Date: Sun, 28 Aug 94 04:30:10 PDT From: Ham-Ant Mailing List and Newsgroup Errors-To: Ham-Ant-Errors@UCSD.Edu Reply-To: Ham-Ant@UCSD.Edu Precedence: Bulk Subject: Ham-Ant Digest V94 #285 To: Ham-Ant Ham-Ant Digest Sun, 28 Aug 94 Volume 94 : Issue 285 Today's Topics: CT:Re: How do I check my swr meter ?ÙMI>> If you want to ge How do I check my swr meter ? Longwire AM antenna question Send Replies or notes for publication to: Send subscription requests to: Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu. Archives of past issues of the Ham-Ant Digest are available (by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/ham-ant". We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Aug 94 13:31:00 -0500 From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!galaxy.ucr.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!iat.holonet.net!cencore!forrest.gehrke@network.ucsd.edu Subject: CT:Re: How do I check my swr meter ?ÙMI>> If you want to ge To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu eally fancy, put a T connector on the meter's output, MI>> connect up TWO dummy loads with short cables. Transmit, go through the MI>routine. MI>> You should read 2:1 (rec.radio.folks, correct me if I'm wrong here). MI>This works quite well. I built a standard 25 ohm load (2:1 VSWR for 50 Ohm MI>system) which used a t-piece with two small 30 W loads screwed directly onto MI>It's amazing just how lousy some of these commercial ham meters are when you MI>test them with this set-up and a similarly calibrated 1:1 load. I felt a lo MI>happier opening up the meter and performing adjustments with this sort of ge MI>to rely on. Your test of SWR meters is a good start--and it will eliminate some of the more defective designs. However your test is still an easier one, being a pure resistance load. Using a Smith chart or a computer matching program to calculate what the impedance will look like (and expected SWR), place your 25 ohm load at the end of a length of a few feet of transmission line so that some significant reactance will be present. You will find still more SWR meters which can't cut the mustard. These latter help to promote the mistaken belief that adding or subtracting a few feet of coax can change SWR readings. --k2bt --- ³ SLMR 2.1a ³ Don't force it; get a larger hammer. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 17:23:55 GMT From: rit!sunsrvr6!jdc@cs.rochester.edu Subject: How do I check my swr meter ? To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu In article , Gary A.Reed wrote: >How does one go about checking a swr meter to see if it is a "good" meter or >junk? If this is not easy to do, what is a good meter to buy (if you don't >have a lot of money buy this..... but if you do, buy this......) ? >Thanks Gary WB8OFU Take a forward and reverse power reading, then switch the SWR meter's connections. The previous forward reading should equal the new reverse reading, and vice versa. 73...Jim N2VNO ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 17:35:57 GMT From: rit!sunsrvr6!jdc@cs.rochester.edu Subject: Longwire AM antenna question To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu In article <19940823.175735.705@almaden.ibm.com>, Robert Mech wrote: >I know this doesn't fall into the realm of amateur radio, since the >question deals with the commercial AM band, but I couldn't think of a >better place. > >Anyway, I want to improve reception of a weak AM station about 60 miles >away on 580 kHz. I have the room to put in an external longwire antenna >so I am leaning in that direction. A good antenna for something like this is a tuned loop. The big problem with MW reception is the large number of stations on each frequency, and the amount of man-made noise. Tuned loops help on both counts. Tuned loops are easy to build. There might be something in one of the rec.radio.shortwave faq's. A simple one is 11-13 turns of copper wire on a 2-foot square form, tuned with a 365 pf variable capacitor from an old AM radio. Set your transistor radio next to it so it's ferrite antenna windings are parallel to the loop. Tune antenna for strongest signal, then turn the whole mess to eliminate the most interference. There is also a MW DX'ers association, the National Radio Club. They have a bunch of inexpensive publications on tuned loop construction projects, etc. 73...Jim N2VNO > >Is the best longwire a single horizontal wire (vs dipole, etc.)? I may >have room for 1/4 wavelength at 580 Khz (400 some feet), certainly room >for 1/8 wavelength. I assume the longer the better, more for the gain >rather than the larger fraction of a wavelength? And will getting the >length to an exact fraction of a wavelength make a huge difference in >pulling in a particular AM station? > >Is the downlead from the antenna to the radio critical for AM, >impedance-wise? Or can one use any plain old coax (I have a ton of >RG-6)? The distance from antenna to radio might be close to 100 feet, >and the downlead will be underground, in conduit at least part of the >way. I shouldn't have big problems driving an eight foot grounding rod >at the downlead end of the antenna to provide the ground connection. > >The toughest part could be trying to locate 500+ feet of bare stranded 14 >guage for the longwire around here. It's almost 100 miles to a decent >electronics place. > >(Football is starting soon, I'm within range of the Packer Radio Network > for the first time in ten years, and I need another way to get the > Packers since all football will be scrambled on satellite this season, > phooey!) > >Robert >mech@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ End of Ham-Ant Digest V94 #285 ******************************