Phasing equipment ?
Any substantial tree-supports that could help us keep away from metal objects (i.e. your Yagi mast)?
Regarding the Yagi, OK if rotator / control cable are being uncooperative, we are stuck. Unless of course the Yagi was a SteppIR and then we could reverse the elements, oink-oink and pigs will fly !
Last but not least, what would your view be of considering a Flag or a Pennant type antenna ? Both use terminations, hence good nulls, are seriously wide-band and if there is no room for Beverages, they are-IMHO-the next best thing when it comes to keeping costs low?
73
Tim (Dorset UK)
Yes, the random wire can be a general solution provided:
there is some sort of good ground (counterpoise etc) to tune it against
and maximum signal transfer is enabled by some L-C circuit to get impedances matched while QSY-ing. We used to use wires with SAIT, JRC etc consoles, using the sea for ground, but now this all is in the past.
But since you may have room for more, I was wondering what spaces and hardware you have available so as to keep budget low ? Would there be any low noise pre-amplifiers and baluns available, e.g. 16:1 ? Ladder line at all? Phasing equipment ?
Any substantial tree-supports that could help us keep away from metal objects (i.e. your Yagi mast)?
Regarding the Yagi, OK if rotator / control cable are being uncooperative, we are stuck. Unless of course the Yagi was a SteppIR and then we could reverse the elements, oink-oink and pigs will fly !
Last but not least, what would your view be of considering a Flag or a Pennant type antenna ? Both use terminations, hence good nulls, are seriously wide-band and if there is no room for Beverages, they are-IMHO-the next best thing when it comes to keeping costs low?
73
Tim (Dorset UK)
Message from zs6ro at Saturday, 19-Mar-11 07:43:35 GMT
Tim, I like being retired - I'm so busy that I wondered where I got the time when I was working !! (how many times have you heard that phrase) ...
I use my tower stays (guy wires) for end-fed antennas with ATU's at the connection end using coax - all insulated from the mast. I have five sets of equi-distance stays - I say 'sets' as one stay is connected halfway on the mast and another stay connected to the top of the mast with the far ends sharing a common point. the mast is 12 metres high from the ground. Each stay is stainless steel wire rope. There is an 'almost' reasonable ground system, mainly for lightning protection underground which is and has been, quite effective in the past.
Take a piece of A4 paper and place it in front of you as if you were going to write on it. Draw a vertical line from the centre top to the bottom and do the same with a horizontal line from centre left to centre right on the paper - you have four quadrants - This is my property - 1010 square metres. On the top right-hand quadrant draw a rectangle swimming pool, taking up 2/3 of the quadrant (8x4 metres). On the left top quadrant, draw a rectangle taking up most of the quadrant - this is a cottage. the bottom two quadrants are almost taken up by my house and double-garage. Right at the bottom of the page is a horizontal road - left-hand side is the South side and the right-hand side of the road is North ..
Where the quadrants meet in the middle of the page is my mast (more or less). The five sets of stays are anchored at the perimeter of the property. For reference purposes, the one set of stays is from the mast and straight down on the paper to where the house starts. the rest of the stays are roughly equi-distant from here. All stays are fastened to galvanized steel pipes which are approx 2.5 metres high from the ground - prevents family members (myself included) from getting their heads decapitated!!) ... This antenna/mast install was done about 20 years ago and is still in good nick due to relatively routine maintainence ..
From the 'reference' stays, the next set of stays to the north side of the property are this Node's RX antenna. A coaxial feeder is simply connected from the north-end of the stay and runs back to my shack which is on the south-side of the main house. The coax cable connection to the stays is, the inner wire of coax is connected to top stay, braid of coax connected to bottom stay (almost a sort of counterpoise in itself) ..
From my point of view, there is not much practical space left to install anything else ..
My shack has a window on the main house on the south side of the bottom left-hand side quadrant. 99% of my coaxial cable lead-in's go from my shack, into the ceiling area and exit at the west side of my property at roof height, go down the house wall in PVC pipe, then run on the ground also in PVC pipe to the base of the mast and up to the relavent antennas.
My obvious choice for this Node receiver would be open-wire feeder (much less loss and would extend the reception frequency-wise - especially higher frequencies), though some matching would also be required to optomise things .. problem is - getting open-wire feeder from the existing antenna to the shack where the Node receiver is !!!
Well, there you have it - if you did draw this on A4 paper, you have a reasoanably accurate 'map' of my premises and layout of antennas and so forth ..
Lets hear the suggestions and maybe there will be one which would make a change for the better to what I presently have ...
73, Dick ZS6RO
I use my tower stays (guy wires) for end-fed antennas with ATU's at the connection end using coax - all insulated from the mast. I have five sets of equi-distance stays - I say 'sets' as one stay is connected halfway on the mast and another stay connected to the top of the mast with the far ends sharing a common point. the mast is 12 metres high from the ground. Each stay is stainless steel wire rope. There is an 'almost' reasonable ground system, mainly for lightning protection underground which is and has been, quite effective in the past.
Take a piece of A4 paper and place it in front of you as if you were going to write on it. Draw a vertical line from the centre top to the bottom and do the same with a horizontal line from centre left to centre right on the paper - you have four quadrants - This is my property - 1010 square metres. On the top right-hand quadrant draw a rectangle swimming pool, taking up 2/3 of the quadrant (8x4 metres). On the left top quadrant, draw a rectangle taking up most of the quadrant - this is a cottage. the bottom two quadrants are almost taken up by my house and double-garage. Right at the bottom of the page is a horizontal road - left-hand side is the South side and the right-hand side of the road is North ..
Where the quadrants meet in the middle of the page is my mast (more or less). The five sets of stays are anchored at the perimeter of the property. For reference purposes, the one set of stays is from the mast and straight down on the paper to where the house starts. the rest of the stays are roughly equi-distant from here. All stays are fastened to galvanized steel pipes which are approx 2.5 metres high from the ground - prevents family members (myself included) from getting their heads decapitated!!) ... This antenna/mast install was done about 20 years ago and is still in good nick due to relatively routine maintainence ..
From the 'reference' stays, the next set of stays to the north side of the property are this Node's RX antenna. A coaxial feeder is simply connected from the north-end of the stay and runs back to my shack which is on the south-side of the main house. The coax cable connection to the stays is, the inner wire of coax is connected to top stay, braid of coax connected to bottom stay (almost a sort of counterpoise in itself) ..
From my point of view, there is not much practical space left to install anything else ..
My shack has a window on the main house on the south side of the bottom left-hand side quadrant. 99% of my coaxial cable lead-in's go from my shack, into the ceiling area and exit at the west side of my property at roof height, go down the house wall in PVC pipe, then run on the ground also in PVC pipe to the base of the mast and up to the relavent antennas.
My obvious choice for this Node receiver would be open-wire feeder (much less loss and would extend the reception frequency-wise - especially higher frequencies), though some matching would also be required to optomise things .. problem is - getting open-wire feeder from the existing antenna to the shack where the Node receiver is !!!
Well, there you have it - if you did draw this on A4 paper, you have a reasoanably accurate 'map' of my premises and layout of antennas and so forth ..
Lets hear the suggestions and maybe there will be one which would make a change for the better to what I presently have ...
73, Dick ZS6RO
Message from RX-Hogger at Saturday, 19-Mar-11 17:19:15 GMT
Dick, could you possibly try out the available antennas on your remote receiver? It's always interesting to hear the difference in reception on each antenna. Thanks & 73, AMFMLIST (Björn)
Message from zs6ro at Sunday, 20-Mar-11 06:56:22 GMT
AMFMLIST (Björn), If I use 'available' antennas that are here, they are narrow-bandwidth which will only work on selected Ham-bands .. This could cause confusion to listeners tuning outside these limits ...
Its better that I 'improve' the antenna that is presently connected to the Node receiver. One idea I'm thinking of is to use ladder-line instead of coaxial cable, as the coax length is rather long and has quite a bit of attenuation on the higher frequencies ... Of course, matching over this frequency range at the receiver will be a challenge !!! *Smile ...
73, Dick
73, Dick ZS6RO
Its better that I 'improve' the antenna that is presently connected to the Node receiver. One idea I'm thinking of is to use ladder-line instead of coaxial cable, as the coax length is rather long and has quite a bit of attenuation on the higher frequencies ... Of course, matching over this frequency range at the receiver will be a challenge !!! *Smile ...
73, Dick
73, Dick ZS6RO
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