#CQWW SSB contest this weekend

 Just as a reminder for the largest SSB contest of the year with about 35000 participants around the world. If you search for really nice DX contacts made with your own voice your chance is this weekend!

The 10m band is open lately and if propagation holds on I could try to submit a single (10M) band effort. Or I can try to beat last years score...

UHF connectors mounting K3LR style extra tips

I got the idea about this post after seeing a well known youtuber struggling soldering connectors to his coax. Ending in a short inside one of the connectors a few videos later. And yes, I hate those so called "new" "watertight" style UHF (PL259). At a certain moment you have to slide a kind of metal head into the outer screen of the coax. It looks easy when a pro does it. Like in this video from M&P. But it isn't easy and faults are easily made when you're not experienced. Although I have to tell that I really like the design of M&P evolution UHF connector, I'm shure this is a high quality connector that will last for many years. Especially the heat stress on the coax can be avoided with this type of connector, and a big pro is that the connector can easily be salvaged if needed. 

However, I still have a bag full old salvaged UHF connectors and even new "old style" ones. In the past.....well 10 years ago I installed them like this:

Resulting in a few issues with the connection of the screen to the connector especially when it ages.

Then a few years ago I read about the K3LR (famous contester from the USA) style UHF connector install. I have to say, I really like this style and adopt it since a few years. Best description how to install K3LR style can be found in this document:

http://www.nelarc.org/files/pl259.pdf

Basically the outer screen is not soldered through the soldering holes but at the backside of the connector. However, in practice, of course things will work out different. So, I got a few tips.

First of all file and clean the backside of the connector for easier soldering

Second tin the backside of the connector. Don't apply too much.

Personally I prefer to solder the outer screen only to the backside and don't fold it over the connector. This is a choice of course. I think it is easier to slide a heat shrink tube over it this way.

Nice and tidy result. And if needed the connector can easily be salvaged.

5 band quad HF antenna design, building and ideas (part 1)

 Recently I spoke a few stations from around the world on 10m which were reasonable strong. All those stations were transmitting with 2 or 3 element (multiband) quad antennas. And for shure these stations were way stronger then any other on the band at that moment. If you ask antenna experts they all say there is no difference between a quad and yagi radiation pattern and f/b ratio in the end. With other words, you can do the same thing with a yagi as a quad. But I'm not really a HAM that does rely on theoretics, I want to see what something does in the real world. Being this something is an antenna or anything else.

This post is primarely for myself to write down some ideas (and receive some ideas in the comments if you as reader has them). It is no secret I want to build a 5 band HF quad antenna for quite a while. But it brings some technical design challenges and takes time. In my last musing about antennas earlier this year I wrote about the only user of the particulair DK7ZB quad design I know; G0VXE Dave definitely tuned the reflectors on his antenna and that seems to be the biggest challenge. However, the f/b ratio will be about 10-15dB which is not to be compared with 25-30dB a yagi will have. I expect in practice it will show about 1-1,5 S-point in comparisation between front and back. However, it seems side rejection will be excellent.

This post is about design ideas I found on the internet. Ideas that are simple but can be forgotten just as simple.

My idea is to make my 2,85m boom from the green militairy glasfiber poles I used for my 80m horizontal loop in the past. To mount the glasfiber telescopic tubing on the boom I found this idea made from alu corner profile, I made one prototype:

Since I use cheap glasfiber fishing rods for the prototype antenna I use alu tubing to reinforce the first 50cm of the rods since I think this is the part of the rod with most of the stress.

Made two prototypes. I will wrap the rods with black tape against UV and weather influences. The rods are quite strong. To test I grabbed them at the thin top and hold it horizontally in the air. 

The full weight is now at the weakest part. It does bend but doesn't break. I feel confident the rods are holding everything in the air at high windloads. The rods are 4,1m long.

Above the alu tubes I use to reinforce the rods. They are wrapped with tape to better fit in the rods. I also ordered a spool of 2mm alu wire. I really thought about insulated copper wire but there is a big disavantage, the weight is substancial higher. Also I would have to recalculate the design published on the DK7ZB website. 

To get an idea of the size I put some rods in angle configuration to simulate one side of the quad.

It is the idea to mount the quad in the mast the square way and not in diamant shape like G0VXE did. The advantage is that the sides are a lot shorter. Approx. 2,75m. Making total width of the antenna 5,5m which is managable in my garden.

Not to forget the details. I learned this from another antenna experimenter on youtube. It is definitely the best way to prevent the telescopic rods to get loose and slide into each other. This can happen when force is applied by mounting the wires. Count on big forces in a storm. I don't know how these rods will behave when temperature will be freezing in winter?

I found this idea to mount the wires on the poles. The tube used seems to be UV resistant airbrake hose.