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Showing posts from September, 2019

80m Dipole

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I took a picture this morning before leaving for work of my latest homebrew 80 meter dipole. It's working out very well so far, I worked GB4BIT last night who was portable on Bardsley Island, Wales. I will be operating from my shack again this evening. Hopefully conditions will be good. Best 73 have a good day.

80m Dipole - Homebrew

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My Carolina Windom snapped yesterday as the wind came in and the wire took a hit from a branch close by to a insulated support. This will have rubbed over time and inevitably ended up weakening and shearing the wire flex. My Windom antenna has been in use since 2004 and has served me well, I will repair it sometime. Today I fancied a change so I gathered some wire, insulators, a ferrite ring and a dipole centre which I used to construct a single band 80m dipole. I started with two equal lengths of wire about 66 foot long which I soldered a couple of lugs to each end. I then found a short length of 50 ohm lightweight coax cable and wrapped it around the ferrite ring with 4 turns, following with a coaxial wound in a choke just below the ferrite. Once complete I placed one leg of the dipole approximately 25 feet up and hooked it to the top of my F23 H antenna mast. I attached one insulated end to a telegraph pole and the other insulated end attached to a lower pole at the b