Mindy, This person was being sexist and reckless. I can tell you that there are many, including me, who would force him to apologize to you. Publicly. 73 Chip W1YW
Chip, it may surprise you then how many jerks some of us deal with day in and day out. And I see it less as sexist, and a lot more of "those things are just dummy loads." I know as a *fact* that you do not think an antenna is a dummy load because it is fed at it's endpoint instead of somewhere else. And there are times when having the knowledge to make an antenna out of something that is not an antenna is very helpful. Especially after you've hiked 8 miles. Mindy
One of the problems we've drifted into as a society is our tendancy to assume the role of thin-skinned "victims" and to in turn immediately attack others - with our own perceived "victimhood" - to little benefit. And there ALWAYS another AH. A capable person with self-confidence, who knows they have nothing to prove, is not generally bothered too much by stupidity in others, or by their comments or jokes, good or bad (Direct threats are a different issue). Instead, they prevail by doing what works, regardless of criticism. And that is the mark of a strong character. In this case, Mindy decided not to be a victim, found a way to profit from the enounter and has pointed out that innovation, which sometimes flies in the face of accepted practice (often confused with knowledge), has a very high practical value - especially in emergencies, even if small ones. And THAT's one of the major roles the FCC HOPES radio amateurs will play in society. A very smart, very independent person! Bravo! Well done, Mindy! Brian - K6BRN
Any conductor has the possibility of being used to radiate RF currents. But the physics applies no matter what the embodiment. I suspect you do not hike to the peak of Lafayette in order to load a shopping cart;-) Others think that throwing (or using an extant) shopping cart in a tree limb is amusing and'hey, why not?" A: three feet of wire would accomplish the same. Its goofy.That's why not You obviously have not heard the story of how I 'papered' the ground under my dipole with rolls of aluminum foil... I am not beyond using 'unconventional conductors'. And yes, it 'worked' BTW, was that a T2FD antenna this dodo was passing off on you? 73 Chip W1YW
Mindy, Your scribbled antenna is hardly goofy. Here's how it works-- You have TX power going to two separate loads: one 50 ohm load and the other unbalanced coax length, presumably up in the air at some height. The power is disitributed to both loads via the ratio of their imepdance moduli. To the TX, it sees an SWR that is the parallel of those (moduli) two impedance loads, and within spitting distance of 50 ohms. The coax is not, well, coax. It is an unbalanced, unterminated conductor . A simple way to look at it is as a non resonant dipole where one side is 50 ohms real, and the other is an impedance related to its coax length. Sure, it works. Probably roughly 1/4 to 1/2 your TX power is radiating in the coax length.
Chip, I can actually tell (believe it or not) that you are a really clever guy, probably quite creative, even able to relax and have fun with all of this at times... So this is on top of Oak Hill up your way. I did indeed hike up there with the intention of making it radiate using a manual LC tuner. It did not work. It you are ever up for it, we can go up there and see how to get this on the air. Mindy (I don't know what a T2FD is)
Thanks for this. What do you make of the fact that it was 100% deaf compared to the coax center conductor alone?
Brian, I have to be honest, although this is quite flattering, it's a bit underserved. I am just a bit of a jerk myself and don't really get bothered much by others. (Ask Chip, lol). I don't really mind a good sparring once in a while. Mindy
Well, get it in the air;-) T2FD is a wire antenna that uses a resistor to give a wideband SWR. Commonly used before tuners were common. Stull used....
Midny and I have had our moments of disagreement and then succumbed to the requirement of ham collegiality. Mindy does some amazing hiking treks, many up here in my neck of the woods. And yes, she brings a radio;-) And yes, her antenna (from the sketch) 'works'..
When coax works properly (balanced), the current flows down the center conductor and produces an equal but out of phase countercurrent on the shield. It phase cancels. So when balanced, the coax is 'deaf'', and does not itself radiate. It certainly conveys current to the antenna. When you leave it open at one end, with the arrangement in your sketch, the coax is unbalanced and thus radiates like a thick single wire. When you only connect the center conductor then the coax is unbalanced. And it radiates. But now the 'ground part' also radiates, and that is seldom desired. That could be your rig, microphone, house wiring, etc.
