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Thread: I think I'm gonna throw an antenna up

  1. #1
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    I think I'm gonna throw an antenna up

    Crazy I know... I have my desk all set up nice in my new office room (which was the dining room -- you'd have to see this house; it's huge and we have several rooms that can serve multiple purposes). Anyway, it's in a decent spot and I can easily set up the Atlas on the one corner of the six foot desk. So maybe I'll be on HF soon. I think I'll probably just use the dipole I built for 30 meter QRP and tune it with my little manual MFJ tuner. I don't have a 12 volt power supply but I do have a car battery charger and some 120,000 uF 50 volt electrolytic capacitors... That'll have to do, as I'm on a very limited budget.

  2. #2
    "Island Bartender" KG4CGC's Avatar
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    I think I'm gonna throw an antenna up?

    Won't that be a bit painful? I threw some wine up once. I think it turned into vinegar as soon as it hit my stomach. It tasted fine so I didn't realize it was about to go bad. That didn't hurt too much but I'm thinking about the wires and junctions coming back up.

    Well, best of luck. I'm sure you have some good aerial landscape to work with.

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    On thinking about it... If anyone wants to trade some 120,000 uF 50 volt electrolytics for a decent power supply... :chin:

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    Quote Originally Posted by KG4CGC View Post
    Won't that be a bit painful? I threw some wine up once. I think it turned into vinegar as soon as it hit my stomach. It tasted fine so I didn't realize it was about to go bad. That didn't hurt too much but I'm thinking about the wires and junctions coming back up.

    Well, best of luck. I'm sure you have some good aerial landscape to work with.
    LOL Charles... I walked right into that I guess. As for the aerial landscape, I wish it was better. I have a huge house but the yard has power lines on one side which kinda limits things. Some decent trees in the backyard, not huge, but 30-40 feet anyway.

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    I've got some precut THHN wire for a fan dipole already. I had to take it down, since it was waaaay too many wires to string across the back yard. Center insulator already drilled with stainless hardware and PVC...

    And, not sure how good these are for HF, but: http://buffalo.craigslist.org/for/1900302544.html The tattoo kit comes with a power supply. And, if it's decent enough, $60 for a power supply, and resell the remainder.

    And what is the power requirements for the Atlas? Under 20A, and I can toss you a PC power supply modified to get up and running until you get a real power supply.
    Big Giant Meteor 2020 - We need to make Earth Great Again

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    "Island Bartender" KG4CGC's Avatar
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    The whipping stick throws the little rope and the little rope pulls the big rope and the big rope pulls the wire, or some such order of doing things.
    Saw the local club use a giant slingshot, 6 feet long, they found it in a tree trimmer's catalog or was it Surveyor's Monthly?

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    Here's my plan, not very well drawn. I'm going to put up a rope from the chimney to a tree in the backyard. A pulley at the tree will allow me to raise and lower it. A metal ring will connect the center insulator to the rope, allowing it to slide back and forth as I need it to. The rope will be running NNE-SSW. One end of the dipole I'll attach to the fence on the west side of the yard and the other end to a post on the east side. Basically it will be a N-S facing inverted vee.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by KC2UGV View Post
    I've got some precut THHN wire for a fan dipole already. I had to take it down, since it was waaaay too many wires to string across the back yard. Center insulator already drilled with stainless hardware and PVC...

    And, not sure how good these are for HF, but: http://buffalo.craigslist.org/for/1900302544.html The tattoo kit comes with a power supply. And, if it's decent enough, $60 for a power supply, and resell the remainder.

    And what is the power requirements for the Atlas? Under 20A, and I can toss you a PC power supply modified to get up and running until you get a real power supply.
    The Atlas draws about 15-17 amps, so yeah that would work. It needs 13.8 volts though, not 12. At 12 volts it will barely put out 25 watts. 13.8 gets you a full 75-100 watts.

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    "Island Bartender" KG4CGC's Avatar
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    Graphite carbon prints? Wow, talk about old school antiques!

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    Quote Originally Posted by N2KKM View Post
    The Atlas draws about 15-17 amps, so yeah that would work. It needs 13.8 volts though, not 12. At 12 volts it will barely put out 25 watts. 13.8 gets you a full 75-100 watts.
    Hm... I've not modded one of them to pump up to 13.8... I've read it's doable. Let me start chopping one up to flip over to you (Unless you wanna do it yourself). Do you want any of the THHN lengths? I've cut one for every non-WARC band.
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