Thanks to everybody that called in on the day .
It was a bit of a challenge keeping things flowing , because most people could not hear each other and it was a relief when Lee and Lo’ got to Caldbeck and some of them could hear him well enough to work , but it was all interesting stuff, and I’m up for it again next time ,
The 5/8 antenna I made flattered to deceive , in theory it should have gain over the 1/2 wave but in Chris’s words (G0WFH) from N of Carlisle it sounded like I was using a dummy load compared to the 1/4 wave . So, the 5/8 was " fixed " yesterday, using the wire cutters and soldering iron , and is now a 1/2 wave which which will accept my optional "blackpool rock " 70cm phasing tube !
Reg 2E0LDF called in trying his moxon he’d just made which seemed to be working OK .
It’s already done Lee !
I cut that 5/8 up and soldered it back together as a half wave . Dropped the stick of rock tube onto it and it has a flatter SWR curve on 70cms and 2m than the original one and lower reactance
It’s now shortened and the same as the ones I always use ( the 1/2 wave one I did most of the net with) so it will be OK. I was opening MX and getting an S7 return sig with it about 10ft above the drive and 5W from the FT-65. and GD and DG repeaters returning S9
That’s twice I tried it as a 5/8 and the RX and TX signal reports dropped significantly compared to the shorter one . So much for the “improved gain” it was supposed to have eh ?
