Date: Fri, 16 Sep 94 04:30:21 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 #311 To: Ham-Ant Ham-Ant Digest Fri, 16 Sep 94 Volume 94 : Issue 311 Today's Topics: Best Antenna TUner for HF? Camouflage cell phone directional antenna? Discones as transmitting antennas Does SWR change... Looking for passwords for decodifier.. 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: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 05:35:38 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!csusac!csus.edu!netcom.com!herbr@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Best Antenna TUner for HF? To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu Subject: Best HF antenna tuner? Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Summary: Keywords: I am looking for recommendations for a very tuner HF antenna tuner. I am looking for a very well constructed, and wide performance tuning capability of an antenna tuner that will cover 10 -80 or better yet 160 - 10 meters up to 300 watts of power. It seems like the only thing I see advertised is the MFJ 949e, but I have an mfj tuner a number of years ago, and quite frankly, I remember it being a peice of crap. I would appreciate any suggestions on an excellent tuner. I have seen ads for the Tucker and the Diawa, but don't know anything about either of them Thanks. 73's Herb - KG6OK -- herbr@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: 15 Sep 1994 07:24:37 -0700 From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!agate!barrnet.net!nntp.crl.com!crl4.crl.com!not-for-mail@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Camouflage To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu In article <3581ve$15s8@tequesta.gate.net>, jrivera@gate.net (Jose Rivera) wrote: > I am looking for ideas to camouflage my GAP EAGLE Antenna. Jose - Any camouflage scheme is dependent on the textures and colors of the surrounding terrain. For instance, if the visible background of your antenna is a brick wall, you would use a different scheme than if the background were a lot full of trees. In general, you might consider reducing the eye-catching reflections from the polished aluminum tubes. A matte finish spray paint will go far to do this. Choose the color of the paint to match the background. If there are trees in the area, paint the antenna's lower 15 feet or so in a color that matches the trunks of the trees. Paint the upper part of the antenna a nonreflective color that matches your sky background. You will -never- make the antenna invisible; illumination, contrast and other factors are too variable, however many hams recommend flat black paint as a general "tone down" treatment. On the other hand, I prefer a very light tint at the top, to blend with the sky. If all else fails, put a flag on it, or add a few strategically placed pieces of plastic and call it "art". The EAGLE looks like a tall windchime. Tell your neighbors that it is a windchime, but the sound is supersonic. 8) Good luck! Lou ------------------------Usual Disclaimers Apply------------------------- Internet: lgenco@crl.com Lou.Genco@LChance.sat.tx.us Ham Radio Packet: N5SGL @ K3WGF.#SAT.TX.USA tcp/ip: n5sgl@sat.ampr.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 22:01:53 +0000 From: olivea!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!arkas.demon.co.uk!Michael@ames.arpa Subject: cell phone directional antenna? To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu In article nbccpix@nbnet.nb.ca "Steve Patriquen" writes: > I am in a very fringe area for cell phone use. > > Although I can hit 2M repeaters further away (with 5W) my 3W bag phone used > at home is just shy of holding the tower. > > Does anyone have plans for a homebuilt directional cell antenna? Are you currently using the small whip antenna on your phone? You could build a vertical phased-array antenna, which would still be omni- directional, but concentrate the radiated power towards the horizon. I don't have a design handy, but they're usually a variant of the coaxial phased-array hung inside a fibreglass tube. Some companies sell them for boats. The gain is usually around 6 dBi. Alternatively, if you want to build a directional antenna such as a yagi, then you could scale an existing 23 cm amateur design to 800 / 900 MHz. -- Mike Dower G0VEY 'Quoth the raven, "Never more".' ... Poe VK2ENG ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Sep 94 12:38:24 GMT From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!yeshua.marcam.com!news.kei.com!ub!galileo.cc.rochester.edu!uhura.cc.rochester.@@ihnp4.ucsd.edu Subject: Discones as transmitting antennas To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu In article <357chj$j6k@news.cc.oberlin.edu> pruth@ocvaxa.cc.oberlin.edu writes: >Here are a few questions for discone users. I have a >Radio Shack discone to which I've added a 49" vertical >whip, since I've been told RS is in reality selling a >'topless' discone, unlike the Diamond discone which has >the 'complete' discone with base-loaded vertical whip. >I intend to transmit through this array with a 2M/70cm >twin band HT, and would like to know: I think that the basic discone is for 135Mhz and up. The discone is essentially like a high pass filter that tunes a decade of frequencies starting from the design frequency. The whip extends the lower range to allow it to cover the lower frequency service bands. Many of the discone designs, including the one in ARRL's antenna book are based on J.J. Nail's seminal paper on discones that appeared in the 50's. Nail's design does not include a whip. > 1. What is the radiated pattern of the 'topless' discone, >that is, how close to the horizon is it? Essentially, the same as a 1/4 wave vertical with ground plane. > 2. Does the pattern change with frequency, and if so, how? For a regular discone, the pattern does not change as it essentially remains the same as a 1/4 wave vertical. > 3. Does having a vertical element affect this pattern? I do not know. My guess: Yes. > 4. Should the vertical element be trimmed to work well >on 2M/70cm? My guess is that it is irrelevant for those bands. > 5. Would I be better off simply removing the vertical element? >The ARRL antenna book has plans for a homemade discone, without >vertical element, and this leads me to suspect the vertical >element is for enhancing receive capability (for scanners) >rather than having any role whatsoever in transmitting. > >I would very much like to use the discone for now as my >primary 2M/70cm transceiving antenna, as well as continue >to use it as my scanner antenna. I've polled this newsgroup >recently about the discone vertical-element question before, >and now that Brett the Mesmerizer has shared his good >results with his discone on 2M, I'd like to know from the >Discone Amateur Subculture how you like this bizarre little >aerial? Thanks. --Bill KB8USZ Rajiv aa9ch/2 ------------------------------ Date: 15 Sep 94 14:31:31 CDT From: equalizer!timbuk.cray.com!ned.cray.com!labman!demers@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Does SWR change... To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu In article <40709.wosborne@nmsu.edu> writes: >On 3 Sep 1994 02:27:04 GMT, >Cecil_A_Moore@ccm.ch.intel.com wrote: > >>In article <67945.wosborne@nmsu.edu>, >>William P. Osborne wrote: >>> >>> SLMR 2.1a On the 8th day God said: "SWR constant all along a >>(single characteristic impedence) >>>lossless line." Now can we stop this nonsense!!!! >>>William Osborne 505-646-3919 >> >>Hi William, With the addition of the words in parentheses, of course >>you are right. This posting was an exercise after a new Novice friend >>of mine complained that newsgroup posters were not very nice people... >>not his exact words, but I can't repeat what he said. >> >>After being clued in on what was going on, Todd, N9MWB, had what I think >>is a good suggestion, which was a new group named rec.radio.amateur.newbie >>to which a newbie could post a "dumb" question without getting blasted by >>the usenet "gurus". I admit to being the worst offender of "barbed" >>responses but it sounds like a reasonable idea to me. Questions to rec. >>radio.amateur.newbie would be considered seriously... unlike the responses >>to my posting. > >That sounds like a good idea. A place for electronic elmers!! I would read >such group and help where I could. > > >William Osborne 505-646-3919 >Professor ECE Dept. PO BOX 30001, Dept. 3-O >New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001 > I think that the newsgroups vary widely on how they treat newbies. Even within` the domain of Amateur Radio, I have had quite a variety of answers and attitudespresented to me. There is definitely the smug, I've already learned it all attitude present in a small proportion of the people who I have had contact with. A word of advice: If you want this hobby to continue thriving, it is necessary for new blood (read that as newbies) to be welcomed in, and answers provided or at least guidance given. I have been out of Amateur Radio for 20 years, and am now making an effort to determine if I want to re-enter this hobby. It has changed remarkably since I last visited it. The majority of the QSO's that I have heard are simply your standard rag chewing. But there is an element present that I am unfamiliar with, a more cynical, almost nasty presence, that gives me a cold feeling. This, IMHO, will tend to discourage rather than encourage. Larry ------------------------------ Date: 14 Sep 94 16:34:57 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!ucsnews!newshub.sdsu.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!news.tamu.edu!campus.mty.itesm.mx!hp9k.lag.itesm.mx!ravalos@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Looking for passwords for decodifier.. To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu Hello, I'm a single people who likes to use the antenna (video antenna), and I have a decodifier to see the prohibited channels (like cinemax, The Movi Channel, MTV, etc), my decodifier works with passwords, I have a general password to see all channels, but some of them doesn't have audio. If someone can help me, I'd like stay in touch with people who likes the antenna, I need the passwords for the prohibited channels (any channel), If someone are interesting please contact me by email (ravalos@hp9k.lag.itesm.mx). Thank you. Rodolfo Avalos ------------------------------ Date: 15 Sep 94 15:27:54 CDT From: equalizer!timbuk.cray.com!ned.cray.com!labman!demers@network.ucsd.edu To: ham-ant@ucsd.edu References , , Þ Subject : Re: Coaxial into the House In article Jim Clark writes: >Try this...take your window to a glass shop and have them replace one of the >panes with acrylic (this from the ARRL handbook). You can then drill hole thru >acrylic or have the glass shop drill for you. Or, drill a hoein the ceiling, >take coax t >coax thru attic, down thru attic roof overhang. I'm going to try the acrylic >window! Cheaper than replacing frame...73, jic >mc.@delphi.com (KB0FIR/4 A friend has a neat way of solving this problem We live in Northern Wisc., and the cold must be considered in any thru-wall or window installation. What he did was to take the bottom sash of his double hung windows off, cut it down so that it was 3 inches short, but still contained the top rail and the bottom rail. Then he split a 2x4 lengthwise, drilled the required number of holes for the coax (s), and then clamped the wood halves over the coax. The whole assembly was then placed in the bottom of the window location. The cutdown window was then lowered, until it was located firmly against the 2x4. The top of the window ended up in the correct location to completely seal the top of the cavity, and the bottom of the cavity was sealed by the tight fitting 2x4. Sounds more complicated than it really is due to a poor explanation, but the proof here is how much frost builds up over the winter. He has none. Larry ------------------------------ End of Ham-Ant Digest V94 #311 ******************************