Crown City HF
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Pasadena Radio Club Pasadena, CA Crown City HF A compilation of articles covering the broad technical elements of Amateur Radio By Dr. Tom Berne W6TAG Edited by Bob Ross WA6JLP PASADENA RADIO CLUB PASADENA, CA CROWN CITY HF A compilation of articles covering the broad technical elements of Amateur Radio DR. TOM BERNE W6TAG Although the author has made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author does not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. Copyright © 2018 by Pasadena Radio Club All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Published by the Pasadena Radio Club Pasadena CA, USA https://w6ka.net Printed in the United States of America Dedicated to the founders and the leaders over time, of the Pasadena Radio Club Contents 1/08 The Beginning 13 2/08 #0 What is High Frequency? 13 3/08 #1 Radio Propagation 14 4/08 #2 More on the Ionosphere 15 5/08 #3 Contesting Pasadena Style 16 6/08 #4 Propagation Prediction 18 7/08 #5 Solar Indices 19 8/08 #6 The Geomagnetic Indices 20 9/08 #7 Data for Propagation Programs and DX Tools 21 10/08 #8 Noise 22 11/08 #9 Polarity and Radiation Angle 24 1/09 #10 Seasonal, Intraday and Latitudinal Variations 25 2/09 #11 Fading and the Grey Line 26 3/09 #12 Antennas and Things that Make them Work 27 4/09 #13 Transmission Lines: Characteristic Impedance 28 5/09 #14 Coax Attenuation 29 6/09 #15 Choosing a Coax 30 7/09 #16 Feedpoints and Baluns 30 8/09 #17 Baluns 2 31 9/09 #18 Baluns and Line Isolators 32 10/09 #19 RF Grounding 33 11/09 #20 Grounding for Electrical Safety and Surge Protection 34 2/10 #21 Grounding for Lightning Protection 35 3/10 #22 Standing Wave Ratio 37 4/10 #23 SWR Measuring Instruments 39 5/10 #24 Using SWR Meter to “Tune” Antennas: The Dipole 40 6/10 #25 Assembling Our Dipole 41 7/10 #26 Getting Our Dipole Up: part 1 42 8/10 #27 Getting Our Dipole Up: part 2 43 9/10 #28 Getting Our Dipole Up: part 3 44 10/10 #29 Tuning Our Dipole, Part 1 46 11/10 #30 Tuning Our Dipole, Part 2 47 1/11 #31 Antenna Tuners (1) 48 2/11 #32 Antenna Tuners (2) 50 3/11 #33 Antenna Tuners (3) 51 4/11 #34 Choosing Our Rig, #1 52 5/11 #35 Choosing Our Rig, #2 53 6/11 #36 Choosing Our Rig, #3 55 7/11 #37 Transceiver Accessories (1): A Power Supply 56 8/11 #38 Transceiver Accessories (2): Morse code key(s) 57 9/11 #39 Transceiver Accessories (3) The “optional extras” 59 10/11 #40 Setting Up Our HF Station (1): Location, Location…. 60 11/11 #41 Setting Up Our HF Station (2): Furniture and Power 61 12/11 #42 Setting Up Our HF Station (3): Equipment Arrangement 63 1/12 #43 Operating an HF Station (1): Before You Transmit 64 2/12 #44 Operating an HF Station (2): More … Before You Transmit 65 3/12 #45 Operating an HF Station (3): Time to transmit #1 66 4/12 #46 Operating an HF Station (4): Time to transmit? 68 5/12 #47 Operating an HF Station (5): Talk to Hams… at Field Day 69 6/12 #48 Operating an HF Station (6): Time to Talk to a Ham 71 7/12 #49 Operating an HF Station (7): Time to Talk to a Ham 72 8/12 #50 Operating an HF Station (8): How to respond to a “CQ” 73 9/12 #51 Operating an HF Station (9): Working CQ WW DX Contest 75 10/12 #52 Operating an HF Station (10): Nets 76 11/12 #53 Back to Antennas 77 12/12 #54 Dipole Variations (1): The inverted V 78 1/13 #55 Dipole Variations (2): Fan Dipoles 80 2/13 #56 Dipole Variations (3): Trapped Dipoles 81 3/13 #57 Dipole Variations (4): Center-fed Zepp-type Dipoles 82 4/13 #58 Dipole Variations (5): Why parallel conductor feed lines? 83 5/15 #59 Dipole Variations (5): Center-fed Zepp-type Dipoles 85 (3) Why parallel conductor feed lines? 6/13 #60 G5RV Antennas 86 7/13 #61 G5RV-like Antennas 87 8/13 #62 Loop Antennas (1) 88 9/13 #63 Loop Antennas (2) 89 10/13 #64 Limited Space Antennas: Small Loops 90 11/13 #65 Vertical Antennas (1) Basic 91 12/13 #66 Vertical Antennas (2): Vertical Dipoles 92 1/14 #67 Vertical Antennas (3): Quarter Wavelength Ground Planes 93 2/14 #68 Vertical Antennas (4): Ground Losses 94 3/14 #69 Vertical Antennas (5): Radials(1) 96 4/14 #70 Vertical Antennas (6): Efficiency 97 5/14 #71 Vertical Antennas (7): Basics (3) Gain and Decibel 98 6/14 #72 Vertical Antennas (8): Radiation Patterns (1) 99 7/14 #73 Vertical Antennas (9): Radiation Patterns (2) 101 8/14 #74 Vertical Antennas (10): Different Wavelengths (1) 102 9/14 #75 Vertical Antennas (11): Different Wavelengths (2) 103 10/14 #76 Vertical Antennas (11): Radials (3) 104 11/14 #77 Vertical Antennas (12): Radials (4) 105 12/14 #78 Vertical Antennas (13): Radials (5) 107 1/15 #79 Vertical Antennas (14): Radials (6) Relation to Ground 108 4/15 #80 Vertical Antennas (15): Radials (7) Wire and Pattern 109 5/15 #81 Vertical Antennas (16): Multiband (1) 110 6/15 #82 Vertical Antennas (17): Multiband (2) L-C Trapped 111 7/15 #83 Vertical Antennas (18): Multiband (3) Parallel Element 113 8/15 #84 Vertical Antennas (19): Multiband (4) Stub Systems 114 9/15 #85 Vertical Antennas (19): Multiband (5) Stub Systems 115 10/15 #86 Vertical Antennas (20): Multiband (6) Base Fed Monopoles 115 11/15 #87 Bye-Bye Verticals: Hello Beams 116 12/15 #88 How Do Yagis Work? 117 1/16 #89 Yagi-Uda Antennas (2) The two-element Yagi 119 3/16 #90 Yagi-Uda Antennas (3) The Three, and More, Element Yagi 120 4/16 #91 Yagi-Uda Antennas (4) The Three, and More, Element Yagi 121 5/16 #92 Yagi-Uda Antennas (5) The Three, and More, Element Yagi 122 6/16 #92A Yagi-Uda Antennas (6) Multiband (1) 123 7/16 #93 Yagi-Uda Antennas (7) Multiband (2) 124 8/16 #94 Yagi-Uda Antennas (8) Monoband (3) Stacked 125 9/16 #95 Cubical Quad Beams 126 10/16 #96 Cubical Quad Beams - Quad vs Yagi 126 11/16 #97 Cubical Quad Beams - Quad vs Yagi (2) 127 12/16 #98 Cubical Quad Beams - Multiband Quads 128 About the Author 130 About the Editor 131 Notes 132 Pasadena Radio Club History Back Cover Foreword Tom Berne, W6TAG, followed in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Clarence J. Berne, becoming a surgeon. He was also a researcher and a professor at USC. He was noted as a pioneer in the field of kidney transplantation and was widely respected and loved by many. However he chose to be just Tom to his many ham radio friends. In his teens, he had discovered his affinity for amateur radio and pursued it happily for the rest of his life. It was his nature to share experience he found fulfillment in. He was especially motivated to reach out to younger people, guiding them ever so patiently and gently. Tom was a member of the Pasadena Radio Club for many years, sometimes as a club officer, taking an active role in contests, field days, and other events. As always, he was supported by his beloved wife Cynthia. In the fall of 2007 Peter Fogg, KA6RJF, then club president-elect, suggested that Tom might consider writing a column for the monthly newsletter, The Pasadena Radio Club Bulletin, especially for our club’s technicians, to encourage upgrading and for new generals, to help them build HF equipped shacks. Tom was modest about his experience, but Peter persuaded him to create the Crown City HF column, which he wrote every month for eight years. Ten months after the column ended, Tom became a Silent Key at age 81. We were all blessed to have had Tom with us for those many years. Since then, Bob Ross, WA6JLP, volunteered to collect Tom’s work in a single document. We are pleased to present for you that collection of all of the Crown City HF columns. John Minger AC6VV Editor - The Pasadena Radio Club Bulletin, Past President - Pasadena Radio Club Crown City HF aspects, many of which differ significantly from VHF and UHF. The Beginning Although the sun spot activity is low now, At our recent PRC with a little effort and finesse, there are holiday dinner our new always interesting HF QSOs to be made! president Peter Fogg, I will need help with this column from the KA6RJF, suggested that many PRC hams with HF expertise, so there should be a please let me know what you can contribute. column in the PRC We are about to (or have just) entered a new Bulletin to encourage solar cycle. We might as well get started now the club’s involvement gearing up to enjoy that exciting ride to its in “HF”. The idea was discussed again at the peak.