Further Notes on the Delta Loop

Waiting for the parts to arrive has taken some time, mainly I suppose because Christmas got in the way, but at last all the bits have arrived and I am able to continue the build with the Delta Loop.

Assembling all the parts on the main lawn also took some time but this was due to the weather, I wasn't going to rush when it's pouring with rain. Finally after a bit of patience we got there and the poles were fitted, the element wire pulled through and the ladder line measured and fitted and finally placed on a short piece of scaffold pole and up she went.

Just put up before dusk!

I must admit I wasn't expecting anything terrific first time, I hadn't tuned, played or tweaked in any way. But I tested on the FT1000  just to see if I could receive and get out. Well blow me, I got a result straight away. Measuring against the Hustler it was very quiet I almost thought it wasn't working at first it was so quiet!

A little closer

Using the Hustler I found a reasonably loud CW station then switched over to the Delta Loop. First impression was the background noise from a vertical like the Hustler was gone, although it was down an S point most probably due to it being so low off the ground.  I hadn't tuned or played with it in any way, so I could probably tweak it for better results plus I'd been using the auto tuner from the FT1000, not the manual Tokyo 400L. 
For a quick home brew job I was pretty impressed.
The next thing is to raise it a bit to give it some height, see if that improves it being down a S point to the Hustler.

Now I'll let you in to a little secret, a few days ago sitting talking to my Brother in Law over a glass of wine about delta loop antennas, we were mulling over M0PLK design and whether it was as good as everybody says. So in the spur of the slightly tipsy moment and after looking on the web at some Polish website 
I decided to buy an original M0PLK Delta Loop! The only place I could find one was at this website in Poland, well, M0PLK is polish! No other retail shop in Europe had them, Is that a good or bad sign?

£188 for the original M0PLK design, actually not a bad price, plus they have good reviews on Eham. So I'm expecting this in the New Year and I will compare notes with the homebrew to see how it performs. If its as quiet as this homebrew I shall be well impressed!

The Delta Loop

This delta Loop is going to be slightly different as it's based on the M0PLK design which is the vertical triangle but with the 4:1 Balun at the base and is fed by a 450/600 ohm ladder feeder, the wire element is held in place by two fibre glass poles in a V position.

This is a multiband antenna that should cover 30 meters through to 10m. Trolling the internet I've been trying to find a replacement antenna that will not cause too many problems when its situated in my paddock. If you have read earlier posts, you will see I have had the local Council informing what I can and cannot put up!

This delta Loop should be camouflaged in front of some trees, does not need to be that high and is a quiet antenna that puts out a reasonable performance. Well that's what other users say on Eham, so I shall put it to the test and build one.

So far I have bought the two fibre glass poles at 7 metres in length although I suspect 5 metres will suffice. I've measured and cut the wire (17 meters) and ordered and received the main aluminium plate 350mm x 400mm, 8mm thick, which I have trimmed and drilled the holes for fixing the fibreglass poles. the idea being to make it reasonably close to the picture below of an original M0PLK Delta Loop.

The balun is fed with a 400/600 ohm ladder line and I have decided as a bit of fun to build my own 600 ohm ladder line.  I had a commercial 450 ohm feeder but thought as I'd never constructed a ladder line before I would give it a go, so if the 600 fails I can always fall back on the 450 ohm!

The main plate is made of 8mm solid aluminium 350mm x 400mm. I wanted something reasonably strong so I may have gone over the top but as far as I'm concerned the stronger the better.

You can see I've drilled the holes to hold the fibre glass poles these will be standard plastic brackets. The Balun is a small 200 watt 4:1 I had as a spare to show you where it will sit, but I have ordered a larger 1K version. The picture below shows the poles (not extended) in place together with the 16 gauge wire, just at the top of the picture is the home brew ladder line.

In the middle of the plate rising through the centre, a 5 metre two inch mast will be used for the plate to attach to, as you don't require any great height for this antenna, but obviously its the old story of any higher will be better, but I'm limited thanks to my Council!

Moving Antennas Yet Again!

So with the intervention of my local council I have to re arrange my antenna set up. I have decided to sell my mast and mini Mosley antenna but will keep the hustler as it’s a very good multiband antenna. I will re-fit in my main garden add the ground radials and hopefully be on the air within the week. That done I just have the W3DZZ which covers the lower bands adequately, but I’m tempted to go back to some wire antennas for experimentation.

I like the construction plus the experimental side of antennas, seeing what works and what doesn’t!

I feel I haven’t finished with loop antennas, I’ve built a 20m delta but I fancy having ago building some sort of loop for 30 meters one of my favourite bands. Also I’d like to try a delta loop for the 17m but on fibre glass poles and to this end I have purchased a cheap pre-built antenna that I shall have a play with and see if I can adapt.

The old 20m Delta loop antenna

My local council did not state that I cannot put any temporary antennas in my paddock, so that will be another factor to add to the fun. To sum up, I want to build a couple of loop antennas, perhaps a skywire and a delta loop on poles that must be of a temporary construction, this could be fun!

Caught by the Bureaucrats

Had a nice letter the other day from the planning dept of my friendly Council saying they had received a complaint regarding my paddock. Long story short, they thought it was so tidy it was being used as an extra garden, the grass was too short and my boundary fence near to my house wasn’t complete. Therefore I must correct this forthwith or apply to change my paddock from agricultural land to my garden.

Intriguing isn’t it, no mention concerning my antennas? I replied to the council explaining that the boundary gap was there because I had demolished my old shed and erected a new shed installed at a slightly different angle, there was now a gap in the boundary. I had no idea that the boundary fence should be kept or that the grass was too short (slightly weird), so I apologised and said I would install a fence and not cut the grass so often!.

I think planning officers at the council always seem to take the negative side. It was obvious from his reply that he didn’t believe me, and it was only then he mentioned the Mosley antenna and the Hustler vertical. Evidently they shouldn’t be there either, he was quite happy for me to move them back to my garden or apply to have permission to have the antennas placed in the paddock for a princely sum of £462, even then he wouldn't guarantee I would get the permission. The mast with the Mosley is a folding winch type, so he wasn’t complaining about height etc, just that both antennas shouldn’t be within the Paddock.

I thought about it for a few days and decided to hell with council I wasn’t going to pay them nearly five hundred quid, so I’m moving the Hustler back in to my garden but sadly the Mosley and the mast have to go to a new home and they are now up for sale.

There’s something about a complete stranger writing to you and telling you that your home or garden doesn’t fit in to their regulations. Nobody likes being told what to do especially by some organisation that you never really had dealings with before. Unfortunately you have to bite the bullet or if you’re feeling that energetic fight them. Personally I can’t be bothered to challenge them, I’ll just move the antennas and let them have their petty way. The annoying thing is I’m right out in the middle of nowhere and I know it’s not my two neighbours that complained because I asked them. This bureaucrat from the council was probably driving past the house noticed either my antenna or the cut paddock and decided to investigate.

Repositioning a Hustler 6BVT

Looking at my Hustler 6BVT antenna the other day got me thinking. After four years  everything has grown, the antenna is certainly being surrounded by nature.
While building a stone slab base for a  new shed near to the Hustler, I noticed the ground radials I laid out all that time ago have started to break up,  I have already noticed broken wires that seem to be appearing all over the place!  

 It’s now sitting surrounded by hawthorn and apple trees some as high as thirty feet which can’t be good, I’ve noticed reception has gone down since I first installed it and I think it’s time I found the antenna a new home.

 

The present position of the Hustler and the area of the new shed, I think I'll put the antenna on the other side of the trees in the paddock.

Two things immediately spring to mind, where to place the antenna and installing the ground radials. The recommended number of ground radials is around 32 but I like to have at least a minimum of 40 radials, all different lengths to cover the bands.

Ground radials can be a black art in themselves, you can get away with as little as about 12 but it not always recommended unless you have very wet soil. When I first installed the hustler there were about 60 and they seemed to take forever to lay out, but it was definitely worth it. The ground plate was a home brew  effort, basically a piece of aluminium bought off Ebay with the holes drilled and then small bolts place in every other hole, I could then attach each wire or a combinations of joined wires to each bolt with a small nut, fairly basic but worked well and saved me some money.

 

 when I removed the ground plate wires were everywhere!

 One difficulty is that I am limited by coax length, the present RG58 coax which is connected to the hustler is buried under a large part of my garden and unless I dig it up and totally start afresh, I will only have roughly 30 feet of coax to play with for re- positioning. So I have a number of factors to work out, but I’m sure it will come good in the end.

If I lay out the exposed coax around the paddock area to see what exact length I have to play with, I should be near enough in line with the mini Yagi, but obviously I don’t want to get too close.

Then I'll start  laying out the ground radials in the full 360 degrees circle and see how that goes. I will begin with 12 radials but hopefully ending up with at least double. As I lay each radial I intend to mow the grass fairly short so I can pin each one in to the ground and so in future it won’t get mixed up with the mower blades. Hopefully within a few weeks the radials will have disappeared from sight by the growing grass.  I'll then reconnect the radial plate with its new radial system and then install the newly positioned antenna and test for SWR!

 

The cleaned up radial plate.

So I've  disconnected the Hustler from the ground radial plate and disconnected the old wires and given the plate a good scrub and it's come up reasonably well. Next week if I get the chance I'll clean and then replace the antenna in its new home and then think about putting out the new ground radials!

What fun, the first spot I placed the hustler I raised it up I was touching a telephone wire a 1 in a 1000 chance, typical! so I had to move further than I liked,  the only issues was adding some extra 15 feet of coax.

The 2nd move of the antenna went according to plan with little fuss and no more telephone wires in the way. A tip worth remembering is to make sure everything is well greased up or lubricated in some way, it makes dismantling so much easier, I was very surprised how everything came apart so easily, but this was due to me lubricating when first assembled! I've added about 6 ground wires so far and a small amount of wire netting, I'm not going to rush just take my time and add more ground radials as I go along.

 

 

So far the SWR is a good 1:1 across all bands but the important thing is the resistance which ideally should read around 36 but at the moment is a 45. I suspect by adding more radials (about 7 more) it will come down to around 38/40 and then as you add more it will slowly reduce but not by any great amount. The average is about 12 to 15 but obviously if you can add more it will improve. A few years ago I would be going beserk adding as many as I can but now I'm a little slower and I'm getting reasonable results so I'm taking things slowly!

 

With 4/5 ground radials! I shall add more as I go along. 

 

More importantly results on the radio using the Hustler are good. Obviously conditions and solar flux are not at their best but testing between the Yagi and the 40/80 W3DZZ things are looking up. With some more ground radials to be added it's looking good for its new home!

 

The Kenwood TS 950 SD Has Gone!

Sadly I have let the old girl go as she wasn't being used regularly by me anymore simply because I was using the Yaesu FT1000 more and more. A chap down south has bought her and as far as I'm concerned got a great rig for a bargain price.

Before I let her go and when we were in negotiations I tested the radio one more time, just to see that she was running OK and to have one more little play and she didn't disappoint. Admittedly the receive is slightly down on the FT1000 but not by much, but every time I put out a CQ I got a reply back. These radios may now be old but they still pack a punch, I'll be sad top see her go!

Good bye old girl, I'll miss you!!

Yaesu FT1000

Browsing through a well known auction site I spied an FT1000. I've always hankered after one of these as my Brother in law has the FT1000d which is a very nice rig, I remember when first using it I said to myself that one day I would own something similar to that rig. Well, here we are a few years down the road and I'm looking at an FT1000 
The standard FT1000 is similar in build to a d version except no BPF-1 filter or TCXO or any CW/SSB filters.

But reading through the information on this FT1000 I noted all filters had been fitted and a BPF-1, so the only missing part was the TCXO, so you could call it a d version of sorts and the guy only wanted £700 for it. Yep, I could live with that.

 I tracked down the owner via the site and made an offer of £600 minus the auction fees if he didn't sell from the auction site. Sure enough at the end of the auction no one had bid, so eventually he came back to my offer, I had an FT1000!

Within the week I had picked it up and returned it safely back to my QTH.
It turns out the previous owner got it from his father who had bought in the States 20 years ago used it once and given it to his son the present owner, he had used it only literally 5 times and all he had done was switch the voltage for UK use. He had then put it away for storage, presumably to use at some stage, but never did. The transceiver was immaculate not a scratch anywhere, pristine condition, brand new, it looked as if it had been stuck in time!
I took the cover off just to check all the filters were there, they were and on turning the radio over I looked at the TXCO it was the upgraded TXCO-1 !

Switching it on the receive, it was superb and on transmitting I was getting excellent reports, better than the 950SD, nearly as good as the 9000, I could hardly believe it, I'd been so lucky.

These transceivers in their day were the ones to own, but to pick one up at this sort of price even today was indeed a stroke of good luck, I now had this FT1000 the original grand father, as back up to an FTDX 9000, not bad!
To make the day I saw another FT1000 not in nearly as good condition on the same auction site for £1100, I couldn't believe it!

The decision to keep the Kenwood 950SD is down to am I going to use it now I have the FT1000?
Comparing both, I have to be honest there is probably not much in it but the FT1000 has 200w rather than the 150w of the 950SD. The receive capability is definitely towards the FT1000 but not by that far. Both are fabulous rigs,  I think I'll wait and see, if I do sell the 950SD it will be for a similar price I paid for the FT 1000, so someone will be getting a bargain!

The W3DZZ 40/80M Service

 Of all the antennas I have in my garden, the one I have always relied upon is the W3DZZ. It's a good design and an excellent antenna that over the years has brought me some good contacts on 40 and 80 meters.
Time has shot by and once again I find myself having to service the old W3DZZ! It was way back in Feb 2013 that I last took it down and did a proper service so I think it’s about time I did do it again.

The first thing to do is to actually get it off the 40ft mast, it’s in an inverted Vee shape so it’s pretty easy to remove off the mast especially now as the leaves are yet to grow back on the various trees in and around the antenna.

 

Once removed off the mast, I have to disconnect the two 40m traps these are attached by four simple old choc blocks and on un-screwing them, they show their age by literally falling apart in my hands, hmm, time to replace with some new ones!

Then it’s just a simple case of getting the old MFJ 259 out and seeing if the traps are still doing their job, the traps are showing a reading of 6.0881 & 6.0840 a little low as I want them both resonating at approx. 7.1 MHz, so I undo the waterproof tape and reset them by just gentle spacing the coax and taking readings from the MFJ. Eventually I get them both reading 7.1MHz and it just a matter of gently re taping checking as I go that both stay at the correct resonance.

 

The traps having been re-taped and cleaned are now ready to be put back with the antenna. The actual trap designs are from GM0ONX webpage and is very easy to construct, it's literally 11 turns of RG38 coax round a 40mm waste pipe 100mm in length. If you're starting out on trap building, his website is well worth a visit and he explains in very easy terms how to construct his take on the W3DZZ design. He uses these simple coax traps, so the winds are easy to do and it won't seem too fiddly! I think the original build took me a day or so to complete, so it wasn't long and it really is a great antenna.

 

 

 

Here's my MJF 259 with my homemade loop coupler for measuring the traps, loop couplers in the UK can be serious money!

Before I replace the choc blocks (I had to order some more), I’ll double check all the wire lengths again with the MFJ for SWR and I might lengthen the 80m portion a wee bit so that I’m not just tuned in on CW. Nowadays I’m finding I like to listen in on some local chat on LSB and I would like the ability to join a QSO.

Tuning the W3DZZ should always begin with the 40m working outwards, it's easier that way. Sure enough the maintenance work causes the SWR on 80m to be 1.0 at 3.600 so it has moved, I just needs to be trimmed a bit more, I'd like it around 3.7500. Typically as soon as you adjust 80m and get that right the 40m has moved and is reading a little high at 1.0 on 7.200, so I'll have to add a little more wire to drop the frequency down a bit.

 

The W3DZZ is mounted on the mast holding the cobweb in an inverted Vee format and one of the wires come towards about where the picture was taken, the other end would finish up hanging near the hustler antenna to the left. Interestingly after messing about with different positions around the garden I always end up mounting in this way

The W3DZZ Inverted L Antenna with Top Band

Back in 2011 when I built the W3DZZ trap antenna for 40 and 30 meters Len Paget GM0ONX who originally came up this particular way the W3DZZ is designed also came up with an inverted L antenna based on another W3DZZ design, I described it earlier in my blog (see the "my Blog" link below).

 

Here's the general view of the antenna

The antenna had been lying dormant in my shack as I was using the original 80/40 meter W3DZZ and so had no use for it. But as the time has passed, last week I felt like a change so I dismantled the original W3DZZ for a serious service which it desperately needed and have replaced with this Inverted L W3DZZ.

The difference is that besides the 80 and 40 meter coverage I can get Top Band, which is quite fun as it’s still a fairly new band to me and I thought it’s about time I really started to get in to it, plus I could try my hand at doing some DX!

Basically Its just adding some more  wire to the end of the original inverted 80/40 L antenna, 8.54m to be exact! The length does vary slightly from location to location because not only is there a shortening effect caused by the inductance in the 3.5 trap, there will also be a significant capacitance effect on 1.8 MHz as the antenna is close to the ground. All the details regarding build can be found either on Len’s page GM0ONX or on my blog

The traps needed some checking and adjusting from sitting in the shack doing nothing and now I'm happy with the 80 meter trap it's 1.5 SWR at 3.600, but the 40 meter trap needs more work to get the SWR in the sweet spot, it's a little high at the moment. Once both traps are ok I can concentrate on the actual wire, it's 14 gauge and I need to make sure all the measurements are correct. The actual tuning is fairly easy but Len does state the 7Mhz will probably need rechecking and adjusting and on a quick test I've already seen its the 7MHz portion causing an issue.

The 40m Trap

The 80m Trap

 

The other bit I should mention is when first built the antenna I used a ground rod for the earth connection, but quickly found on testing that a series of ground radials were needed. Where it’s positioned at the back of my house I am limited in what radials I can put out, but I hope in the next few days to get at least 10 or 12 ½ wave lengths out.

 

The ground rod is very limited at the moment

First impressions are it's a pretty good antenna but obviously for its size it's never going to be the best Top Bander, the other limitation seems to be the width on Top Band, it's quite narrow, but with the help of an ATU it seems to be working OK and I will try to improve as I go along.

 

The Weather Station

I’ve managed to purchase a weather station, I’ve been searching for a good one for the past 6 months mainly for reading the wind speed for my mast and antenna. As we sit in on a small raise in a valley the wind funnels through our area and can pick up speed fairly quickly, hence the nick name “windyville”! So I needed something just to warn me when it was getting too windy for the antenna and mast and when to take it down.

 

 

The other readings that came with the weather station are more of an interest than necessity, these are temperature indoor and outside, humidity, rainfall and wind direction. Now I find myself nipping to the shack seeing what the readings are and noting what’s changed, it can get quite addictive!

 

Of course the XYL whom actually bought it for me as a Christmas gift because my original gift a metal detector had unfortunately turned up broken, thinks I’ve gone a bit soft in the head cos all I talk about is the weather and reading off the station!

It’s only small and consists of two parts, the actual instruments which sit on a post in my paddock and the receiver which is in the shack. It was very easy to set up and should the need arise spare parts are easily available, (I know what the real winter storms are like round here)!

 

Now my Brother in Law a fellow ham has been round for a chat and seen the station and wants one for himself…….This is obviously catching!