Purposes of the Amateur Radio Service n n

Purposes of the Amateur Radio Service n n n (a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications. (b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art. (c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communications and technical phases of the art. (d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts. (e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.

Who is this W 5 WZ? • Licensed in 1997 at age 26 (tnx W 5 LA) • Competitive desire to operate instilled (tnx KM 5 YL, W 5 LA) • Contesting spark ignited at FD 1998 (tnx W 5 EW) • Technical abilities challenged & stretched (thanks K 5 RUS, K 5 ER) The recent shack at W 5 WZ

My station has evolved just a bit… KD 5 CAS station circa April 1998 (and only a single ladder-line fed dipole antenna & antenna tuner)

And just for fun… n n This is KF 5 GDK, ten years before earning his license. He was calling “DQ, DQ!”

Beverage Antenna for Dummies by W 5 WZ (also a dummy)

Disclaimer: There are smarter guys than me, read their stuff n The ARRL Antenna Book • Lots of antenna info • Chapter on Long. Wire and Traveling Wave Antennas

Disclaimer: There are smarter guys than me, read their stuff n n Low-Band DXing by ON 4 UN Complete chapter on Beverage receive antenna

Antenna Gain & Directivity n n n Yagis are directive, i. e. there is less gain in all but forward directions Dipoles are also directive – broadside in 2 directions Inverted-Vees are also directive - although omni-directional

The Challenge n n n Multi-element Yagi transmit and receive antenna are readily available for 10, 15, 20, & 40 meters Tower height and structural requirements for larger directional antennas (40 & especially 80 & 160) gets complex and expensive We all want to work more stations on every band, including 160, 80, & 40

Common Situation n n Ham station with wire antenna (usually dipoles) on 160, 80, and sometimes 40 Constraints limit having 160 m 3 -element at 320 ft & 80 m 4 -element at 240 ft • • n $$$ YL of the house Neighbors, landlords, size of lot, etc. Fear of extreme heights You still want to work lots of stations on these bands

Overcoming the Challenge within the Constraints n If you can’t increase transmit and receive gain, then increase receive directivity n Beverage antenna are ideal solution • • • n Cheap to build Simple to erect; one person can do it! Can be temporary: string the wire for a single contest or the winter season The d. B gained are in Signal-to-Noise ratio, in a particular direction

Meet the Beverage n A travelling wave antenna made of a length of wire a small height above earth • Terminated for unidirectional reception • Un-terminated for bi-directional reception.

Practical Considerations n Beverage antenna • • • n Have excellent directivity Gain usually never exceeds -3 d. Bi Generally, longer Beverages have lower elevation angles and narrower beam widths Resulting Benefit: Much higher Signal-to. Noise ratio in the desired direction

In the Real World n n Imagine a W 1 working Europe on a vertical antenna with thunderstorms in W 4 -land Instead of S 7 signal with S 9+10 d. B noise on the vertical, perhaps S 5 signal with only S 3 noise and interference on the Beverage

What Do I Need to Build It? n n n Length of wire Supports and insulators 2 ground rods and clamps Termination resistors (Ohmite 296 -2368, 470 ohm, 2 watt, flame-proof non-inductive, $1. 03 from Allied Electronics) Feed-Point transformer (9: 1) • Store bought • Homebrew n Feed line to your receiver

Most of the Hardware n n n F-connectors & install tool Transformers Ground rod clamps Resistors Antenna switch

How Much Wire? Computed for 2 -meter high over good ground 160 meters 80 meters 40 meters 269 302 (0. 5 l) 141 154 (0. 5 l) 148 157 (1. 0 l) 541 584 (1. 0 l) 279 302 (1. 0 l) 220 236 (1. 5 l) 820 886 (1. 5 l) 413 446 (1. 5 l) 285 302 (2. 0 l) 1089 1155 (2. 0 l) 554 587 (2. 0 l) 443 459 (3. 0 l) 1345 1410 (2. 5 l) 695 728 (2. 5 l) 846 879 (3. 0 l)

Supports & Ground Rods n Remember to insulate the wire from the support • Trees • T-posts • Bamboo sticks, 4 x 4 s, etc n Standard copper-clad ground rods and bronze clamps

Feed-Point Transformer n n n Amidon FT-114 -43 cost $2. 25 each AWG# 26 spool cost $4. 50 Needs a simple 8 turn trifilar winding for ON 4 UN design

Another Feed Point Transformer n n n W 8 JI design – see W 8 JI. com BN-73 -202 cost $0. 50 each I find the design by W 8 JI much easier to wind and implement 2 -turn primary 5 -turn secondary for 75 ohm feed line (6 -turns for 50 ohm) Test by placing 470 ohms across secondary, sweep SWR from 1. 5 to 10 MHz – should be flat around 1. 2 – 1. 4: 1

Feed Point n n Feed line connectors Weather proof enclosure

Connect to your Receiver n Coax feed line • 75 or 50 ohm n n Modify your transformer to accommodate Protect your receiver while transmitting, especially if QRO with both transmit and receive antenna in close proximity • “Front-end saver”, CQ magazine, Feb 1997, pages 32 -33.

Termination Point n n n 5 -ft ground rod and clamp Insulator Wire-nut method to replace resistor without soldering out in the woods

Feb 2010 - Initial Result at W 5 WZ n n Single-wire 285 -ft beverage at 45 degrees, average height about 4. 5 feet Just before local sunset, first evening on 80 m CW, transmitting 100 watts on dipole at 75 -ft, I worked • • • Z 31 - Macedonia LZ - Bulgaria YO – Romania In the previous 12 years of hamming, outside of NA I had only confirmed Canary Islands, Cyprus, Morocco, and Suriname on 80 meters

Expanding the Beverage System n n Add length to the Europe beverage Build additional antenna for specific directions – ham population centers Create/install switching scheme Provide receive antenna signal to both radios simultaneously

Benefit of Adding Length for 80 meters n A picture is worth 1, 000 words

Benefit of Adding Length for 160 meters n Length REALLY matters on 160 m!

Benefit of Additional Directions n Ever try to rotate a 500 foot long antenna? • Pull up posts, move termination point, reinstall posts and termination point. n Use a standard multi-position antenna switch to select different beverage and thus heading.

Aerial Overview • 580 ft beverage at 45 degrees (Europe) • 480 ft beverage at 90 degrees (Africa) • 800 ft beverage at 270 degrees (VK/ZL) • 480 ft beverage at 315 degrees (Japan)

Provide Signal to Both Receivers n The “Magic Tee” http: //michaelgellis. tripod. com/magict. html n The advantage of the "magic tee" is that the two output ports are isolated from each other and theoretical loss is only 3 d. B.

How to Build the Magic Tee n For 50 ohm coax, change the resistor to 25 ohms n Be SURE to use the right mix of ferrite in the binocular core. • 73 mix is SUPERIOR n Five bucks for 10 binocular toroids • http: //toroids. info/BN-73 -202. php • http: //kitsandparts. com/ n Use a 7 turn primary, and a 10 turn center-tapped secondary. • The sigs will be 180 degrees out of phase n OR, you can buy the $50 DX Engineering box. . .

Questions?