Thursday, June 10, 2021

Build Your Own 4:1 Balun

Build a 4:1 Balun... 

  Need 2 toroids, 2- 28 inches of solid wire, 
2 small zip ties, soldering kit, a 200 ohm resister. 

 Here is a project that does not cost an arm and a leg.. and you 

do it yourself or have a ham buddy come over do it together. 
 Put  together three 4:1 Baluns.  One was a 9 turn wrap and the
 other two were 12 turn wraps. Dave KD9HJJ wrapped the last
 one with the 12 turns.  They all checked good with the resistance  test.

The biggest concern to me was the dipole settings. It seems the more
 you read, the more confusing it gets. Graphs show the different
 locations for the balun. To me, the key was the 1/3 - 2/3 setting.
 But I did not take my own advice and used figures from one web 
site.. after too many trims, there was not enough wire.

Found a few youtube sites that had setting for length... found out the
 hard way again. Finally found one that set one up and showed the 
analyzer results. For the OCF Off Center Fed Dipole, he used 88.4
 feet on one side and 44.5 feet on the other. Some of this is factoring in
 the size of the wire used.. calculations for velocity factor.   That is 
what I used and all three, regardless of the number of windings.

Letting you know  that I used a L 15 toroid  on one and  the others were
 140-43.. not too expensive. 6 with shipping at $25.

 A lot of satisfaction building something that works and can be used ... 
can be seen on Field Day... 

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Hamfest Listing

 Here is a listing of  upcoming Hamfests. 

There are more in the State, but list shows the Eastern Side.

 HAMFEST/CONVENTION

HAMFEST/CONVENTION
09/11/2021 - Ozaukee Radio Club Regional Fall Swapfest
Location: Cedarburg, WI
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Ozaukee Radio Club (ORC)
   
HAMFEST/CONVENTION
10/16/2021 - Wisconsin ARES/RACES Conference, ARRL Wisconsin State
Convention
Location: Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Type: ARRL Convention
Sponsor: WeComm Ltd

Monday, May 24, 2021

Field Day 2021 History

 Everything was timed perfectly... 8AM we met for breakfast.. shortly after 9 we left the diner when we felt the first of the predicted rain.  But we headed toward Pine Tree Park as the rain drops got closer together.

 Determined, we rolled out the antennas, ropes, power cords, etc. I don't know if it was the rain, but we almost totally ready to begin by 11:30. 

It took the first hour to finally get three contacts, but after that they finally started to come in. We began with three stations. One station was using a Wolf River Coil and the other two were using Off Center Fed dipoles. The third dipole was not set up. 

The turnout of personnel was great. Everyone lent a hand. We broke for the annual dinner. The Club furnished the brats and burgers and fixin's .. the others came with dishes to pass -  a good mix.  The rain did not slow anything down.. the conversation was flowing as fast as the rain.. long after the meal was finished.. Is the meal ever finished? Not when you have young folks.. Later in the evening I walked to the shelter and smelled something good. . some of the gourmet cooks had some scours of kabobs  covering the hot coals.. 

It became quieter after midnight.. just two of us left in the park.. I turned off the generator.. at 4:30 the sound of another generator woke me up.. so I filled ours and turned it on.. got out the Bunn coffee maker I had brought with some Starbuck's coffee grounds and made a pot expecting some early operators.. and maybe it was the waffling smell of the coffee, but soon we were warming up the dipoles as the bands became better. 

Did I mention it was raining? Ever since we left the diner.. As noon drew near, the decision to shut down was given.. by this time there were a good number of members there to help take it down and clean up.  Of course as we went down the road, the clouds began to break up and the sun shone the rest of the day..

If we were contesters, we may have been slightly disappointed with our score. But seeing we are just partly in that category and mostly hobbyists having a good time sharing stories and experiences .. Now we have another "remember when"..     

 

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Club Radio Equipment For Sale

. The following items are for sale  and will be sold by taking bid offers from interested individuals.
 1. Bid requests will be emailed to Paul Racine, KBØP, (Secretary) kbØp@yahoo.com 
  2. Payment will be by cash or check only.

 The Club reserves the right to refuse any offers for the equipment to be sold.
 1. Icom IC-718 transceiver, .    SOLD
2. Chameleon F-Loop2.0 antenna 40-15 meters - SOLD
 3. Heathkit Audio Generator...  Make an offer
 4. Radio Shack 6 Volt Power Adaptor
  5. EICO Signal Generator  model 324   Make an offer