It is fair to say that I’ve been very happy with the performance of the Nested Marconi antenna to date, but I’ve not spent a great deal of time on bands other than 80m and 40m, where the nested Marconi performs really well. While the SWR is fine on all bands (except 160m), the performance … Continue reading “Longer Term Assessment of the Nested Marconi Antenna”
“Always walk through life as though you have something new to learn, and you will.” Due to delays waiting for parts for my Ameritron AL811 project, I decided to start on another repair job that has been awaiting my attention. Last time I used my Icom IC-703 there was no power out on transmit. I … Continue reading “What Purpose the Zero Ohm Resistor? ICOM IC-703 Antenna Socket”
If you have been following my posts, you will know that I’ve been working on an Ameritron AL811 which recently experienced a flash-over and took out the Plate Choke among other things. Now, with this amplifier and 811 valves, many would be quick to point the finger at the poor old 811 weaklings, but that … Continue reading “SWR, Valve Flash-overs, Antenna Position and RF in the Shack: It’s not always what it seems”
Back in 2013 I suffered a massive financial loss. I ended up homeless after running a successful business and owning two properties, one on acreage, where I could have pretty much any antennas I wanted. Despite all that room, my partner was keen that i didn’t cover the whole yard in antennas, so apart from … Continue reading “My Nested Marconi- Ugly but Effective Multi-band Antenna”
Moving to a regional city has has been great for my ham radio but I’ve not been able to capitalise on it all that well, because of the antenna I have. I can’t seem to locate what I did with my stainless steel ZS6BKW which is a great shame. I doubt I threw it out … Continue reading “Time for an Antenna Change”
For some time now I have struggled with the fact that no matter what antenna I use, they couple to the high rise building in which I live and are quite deaf. Today I draped the Lake Eyre special antenna off my balcony as far as I was game. The building management would come down … Continue reading “Antennas, Apartments and AM Reception”
Following on from 80m Apartment HF- The Monster in My Bedroom Taming the Monster The Monster is Deaf The Monster will Live Again The 10kV capacitor arrived a few days ago so soon I will have to begin modifying the 80m and above mag loop. Probably over the next few weeks, as I quite a … Continue reading “Antenna Plans @ VK2KMI”
So my last post, described a better 15m vertical, which I had some success with. It tuned up where I wanted it to, but I had not had the chance to check it with the MFJ259B analyser. Though intended for 15 meters, where it is a 3/4 wavelength, it is designed to be resonant at … Continue reading “Fine Tuning the 32.3 ft Vertical- A better Antenna for 15m”
Over the weekend I was disappointed that I could not contact any of the many SKCC WES stations on 15 meters because I could not tune any of my antennas for 15m. My 80m loop was on the ground, and nothing else would work on 15 meters band. Until I get the tower up and … Continue reading “Time for a Better 15m Antenna”
The ZS6BKW antenna is a better match for our bands than the G5RV. The method of construction and tuning is essentially the same for both antennas but the dimensions are different. The ZS6BKW is a “random length dipole” with ladder line acting as a 1:1 transformer. I prefer to use 450 ohm 18 AWG solid … Continue reading “How to Build a ZS6BKW Antenna (optimised G5RV Antenna)”
Shack of VK2KMI 