A big typhoon has passed by east of here. I thought the wind won't blow too hard since the counterclockwise swirling of the typhoon wind and its movement could have offset each other. But it happened only when the typhoon was right east of here for a while. The wind noise woke me up at 3 AM in our local. I could not fall asleep after that.
I was anxious about the antenna. As soon as I came into the shack, I measured the SWR. As ;low as usual! Great. And the direstion? It is pointed at the same direction as yesterday. The rotator was working OK. So far, no damage. I am always impressed at this tribander for from 40 to 15m. The structure is not very rigid but is flexible against winds. I started using this type of beam in the end of 1990s. Several years ago, considering it might have deteriorated after over ten years of use, I have replaced to a new one of the same model. It works as 3 elements on 40 and 4 elements on the other two bands. Hopefully, it will go on working for another 10 years.
The 3.5 elements ! of Yagi above that tribander is for 10m. The half elements of the 1st director was missing while I was not aware of that, not this time, but a few years ago. Chris G4BUE, the editor of the FOCUS at that time, noted that defect when he looked a photo of my antenna, which Bruce K6ZB submitted to that magazine. Despite of a bit higher SWR than before, it works OK. Without Chris' notice, I might not have realized it.
Hi... what kind of antenna do you use on 40 meters? You're signal is always the loudest from JA on that band.
ReplyDeleteBill, K6CU
Hi Bill,
DeleteIt's been years since we talked on the air last time. I am glad you have visited my blog. I still remember of your signing yourself as JY space E.
My beam is the model 714X made by Create Design in Japan. The boom length is about 33ft and the longest elements are a bit less than 50ft:apxly 70% of the full size for forty.
I will comment to you later. I am only semiretired and should go for saltmine for now. Leave your message here if you won't transmit on the air any longer!
A pity if you get on only in pile ups!
Shin