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Greetings All.
What a great night that was, the 16th. Conditions super. I worked
Sweden, Denmark AND Switzerland, all for the first time, with IK5ZPV
causing qrm on 136.5 KHZ, I actually lost a contact due to his CQ, never mind,
it was great to hear him on with such a fine signal. Thanks to all for the great
contacts. Also worked OH1TN again, after a long time without hearing him,
we both exchanged 549 reports.
Regarding Tuned Counterpoises. Well, I don't really know much
about it , but I did tune it to resonance. First I used the
counterpoise and tuned it with the spare ATU. Fired up the
transmitter into it and found the resonant point. No problem.
Next I tuned the main antenna to resonance, getting 3.9 amps. Then
connected the counterpoise to its ATU and connected the end of this ATU to
the earth bus and retuned the main ATU to get maximum smoke. Delighted to
report now getting 4.6 amps Both the main antenna and the counterpoise are
run to the earth bus, only difference is the tap up the main ATU to connect the
Transmitter. Did notice slight interdependence between the Main and
Counterpoise ATU variometer settings. Incidently, both ATU's are entirely
made up of big chunky Litz wire, these are commercial Beacon
ATU's.
What I mean by interdependence is, reduction in inductance in counterpoise
ATU could be make up for in Main ATU, within reason. Without having
someone to properly measure the difference in the system with and without the
counterpoise, perhaps the .7 amp increase in antenna current
is not REAL. It certainly made me feel good , seeing the
needle WHACK up to 4.6 amps.
One other thing discovered in all this....... at first I had
the ANT and Counterpoise coming in throught the wooden window frame
but only about 7 inches apart. I had terrible problems with
arcing over to the window frame. Tried everything, double insulation etc etc ,
but no good. However once I seperated them by about 20 inches , it
all stopped and no further problems with arcing over to the window frame.
WELL , what do you think.
Best regards
Finbar EI0CF Malin Head
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