ZL2GT Napier Amateur Radio Club IncMay 19, 2015 saw Laurie ZL2TC, Revell ZL2SS, Mike ZL2VM, Karl ZL1TJ, Stan ZL2ST, Peter ZL2CD and Lee ZL2AL at the clubrooms assembling the 4 Part Antenna Switch kitsets. All the various parts were bagged along with the comprehensive instructions to be readied for Post Office shipment in another week.
A club project working together always seems to bring out the best in people and it is a lot of fun and a few laughs combined with a great feeling of satisfaction.
73, Lee ZL2AL
Each year the Napier Amateur Radio Club designs a club project for it’s Hawkes Bay members. Following on from the very successful “Q” VHF/UHF Antenna project in 2014 we are going to release the “Q” Remote 4 port antenna switch kit for 2015.
The project is a remote antenna switch allows you to have one run of coaxial cable from the shack to your multiple antenna setup rather than multiple runs of coax. Most hams have a Tribander, a few dipoles and/or loops and maybe a vertical. Running RG213 coax from all of them back into the shack is expensive and can cause RF coupling between unused cables. The modern approach is to switch the antennas remotely with a switch-box at the base of the tower or in the garage and control it from inside the shack. Some photos below:
The “Q” 4 Port Antenna Switch kit set is supplied with a complete set of step by step instructions and the very highest quality components The kit complete with shack switch controller box and weatherproof outside relay enclosure box. Specifications below:
Commercial antenna switches range imported into ZL from $240 (cheaper unit) to around $500 (high quality). The “Q” Remote antenna switch target price will be $150 NZD which represents great value.
There will only be a limited number of these kits available from June 1. If interested please contact Lee, ZL2AL, project co-ordinator at leezl2al@gmail.com to register your interest.
73, Lee ZL2AL,
Napier Amateur Radio Club
The mission was to erect the new Hustler All Band vertical antenna on a tilt-over mast that was donated to us by Hilton Myer ZL2MN (SK). ZL2TC, ZL1TJ, ZL2AL, ZL2MY, ZL2MO and ZL2SS assembled bright and early on Sunday morning ready to do great things. The weather was warm with sunshine and perfect antenna weather.
We had two jobs to complete. The first was to repair the 80M/40M trap dipole which had one leg disconnected from the a supporting giant gum tree. The spud gun soon took care of getting a line over the top branches while Laurie installed a new halyard line on the top of the VHF dipole mast.
The second job was to assemble the Hustler vertical antenna and get it on the mast. The photos below tell the story.
And does it work? Yes, indeed it does. A quick run with the antenna analyzer showed resonant spots near where they were supposed to be on each band. The morning turned into afternoon and there was limited time to check how well it will actually work and we left around 3Pm. We were getting some good signals through on 15M and 40M Comparison with the trap dipole showed that the vertical was noisy. We expected that. In any case, the job is done and the antennas are back in operation.
Our next project is getting the bigger mast up to put the tri-bander on. That will happen at the next working bee.
73, Lee ZL2AL
The Club Project “Q” Antenna kit assembly was set down for Wednesday May 21, 2014. We all met at the NARC Clubrooms and quickly got stuck in to the task at hand. Each ham was given a kit of parts and over the next hour great quantities of RG58 coax, tape, heat shrink tubing, pop rivets and aluminium foil came under combined forces of flying fingers, sharp knives, pop riveters, heat guns and soldering irons. The photos below tell the story.
At the end of the hour 5 antennas were assembled, with connectors fitted and Laurie ZL2TC checking their operation with the Bird 43 wattmeter and radio. All of the antennas checked out perfectly with a 1:1 SWR on 2M and a little over 1.5 to 1 SWR on 70CM.
It was a great night which saw the completion of the 2014 Club construction project. 20 of these antennas have been made this year and this is the last of them being assembled. Some discussion took place of a possible club project for next year. We have some interesting ideas to explore. Watch this space.
73, Lee ZL2AL
This antenna was recently developed by Laurie, ZL2TC as a Club project for the Napier Amateur Radio Club. The design brief was for a simple, rugged 2 M/ 70 Cm antenna that is easily constructed by club members in an evening. We ended up with a repeatable design that acts as an end-fed half-wave dipole on 2 M and a 3 dB gain collinear antenna on 70 Cm. The SWR is unity on 2M and less than 2:1 on 70cm and is very effective in triggering local repeaters. The stiff 2M long tapered fibreglass housing is UV resistant, waterproof and the base of the antenna is a 28mm alloy tubing for mounting.
The kit comes complete with Step by Step instructions and all parts including cut to length coaxial cable, the pre-drilled fibreglass tube outer casing, alloy mounting tube, heat shrink tubing and waterproof tip.
This antenna kit would make a great project for a club evening construction evening. The price is very reasonable at $40.00 plus another $15 P&P within NZ. You can pay via Direct Credit or by cheque or by cash.The NARC has a limited number of these for sale.
Contact: The Napier Amateur Radio Club Inc via Karl ZL1TJ (karl@waspnet.co.nz) for information on ordering and payment.