04/25/2024
St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club
The Log Periodic antenna was transferred from its old location atop the shipping containers to the new tower by John, KI4UIP; Donn, N4KII; Dave, KR4U; Bob, N2ESP; and Hal, W1EES. Ron, KP2N replaced the logging computer power supply. With luck, W4TA will be ready for the sweepstakes. Click on title for photos.
The program for Friday, Nov 4, will be antenna modeling, building simple models and then comparing them to more complex antennas. Ed, NZ1Q will demonstrate EZNEC software, which offers a free demo program that can be easily downloaded. Ed will go through how to build an antenna model and read the resulting charts and graphs for a simple dipole, a two element beam and then as time permits, an Off Center Fed Dipole and other antennas., Radiation patterns, SWR, impedance matching and effects of grounds will be demonstrated.
Be sure … Click for more
SPARC participated in the St Petersburg Science Festival again this year. The photos below show our hobby can still draw a crowd. Thanks to Leslie, WA4EEZ and Roger, K4SHI for the loan of their HF transceiver and Ron, KP2N for loaning his power supply. Making this effort a success were: Dave, KR4U; John, KI4UIP; Dee, N4GD; Ed NZ1Q; Bob, NB2G and Bob, N2ESP.
Yes, it’s time for an antenna get together.
The plan is to remove the log periodic antenna from atop the storage containers, followed by the mast, rotator and thrust bearing. If you would like to help (or supervise) in this effort, the party starts at 10:00AM on Saturday (9/8) the day after the next SPARC meeting.
Hope to see you there.
Our trusty tower team consisting of John, KI4UIP; Donn, N4KII and Dave KR4U were at it again. Today (9/27) the tower tilt mechanism was mated with the telescoping tower. The tower mounts to the base with two large bolts that also serve as hinges when the tower goes from horizontal to vertical or vice versa. Once the third leg is bolted to the base, the tower can then be extended to a raised height of approximately 54 feet.
Final installation details include adding tower grounding, installing the rotor, mast, and … Click for more
Today (9/20) the crew of Dave, KR4U; Donn, N4KII; and John KI4UIP installed the tower tilt assembly on the concrete base. Notice the ancient Egyptian influence used in keeping the heavy mechanism above the threaded rod so as not to bend the rods. Now we get to prepare the tower while the concrete base continues to cure.
