ShopTalk Sunday is on Ultra-Make now…
So, if you’re looking for something with the coffee this morning, head on over to https://ultra-make.com.
I’m sure it’s there…
By the way, each of my websites has a motto or positioning statement.
Urban is “Everything’s a Business Model.”
Ultra-Make.c0m’s is “Go bang something…”
This being a holiday weekend, we’ll leave that as a first open-ended DIY… Good luck.
George@Ure.net
Best 160m DX last night on Stew Perry Contest: CT9ABO
Bearing 45.1° NE (from K4QET)
Distance 4574.1 mi (7361.3 km)
Madeira Island in N. Atlantic off of Morocco!
Happy New Year!
Wow – what power level? 100w?
yep 100w to 220ft OCFD
tell me your exp with a 220 ft ocfd – been looking at one about 90×130 as another one here… with the drones now I can go totally nuts on altitude… using a 2:1 or 4:1 as the fp?
It’s about 220ft long, the wire runs about EW, the ends are lower than the middle because of the lay of the land. Ends are maybe fifteen to twenty feet above ground, middle is about 13 ft above ground propped up by a long stick of my bamboo. It’s home made with 3kw single balun on the ground feeding a 3kw 4:1 balun in the middle of the antenna. It made a nice band pattern like you showed a while ago. It still has some bands it doesn’t like, like parts of 20 and 40, but it seems to cover everything else. Even 6 meters! The land it is on is an EW ridge about 900 ft above sea level and the highest point for a mile or more in different directions. A ground rod in the ground under it and gas discharge arsesters at the antenna and shack. It’s still much lower than the surrounding trees so I don’t worry much about lightning. It is much noisier than an 80-10mtr vertical nearby. It is also not straight; at on end about 60′ from the end, it goes off at a 40 deg angle.
sUCH an antenna (in my modeling) looks surprisingly good with a 50 ohm natural impedance around 3.675. Horrible reactance on 20 with +231 + j367 mid band. However, 20 has 4.81 plus 1.93 of modeling losses to add back, so the statesice r/c should be fine. However, the real issue on 20 looks like the 68 degree takeoff angle and a jellyfish of a azimuth pattern. DX would be rare and weak, though.
On 160? My model of it looks like best case is just above the top of 160 around 2.075 where z- about 22.75 ohms.
There’s a guy in France on eBay once in a while that sells a 1:2 balun, e.g. to match 25 ohms, which would be kinda spiffy in this app. Be an interesting experiment to put an rx noise bridge on it and see what the real impedance of this thing is. My sense is there may be another way to skin this fish (can’t kick about Euros on 160, after all!!!
When I started to trim back the 45 degree shortened far leg, I could move things around a bit. At 132 feet on that leg (so 20 more feet on the 40-degree leg) You could have a nice resonance in the bottom of the 90 CW band, a resonance just insider the 160 phone band (1.95mh z 21 ohms and change,) while 40 might hit 1.63 swr at 50 ohms and 20 would improve but only insofar as lowering the takeoff angle to 45 degrees.
My idea for change would be a longer straight run of wire because if you add 20 feet there, the 20 mtr take off angle comes down to 25 degrees and you get a natural 64 ohms smack in the dx phone band.
1.825 on the 160 band is 20-odd ohms, so a backwards 4:1 there. 80 would be so-so to OK, 40 would be worse…
Altitude is what’s needed – get up to 40 feet somehow/!
You have to read that SF novel book series i recently recommended. written by a publshed phd antenna expert. He will show you how Alan Watts fits onto a Smith chart, no kidding!
https://a.co/d/j8oMarS
About the author
Hans G. Schantz is a scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and science fiction writer. Principal Scientist at Geeks and Nerds Corporation, he was formerly a co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of the Q-Track Corporation, and co-inventor of the company’s near-field precision indoor location systems. A theoretical physicist by training, he wrote the book The Art and Science of Ultrawideband Antennas. More recently, he branched out into science fiction, authoring the Amazon top-ten alternate history science fiction techno-thriller, The Hidden Truth. The sequel, A Rambling Wreck, was a finalist for the Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance 2018 Book of the Year, and third in the series is The Brave and the Bold. His latest work is The Wise of Heart, an illustrated courtroom drama of biological science versus transgenderism that updates the Scopes Monkey Trial for the twenty-first century.
“You have to read that SF novel book series i recently recommended.”
Like I said when I commented about your book suggestion:
“Friend and associate of yours? He looks like definite Urban Survival material. I’ll bet he and George could go back & forth on antenna design for hours…”
Whoa … power of 3. The BoubonSurvival Site has offspring. You really need to back off Jorge. You are messing up the curve for the rest of us. I am constantly pulling friends aside to ‘splain it to ’em. Fine to tell me about all your projects but puhleese shut up around my bride. It makes me look bad! In the alternative, it’s a _good_ thing to yammer about MY projects in front of Mrs. E.
Man-card: one gets demerits the other gold stars. You savvy?
ATL: light snow before sunrise (as if, we get -0- sun today. His Lordship still demanded to go outside early. Methinks it’s less about going out than what treats he gets on coming in. Course, there was that bunny in the fornt yard! Today I gave the ole fella (20YO = 140YO in dog years) a gentle run down with a towel then broke out new food (thanks you Amazon). Yesterday my Padawan and I dug a hole. Sigh.
Lots around here have a bug of one sort or another (we can never know, hey?). Some are testing out the new JN.1 variant, some got the flu, some have a cranky ole cold (count me in damnit). The Mrs. spent 10-14 days enduring crud but I feel on the mend after just 4-5.
Tis the season: what am I resolute about? In no particular order:
* my first Grandson is slated arrival May. Build a boat for the boy v2 (want to lure him to Grandpa’s house). In my youth we had a collection of kewl little boats and rockin’ outboards. Mine was a 3hp Evinrude which spun 360 (to impart reverse). I’m thinking to build a small hydroplane (what we called a SkipJack when I was a boy) with a high thrust electric motor. Instructions will include a PFD and what I got told: “don’t leave the lake” (silliness intended, it’s a boat after all).
* I’m going to sail more this year. My MC race boat is in great shape but last year we had slack wind, just on race days. I need to go out on non-race days and trust the wind deity to fix Sundays. Having resurrected the E Scow I plan to get her wet more, break out the spinnaker(s) just for yuks. If we get ice? The DN goes out.
* the big one, still in developing … I’m going to (*) retire. This was in the works when the plague broke out. I didn’t think it was a good idea to bail on people then but figure it’s time, past time. Truly, if I don’t get off the horse now then when? Plus, unless I carve out more time, when will I ever do all the other things?
The Mrs. decided to bank finishing a Christmas puzzle and yammer with Ures Truly. So, I must away. Plus, my cocktail is running low and you know the tome: you can’t say you drank all day unless you get a start on it in the morning.
Best Regards, HNY, Egor
(*) I have one business in stumble mode and another couple hibernating. Entirely possible I will light one candle or another. TBD. I’m more interested in building the kid boat, building out a RC sailboat fleet (have one need 2 more) for when I can’t reality sail and … spinning up the workshop (think South Bend Lathe baby)
~(\ Egor /) /) ~~
my new years res is to have 1 million and one smiles. see if i can improve over 2023 by one.
and to help one more person find their way in life, than the total i helped 2023.
2023 was a wild year. i went from Alaska to working at the all star cheer leaders national championship getting a magic wand, to meeting an identical Gynda the good witch in Seattle (emerald city) at an amazon high profile convention, to fetching a red head jazz singers red heels from her caddy in the parking lot so she didnt wear purple crocks on stage
to working 3 days at the Thunder Dome EDM to having unfettered acccess to Microstoft. to driving trains in enoch valley, to pissing by my car right infront of a Billionare retreet in sun valley idaho, (which i didnt know till later) to leaving palm desert 6 to 8 hours before huricane hillary decimated it with flooding, to sitting in the hotel (drinking coffee, thinking) in jackson hole where the Fed meeting was (which i found out 10 days later) to driving Giant Tonkas on the tippy top of a mountain.
2024 im sure will an even more wonderful!
all the best. to you and ures.
adios and vaya con dios!
a personal note to George.
you know my personal all time favorite redicuously absurd event of 2023 was.
when i was at the Atomic Days rodeo over in Arco idaho. sitting in my car eating an atomic cookie checking the lottery. and i had the exact right numbers for the 1 billion dollar powerball jackpot. the exact numbers. but i had placed them on a mega millions ticket. and i had the exact right numbers for the winning mega millions jackpot that weekend over $400 million dollars. the exact numbers. but i put them on a powerball ticket.
i laughed so hard i had tears streaming down my face. i had the exact winning numbers for both the powerball jackpot and the mega millions jackpot in one weekend. they were just on the opposite tickets. if i would have won, the prizes were worth 1.4 billion dollars.
soooooo fucking funny! so absurdly rediculous. hahahahhahahahaga i wasnt even mad or frustrated. i just laughed so much at how rediculous it was.
after i finaly composed myself. i drove through the crators of the moon national park, stopped in sun valley and got took a piss on the road right in front of this place and left to head home.
3 days later i found out the place i stopped and pissed behind my car was right where zukerberg, gates and a bunch of other billionairs were on retreat at the same time.
which is more funny. because i was right there with them and didnt even know.
im having the best life ever.
i hope you a happy new year dude. i really do.
In Douglas Adams ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ the characters get around via an “Infinite Improbability Drive” that does outlandishly impossible things. Like swapping winning numbers… what are the chances? The DUDE is laughing with you.
one last story for 2023.
My daughter was supposed to meet me at a resturant and go to the movies couple days ago. She worked late. I waited at the resturant for 2 hours. She woke up and said im sorry Dad. I just woke up. Im sure you already left the resturant. I said. No, im still here. She said you are? I cant believe you are still there. Everyone i know would have left. I said Honey, i dont mind sitting here for 2 hours. We will just go to a later movie. You are worth waiting for. She cried when she came in resurant 45 minutes later and saw me sitting there with a big smile on my face.
I said to her, this how Daddys really love their children. THE DUDE taught me that.