Hello N1BUG,




Paul, I have always shorted out any unused turns on the loading coil
with no issues. The matching transformer has floating unused turns
though, but I think it's similar to yours, again no problem. The TX
horizontal main loop has plastic egg insulators from a cattle fence.
They grow green algae over time, and I have had them get iffy. The
aerial wire is UK domestic mains insulated 7 strand cable. The
insulations seems pretty robust, but given a bad insulator it will arc
down the support rope. The loading coil is wound with the
same stuff.



Saturday, November 24, 2018, 2:39:40 PM, you wrote:

> Hi Jay,

> I haven't been able to attend a flea market in years. I'm sure I can
> find a Cantenna on the auction site, but it won't be for little money.

> I've been thinking about an 800W flange resistor on a big heat sink,
> but would need to find a big heatsink. Maybe a medium heat sink
> packed in ice... or sitting in snow as the case may be!

> I did look at water heater elements after you mentioned that a year
> ago, but I couldn't find any with a voltage / wattage rating that
> looked close to 50 ohms. Also, I am not sure what the resistance vs.
> temperature curve looks like on them. I'm torn. Being on a budget it
> is always tempting to try the inexpensive route. But on those
> occasions when the inexpensive solution fails to work out, one ends
> up spending more in the long run.

> If I don't find anything with the dummy load tests, I will modify
> the coil to eliminate the shorted turn and see if anything changes.
> That's an interesting task as one must lay in the snow to remove the
> coil from the housing to get at the connections. It's all part of
> the continuing adventure... ;-)

> I'm going to stay on MF one more night as the trans-Atlantic QSOs
> are fun. But I will get the small LF PA fixed up today and be ready
> to come back very soon.

> 73,
> Paul




-- 
Best regards,
 Chris                            mailto:[email protected]