Slim Pickins' Journal

[Slim Pickins]

Gotta fly back to work today for another couple of weeks. Two weeks in the middle of nowhere should give me time to think about what kind of beam I am going to get. Right now I think I am leaning toward a Yagi on the flat with a vertical above it. I want to go with an aluminum vertical again because I have been so happy with the one I had. I have seen some 5/8 vertical groundplane antennas with short radials made by Sirio but I am only beginning my search. Probably end up with a 4 element beam because we get a lot of wind here and anything much bigger scares me. Then again.....what about a cubical quad???

73s
Paul

[626]

Good choice. Personally I like quads. Not sure how having an omni above a quad will affect the radiation. Quads can be touchy about metal in their proximity. Also thinking that you might not need a set of radials on a big metal tower.

Going bigger then 4 elements is a point of diminishing returns. You will get more gain but, progressively less so.

[Slim Pickins]

There are just too many choices. Good thing I have time to decide. By the time I am ready to stand the tower I should have everything figured out..,.yeah right.

[Slim Pickins]

Thought I would throw in a pic of where I live when I am working. Last night it was -40 Celsius

[Please login or register to view this link]

[yMidnite]

I don't know what -40 is in F, but I know that a - F is cold, so -C is beyond cold (putting it nicely).

[Slim Pickins]

I think -30 is the point where the 2 systems meet, so - 40 C is a little colder than -40F. It'll get worse

[Slim Pickins]

Home from work for a week. Hoping to get a little work done on the tower. Hopefully the wife dosen't have too big of a to do list for me. I will post pics if I make any progress.

[Slim Pickins]

Well back to work today and no progress on the antenna/tower situation. Oh well 2 weeks at work then I am off for 3 weeks over Christmas. Hopefully I will find some time then. Still have the mobile though so all is not lost

[DanTaylor]

um that was a fast week?

[Slim Pickins]

It sure was

[Slim Pickins]

Just bought a Yaesu FT101E. Can't wait for it to come.

[Night Crawler]

If you don't know about it already here's a site that has information for the older and newer Yaesu rigs.[Please login or register to view this link]

[Slim Pickins]

Thanks Nightcrawler, good link with lots of valuable info. It will probably be a couple of months before everything is up and running but I am really looking forward to using this rig

[Slim Pickins]

Ok, the last couple of months have been hard on radio gear around here. Dropped the groundplane while trying to put it back up and broke off the radials . Tried to drive the front of my truck into the garage to fix the wipers during a rain storm and snapped off my Predator 10k . Talking skip today on my Realistic TRC 457 and all of a sudden no output , tried 3 mics and 2 meters...nothing.

73s and thanks for looking
Paul

[Slim Pickins]

Well I replaced the busted 10K with a 3' Firestick which was all I could get locally. Looks real nice . And, I got my Yaesu FT101E in the mail this morning. It is in really good condition and has all the crystals including 11m. I took a few pics with my Blackberry and will post them as soon as I figure out how. Can't wait to get this thing on the air.

Paul

[Slim Pickins]

Ok, here are some pics of the new radio
[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

[Please login or register to view this link]

Thanks for looking
Paul

[626]

Congrats Slim,
That is a great looking rig. Im glad it finally got there.

[Slim Pickins]

Thanks Gunny, now I just gotta finish getting it all set up and try it out

[Night Crawler]

If your interested in replacing the Analog Readout with a Digital Display add one of these the cost is around $50
[Please login or register to view this link]
[Please login or register to view this link]

[Slim Pickins]

That looks like a pretty nice feature to add on. I might give it a try once I get the new tubes I need and get the rig up and running properly.

73s
Paul

[Slim Pickins]

I finally wrote the exam for my Ham license today. I now have all the same privelages as a US General license allows.

Paul

[626]

Congrats on the License. You said that you have all of the same privileges... What is the license called?

[Slim Pickins]

There are only two classes of license in Canada. The Basic and the Advanced. To have HF privalages you have to score over 80 on the basic exam. The pass mark for the Basic exam is 70 and a score between 70-80 will give you vhf/uhf/6m privalages. I have HF privalages because I scored 97 on the exam. I think the next one I will work on is cw. That is, if I can get some internet here at work so I can practice in my spare time. Not gonna try that on this darn Blackberry.

[626]

that seems like a much more simple way of doing it

[Night Crawler]

I think the next one I will work on is cw. That is, if I can get some internet here at work so I can practice in my spare time.

Here's a good site for cw practice at level 6 it generates a QSO with questions at the end of it that's how it was done at the FCC office years ago when I took the test so probably that's the way it's done in Canada now.
[Please login or register to view this link]

You could also listen to code practice on your Yaesu here's the ARRL Schedule and Frequencies.
[Please login or register to view this link]