More from KBØNHX: Grounded

Well, had some time tonight. One benefit of living in north MO is the soil. I drove both of my 8' ground rods first off tonight. Drove them both by hand with the exception of the last 2 feet! Couldn't do that in Springfield. Thanks to Bryon, K0BSJ, for showing me the ropes on hand driving ground rods :-0

After that, I installed all the grounding kits on the 6 feedlines. Combined them together to one wire and ran it to the ground rod at the pole. Now, it's just a matter of installing the center-conductor Polyphasers in the basement, running the wire out to the rod and sealing it up. Well, as promised, here's the pic of the ground kit install (real exciting, I know!).

Later,

-- James Adkins, KB0NHX

KBØNHX Antennas - Part 2

From James Adkins, KBØNHX

Okay, so Jeff gave me a little ribbing about not having a 6-meter antenna up. Well, 6-meters is in the plan, it just wasn't up yet. Right now, I only plan on working some FM on the local Missouri City repeater & on FM Simplex. If I get away with what I have without any complaints, I'll probably put up another pole with my 3-element Cushcraft 6-meter beam or the Par OA-50's stacked.

For the time being, I have installed my discone on the roof. It's primary purpose is for scanner monitoring, but will also double as my 6-meter FM and 220 FM antennas. I painted it to match up with the roof and even painted the coax. It's not an exact match, but from a distance it blends in really well and doesn't stick out nearly as badly as the chrom would have.

See attached pics with the homeade "vent" mount adapted from use from our house in Nixa. I also took a couple of close ups of the feed throughs in the side of the house.

Next on the list ..... grounding! I've got all the connectors on for the Polyphasers in the house at the ground bus, and put connectors on the jumpers that will run from the Polyphasers to the panel in the wall. Still have to drive the ground rods, run the ground wire from the bus to the rod, and attach ground kits to the coax cable. That's coming soon, though!

--
James Adkins, KB0NHX

KBØNHX Antenna installation

James Adkins, KBØNHX recently installed what he likes to call the "Adkins Monopole". A 20 foot piece of thick-walled gas pipe. The "goal post" configuration allows him to put two vertials on top.

The antennas consist of: Comet GP-21 (1.2GHz), Comet GP-9 (2m/440), Par OmniAngle (220 SSB), M2 5-element 902Mhz yagi, and a B&W folded dipole for 1.8-30Mhz.

Now James has a place to plug in the FT-920, FT-736, and the 'ol Henry 2K HF amplifier. Something he's not had for a while, but I'm sure is looking forward to. He can now operate 1.2GHz to 160m on one mast!

Good view from the back yard. Looks like from here it would be about a 30 yard field goal.

The feed though looks very professional. James says the parts to do this came from Tessco and cost about $40.

Below is another view that shows the B&W and the Par 220 Omnis.

Hard to be critical, but one thing is missing.... six meters! Oh, well, you can't be perfect I guess.

Feel free to post your comments. If you have any questions, I'm sure James would be glad to answer them.

Taking it E-asy....

Well, we are still enjoying the Es as the weather has finally begun to turn hot. The Monday Night Net is currently back on the 6 Meter 53.27 Repeater (51.570 input, with a 162.2 PL tone). Bands are open and I even heard a distant station from North Carolina last week on FM simplex! Anyway, feel free to comment on your recent 6 meter and below experiences!

Thanks
James
KCØTQD