We all came down with gastro problems. The YL, sick for a week and her son and I for nearly as long. A serious outbreak here with the local general-practioner doing a lot of running around. Fortunately, we survived but didn't have much holiday cheer.
Her son returns to London Friday and we will be doing some travelling ourselves not long after that.
My last Comet window-pass strip is no more. My fault not the product. So, the Par antenna is inside and wrapped up. I threw out one of the counterpoise wires (33 feet) that came with my Buddistick package. Just to see if I could load it up through the MFJ tuner. Couldn't drop the SWR on 17 or 20 meters. However, it does load on 30 meters. Not the ideal inductance I would prefer, but I am getting about 4 watts output. Worked a few Euro stations including Denmark and Greece with surprising RST reports. As a random wire, I realize it is a tricky antenna, I will get a longer length of wire and see what can be done when I follow my chart indicating favorable wire lengths. I will wait until later to get another Comet. Too much going on right now anyway. I may take the rig with me and operate /p but don't expect any decent contacts. Didn't last year, either.
Downloaded some more reading material into my Kindle. I really, really enjoy using the thing.
Hope you all had a Happy New Year.
73 Dick
Hi Dick, it took me a while discovering your new blog. I like it by the way. So unfortunate you window pass strip is gone. Can't you repair it or may be there is another way to pass through. 73, Bas
RépondreSupprimerHi Dick, sorry to hear about the physical conditions. Hope you feeling well soon. I am always glad when those holidays are over and gone. I hope you can fix the window strip, because the PAR is a good antenna, and should be outside. 73 Paul
RépondreSupprimerHi Bas and glad you found me. No, can't repair it. Was badly damaged so into recycle bin. We are feeling better now, thanks, Paul. This holiday season was pretty awful. Yes, the Par is great and I will, eventually, get it up again but the window strip is absolutely necessary.
RépondreSupprimerI am going to get a long reel of insulated wire and experiment with different lengths to see if a random/LW antenna may be feasible and effective. Running QRP helps avoid some of the pitfalls associated with that type of antenna.
I loaded it on 15 meters this afternoon. One swr bar showing on the FT-817 display (best possible even with tuner), so maybe 3/4 watts output? Heard K8GL calling CQ. He came back with a 549 report. So could be worse.
73 Dick
Dick - sorry to hear you've been under the weather. Bad news about the pass strip but I think you may be pleasantly surprised at the results from your random wire experiments.
RépondreSupprimerThought of you when I worked F8HKA on 15 meters this morning. The band was in decent shape.
Perhaps I'll bump into you someday on 17.
Take care, 73, Jeff KE9V
Hi Jeff. I will be experimenting with various wire lengths in the future, though I don't think the results will be an improvement over the Par.
RépondreSupprimerHope to get on 15M sometime today, maybe get lucky and cross salt-water into the USA.
Hope you are enjoying your Argonaut. Will try and sell my FT-857D this Spring to raise some purchase cash.
73 Dick
Hello Dick,
RépondreSupprimerI hope the random wire will work for you. Fifty feet seems to be the magic number for me. Hope everyone is bad to normal there.