My Amateur Radio Life

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HF antenna work on VA3QV/m (Part 2)

Posted: 18 Mar 2020 03:24 PM PDT
https://va3qv.wordpress.com/2020/03/...a3qv-m-part-2/


Its hard to say but there might be a part 3 to this one..

Early this afternoon I hooked up my 102 inch stainless steel whip to the
coil previously mounted on my truck and then brought out the tape measure
and my MFJ antenna analizer.



And the reason for the tape measure was to see how high off the ground the
mount was . which enabled me to calculate how tall the top of the whip
was..Â* If you take the height of the end of the coil (from the ground)
being 61 inches then add the 103 inch lenght of the whip brings you very
close to 13.4 feet which is too close (for my liking) to my maximum height
allowance of 13 feet 6 inches here in Ontario.



However according to the MFJ magic box I was able to adjust the coil to get
the SWR low on all the bands between 10m and 40m.Â* Setting the centerpoint
to 7.150, 14.200 the built in tuner could easily tune things up in most of
the 40m and all of the 20m band.

Before you say anything I do realize once the cutter removes 12 inches from
the whip I will have to go through all the tuning processes again but the
cost of having an over height vehicle far outweighs the time spent to
retune.

Although the poor power connection I had (using alligator clips on the
battery) I was able to make a local contact with Bill VE3FI which proves
everything works.Â* Next time I attach the wires PROPERLY to the battery
then should have no problems running the full 100w.Â* Receive wise we heard
lots (including ignition noise and alternator whine) so there will be a bit
more work to be done.

On the RV side of things I did visit my lending institution this morning in
my travels before the antenna work started and they would like a bit more
info on the RV before they start the paperwork process.Â* But seeing that Im
not sure what campgrounds will be open this year (that damn coronavid 19) I
will hold off on the paperwork for a while.Â* But its good to know they are
interested in my business.

Coming in part 3.Â* ordering the 10-80m wolf river coil, trimming the
antenna and making a strong (very strong) 12v power connection for the FT
450

73bob