Відео

@@smartazz61 I concur. I felt the same.

Heh, thank you, buddy!

Hah! Yeah, I had a co-worker with that same pronunciation mix-up.

Well, you CAN tune a fish, but since sound travels faster in water than in air, it messes up the calculations.

@@kelvin0mql If you work for StarKist, you can tunafish for a living. As Hams, we tend to avoid such things, especially if we are devilish, out of professional courtesy.

The maple tree would be stronger, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t gonna be much side load.

@@kelvin0mql gotta do what u gotta do

Just be thankful you didn't drag the deck down.

@@tomcondon6169 Yeah, I was watching for any movement, listening for any creaking. Nothing. Essentially was pulling against the concrete footer post.

Spot-on.

That's reassuring to know - thank you. But after a reboot, it worked absolutely beautifully, for the 2nd time. I'm betting it's all good.

@@kelvin0mql where did you purchase the unit?

And how long ago?

@@chiefetwful Northern Tool, about 2 months ago.

@@kelvin0mql how did you reboot

When my 1st wife & I were dating, she'd visit me in Roseville, then drive back to SE Mpls to her apartment. We'd chat over CB almost the whole way. We'd lose contact just as she approached 62 from 35W. This would be 1983-84.

@@kelvin0mql I bought my first used base unit (tubes!) in 1971 as young teen. Citifone SS with a Turner +2 mic and a vertical on a TV mast from Radio Shack. When I got a car, I bought a mobile unit. My radios were always 23 channels; that's how long ago I was into CB radio! 🤣

@@donz7992 I had a couple 23-chan ones, as a teen. One of them (bought used, of course) was a pinkish-beige & had a telephone handset. I thought it was SO cool (it wasn't).

If I remember correctly (haven’t had that car for a few years now), yes, I used only one relay.

I’ve used it through 2 winters. Only had a problem once, & I’d say it was my fault. I reeled in from 75m to 20m while there was a lot of snow on the wires. Then it got above freezing one day, then re-froze. Wires froze to each other, and snarled backwards while I was trying to reel out to a lower band. Oops. If it goes above freezing, reel it out to the longest band you use before it re-freezes. Totally manageable if you pay attention to temps, forecast, and whether anything’s wet. Use common sense.

There is no electrical connection to any pulley. Inside the box, there are two stainless steel SPOOLS of thin stainless steel stranded wire. Not unlike brush contacts on a motor, or the wiper of a potentiometer, as the central motor turns a non-conductive shaft that the two spools are affixed to, the spools can rotate and the antenna feed connections press against the side of the spool to make the contact even though the spool is turning. The only pulleys, per se, are on the trolley weights, so they move smoothly down the non-conductive guy lines.

Thanks, I meant Spool! Your explanation is helpful, I was curious about the connection. 73!

It's been very good. Still my favorite HF antenna for all things considered. However, I've had it down all summer because I've been experimenting with other antenna experiments and whatnot. So most of my HF stuff happens on a DX Commander. Vertical has better take-off angle on any band it covers. It's the correct height for all of 'em.

I had the same concern. But I wasn't about to pay double the price for a SteppIR. It has worked out to not be a pain at all. I already had a Nest cam in the back yard, and I simply adjusted it so it can see the apex, and all of one element. Quick look, I know about where it's at. Checking "where am I resonant" before transmitting is a thing I had already been used to doing. Even with a static dipole, you cannot know for sure that something didn't change out there since last time 'round. Gophers chewing. Branches falling. If you're a good operator, you're checking stuff out before keying up QRO. This is no different.

@@kelvin0mql I was referring to a simple method to quickly get you close to the band you want. Like a satellite dish positioner. When the readout is 25 that's close to 20 meters, reads 50 your about 40meter, of course you would check resonance, that's a gimme!

I mean, the guy who invented this wanted to solve one problem: going outside to change the length, PLUS needing to lower it to do so, then raise it back up (in crappy weather, taking many minutes). And he solved it. What's the SWR? Already had a different bit of kit for that. (And so do you.) At what freq am I resonant? Already had a different bit of kit for that. (And so should you, 'cuz you want to know that for any/all of your antennas.) What freq/band was I at last time I was operating? Look at the log. Or in my case, I can also just look at the antenna in the Nest cam and have a pretty good idea. It's a big box with plenty of room for more bits-n-bobs. If you wanted to add a rotation counter, you certainly could. If you're a genuine advancing-the-art radio amateur, that's not too hard. Hell, I could do it, and I'm a relative moron (i.e. not an Extra, yet). But if you want to go full Appliance Operator, then SteppIR is there to take a couple thousand$ off ya (and I almost bought one). That's a fair way to go. I am, for the most part, an Appliance Operator. My daily HF rig is a modern unit with (gasp) Digital Signal Processing in the IF and AF stages. I know... heresy. At HamVention, TenTec was demonstrating this antenna WITH an inline analyzer so you could watch the Smith Chart and see right where you're at, whether you're moving closer or further from a good tune. Almost too easy.

@@mewrongway I wish I knew a way to post a photo here. Nest Cam allows me to set up "zones" where it pays attention to activity. I can view the Nest Cam, look at the Zones polygons, and know what band it's at. It was easy. But even when I don't do that, it's really pretty darned easy. If I didn't have a Nest Cam and also didn't have an Antenna Analyzer, yes, it'd be more work to sort it out. If that were the situation, there are several solutions, including putting a turn-counter of some sort in the thing.

There you go, Any good ham would have bought Ten-Tec or MFJ instead of clowning around!!

With a tuning fork?

Funny story… last fall I was riding the mower, snagged a rope, pulled so hard I flexed & snapped my mast in half. Box came crashing down. Broke & bent most of the contents of the box. Sent it to Frank. He rebuilt it with all new stuff, including a faster/quieter motor, and 1:1 balun inside. There’s more I would change if it was my neck on the line. But yeah, he’s made significant improvements. I’m itching to try converting it to an adjustable vertical. Proper height on every band.

Very valid question; thanks for stopping by! It IS a lot of money for a wire antenna. It is, in my opinion (based partly of course on my discretionary income), a pretty fair price for a dozen wire antennas. Here's what I mean... I had an EFHW for 80m. Tuned to have the lowest SWR on the FT8 freq. But I couldn't use the top end of 75m with the internal tuner of my rig. I could tune at that top end of the band with an external tuner, but could only use 300W. I couldn't go full 800W with my amp. The tuner couldn't handle that much power, and the heat in the feedline/balun would probably degrade things quickly. So 80m is really 2 bands: 80 and 75. I have to re-adjust when moving from FT8 (or CW) to the Phone segment. So, this provides, in one unit, the ability to tune to a good enough match to use a tube amp with NO trans-match outside of it: 160, 80, 75, 60, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, & 6. (Note: 10 and 6 are also very large bands, where you're likely to re-adjust element length when moving from CW/Digital to Phone portions. Instructions for tuning 40m antennas typically ask you "What portion of the band do you use most? What PART of the band do you want it below 1.5:1?" My answer is "All of it." So really it's about 14-15 "sub-bands".) But wait, couldn't I make a fan dipole to cover all those bands? Yes. It would take hours and hours to make all the tuning adjustments (they affect each other). Plus, I'd have an absolute spider web of paracord holding the ends of the elements out. And something like 10x the total wind loading. If you want to only use a handful of bands, build your own dipoles; absolutely. However, I wanted to be able to go to ANY portion of ANY band, with minimum feedline loss, without going outside & fiddling with it. To me, yes, absolutely worth it.

@@kelvin0mql You've given some fair points and as long as you are happy thats great. I was initially interested though being a tight arse I'll carry on with wire, transformers, and traps. Thank you for the video as its a great concept. 73 de Richard 2E0IKJ

Get two tape measures

@@kf5hcr176 Well, yes. If you want to go outside, lower the center feed-point, change the element lengths, hoist it back up, check the tuning, possibly repeat it all again because you weren't quite close enough to the right length. How long would it take you to change bands? 10 minutes, if you hurry? This system was invented by a guy who was in the military, on a freezing cold, windy, rainy night, and had to go outside to manually re-adjust an HF antenna for a frequency change. Soaked to the bone and miserable, he thought "There HAS to be a better way." This is the result. When it's cold and rainy outside, I can change the antenna elements' lengths remotely from INSIDE. In about a minute.

At 1:15 I say "So 30 gets power..." and a few seconds later, "...the red wire, that taps onto the hot lead of the marker light." At 2:00 I'm explaining how an accessory relay can be latched closed by being momentarily given power. The yellow wire, then, naturally, if you understand what I'm describing about a latching relay, would have to be the hot side of the headlight low beam.

Sadly, I don't have that car anymore, or I'd re-record a better explanation of this, writing a script ahead of time, so I'm not fumbling my words. I miss that car. It got totaled a few years ago. I liked that car a lot more than the Chevy Tahoe I have now. There are SOME things I like about the Tahoe, but it's huge, lower MPG, older, rustier, louder.

Auto Zone or something like that. Anyplace that sells off-road lights, or higher amperage accessories, will have these relays. Super common.

I am not sure I'd agree with the straight key advice. That smells to me like old guys wanting to make sure that the newbies suffer like they had to. And yes, that IS a big-ass rusty C-clamp holding the key to my desk. This Bencher is very old, so rubber feet grip as well as rock hard teflon. Really need to re-arrange my desk/shack. It's ergonomically awful for radio. It's great for work, but that's not all I do here.

@@kelvin0mql Ha! Did not even notice the C-clamp! Well, key or paddle doesn't matter until I can start reliably copying! lol!

@@donz7992 Truth. That is the challenge.

That's temporary. It's the tow-string for the camera.

I would think so. I will search for a device or circuit for plugging an iambic paddle into a PC.

ua-cam.com/video/WTJX6WTdlMo/v-deo.html shows how to do just that!

Huh. Well that's just weird.

@@kelvin0mql I think I'm going to try this and see if it works. It's been this way with every low beam LED light. Oddly enough, at the top end of the cut-off, depending on humidity and "feel", say 48° to 54°, if I turn the lights to parking lights and sit with the engine warming up, the lights will eventually come on and most of the time, they will stay on. I have had them go off while driving and refuse to come back on after stopping at the gas station for a couple of minutes. I think that experiences like these are why most lay people attribute the problem to the cold AND THE LIGHTS... However, as the YT stated, the issue is not with the LED lights but in the electrical system. I've had this issue with original LEDs that required a Canbus... and the newest which do not require a Canbus. Adding a Canbus to the newest LED lights has never resolved the cold weather cut-off phenomenon. The hi-beam and driving/fog lights operate just fine... and, I think it's related to them being the same bulb and drawing more amps... or, if not the same bulb, then as the video stated, there's no ECM System requirement or check on the driving lights. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

@@texusarmy-fister7697 Might as well. I'm in MN. It's friggin' almost always below 54F. So it stands to reason I just assumed it was just how they behave all the time. AND - the cheapest devices that determine "How much current is being pulled?" are very affected by temperature. You know Detroit - never a good part when a cheap part will suffice.

@@texusarmy-fister7697 i've got the same car as you tell me what you used for it a fuse or a relay?

The antenna *can* tune to 160m, but I'm not a farmer - I don't have enough land for that. I have a mere 1/3-acre corner lot. To do 160, I'd have to have one leg of it go across the street to a neighbor's yard, and the other leg go into yet another neighbor's yard in the other direction. I am considering building a heavily-loaded vertical for 160 someday. I do not need a tuner (98% of the time). Just the other day I fired up the amp and worked a handful of POTA stations on 20m and 17m, peaking about 500w. No tuner, no problem. That said, because of the size of my yard, I can get this thing to stretch out to do SSB on 75m fine... but if I'm going to do FT8 way out at 80m, I don't have enough room. The trolleys have hit the guy stakes by that point, so I'm still a little too short. But it's within the SWR range that the rig's internal tuner can manage. I rarely do that, but I can if I'm so inclined. Although I'm able to get this telescoping mast up where the feed box would be at almost 50', it gets very wobbly, and needs a LOT of guy lines. A completely annoying amount of guy lines. Untenable. Plus, that's really only helpful for 80m... and 80m is not a fun band. It's where the meanest/grumpiest old hams hang out. And if I have it tuned to 6m or 10m with the center way up at 50', well that's far too high to be effective. You get a horribly bifurcated pattern when you put a dipole too high. So I have it up at about 35' instead, which is a better compromise for 6m through 40m.

@@kelvin0mql great info. Thank you for that. I’m really interested in getting me one.

@@iPigee I almost bought a 2nd one for Field Day & other out-n-about ops, but it’d feel too much like cheating.

Was really enjoying that video then it ended:( shame you didn't record contacts and how well/bad it was but new subscriber cheers n look forward the the next one.73

It wasn’t. It was the mid-tier package.

Go to tune-a-tenna.com/ and contact Frank (the inventor) there.

Hah! I bet not.

Oh, and thank you. HNY to you & your as well.

Yeah, I’d consider it portable. The height you’d want to hoist the box/feedpoint would depend on the band you wish to optimize most, so a half wavelength high. Then you just tolerate the compromises on higher or lower bands. I’ve had mine at 49’, but lowered it to 33’ in order to get a better pattern on 20m. But it’s just on a rope with a pulley at the top. Easy to drop it down for maintenance, or to operate from a lower height. My mast is a carbon fiber telescoping one. When I had it at full height, the top few poles bent too easily in windy conditions. I’d lower it to the ground when storms were brewing. Then when I decided to set it at 33’, I did so by not extending the thinnest tube at all, & shortening the next two about half way. That stiffened the top 8’ of it significantly. Anyway, I would have few qualms about dropping it all, packing it in the truck, & hoisting it up somewhere for Field Day or POTA. Goes pretty quick one you’ve done it twice.

@@kelvin0mql Thanks, I can never get it above 40 feet here where I live and even 33 feet would be a changeling too, maybe 25 to 30. I'll have to do more thinking on this. Thanks again.

Yes, it is stainless stranded bare wire. And you’re exactly correct. I will likely find after a year that I will need to clean it, not unlike cleaning my fly fishing line. And after a few years, will likely replace the line, which is readily accessible & pretty easy to do. Most parts of this system is serviceable by design.

@@kelvin0mql if replacing wire is there room on the reels to use small gauge copper insulated wire instead ?

@@denp54z That wouldn’t work well. That’d give you a center-loaded dipole. By the elements being bare stainless, the RF doesn’t “see” the spools as coils, but instead as just a cylinder of conductor.

I don't disagree. If I were trying to do it myself (or trying to make a business of it), I'd be looking at all the places a less-heavy-duty piece could be used. The manufacturer warned me to pay attention to not spool the wire all the way in, as "it will tear the rings off". Well, that tells me the motor is at least 8x more powerful than it needs to be, which also means far heavier. That, times about a dozen other things.

Valid question. Here's how I handle that. Firstly, when I change bands, I usually know what band I changed FROM. So if I was on 80 and I switched to 40, I know I'm going IN for quite a while. I listen for a clear spot, even though before re-tuning the thing might be quite deaf. Switch to FM, 5w, and tap the foot switch briefly every few seconds as I'm holding the IN toggle. Just long enough to see what the SWR is. Repeat until I see the SWR start to fall. As the SWR gets below 4:1 then I'll just hold the footswitch down looking for the minimum. That is usually ALL I need to do. BUT - I can get lost. I may have been listening to local AM Broadcast for a day or two (for which the antenna's length doesn't matter - I have to turn the Attenuator all the way up), and have had the radio off for another 3, and then have no idea what the antenna was most recently set to. If so, then I have a three-pronged approach. 1st, I have 3M Reflective Tape (the red/white stuff the put on the corners of semi trailers) on one of the element weights. This allows my outdoor Nest cam to see a bright spot from the IR illuminators even when it's 50' away. I have the cam tilted such that one entire element runs diagonally in the camera view. Lower left corner is 80m, upper-right corner is 6m plus the central box. In fact, at 6m, I can just barely see both weights. 2nd, if there's too much dew or dust on the Nest lens, I just step out my back door and look. I can guess pretty well which band it's set for. 3rd, if it's on 10m or 12m, and I can't be sure which, I just hook up the antenna analyzer and find out where the dip is. Could it be made so complicated that it's just the perfect thing for an Appliance Operator who memorized enough test questions/answers to pass but doesn't really understand? Yes. And there's a well-known antenna manufacturer that did just that - their antennas start at over $3k. That's not what this is. This is for the Amateur Radio Operator who understands how an Inverted Vee dipole is tuned, and would like to do so without literally cutting and/or splicing wire outside. Every time. I should make a little how-to video just about this subject. This would be good to cover.

@@kelvin0mql Thanks Kelvin. It's an amazingly simple idea which I love. I would probably put different colored paint on the wire realizing that I wouldn't see it at night. Lol. 73

@@Andrew-yx7sf Yup… simple it is. And it’s intentionally designed mostly with parts fairly easily sourced from hardware & marine suppliers. Someday I hope to get (& learn how to use) a nanoVNA. I suspect it might be very quick & easy to see at a glance where it’s currently resonant, then adjust accordingly.

@@kelvin0mql Nano VNA are great. SWR meters are good for monitoring. Nothing like a nice graph (like a waterfall) to see where you're at. But a VNA is also going to show other resonant points, like you can use a 40 mtr antenna on 17 meters. Colored paint is good if you can see the wire. At night inside the the shack, doesn't do much good unless you have a camera on it. I actually put reflective tape on a couple of element that light up nicely from IR camera. A wiper like on a rotor or a counter could work. Dave W9DLP

@@davep6977 I have since marked zones on a nest cam’s view. I’ve got reflective tape on the weight, so even at night, the IR illumination let’s me see where it has moved to. Visual gets me very close, then SWR meter finds me the dip within a few seconds.

Because of the slight springiness of the stainless steel cable, the sharp corners where they pass through the box have not been a problem. What you call "cool muscle" motors are more typically called stepper motors. That's how the SteppIR antennas work. But you add more expensive motors, and the logic circuitry to remember exact positions, and that's how you end up with a system that costs more than 3x as much. Would I love to have the cheapest SteppIR there is? Yes. But I'd rather keep the extra $2700. I'm funny that way.

Correct. There was nothing to hear but wind noise and such, & I was disinclined to record any narration.

Interesting; had not heard of canbus before, so I searched & found this explanation: ua-cam.com/video/hPrURxESxV4/v-deo.html ...but according to that, the problem I was having had nothing to do with canbus. Rather, it was the OTHER thing he explained, which can be handled by a resistor kit (i.e. little electric heater), which is precisely the dumb solution I was avoiding.

Even a great LED has issues that are not fixed for pre-LED vehicles. This is a great idea that can provide a permanent fix. Today's LEDs that are PnP for "All" vehicles are designed for LED-Designed electrical systems; those folks have no clue what weirdness exists in systems built around different electrical requirements and "rules".

Yeah, the speed is achingly slow when switching from 10m to 40m. Have to look out the window ‘cuz I can’t believe it’s not out there yet. But at the top end, it’s so fast (relative to wave-length) that it’s very tricky to find the sweet spot on 10m or 6m. Considering trying to put in a slow-speed mode somehow for the fine tuning of higher bands. The apex of the antenna is about 45’ up. If I can somehow stiffen the top 2 sections, I think I might be able to get 49’. Long way up to hold a Willeys Jeep. LOL

I have a cordless drill that recently broke. I might take it apart and try making a remote-tune-able vertical. And the circuitry to do variable speed is already all there. Might be interesting.

@@kelvin0mql That would be interesting. I'm still exploring options for an outdoor antenna(s). Think when the wife is out of town this summer I might experiment. No towers but I am intrigued by the telescoping fiberglass masts for easily removal if needed.

The typical ones, surely. But ice storms or heavy hoarfrost, I expect I’ll have to either keep it on the band it’s on until it thaws, or pulley it down to clear ice off the elements. This is why I went with a setup that allows me to bring it down with zero climbing.

The numbers are not fuse locations. The connections to each spade of the relay are explained verbally in the narration. I did figure it out by sketching a schematic on paper first, & worked out in my head as to how it should work, before going to the auto parts store to buy 2 accessory relays. In hindsight, I realized I could’ve probably done it with only one relay, & just run a hot lead from one LED over to the other. Never got a chance to test that theory, since that car got totaled. I may find myself doing this again with my current vehicle, if we ever go back to driving at night on a daily basis post-pandemic.

@@kelvin0mql thanks for your reply guy! Yeah I just installed leds on my wife’s car. Ford was thinking smart but caused more problems than fixes with this one

@@kelvin0mql my moms escape i put led headlights in and when i cramk the engine over and it turns on it turns off it says low beam bulb fault on the dash do i need a fuse or a relay?

@@micahtolleson9735 "Low Beam Fault" was the exact problem I had with LED headlights. This relay thing demonstrated here was how I worked around that problem.

This is ridiculous Ford. Really. Thank you for this

@@RBoysMedia Good luck with it, sir.