Anyone who knows me knows that. I always want to do things the “right way” the first time, so I engineer the perfect schematics, over think a few things, dream of or want all the perfect parts, and out them together all at the same time so that if something doesn’t work right, there are 50,000 variables to decipher and figure out.
I had my 80M vee dangling across my neighbors trees about arms reach above the ground more like a linear than a vee. Nobody could really hear me, but I picked up some decent signals using a good piece of Ultra flex coax, no external tuner (my radio has a pretty decent built in tuner and the used external one I bought doesn’t seem to work.) It wasn’t great, but it got my antenna in the air while I waited for the permit (and the days off) to work on my antenna mast.
I got the permit yesterday, and instead of throwing the vee in the air even temporarily on the mast, I of course spent the past two days in killer heat working on “building it right.” “Right” for me means a total of 5 antennas (including the vee) including 2 custom built crossarms, gas diffuser lightning arrestors, and the next quality (loqest attenuation) cables I could afford, purchased bit by bit since I started engineering this dream over six months ago during the winter months.
The mast is still horizontal, sitting across 2 trash cans on my front yard until I can finish the anchor points in my backyard for the guy cables (which means getting a pulley and cable as high up a tree as I can – long story there.) But to try and keep the vee on the air, I have it also dangling once again too close to the ground – one end across my front yard, steps, across the driveway and hanging off my neighbor’s six foot chain link fence (I knew at the time probably a bad choice – antenna plus metal link fence.) The other end (I tried) is temporarily approx 16 feet in the air, supported by extra mast sections I assembled into a tripod configuration. So once again it’s a linear, one end nicely high up in the air, but the other end across a chain link fence.
So, exhausted, I pull the labeled cables up through my radio room window (oh, and I changed the cable I was using for the Bee of course – add another variable,) connect all cablea appropriately in case of thunderstorms tonight (my bulkhead for the window also isn’t complete, simply because I can’t find any of my saws – kids!) And I fire my Yaesu back up.
Oh, did I mention I also connected my new roller inductor external tuner inline for the first time?
So I’m trying to tune in something – anything – but it all sounds distant, garbled, almost scrambled. I heard some conversations at 14.263.510 and 14.248.800, tried both tuning in RX and also calling both there and on various bands calling frequencies, all to no avail (did I mention that my radio’s built-in SWR / power meter is reading completely different than the roller tuner’s SWR + power meter? Just to toss in a few extra variables…) Even the Canadian time beacon I had set last time I turned off the radio sounded off, so I know it’s not am SSB situation.
I’ve tried several variations, and the best signal I get is still with the roller tuner on BYPASS and using my Yaesu’s built in th,we – but it’s all still garbled.
So do I have enough variable s to try and troubleshoot while I perfectionisticly try to tune in Tokyo?
I’m hoping it’s not the coax (that would be the biggest pain in the @$$ to solve, and even though I hear much pro-American, a,to-import sentiment, I do hear good enough reviews of Shirren cables,) so I’m hoping it’s either the metal fence of the roller.
Its2 the f?@$€& roller tuner.
I take the roller out of line and connect my coax directly to the radio. The WWV time beacon at 15.000.000 is distant as usual but detectable, but the CHU Toronto, Canada time beacon at 3.330.000 is exactly as it was before with the other (better IMHO) coax.
So even in “BYPASS” mode, my brand new roller inductor runer is either broken or (more likely the case and I am hoping so, ) I need more practice using it.
But the “BYPASS” issue troubles me. One extra foot of high-quality, brand-name MOD Digital TM LMR-409UF should not make the difference. So why in BYPASS mode is it screwing with my signal?
I shall continue to try and get my antennas skyward at a priper height as soon as possible (it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, of course.) But I’ve gotten this far being overly-complex, so…
Oh, the joys of learning through self-discovery…
The good news is I finally picked up some RX activity what appears to be just above 60 Meters (which from my understanding it must be overseas, but one of the broadcast stations has a 1-800 number, so…):
6.070.200 broadcast radio
6.029.100 conversation en Espanol
5.967.500 conversations en Espanol
5.032.700 – 5.936.900 – Christian religious broadcast – University Network – 1-(800)-338-3030