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W1EJM Station in The Villages, Florida

2003-2015

Click on any photo to see a larger version and explanatory text.

Station: Kenwood TS-570D, D-104, Vibroplex Bug, Collins 30L-1 ~500w, Palstar AT2K Tuner, Flagpole Vertical, Home Brew Remote Matching Network.<br /><br />So, how come 2 tuners?<br />The remote matching network provides just one fixed solution for each band for a legal limit station. <br />My preference is to have a very robust remote box with 'big' relays, coils and capacitors, so I didn't opt for an autotuner. <br />In most cases that 'single solution" is sufficient to get the VSWR under 2:1, but on the higher bands the 30L-1 isn't ultra stable with 3:1, so the AT2K is brought in to bring the line down to 2:1 (or better) if needed.
 Flagpole Vertical, Force 12, with CB whip topper.
 ~1000 feet of #16 insulated copper wire are set ~ 1/4 inch into the earth (ie grass root level). <br /><br />The radials were added over ~8 year interval, first 4, then 8 more, then another 9 more and finally 13 more to get to 34. <br /><br />Some signal improvement was noted because I got out better (no real data), but the main difference is that the tuning is much less dependent on soil moisture condition.
Camera on the Flagpole rope gives a view of the last 13 radials going in. The screen room (off my left sholder) is 20ft from the Flagpole.
 Home Brew Remote Matching Network is controlled by 8 relays, one for each band. The components are quite robust. <br /><br />At 500w pep there really isn't any sense of heating except for some mimor warmth in the Low Pass toroidal choke used on 75mtr (with 1900pf).<br /><br />The parts chassis simply drops into the watertight enclosure and is mated with 4 connectors (2 banana plugs, 1 lug and a 9 pin Molex control cable connector).<br /><br />The gray pipes are slip-on's to cover the external connectors and cables.

Continuously active since 1956. Originally licensed Kn2VVN in the Queens County in NYC.

Relocated to Connecticut in 1967 and received the call sign W1EJM.

Relocated to Punta Gorda, Florida in1997, then in 2003 to The Villages, Florida.   View

Operating 75-10mtr. Favorites at 3.902, 3.953, 7.225, 18,100+/-, 28.600+/-

Country Hams Net Daily 0900 Eastern, 7225, SSB mode, coverage Eastern half of the US.

Equipment In-House: Icom 7300 Xcvr, Amp Supply LK-500ZC, Palstar AT2K Tuner, 450mhz FM.

Equipment Garage: Kenwood TS-570D Xcvr, Kenwood TS-450, Collins 30L-1 ~500w,  40mtr Inverted V@15 ft

Shared House and Garage: All HF Band Double Topper Flagpole Antenna 20 ft up, 2mtr/450mhz FM.

Interests: Stealthy Antennas, Microcontrollers, Circuit Design Analog / Digital and discrete, 

                 Science Topics, Computer Applications.

Modeling: 4NEC2, Nec2Go, EZNEC Demo, SimSmith

Background: BSEE, Test Instrumentation Design, Aerial Reconnaissance Systems.

Website with photos and info.... www.W1EJM.com