Disguise antennas for CAP

[wuzafuzz]

Excellent example of low visibility antennas.  Thanks for sharing.

[Dirtman]

Well Done! 

What type and gauge wire?  Flexweave?

Anyone ever noticed or said anything? 

[desertengineer1]

Well Done! 
What type and gauge wire?  Flexweave?
Anyone ever noticed or said anything? 

Thanks,

Strangely, I'm using 18 Ga galvanized steel wire (It works well!).  Third generation so far. 

Magnet wire broke every week or so went to 22 ga steel.  Was getting a little tired of the "Why are you casting a fishing line at your tree?" questions.  (Funny, people around here are nice, but easily confused). 

22 Ga Steel wire lasted a little over a month before several 75 mph thunderstorms brought it down.  Upgraded to 18 Ga and has held very well for the past two months.

The next upgrade will be the flexweave - when I can find the time.

[♠SARKID♠]

Low light, NO FAIR!!

Nicely done by the way

Unfortunately, I work 7 days a week and don't see home in any other light 

The VHF is obviously in the attic, perched under the peak of the roof frame.

I get EXCELLENT coverage of the Southeast Region nets.

For you comm folks, this is the "Oil Well" station.

Cheers,

James

So that's you!  You gave me a relay a while back into Mississippi's net.  Small world, thanks!

- Bluemound 317

[cap235629]

I found one on E-Bay that looks about the same as mine, but seems a little improved. Mine was more bailing wire/bubble gummish....but it worked.

http://cgi.ebay.com/STEALTH-SLINKY-DIPOLE-HF-SWL-HAM-ANTENNA_W0QQitemZ320330068996QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item320330068996&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

If the link is FUBARD, just go to E-Bay and type "HF antenna" good luck!

Major Lord

Does this antenna with a tuner work across the CAP HF spectrum meaning will it work well on AA as well as AI?

If so, this may be the solution for my attic, if it works well in the attic that is.....

[Major Lord]

Theoretically, the way you tune these is to stretch them to your desired frequency of operation less some magic number, or just stretch it out for best match.  I stretched mine out as far as I had room for and used my Icom autotuner to do the dirty work of tuning it up. I think a manual tuner would be optimal, especially since I wanted to have good performance on our 75/80 Meter range. I may try to set this antenna up in our converted-dormitory Squadron building on Travis. It looks like a mast is a no-go there.

Major Lord

[Dirtman]

Ice

I cant find the ARRL pub I was looking for this morning on radation patterns but try these to see if they help you

http://www.kyes.com/antenna/navy/rpatterns/radiapat.htm

http://www.aerocomm.com/docs/Antenna_Tutorial.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipole_antenna

[blackrain]

I have a question for you amateur radio types. I own a Yaseu VXA-220 aviation handheld. Do any of you know of a flexible antenna like those sold by Diamond or Comet which are used on amateur hand-helds that are resonant on the 118-137 aviation band that could be used on my handheld? I'm trying to make it easier to fit in my flightsuit pocket. Thanks

[JoeTomasone]

I have a question for you amateur radio types. I own a Yaseu VXA-220 aviation handheld. Do any of you know of a flexible antenna like those sold by Diamond or Comet which are used on amateur hand-helds that are resonant on the 118-137 aviation band that could be used on my handheld? I'm trying to make it easier to fit in my flightsuit pocket. Thanks

I would think that one of the 2m mini-flexie-duckies by Comet and the like would be fine (SWR-wise) for infrequent use.   Maybe I'll put mine on the antenna analyzer and see how it fares.   Likely won't get to it for another 10 days at minimum since I will be out of the country next week.

[wuzafuzz]

Does anyone know if CAP Micom 2 radios have an antenna tuner built in?  I did a few searches on the web to some Micoms including an internal tuner, but haven't found a conclusive answer.

[RedFox24]

No, they don't.   Or at least the ones I have used and had issued to me.  There is or should be a bar graph that shows reflected power when you key up and talk.  The lack of a tuner is why it seems CAP is so hung up on the B and W folded Dipole.  Better results are obtained with a simple dipole and an antenna tuner.

[desertengineer1]

Speaking of that...  I had to strike the MICOM 3 station this morning.  The remote tuner took on a small amount of water - even after I had sealed it liberally with Silicone.  Galvanic corrosion eventually shorted the regulator and killed the tuner.  After cleaning all the corrosion and drying it under a fan for a day, it is still dead.

Soo...  Be careful with the remote tuners around moisture.  Hope I can get another so the station can go back up.

[♠SARKID♠]

Spill your drink?   

[wuzafuzz]

No, they don't.   Or at least the ones I have used and had issued to me.  There is or should be a bar graph that shows reflected power when you key up and talk.  The lack of a tuner is why it seems CAP is so hung up on the B and W folded Dipole.  Better results are obtained with a simple dipole and an antenna tuner.

Thanks, that's helpful to know.

[RedFox24]

Desertengnieer1

Oil well antenna?   Looks like a classic inverted L to me.......?  Where from or what is an Oil Well antenna.  Never heard of that one before.  BTW nice setup making what you got to work with work!

On a side note, don't know where your located, but here in southern Illinois (not central but deep Southern!) with the extreme fluctuation in air temps, even in a 12 hr period, sealed containers build up moisture.  It has gone from -1 to +45 in a 24 hr period over the last two days.  I have found that you need to put some of those silicate packs into sealed boxes outside and inspect them regularly.  For me, a good indication is when my garage floor, tool boxes and work bench start beading up moisture.  Not the same as moisture leaking in from rain, but just as damaging. 

[IceNine]

For you comm folks, this is the "Oil Well" station.

Read that again.

Oil Well is Oklahoma's Call sign

[RedFox24]

Duhh......Sorry, just a little slow this Sunday Afternoon...............

[desertengineer1]

Desertengnieer1

Oil well antenna?   Looks like a classic inverted L to me.......?  Where from or what is an Oil Well antenna.  Never heard of that one before.  BTW nice setup making what you got to work with work!

On a side note, don't know where your located, but here in southern Illinois (not central but deep Southern!) with the extreme fluctuation in air temps, even in a 12 hr period, sealed containers build up moisture.  It has gone from -1 to +45 in a 24 hr period over the last two days.  I have found that you need to put some of those silicate packs into sealed boxes outside and inspect them regularly.  For me, a good indication is when my garage floor, tool boxes and work bench start beading up moisture.  Not the same as moisture leaking in from rain, but just as damaging. 

LOL.  Lack of sleep will do that

Originally, the factory seal was pretty much useless.  If I know we're going to have T-storms, I'll disconnect the coax cable completely and tie the antenna wire to ground in case lightining hits.  I don't want it going into the house (was before I installed a line of ground rods).  A day after a rain I went out to reconnect the coax.  When I picked up the tuner, water just poured out of a corner.  It had flooded completely.  Fortunately, after drying for a day and reseal, it worked fine.  I installed a tube of dessicant in some of the free space.  I removed the coax bulkhead, ground bolt, and antenna bolts, filled them with silicone and tightened.  I even put a liberal seal of silicone over the edges after it was tightened down.  I thought it was a pretty serious water resistant job!

It worked great for about three months.  Ran ALE 24/7 - except evenings I was on the SER nets.

But the other night I tried to check in SSB and no one responded.  Then I noticed the TX bar wasn't indicating anything.  I commanded manual sounding on the ALE net and saw all channels had maximum SWR indication.   When I pulled the tuner open, I saw a small amount of water had seeped in and corroded the solder joints around the +5 V regulator.

Spent an evening cleaning it up (hoping the corrosion was just causing the regulator to reset) dried it for a couple of days and tried it again.  No change.  It's dead.

So now, I'm not sure what to do.  Left a message with the wing DC.  I'm hoping CAP has warranties with MOBAT.  If not, a new tuner will be expensive.

I'll put the next tuner inside a fully sealed enclosure.  Even have a couple of pounds of activator dessicant in the garage.  This will not happen again.

Hopefully we can get the word out to everyone else using RDP's NOT to let the tuner get wet.