Death Valley Radio "Expedition" January 21st, 2011
- Thread starter teotwaki
- Start date
teotwaki
Excelsior!
Thanks! It is funny that the higher photo resolution allows me to see the frequency set in the dual band ham radio on the left. I don't think I included a photo of the two HF manpacks. The Z-100 auto tuner on the far right was a lifesaver as the Dentron tuner in the middle just couldn't get a good match to the HF long wire antenna.
xtatik
Explorer
Yeah, at night when 40m is working you've still gotta' stay below 7200.00. In the early AM when it's still working marginally you can make short contacts above 7200.00. What band did you attempt during daylight hours?
xtatik
Explorer
Jim, just looking at the pics and it looks like the balanced line is connected directly to the Z-100. Were you using a balun to bring the 450ohm into the 50ohm ballpark?...cuz, I don't think the z-100 is a balanced line tuner. It wants coax and it'd really have to strain to match line impedance. One of the members at OAUSA showed me a great little balun from LDG at the Field Day gig last year.
teotwaki
Excelsior!
At 1200 to 1300 hours I was on 7204 KHz LSB with the Jefferson Noon Net (NorCal) and after that I chatted with a guy in Placerville, CO, a guy in Washington and one in Idaho.
I was reported as having an excellent signal.
At 1525 hours I checked into the "Century Net" on 7178 KHz LSB and the one callsign that I copied down is in Ohio. I thought that I heard Mississippi mentioned also.
teotwaki
Excelsior!
The Dentron Junior (which can handle balanced lines) just hated the antenna. I still need to go back and see what was up with that.
I did bring a 1:1 balun but instead put the ladder line into a coax adapter and hit the tune button for the Z-100 and it was very happy. Go figure, just dumb luck. Probably would not work well at all frequencies. Another good excuse to take it all into the field again.
xtatik
Explorer
Hmm, that's odd that the balanced tuner spit it out but the unbalanced liked it. Most balanced tuners start their network with a 4:1 internal balun. Was the windowline close to any metal objects or the ground by chance? If so, that could explain it. The z-100 is very broad and will tune a cucumber to make the radio happy...but a tuned cucumber is lossy and won't radiate well:coffeedrink:.
The 1:1 balun is basically a "line balun" or "choke balun" for keeping common mode current off your feedline. You'd need a minimum 4:1 balun and short coax stub (6') for the z-100 to both make the radio happy and get the antenna radiating. Still, it sounds like you made some good local contacts...good job and what great place to operate from, eh?
Next time you head out, give me a heads up and we'll try to meet on the air.
xtatik
Explorer
For QRO HF it's still kinda' local.....good contact though!