We were delighted to welcome John AI6LY and to say how pleased we were to
\nsee Ward AE6TY back from his African travels, good also to have Tom KW6S
\ntaking a break from his time in Fresno . Our well tried and trusted crew
\nwere Kerry K3RRY, Glen KG0T, John N5HPB, Fred KJ6OOV, Peter K6UNO and Cap
\nKE6AFE<\/p>\n
John (K6LY) introduced himself and mentioned his main interest being HF.
\nJohn described his KW station and antenna systems, many of us are green
\nwith envy. Boat-anchor radios are another interest shared with several of
\nus. John posed a challenging question of how to determine the
\neffectiveness of the reflector in his 2-ele beam. Several ideas were put
\nforward and clearly there is no easy answer. Other readers are invited to
\nmake suggestions. Ron mentioned his interest in using WSPR for gaining
\nsignal to noise data in comparing antennas, BTW shouldn’t it be (S+N)\/N or
\npossibly (S+N+D)\/N ?<\/p>\n
John N5HPB always brings interesting items. On this occasion he brought a
\nbench-top jig for working on PCBs and more news about his work to recover
\nan AN25D signal genr from way back. Tom told us this was a very fine
\ninstrument which says a great deal considering the accuracy we have become
\nused to. John also does a great job making what he needs including 3D
\nprinting or using a diamond cutter to construct pads for resistors in a
\ndummy load.<\/p>\n
Tom amazed us by describing his new 1296 MHz array with 24 DB gain. The
\neffort required to install it above all his other antennas is astounding.
\nApparently this only became possible with the aid of our intrepid antenna
\nclimber Bob K6XX. For one Ham to risk life and limb to help another is not
\nunusual but in this case it was to be marveled at. Tom’s antenna farm has
\nmore \u201ceducated aluminum\u201d per square ft than anyone and in addition he
\nmentioned that his attic was also full of antennas . How he intends to
\ncover the new LF bands is yet to be described.<\/p>\n
Glen and Kerry continued their prior discussions on Arduino projects such
\nas the touch pad Glen has made. Kerry brought along a recent book on
\nArduino projects. Regarding books, Tom handed out some very useful texts,
\nRon snapped up the one on vertical antennas which is a subject near and
\ndear to his heart and fodder for future CAKE meetings.<\/p>\n
Peter mentioned his deep interest in high performance audio and spoke of a
\nlow level distortion analyzer made by RTX in Denmark. Peter is well aware
\nof the professional microphones made by David WA6NMF and was envious when
\nI recalled having the privilege of being invited to see David’s work in
\nprogress . Ward mentioned that common zip-cord can be used as a balanced
\ntransmission line. While being lossy at RF, versions may have values of
\ncharacteristic impedance (Zo) useful as short phasing lines and at
\nmoderate power levels.<\/p>\n
Back to basics \u2013 Using Standard International units show that Zo for
\ntransmission line in Ohms is R+ j0 =sqrt ( inductance in Henrys divided by
\ncapacitance in Farads)<\/p>\n
Fred was asked abut his views of the recent eclipse and clearly this was a
\nmomentous experience for him. For once Ron didn’t have much to say but
\nremarked that the term \u201ccommon mode current\u201d is frequently referred to in
\namateur circles but not mentioned in classical texts including Krause,
\nTerman and Shelkunoff. Ron prefers term \u201clongitudinal current\u201d.<\/p>\n
All in all a most enjoyable final session for the year. Thanks once more CAKE Notes for Dec 23 2017 We were delighted to welcome John AI6LY and to say how pleased we were to see Ward AE6TY back from his African travels, good also to have Tom KW6S taking a break from his …<\/p>\n
\nfor showing and telling.
\nBCNU Jan 13<\/span><\/span> Ron W6WO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"