PW-5 rental for WC Nationals

Yep, longer is better, but perhaps not as portable - I'm just tryin' to
get these glider crews decent communications as cellphone coverage is
relatively poor beyond Marfa Airport, and there are very few airports
around. So a crew at Marfa should be close by when the pilot gets low
and needs to know where the wires / fences / gates are located. Good
crew underneath a pilot out here can save a glider!

My Dad (Fritz Compton W4LJH) had very long wire ham antennas (extended
zep, etc.) on our gliderport near Miami. He hated coax especially in
the Florida humidity so he and I made "open wire feeders" like he did
as a kid in the 1920's. He also wound his own antenna tuners - would
check power by tuning for the strongest spark off the coils with a lead
pencil! Classic.

Dad was one of the first to use ham radio in his LK-10A sailplane at
the 1946 Nationals in Elmira, NY and in 1947 at Wichita Falls, TX.. He
would transmit one-way to my Mother on the road. He painted his
contest number on top of the trailer so he knew it was her. More than
once he told her to pass a slow truck on a long uphill grade - trucker
thought she was crazy - but Dad had told her "all clear".

Educating folks about crew car antenna tuning (by length) and seeking
efficiency with good SWR is important. In the 1960's my Dad built
homemade 1/4 wave VHF crew car antennas out of a wire and a flattened
tin can that we would slam into the top of the car door. Simple, and
we had close to 1 to 1 Standing Wave Ratio for 123.3. We had a simple
three letter code so he could tell me where he was on course and his
optimism about the sky ahead. It worked extremely well.

So thanks for the advice. As my Dad would say, "Lots o' watts is OK,
but good radio is mostly in the antenna." He is 90 years old - living
in Texas - but his signal is fading.

Burt Compton
Marfa Gliders, west Texas
www.flygliders.com

PB wrote:

And perhaps you are conveniently forgetting the fact that Neville
Chamberlain agreed to allow Hitler to occupy the 'Sudetenland' despite a
previous treaty with Czechoslovakia, foolishly declaring that he just
obtained 100 years of peace for Europe.

Take it up with your priest, PB, or at least to a group where it's not OT.

Got any opinion on sailplanes?


Jack

Malcolm Austin wrote:


The quality of the coax is also important. Amazing how much signal power
you can lose over 10 feet of poor coax. Get the best you can afford.

Cheers,
Malcolm (also a poor K6CR owner) :-)

Malcom and Burt,

What brand or spec coax is the best quality? I have an AV-5 antenna
with ground plane (as shown on Tim's page he
http://www.wingsandwheels.com/page14.htm ) that I want to connect to my
Icom portable (BNC both ends), so what should I look for in a fine
piece of coax suitable for this installation?

I have only a RadioShack SWR meter (that I use to tune my cb antenna)
so what can I rig up to tune the AV-5 to the Icom/coax installation?

I use a crimp on style coax connector, is there a better way to
terminate the BNC connectors than crimp on?

Thanks,

Jim

use good quality (NOT Radio Shack!) RG58C/U cable.....and use if at all
possible Crimp-on connectors....if you don't ahve the special tool for
crimping connectors, try the local avionics shop.this is all they will
use.....or use as next best, solder type connectors.stay away from twist on
types.
tim
Wings & Wheels
www.wingsandwheels.com



"jphoenix" wrote in message
ups.com...

Malcolm Austin wrote:


The quality of the coax is also important. Amazing how much signal power
you can lose over 10 feet of poor coax. Get the best you can afford.

Cheers,
Malcolm (also a poor K6CR owner) :-)

Malcom and Burt,

What brand or spec coax is the best quality? I have an AV-5 antenna
with ground plane (as shown on Tim's page he
http://www.wingsandwheels.com/page14.htm ) that I want to connect to my
Icom portable (BNC both ends), so what should I look for in a fine
piece of coax suitable for this installation?

I have only a RadioShack SWR meter (that I use to tune my cb antenna)
so what can I rig up to tune the AV-5 to the Icom/coax installation?

I use a crimp on style coax connector, is there a better way to
terminate the BNC connectors than crimp on?

Thanks,

Jim

"jphoenix" wrote in message
ups.com:

Malcolm Austin wrote:


The quality of the coax is also important. Amazing how much signal power
you can lose over 10 feet of poor coax. Get the best you can afford.

Cheers,
Malcolm (also a poor K6CR owner) :-)

Malcom and Burt,

What brand or spec coax is the best quality? I have an AV-5 antenna
with ground plane (as shown on Tim's page he
http://www.wingsandwheels.com/page14.htm ) that I want to connect to my
Icom portable (BNC both ends), so what should I look for in a fine
piece of coax suitable for this installation?

I have only a RadioShack SWR meter (that I use to tune my cb antenna)
so what can I rig up to tune the AV-5 to the Icom/coax installation?




Jim, the RadioShack SWR meter will work fine. It doesn't show to be
useful in that range but mine works well.



But, as Tim Mara says in another response, use a good quality coax and
good quality crimp on BNC connectors. Take any screw on BNC connectors
you find and throw them in the trash. better still, get a good torch and
melt them down so no one else will try to use them later.



Larry

"01" USA

Thanks fellas,

I do indeed use crimp style connectors and I have the tool - expensive
- but so are all of my other tools!

Rgds,

Jim

Hi Jim,
I see Tim and Zero 1 have answered your questions and I agree
with
their points.

I would be a little unhappy with a CB style VSWR meter as they don't
normally
work too well at the higher frequencies. If your gliding club is like ours,
you will
find 2 or 3 Radio Ham's who could help you out with a meter for sure.

ciao.
Malcolm...


"jphoenix" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks fellas,

I do indeed use crimp style connectors and I have the tool - expensive
- but so are all of my other tools!

Rgds,

Jim

Jack wrote:
PB wrote:

And perhaps you are conveniently forgetting the fact that Neville
Chamberlain agreed to allow Hitler to occupy the 'Sudetenland' despite
a previous treaty with Czechoslovakia, foolishly declaring that he
just obtained 100 years of peace for Europe.


Take it up with your priest, PB, or at least to a group where it's not OT.

Got any opinion on sailplanes?


Jack

Well Jack, I do, however if you bothered to read his post, and the one
before, you might have realised that I was only responding to his 'OT'
post. And that iy is not the first time Derek introduced politics into
this NG.

Paul

Well, I am a glider pilot, rather than a professional
politician. Unfortunately, as we are finding out the
hard way in Europe as the EC 'harmonises' it's flying
regulations, politics are important to us.

Politicians and civil servants always want to play
it safe, so airspace is becoming more and more reserved
for commercial and military aviation and we are lucky
to get any remaining scraps. The idea of airmindedness
and flying for pleasure never seems to figure in politicians
minds, until there is a war and they need pilots!

Also wars require them to raise extra revenue, i.e.
taxes, so we have less disposable income to spend on
flying, assuming that we are allowed to aviate at all.
Then there is the risk that we will be send into battle
and killed, or have to kill many innocent civilians
on the other side. I would only be prepared to go along
with this if our country was actually directly under
attack, rather than some trumped up charge of WMDs
in a remote land, when the real objective was to nick
all their oil!

Oh, and by the way Paul. If Hitler's Germany was perceived
to be such a threat to the World in 1938, why didn't
the US get directly involved until 1942?

Derek Copeland


At 02:54 14 January 2006, Pb wrote:
Jack wrote:
PB wrote:

And perhaps you are conveniently forgetting the fact
that Neville
Chamberlain agreed to allow Hitler to occupy the 'Sudetenland'
despite
a previous treaty with Czechoslovakia, foolishly declaring
that he
just obtained 100 years of peace for Europe.


Take it up with your priest, PB, or at least to a
group where it's not OT.

Got any opinion on sailplanes?


Jack

Well Jack, I do, however if you bothered to read his
post, and the one
before, you might have realised that I was only responding
to his 'OT'
post. And that iy is not the first time Derek introduced
politics into
this NG.

At 02:48 12 January 2006, Derek Copeland wrote:
By the way us British glider pilots are not made welcome
in France, because allegedly two of our gliders were
unfortunate enough to get in the way of a free falling
parachutist and a French two-seater that spun in a
thermal respectively. Since then they will not recognise
our UK qualifications, despite this being a principle
requirement of the EU. I don't think they have ever
forgiven us and the Yanks for liberating their country
from German occupation!

There is a very simple explanation for all this, the're
French!!!