A bit more top band

Well,

Following the antenna I originally made here and then replaced here, I've been fiddling with the earthing arrangement for the system.

I've added some counterpoise wires which I have stapled to the fence and various other bits and bobs in the garden.

I've then made an artificial earth/counterpoise tuner thingamabob, much like this thing back here, and mounted it at the base of the antenna between the earth rods and the radials:

And then adjusted the capacitor for maximum smoke on top band when TXing.

There's quite a lot of current flowing, what improvement it makes I dont know.

Here's a map of FT8 and CW QSOs I've made on top band since the changes to the antenna:

Chopsey Cat (AKA Git Bastard Cat from Hell) is asleep in the conservatory:

whereas Maggie and Florrie Cat are tucked up in one of the dogs beds:

Local conditions.

Artificial Ground - You What?

Well,

My chum Vince, G0ORC has been having a spot of bother in his shack. We have concluded that this may be down to RF problems and as his shack is upstairs, there is little point in trying to create an RF earth as by the time the cable gets to the radio the impedence will likely be too high to be of use.

I found this whilst rummaging on the interweb:

http://www.remeeus.eu/english/hamradio/artificial_ground.htm

And it looked like exactly the kind of thing he needed. As I have quite a collection of bits here, I had a rummage and started to make this for him:

The hardest part by far was mounting the tuning capacitor such that it's issolated from the chasis and effectively floating within the circuit.

The inductor was very scientific and involved some detailed calculations; I just found an old silicone tube and wound some wire round it:

We have configured this inside the shack of G0ORC and initial reports are suggesting that this is enabling current to flow out of the shack into a counterpoise that we have constructed.

As a starter for 10 Artificial Ground experiment goes, seems to work OK.

Fun, egh?