Jim M0BMU said
My loading coil lives outside in a shelter made of plastic sheet over a
timber frame. To get rid of condensation, I have an old fan-heater in the
bottom of the housing. The 2 heating elements are wired in series so it
consumes roughly 500W instead of 2kW. This is so it runs much cooler than
normal, just a warm draught, to avoid melting the plastic.
For many months (or is it years) now I had been puzzled over the variations
in antenna current that occurred at different periods of time. I had tried
correlating the changes with tides, weather or if there was a R in the month
but nothing seemed to fit.
I have now tried the Jim loading coil central heating method with much
success. I built a plastic shelter and fixed up a fan heater.
Earlier this evening, with the fan heater off, the weather was dry and
still, but with quite a lot of precipitation just after dark I fired up the
transmitter. Result antenna current 3 amps.
Ran the heater for an hour. Result antenna current 7amps.
The coil seemed quite dry but obviously the dry warm air made a big
difference.
Regards,
Peter, G3LDO
e-mail <[email protected]>
Web <http://web.ukonline.co.uk/g3ldo>
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