New Antenna.... experiment kinda.

[W2NAP]

using the driven element of a 10,15,20 3 ele beam as a simple dipole...

anyone want to try a quick 20 contact?

[KG4CGC]

Thunderstorms here.

[W2NAP]

damn storms... I put this up in a light mist myself... im so sick of damn rain

[KG4CGC]

Up until the last 10 to 14 days, it was bone dry here. Now where getting pop up storms every afternoon along with some of that rain flowing in from the west. Not enough I guess. I cut the grass on Tuesday and it was kicking up a lot dust.

[W2NAP]

seems here we been mowing every couple of days. real pain in the ass.

[N8YX]

I got wetted on and off all day today - first round was at 6:30 AM when I backed the bike out of the garage and a downpour commenced immediately. What the heck...guess I shouldn't have washed the thing last night.

[W2NAP]

see how you are, you washed it and cursed the tri state area.. its all your fault

[KG4CGC]

I know of a woman in Taylors SC who charges money to make it rain.
All she has to do is light up her grill and BOOM! Instant storm!

[W3MIV]

Wish I had some of that rain around here. Ground is so dry you can't drive a tent peg in with ten-pound beater.

[W2NAP]

lol

still going to look for a quick 20 meter contact

[KG4CGC]

Wish I had some of that rain around here. Ground is so dry you can't drive a tent peg in with ten-pound beater.You need to stiffen up that beater a bit first otherwise it's like trying to punt a nail with cooked spaghetti.
Then you could try a cordless drill. Find a crap drill bit and start a pilot hole.

[W2NAP]

hanging around 14.335

[W7XF]

Tony did u hear me??

[W2NAP]

i gave up listing about 9pm. playing with the 450 atm, ill hook the 430 back up tomarrow. try it again.

[W2NAP]

well. i got me a 259 from a friend.

freq - swr - ohms
20 meters
14.000 - 2.0 - 30
14.100 - 1.7 - 22
14.200 - 1.6 - 20
14.300 - 1.7 - 21
14.350 - 1.8 - 24

15 meters
21.000 - 1.1 - 29
21.100 - 1.3 - 29
21.200 - 1.6 - 25
21.300 - 1.8 - 25
21.400 - 2.3 - 21
21.450 - 2.4 - 20

10 meters
28.000 - 1.6 - 21
28.100 - 1.5 - 20
28.200 - 1.5 - 19
28.300 - 1.5 - 20
28.400 - 1.5 - 20
28.500 - 1.6 - 20
28.600 - 1.6 - 20
28.700 - 1.7 - 21
28.800 - 1.7 - 22
28.900 - 1.7 - 24
29.000 - 1.8 - 25
29.100 - 1.9 - 29
29.200 - 2.0 - 30
29.300 - 2.1 - 32
29.400 - 2.3 - 35
29.500 - 2.3 - 35
29.600 - 2.4 - 36
29.700 - 2.4 - 38

[W1GUH]

damn storms... I put this up in a light mist myself... im so sick of damn rain

That right there practically guarantees that that antenna is going to perform super well and last a long time.

[suddenseer]

You gave me an idea of what to do with the remnants of my old A3. I was thinking of using the tubing to constuct a 6M beam. I think the driven element is still intact. The rest is too bent up to do much with on hf.

[W2NAP]

You gave me an idea of what to do with the remnants of my old A3. I was thinking of using the tubing to constuct a 6M beam. I think the driven element is still intact. The rest is too bent up to do much with on hf.

it makes a pretty nice dipole

[NQ6U]

Having a retired college physics professor who is good enough with tools to build his own home in your ARC is a really good thing.

A few weeks back, Gordon and I put together a 20m Moxon out of 1/2" copper plumbing pipe, using compression fittings so it can be disassembled and tossed into the back of a pickup truck. At our Field Day site, we propped it up about 12' (3.5m) in the air on a bunch of those surplus 4' fiberglass camouflage netting support sections—because of our location right on the eastern edge of a 6000' (1820m) mountain that sloped down to the Imperial Valley, which is about 50' (15m) below sea level, we didn't need much height. The thing looked hilarious but worked great: 1:1.8 SWR or better across the entire band, 5.5 dB of gain and the combination of a wide radiation pattern and our location in the extreme southwestern corner of the country allowed us to cover almost the entirety of the US and Canada without needing a rotator. We couldn't work Europe or Asia with it but that's not the point of Field Day anyhow.

We want to tweak it a bit for next year, mainly by improving the mounting arrangement and trimming the length a bit (it resonated at a lower frequency than we would have liked) but overall, it was a big success.