antenna
...drove to Orchard hardware and purchased 18ga stranded copper wire, they only have 87ft in stock, hopefully enough for 62 windings on 4" pvc pipe. another thing that i was not able to find is the 8" copper pipe threaded on both ends..according to ybirds,hdepot..they don't make a threaded copper pipes..they have solid brass though...anyway, i purchased the 12" copper tube and a cutter for $25..yeek...see what happened. btw, i'm following the antenna howto scwis.am1700.org/magnum.htmlproduced by mlr.
i got almost everything..i'll keep you guys up to date..
peace...
PNOI
www.pinoyradio.us[/url]
that antenna howto will eventaully (today maybe) make it's way over to the library.. it was Dr. Gittings design. What a great bit of technology that was.. 🙂
I downloaded the LBP whitepaper and carrier current ...great info!
for our towns, CC is a great way (a tad pricey) to really get the stations into the homes..
I ended up getting my 18 gauge wire from McLendon's in Kent. They're an old-time hardware store that sells almost everything.
An electric supply house would have this type of wire; Lowes might, too. Home Depot's inventory policies seem a bit odd to me.
The base-loaded antenna works very well, but like all other medium-wave antennas, needs good grounding to be effective.
Frank
In fact - here's a little something I discovered - the grounding to the mast.. go ahead and silicone coat (the silicone sealer stuff you use for windows and dorrs and such..) over all the places that will be exposed to the environment: Where the grounding wires connect to the mast, the top hole in the antenna piping, the place where the antenna connects to the coil, etc.
Update on PNOI : i finally finished the coil/antenna and will start grounding job this week. I also purchased telescoping mast from local shack...that tube is heavy. I also got 3 8" ground rods 9( cut in half) , jackG recommended 6 grounds tied to 4' rods in addition to cold water pipe. To tune the antenna, i may have to purchase SWR meter. I'll keep you guys posted.
might wanna check with jack on the swr meter - i believe he sells a small one for this purpose.