Then he installed the new antenna. This radio was mailed to us by our friend down on the lower Taku River. It has about 5 times the power as the SBX radio. Also lots of different channels. We are monitoring 4485 now. It's a great radio..... we were just booming out.
Note..... We heard from Matt and he told us to get the SBX antenna away from the ICOM antenna by at least 100 feet. He said when you transmit out of one radio, much of that power is going straight into the receiver of the other radio.
We immediately disconnect the SBX Radio. Bryan will take down the SBX Antenna this afternoon.
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Good to see you were able to get a higher power radio going. It should definitely "boom" out compared to the little SBX portable unit.
ReplyDeleteNow, the system can probably be vastly improved much further by finding a way to run the antenna from tree to tree (yes ham operators do this all the time with a sling shot!) without the use of anything holding it up in the middle. I can only assume that the large metal bracket object in the photo of the antenna is holding it all up.
The problem with that is the fact that any other metal touching the antenna or even near the antenna effectively become a part of the antenna. This will essentially throw off your standing wave ratio (SWR) and cause your radio to become mismatched from the antenna. When there is a mismatch your radio has to work harder to "get out" and ultimately consumes more power, heat and wear. This is why cutting the antenna to an exact length for the frequencies used, making use of insulators and keeping the antenna as high as possible is so important.
There are a lots of great articles on the web on how to make antennas.
Take care,
--Greg
thank Greg for the info on the icom antenna.. I've printed it out and taken it down to the campfire.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog each night for the last three weeks. I started at the very beginning and have made it up to May of 2012. Bravo. I dream of a similar life almost everyday; it is not romanticism. I see and recognize the tremendous, strenuous work....the hardships and little monetary reward. But I love to "live" vicariously through you. It will be sad when people like Bryan and yourself pass away. So much knowledge will be lost. My generation (age 45) has lost touch with nature and her gifts. They have lost sight of the value of this earth and it's resources that sustained the human race for thousands of years - by hunting, trapping, utilizing wool, fur, leather, wood, trees for our very existence. Hopefully, people like yourself can influence the younger generations the difference between preservation and conservation. There's a BIG difference. With 7 billion humans on Earth preservation is simply not realistic. Conservation. being Stewards of the land - utilizing sustainable resources wisely is the only way. I applaud what you do and how you do it. You don't need to defend your lifestyle to the ignorant, self-righteous and uninformed. It's your Blog and there are lots of us who love it. Take care, Steve Ledbetter Auburn, Alabama USA.
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