[WVDXA] The Further Antenna Adventures of W8TN

[W8OI at aol.com]

Wow!.  You do deserved to be called our "Fearless Leader."  I  worked four 
new ones on 160 and had my chest all puffed out until I read your  email.  ONLY 
THING OUT NOW IS MY LOWER LIP.
 
Congrats, Clark.
 
Garry

Well, as  a couple of you know, I busted my tail this week to try and get up 
a 160-M  Inverted "L" antenna for the CQ Contest this weekend.  I spent the 
Phone  contest on 80-M but with only the 80-M antenna currently up, I thought 
I'd  like to give 160-M a try during the CW weekend.

Pictures describing the  antenna construction can be found here: 
<_http://w8tn.com/Gallery/Tower_ (http://w8tn.com/Gallery/Tower) >   Begin with the second 
photo with the text "19 November I gathered the  materials . . ."

What is NOT shown there is the PAIN I suffered.   It took three trips up the 
tower, staying on the tower one night till 45  minutes after sundown, and an 
uncounted number of trips through the woods  behind my house.  Working by 
myself caused me to have to come up with  some inventive ways to do the project.  
All this resulted in many  bruises, scrapes, abrasions, and a pulled muscle in 
my side which has caused  me the biggest problem.  Why is it that little 
projects like this cause  so much trouble when you are nearly 60 years old?

First I had to gather  the materials.  This involved a trip to Home Depot and 
then the Water  Company.  I needed to construct an RF choke (several turns of 
coax) and I  found a description in the ARRL Antenna Book of one using 30 
turns of RG-213  on an 8-inch diameter piece of PVC.  Turns out Home Depot 
doesn't have  anything that large but the Water Company graciously gave me a 6-foot  
piece.  So if anyone needs some 8-inch PVC, I have almost 5-feet  left.

To get the antenna to come off the tower horizontally at 60-feet  above 
ground requires putting a line over a tall tree or two to support the  antenna 
wire.  The EZ Hang <_http://www.ezhang.com/_ (http://www.ezhang.com/) > slingshot 
with  spinning reel which I have used several times in the past, failed me.  I 
 had installed a new set of elastic tubing bands and a new roll of fishing 
line  but, for some reason, I could not keep from snagging the line in the 
elastic  bands when trying to launch it from the ground.  So, after 6 or 7  
failures to launch the line, I had to climb the tower and hang off the side to  
launch the line over a couple of trees.  This time it worked!  So, I  climbed down, 
trekked through the woods and tied the fishing line to some  Dacron antenna 
support line (note the Boy Scout method I used to let the line  unroll freely 
in one of the pictures linked above.)  Back at the tower I  reeled in the line 
and attached it to the antenna.  Then, off through the  woods to pull the 
antenna up and check the SWR with an MFJ-259B Antenna  Analyzer.

Imagine my disappointment when the antenna showed an infinite  SWR!  I was 
crushed.  Three days of difficult work seemed  lost.  So, I checked everything I 
could then I called W8DL.  Don was  shocked that it did not work as my 
dimensions were nearly the same as  his.  However, his antenna played against a 
conventional ground radial  system and I was trying the "quick and dirty" single 
elevated radial for my  installation.  He suggested either removing the RF 
Choke or modifying the  radial system.  But, I was short on time and did not feel 
I could get a  good enough ground installed before the contest.

I then called my 160-M  guru, KØCS, and he was stumped as well.  However, he 
did comment that the  dimensions I was using (straight out of the ARRL Antenna 
Book) seemed a bit  too long for him.  He suggested that I cut 30-feet off 
the radial and see  what happened.  Then, I could lower the vertical radiator 
and cut some  off it until a match was found..

So, on Friday (the day the contest  started) I braved the 30-degree 
temperatures and climbed down the hill with my  tools.  As I was going over the hill 
Evelyn yelled down that KØCS had  called and said to try moving the antenna 
further away from the tower.   So, I tried that and found a bit of an improvement 
but only a negligible  amount.  Then I hiked out to the end of the radial and 
cut off  30-feet.  Back at the tower the MFJ-259 Analyzer said I had made a 
nice  change in the resonant frequency but not enough by far.  So, back through  
the woods to attach the roll of Dacron to the end of the vertical  radiator.  
NOTE:  Here is where I made a crucial mistake!  It  was cold, snowing, and 
windy and my brain failed to realize that when I pulled  the antenna back up, 
the end I was tying the line to now would be up in the  air.  I mistakenly 
thought I would only need a temporary knot on the  Dacron.  WRONG!

Then, back to the tower and up I went.  At  the 60-foot level I carefully 
pulled in the 110-feet of the radiator tophat  and, while hanging on the tower in 
the wind, measured and cut off  30-feet.  I then carefully arraigned the wire 
so it would not snag and  went down the tower and out through the woods.  I 
then proceeded to pull  up the antenna.  When I thought I almost had it to the 
end, it seemed to  snag and I gave a little more pressure to the Dacron line 
and suddenly it went  slack.  Yep, the "temporary" knot had untied and the end 
of the antenna  support line was 20-feet in the air!  RATS!  All this work and 
now  the antenna was at the mercy of the wind and roosting birds.  The  
slightest thing would cause it to fall.  And, I had snagged the fishing  line and 
could not use the slingshot (if it would even work again!)   Needless to say, I 
was bummed out!

But, I carefully wound the Dacron  back on the reel and trudged dejectedly 
back to the tower.  I put the MFJ  on the antenna and VOILA!  It was now 
resonant at 1.75 MHz.  Close  enough to 160-M that it just might work. 

To try and salvage some of  this work I climbed back up to the house and 
quickly installed a vacuum  variable capacitor in a plastic can and took it back 
over the hill.   Tuning the capacitor to the end stop resulted in an SWR of 
1.7:1 from 1.800 to  1.820 MHz, 1.8:1 at 1.825 MHz and 2.0:1 at 1.835 MHz.  
Maybe, just maybe,  this could work.

So, I wearily pulled my aching body back up the hill  and fired up the amp.  
Yep, it would put out 1,000 watts up to 1.835 Mhz.  with no difficulty.  So, I 
fired up the laptop computer for logging and  got ready to start the contest 
in just 45 minutes!  That's cutting it  close.

As they say, the proof is in the pudding (or the QSO's.)   In my 43 years of 
ham radio, I had dabbled at 160-M a time or two but never  had a decent 
antenna.  My country total for that entire 43 years stands  at just 23 countries 
confirmed.  However, this weekend, I added  TWENTY-NINE (29) NEW Countries and 7 
NEW Zones to my totals!  WOW!   Am I excited now?  Yep!

Here is my contest  score:

Band    QSOs    Pts  Cty    ZN
1.8     71       162   38     15

Final Score: 8,586

Bear in mind I was not trying for a  contest "score" but only seeing if I 
could work some new countries.   Well, I sure did.  I even stayed up that first 
night until 7:30 a.m. and  tried for over 1/2 hour to work a JA.  I heard him 
really quite well but  he never got a peep from me.  I did manage 5 continents 
and only missed  Asia for a WAC my first night on the band from the new QTH.  
And, that  was with no receiving antennas and not very good conditions.

New  countries worked (that I had never worked before on 160-M were:  CN, CM, 
 PJ5, VE (Yep, never worked Canada before), HR, J3, KV4, EA, SV (Zone 20 !),  
FJ/FS, 3X, G, SM, OM, ZF, SP, OK, XE, V4, HC8, YN, GW, FM, 6Y, YS, VP2M, EA6, 
 V2, and, LX.  NEW Zones were: 33, 20, 02, 35, 15, 06, and 10.

If  the birds and the wind will just leave the wire alone for a few months 
I'll  have some more fun on the band.  If not, it looks like more work to get  
the antenna tuned better and then back up over the trees.  But, at least  I 
proved the concept.


Clark, W8TN
Working Toward 160-M  DXCC








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