HALLICRAFTERS S40-A RESTORATION

Detailed & Photographed at the bottom of this page

Photos & details at the bottom of this page.

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"I saw your very nice restoration on QRZ.com. I was given a S40 along with a S-meter. I have shipped the S-meter to you. I thought it would be a good addition to your restoration !!!"

John Discenza, WB2NEW

SB-220 ALC MODIFICATION

Variable ALC for Legacy Amplifiers
Modernized for solid-state rigs

SB-220 Equipped with PTT/ALC Connector & Variable ALC Threshold Control

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Reversible Beverage

7 MHz AFRICA-PACIFIC BEVERAGE

2-wire reversible Beverage • Scroll to bottom of page for details

No matter how you slice it, signals coming from either direction are coupled to the feedline through several transformers. To optimize the electrical balance required by the switchable Beverage, it is a good idea to wind the primaries and secondaries in the same direction, and to keep track of which wires are which. An additional transformer making the final 70-to-50 Ohm match between the RG-6 and the receiver in the shack further assists the operator dig weak signals out of the noise, but not by much. ;)

Fiberglass Spacers Made From Snowplow Sticks

F/B Demonstration Video

Half-Square Antenna

Before: dipole.

After: Half-square

A half-square exhibits a low take-off angle without the need for ground radials or counterpoise wires. One way to picture it is to imagine two 1/4 wavelength verticals spaced one-half wavelength apart fed in-phase. This produces a bi-directional "8" pattern broadside to the array. The horizontal wire across the top is the 1/2 wavelength phasing line between the tops of the two vertical legs, and does not contribute much to the radiation pattern. When electromagentically excited, current maxima appear at the top corners and voltage maxima at the bottoms of the two vertical llegs, which must be kept out of reach of humans and animals. The aerial is tuned to resonance by adjusting the lengths of the vertical legs rather than by adjusting the horizontal "phasing" line, which should be kept to the dimensions provided by mathematical formulae. You can cram it into limited-spaces because it is not finicky with regard to the proportions of its dinensions. For example, if you don't have the 36 to 40 feet of vertical height it requires, you can slope the legs off to the same side, or tuck them towards each other under the aerial without depreciating performance.

The 7 MHz Half-Square Vertical length ~33 to 38 feet • Spaced ~66'

Suspension Height ~ 36 to 40' • 50 Ohm feedpoint impedance

Can be directly fed at either corner or through parallel circuit at bottom

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To convert a 40 meter dipole into a half-bobtail, don't do anything to the feedpont connection. Just add 1/2 wavelength of wire to either of the legs. If you are not feeding your dipole through a balun, splic the extra wire to the leg that is connected to the center conductor of the coax after removing the end insulator. Slip the insulator back on and slide it down 1/4 wavelength (33' to 38'). You can secure the insulator by crimping the wire corner with a cable tie; if you twist it around the insulator, it will untwist when the array is tensioned. This insulator now serves as one of the corner supports. Attach another insulator to the end of the extra wire. This insulator serves as one of the end supports, with the feedpoint insulator serving as the other one. This completes the conversion of the dipole into a half-bobtail!

How to Convert a Dipole into a Half-Square

1/2 wavelength of wire is spliced onto a dipole. 

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You now have a DX antenna that looks like an inverted "U". The two vertical legs drop down until their end insulators hover 3 to 6 feet above the ground to which they are staked with bungie cords. The height of the aerial is between 36 to 40 feet. Right now we are testing it on 40 Meters at night. On February 12, 2018, the contraption worked into Europe until Noon (1100 UTC). Incredible for a piece of wire without any radials! 

Half-Square Working Europe Until Noon

February 12, 2018 • 7 Mhz

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Elevated Phased Verticals

PHASED VERTICALS
with Elevated Counterpoise

After 1 year, here's what we ended up with for the transmitting antenna.

East and West Verticals of the 7 MHz Phased Array • Construction Time: 4 Months • Cost: Under $200 (including radial wire)
Each vertical is elevated 4 meters above ground, and outfitted with 30 counterpoise wires. • The Christman phasing method is employed.

The 60 counterpoise wires are suspended from a catenary line strung around both verticals. • Counterpoise systems are insulated from each other.

Feedlines choked with W2AU ferrite-bead balun kits (Wireman $14).

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Schematic Diagram of 7.1 MHz Phased Verticals Using the Christman Phasing Method

Vertical length 34.5 feet • Spaced 34' 7" • 30 Elevated Counterpoise Wires per Vertical 36.5' • 84-degree RG-8X feedline 27.1' • 71-degree RG8X feedline 22.8' 

12 VDC automotive relay used in switching box. • Array beams towards vertical with delay line inserted in its feedline

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February 26, 2019

TS-520 Audio Modification • Cleaning Northeast Vertical

Many people have asked about how I get the audio quality out of the TS-520. The answer is that I have modified the TS-520 to accept a speech processor used for electric guitars using the same audio processing chip used in the W2IHY products. It costs about $25 to do. I don't have time to describe it in this update, other than to provide the diagram appearing below. 

 

W1ZY Audio Chain

Diagram of TS-520 audio chain using Analogue Devices SSM2166 speech processor chip.

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Here's the W1ZY microphone with windsock. 1960s UHER M512 dynamic microphone from an old UHER reel-to-reel tape recorder.

W1ZY Speech Processor Controls & Microphone

Gain, Threshold, Compression & Downward-expansion controls. 

UHER M-517 dynamic microphone with windsock.

***

Today we are taking advantage of the lull in high winds to dismantle the Northeast vertical in order to bring it up onto the sun-drenched deck and clean its junctions, as was done a week earlier to the Southwest vertical. Believe it or not, it appears that cleaning the many junctions in the monopole radiators does increase performance. It certainly changes the tuning, according to the MFJ antenna analyzer readings. 

February 22, 2019

Experiment: Harnessing The Skin Effect in the Salt Marsh

 

SCIENTIFIC NOTE TO SELF: Rudy Severns Skin Effect Article

Some of the signal reports being received from Europe at an increasiongly frequent rate (59 +35db, 40 db, 50 dB) appear correlated to high tide levels at Succotash Saltmarsh. Based on my previous experience with the elevated counterpoise system, there is a distinct possibility that the system’s efficiency can be increased by focussing on the ground radial system. Specifically, by increasing its density through (i) addition of radials, (ii) introduction of a perimeter wire connecting the ends of the radials and (iii) elevating the entire radial field to the height needed to cause it to simultaneously submerge to a the depth of one (1) to three (3) inches at median high tides. Tides maximizing below this height cause the elevated system to capcitively couple to the salt water. Tides maximizing above this height cause the radials system to be submerged at a depth greater than that required for The Skin Effect on 7 MHz. The latter is the defaul sceanrio at this time since the ground radial systems are interwoven through marsh grasses, effectuating an elevation above the marsh floor of somewhere between 6" to 12 ". I truly believe elevation fo the ground radial system in this manner will enhance the low-angle performance of the system based on the results of the ground rod vs. radial field A/B tests we conducted a month or so ago.

 

In those tests we observed stateside stations reporting no difference in signal strength when A/Bing between 4 ground rods and 12 ground radials while DX stations reporting a difference of between 1 to 3 S-units. This suggested that alteration between the two ground systems had no perceivable effect on the higher angle shape of the system’s radiation pattern while having an appreciable effect on its lower elevation slope. This test was repeated several times producing the same results. This would appear to suggest that alteration of near field coupling effectuated by differeing ground systems affects the lower elevation plot of the system’s radiation pattern. 

 

If this is true, then it might well follow that further horsing around with the ground radial system might enhance low angle performance. Of particular interest is achieving near field coupling by means of “The Skin Effect” through such means as to cause the entire surface area of Succotash Saltmarsh to collect return currents transferred to the system through its ground radial system. At present time this “Skin Effect” is likely being exhibited at certain tide levels, as possibly suggested by the increasing signal reports previously mentioned, but has yet to be fully harnessed because the ground radial system is not set up to optimize reception of Skin Effect return currents.

 

To effectuate this, the ground radial wires should be (i) collectively resonated and then (ii) elevated to a height of two to three feet above the marsh floor. This can be accomplished through the incorporation around its perimeter of wooden ground stakes supporting a wire ring receiving the ends of all elevated counterpoise wires. On 7 MHz, a wire screen can be incorporated by adding a series of concentric wire rings every 8 feet or so (0.1 WL) towards the bases of each vertical. At 40 meter resolutiuon, this elevated ground matrix will behave as a capacitive plate. 

 

More to follow on this...

 

TS-830s Update: Pronosis Good

 

Completed the rewinding of the plate choke in the RF cage, using No. 26 enamel wire. This should provide sufficient choking for 40 meters while the correctly sized enamel wire is procured for a permanent fix. Also added a smaller choke in the HV line to replace the one that vaporized. Naturally, a small dab of contact cement was added to the top of the choke to hold the windings tightly in place. New 6146s have been installed. When turned on, and the Heater switch actuated, the finals lit up without any smoke. Will now procede with neutralization before attempting any tuning-up. 

TS-830s RF Cage

Rewound plate choke and installed new 6146s.

 

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Writer's Studio

This is where I spend most of my time writing The Book.

 

February 21, 2019

Took a break from antenna work to diagnose the TS-830S donated by K2IL

We did some work on the TS-830S today, donated by Steve, K2IL. First up are the classic "Before" and "After" shots. 

BEFORE

Before and After Shots of the TS-830S Donated by K2IL

We see the improvement of the rig's cosmetic look after the first day of examining it on the test bench.

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Initial examination of the TS-830s reveals blown plate choke.

Blown Plate Choke.

Removed from the RF cage. Will be rewound with enamel wire. 

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Additional problems beset the rig, but nothing catastrophic to its operation. Knobs and faceplate were washed and some light rewiring done inside. The receiver works, although it has yet to be aligned. Digital frequency read-out changes around to different frequencies. Numerous potentiometer controls on the front plate need either cleaning or outright replacement, especially AF Gain and Tone controls. Cabinet will be prepped and repainted, with screws procured from Ace Hardware. More updates follow. Note the acorn retrieved from the RF deck, below. 

Plate Choke and Acorn

Removed from the RF cage.

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Massive European Pile-Up Recordings Now Available On-line

Click on the image to go there.

Our Pile-Up recordings are now available for download on www.freesound.org. Click the image, below, to go there. It takes several hours after a pile-up for the recordings to be available for listening and download since they have to approved by human beings at the web site. 

European Pile-up Recordings

Available for download on freesound.org. Get yours today!

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February 19, 2019

Reorganizing the feedpoints

PHOTO GALLERY

Today we did some routine maintenance by rebuilding the ferrite bead current chokes at the bases of both verticals. These are The Wireman current choke kits available from The Wireman ($14) which string about 50 ferrite beads along a length of RG-174 miniature coax. In our case we encapsulated these chokes into PVC tubes with end caps. These, in turn, were clamped to the ground support pipes beaten into the marsh mud a month or so ago. The repair essentially entailed removing the current chokes from the PVC tubes and resoldering them to the 84˚ Christman legs back to the remote switchbox, and then soldering new stranded wire pigtail off the other end. We then placed the current chokes into longer PVC tubes which solved some problems arising from use of shorter tubes. Some snapshots appear below. 

Phasing and Switching System

The 38 Ohm feedpoint impedance is transposed to 50 Ohms by an L-match encased in a tackle box before being sent down the feedline.

Homemade remote relay switch box is hermetically sealed to preclude water ingress. Ground radial system underneath the Northeast vertical. 

 

***

February 18, 2019

Cleaning the Verticals

 

Every once in awhile it is best to disassemble a saltwater vertical in order to clean and re-grease its mechanical junctions. This reduces Ohmic losses. The last time I did this, which was when the verticals were installed in the woods with an elevated counterpoise system, it dropped the reactive component at resonance down to 2 or 3 Ohms. I hope it happens this time. The tool kit assembled for this job is depicted below. 

W1ZY Vertical Radiator Ohmic Loss Reduction Kit for Suckers • $89.95 + Shipping

Dielectric grease, a copper scouring pad, a (red) mechanic's shop rag and a plummer's pipe brush are all that's needed to reduce Ohmic losses.

Total cost at Home Depot about $8.

 

***

What I do is start at the top junction, where the tubing is smallest in diameter, and work my way down the vertical. Since I use set screws at the junctions, when I put them back together there is no alteration of the vertical's length. Once I separate two tubes at a junciton, I scour the outside of the smaller diameter tube with a copper pad laden with Brasso®, and then wipe off the residue with a mechanic's shop rag. I then use a plummer's bvrush, available at Home Depot, to burnish the inside of the larger diameter tube. I then lay dielectric grease on the outside of the smaller diameter tube and run it in and oout of the larger tube to distribute the grease throughout the junction. The tubes are then reconnected with hose clamps and stainless steel sheet metal screws which lock them tight. I then move down the vertical to the next junction. The whole process takes about 45 minutes for a 40 Meter 1/4 WL vertical made of 6' sections of telescoping aluminum tubing. Sometimes, if I feel anal compulsive, I will lay a bead of Liquid Electrical Tape around the junction ledge to further prevent water ingress, although this is certaily overkill. I do it mainly becuase I have the Liquid Electrical Tape available in The Shack.

Cleaning the Vertical Junctions

Junction seen after being disassembled, cleaned and refitted after application of dielectric grease. 

 

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I worked my way down the Southwest vertical in this fashion yesterday afternoon. I then reinstalled the contraption to the ground pipe, which is from a child's swingset. After resetting the two-tiers of three-point guys (1/8" parachute cord), I removed the Northeast vertical radiator from its feedline and used the MFJ Antenna Analyzer to sweep the Southwest vertical's feedpoint. Remember, both verticals have to be detatched from their feedlines in order to tune either of them individually. Check out the reading, provided below. 

 

Southwest Vertical Apparently Detuned 500 Khz After Element Cleaning

At least the reactive component is now down to zero. 

***

False Alarm Evoked by Operator Error

Turns out I made a mistake. I overlooked the fact that one of the ends of a hose clamp was touching the Southwest vertical radiator, detuning it in effect. Once bent out of the way, the MFJ Antenna Analyzer readings presented a more reassuring 7.048 MHz resonance with a few Ohms of reactance. Interestingly, this is the same reading presented by the Northeast vertical a week earlier after resetting its ground radial system, as described in a previous update. So now both verticals resonate at 7.050, requiring each to be walked up in frequency about 50 KHz, which means shortening them by about 3". I will hold off doing this because tomorrow I am going to relocate the Southwest vertical even further into the Salt Marsh in order to more symmetrically distribute its ground radial system. 

 

Shortcuts for Builders

For those of you interested in ballpark shortcuts, below we find lengths and corresponding frequency deviations for 1/4 wavelength verticals on 7 MHz. Which means how far you have to adjust the vertical to walk it up or down the corresponding frequency.

• 6" per 100 KHz. 
• 3" per 50 KHz. 
• 1 1/2" per 25 KHz. 
• 3/4" per 12.5 KHz.

February 12, 2019

Extremely Low Take-off Experiment

European Pile-up After Local Sunrise

Recordings of the Phased Verticals in Europe here.

Continuing our quest for low elevation angle experimentation this morning by getting up at 4:30 AM to hail Europe before sunrise on the East coast. To our surprise European signals were presenting themselves well over the S9 mark. A massive pile-up ensued, recorded in its entirity here. The QRZ log appears below. 

European Daytime Pile-up

February 12, 2019

 

***

It was surreal working European stations as the edge of the Eastern horizon began to glow the deep reddish-purple of first light, let alone well after the sun emerged over the horizon, bathing the salt marsh in a yellow-orange glow. I used the European SDR in the UK to monitor the phased saltwater verticals in Europe, watching with amazement the S meter readings produced by the aerial. The recordings can be found here. This subjective experiment indicates the take-off angle of the phased saltwater verticals is unusually low. 

February 9, 2019

Antartic Calling

 

IA0/IZ1KHY, Danilo in Antartica, responded to a CQ put out this morning around 5 AM EDT. His 1 KW signal peaked at 58. Prior to that, on a relatively dead band, several Middle Eastern stations were presenting significant signals. 

Antartica Worked • February 9, 2019

IA0/IZ1KHY, Tony, in Antartica. 

 

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February 6, 2019

Extremely Low Take-off Experiment

Working Europe After Local Sunrise

We are preparing to test the lowest component of the verticals's take-off angle. The experiment is to call CQ at weird hours of the day in an attempt to get through to different regions before the band would be expected to be open. The mechanical preparation for this experiment began last Sunday with the restringing of 30 ground radials around the Northeast vertical so that they are symmertrical and taut. This detuned the NE vertical by 50 Khz, which was corrected. Next up will be the relocaiton of the Southwest vertical deeper into the salt marsh, siting it to the northeast of the present NE vertical, rendering the latter the southwest vertical. This will be done in order to more fully deploy its 30 ground radials in a symmertric fashion, as well as to (finally) get both verticals at the same elevation. Relocating the vertical in this fashion will allow its entire ground radial fieldl to be swamped at high tides; at present only half of the raidal field (North East South) extends into the marsh. 

After restringing the NE vertical radial field, we hailed Europe at 7:15 AM, which is 12:30 PM Zulu. Two stations were worked in the UK, one being a mobile.

Working Europe at 7:15 AM, EDT

February 6, 2019

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JANUARY 28, 2019

Extremely Low Take-off Experiment

Working Europe at 2 O'Clock in the Afternoon (1900Z)

Low Take-off Angle: Europe at 2 PM, January 28, 2019

Testing the low take-off angle of the Saltwater Verticals produces interesting results.

 

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Phased Verticals Longpath in Tasmania

Working EU pile-up 1500 EDT on January 31, 2019

Recorded in Tasmania by VK7FRJG, Rod.

JANUARY 24, 2019

Atlantic Storm Makes Landfall, Buffeting Verticals with 80 MPH Gusts

Storm Surge Swamps Northeast Vertical One Day After Raising Its Feedpoint 2 Feet

 

4' Storm Surge Swamps Northeast Vertical

One day after I raised its feedpoint 2 feet!

 

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Vertical in 80 MPH Winds

Outrageously, the day after I raised the Northeast vertical feedpoint 2 feet higher, an unannounced storm off the Atlantic landfalls in Southern Rhode Island, bringing with it sustained windspeeds of 45 MPH, gusting to 80 MPH for several hours. I couldn't  believe it as I sat in the ham shack lookinbg out through its sliding glass door watching enormous gusts bend the verticals over despite their 3-point, double-tier guying systems. Many times they were parallel to the horizon, almost as if bowing to the North in supplication to the Gods blowing them from the South

NOAA Warning

When the gusts subsided, both verticals attempted to resume their vertical positions in winds measured by my anenometer at 45 MPH! I was proud of them, and, of course, of myself, as each attempted to return to their vertical positions under tensions provided by their guys. But then one wind gust arrived, around 5 PM, that pushed the Northeast vertical to the North so extremely that it was permanently bent and could no longer stand up straight.

Remember, the Northeast vertical is the one with single-walled tubing, whereas the Southwest vertical has double-walled tubing inside its middle-third. It emerged from the storm without any permanent damage despite the placement of its upper guy ring uo too high. The newly-renovated remote-switching/Z-match box resolutely defied the Atlantic storm, emerging unscathed and bone dry when opened up the next day.

Newly-renovated Remote Switchbox Defies Atlantic Storm

The contraption worked perfectly.

 

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Succotash Salt Marsh at High Tide

At this point ground conductivity is supplanted by the skin-effect,

rendering the modelling of the phased verticals beyond reach of antenna modelling programs.

 

***

JANUARY 23, 2019

Raised Northeast Vertical Above Super High Tide Line

EA5AVL Reports a Whopping 48 dB Front-to-Back Ratio.

DXSummit: January 23, 2019

First session after raising Northeast vertical.

 

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JANUARY 22, 2019

Salt Water Immersion Blows Out RF Connectors

SO-239 in Remote Relay Switchbox

Here's what happens when Saltwater gets into a RF Connection

After repeated submersion at high tides, the feedline connector finally failed. The mating PL-259 was also destroyed.

***

So today's update reveals my misdiagnosis of the NE vertical feedpoint as the source of the difficulty. Tracing the problem from this starting point led me to the remote switchbox when the NE 84˚ line checked-out good. When removing the box in order to barrel-connect the SW vertical to the feedline, I discovered the SO-239 and PL-259 connectors had ice in them which, when chipped-off, revealed major arcing had been taking place for quite some time. This explained the problem I had been ghaving for several days of RF getting into my audio back in the shack. I removed the switchbox and cables, chipping them out of the ice pack, and connected the SW vertical to a second, back-up feedline pre-installed when I set up the system. This worked and I was back on the air with a single vertical last night, with full control over my audio. I replaced the connectors in the switchbox and on the feedline, slipping some ferrite beads on the latter to further reduce common-mode noise on receive. BooM. DonE. 

New Switchbox and Feedline Connectors

Added ferrite beads to main feedline at switchbox end.

 

***

What we're going to do today is measure the length of the 71˚ Christman phasing line we ended up with and replace it with a new contiguous length of coax. This emancipates the barrel conectors presently tied-up in the lengthening of the phasing line, while making available for use several short patch cables. One of these patch cables will be used to connect the L-match to the remote relay switchbox after I mount both onto the same post.

 

OK, I just did that.

Measuring the Final Length of the 71˚ Christman Phasing Cable

We finally get to see exactly how long it ended up being.

 

***

24.5' is the final length that I ended up with to lock the system into its present performance level. Let's compare that to mathematical calculations which set the 71˚ Christman 71˚ phasing line at 22.4' for RG-8X @ 7.1 MHz. This means we are Two Point One (2.1) feet longer, which could partly be due to the actual velocity factor of the coax I am using and partly because of the soil characteristics intrinsic to the salt water installation. However, we note that we had to add 7" to the same 71˚ phasing line used at the previous, inland installation (Editor: These items were brought together into a phasing & impedance-matching system installed out in The Marsh. 

New Phasing line
& connectors 

We raised it above upcoming Super High Tides (editor: using the elevated counterpoise system shortly described in this blog). So I would say that the real-world conditions surrounding a phased aerial installation do determine the final dimensions of the Christman phasing lines. In fact, if we subtract the 7" required for our salt marsh installation, we come up with 23' 10" as teh length of the phasing line used at the inland installation which used elevated counterpoise wires. Let's step-back and check out how these numbers crunch.

• Mathematically Calculated Length: 22.4'
• Inland Installation Length: 23.8' (106% longer)
• Salt Marsh Installation Length: 24.5' (109% longer)

That's empirical data derived from our own experimental work performed over the past few years. We may not win a Nobel Prize, but we can assuage concerns perplexing others building any phased array about sticking with coaxial lengths mathematically calculated. Any installation has to be tweaked because each one exhibits final qualities unique unto itself. So don't be afraid to deviate from dimensions provided by mathematical formulas or computer modellings. Here's what else we did today.

 

Phasing & Impedance

Matching System

Waterproofing
Connectors

We installed fresh coaxial connectors and consolidated several integral systems into one mechanism. These items were brought together into a phasing & impedance-matching system installed out in The Marsh. We raised it above upcoming Super High Tides. This field work was installed this afternoon and converts the 37 Ohm j7 impedance at the remote switching box into 50 Ohm j0 along the RG-8X feedline run back to the shack. 

This reduces receiver noise resulting from common-mode ingress along this stretch of the array's cabling system. Ferrite beads were added to the feedline to further decouple it from the array. Upon returning to the shack at sunset, a European pile-up erupted producing numerous 59+10dB to 25dB signal reports and 25db to 30 dB F/B observations.

DXSummit: January 22, 2019

Initial test of system upgrades produces encouraging results.

 

***

When the system F/B was tested, the average EU report was 25 to 30 dB. I think the installation of new PL-259 connectors with reducers, soldered with an eye on making good shield connections, combined with the removal of several PL-259 & barrel connectors integrated into the phasing line when tuning the array, have improved its overall operation. Up next will be to raise the feedpoint of the NE vertical so that it cannot be shorted-out by super high tides. After that we will relocate the SW vertical deeper into the Marsh so that it becomes the NE vertical. This will allow for the deployment of both ground radial systems (30 radials) in a symmetrical fashion, bring both verticals to the same elevation and cause their ground radial systems to be swamped by salt water at high tides.