I use this little test device daily and this morning I realized
maybe you all should know about it.
My sister gave me this little device from her AVON catalogue.
Tests AAA-D and 9Volt transistor batteries. It has 3 led's
which light up individually or in pairs to give 5 separate
battery condition indications.
I use it daily, especially before charging batteries. Many times
My kids recharge all four AA's from their games when only one
bad battery needed charging. Try as I might, I can't keep the
harmonics from feeding the charger. I used to have over 48 AA cells
and can only locate about 8 now....
Anyway, it is very useful.
Antenna idea: I used aluminum tubing with small homemade compression
sleeves between sections that don't taper. This used to be my
homebrew vertical but I decided to get more directivity with
a dipole. I supported one end of the dipole with the old aluminum
antenna.
The actual idea: at the top of the vertical mast I added a horizontal
plastic tube, just drill and slide the tube into the aluminum. The
support rope at the antenna end goes into the tube and down to my
fence. I can lower the antenna easily with this set-up. Another
rope steadies the mast as well. Additionally, "The bending tree"
concept is at work, i.e. "Bend, dont break": In high winds as the
dipole gets stretched and pulled, and the mast gets pushed as well
by the wind, you'll find that the top of the mast will slide a
bit along the rope, giving a little.
I just go out and wiggle the bottom of the mast after the storm and
it goes true vertical by itself. Stresses on the dipole seem to
be minimul with my technique.
It has been up for 4 months now and shows now sign of problems.
I hope this is of use...
72 Gang!
-Ed
-- 72/73 de we6w qrp es CW ONLY (K8FF/Norcal Paddles! TLC555 HB keyer) HW-8,OHR-100, Pixie2, Johnson Viking II, Drake TR-3, NC38S. QRP-L#1068,ARCI#9397,Norcal#2227,ARS#275,AR#112 grid CM88ok http://www.qsl.net/we6w (From Non-Ham to Extra in one Day.)
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