I know how to make it rain: put up a new ham radio antenna with a home-made matching transformer, one you really plan to weatherproof after you've seen if the antenna is going to work.
I checked it out last night about 10, after dinner ("Steak a la Roseholme," slow-grilled over hardwood charcoal, with baked taters and green beans, ahhh!). It worked pretty well. This morning, it's getting rained on.
Guess I'll be taking it down and applying a hair dryer to it this evening.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
7 comments:
The lawn thanks you.
Your timing is a little off. Everybody knows antennas put up in the winter work better.
And if you HAD sealed it up, VSWR would have been epic.
Well, the upshot of rain is it makes a fantastic groundplane. On more than one occasion I have soaked the ground trying to improve performance, and yes it works.
I have a couple J-poles I need to finish tuning for some friends and I'm going to cut up one and turn it into a Super-J. So many projects.
*One of the local ham clubs did the J's as a project and during assembly they soldiered before tuning. Darn college kids!
Now, hang a new HAM antenna _AND_ wash the car.
Dave: The rule is, antennas put up in miserable weather work better; antennas put up in blizzards work best of all. And it was miserably hot the day I strung it.
I wrapped the balun with self-amalgamating tape this evening, then went and had a QSO. Tuned up just fine. Worked a fellow in Virgina. 599 and plenty over S9.
And here I am with my home made CB dipole, standing out in the rain, next to a relatively new mattress I needed to move inside!
I think I need to get an orange T-shirt with a black zig-zag line just above the hem.
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