Antenna works too well - I'm worried!

[crstrode]

Yes, that's right, my portable field antenna is working too well.

Just as a test I constucted a 1/2 wave end fed antenna for 20 meters. I added an electrical 1/4 wave of 300 ohm twinlead.  Per the classic end-fed zepp, only one conductor of the twinlead is connected to the 1/2 wave radiator.  This test setup was about 15 feet above ground at the far end, and less than 10 feet at the feedline end.

Connected directly to the KAT1, it loaded up very easily and facilitated my first "field" qsos with the K1.

I also tried it on 30 meters where the antenna loaded just fine in several different configurations:

1.  One side of the twinlead disconnected at the K1.

2.  One side of the twinlead disconnected at the K1 and a 1/4 wave counterpoise tossed out into the lawn.
3.  Both sides of the twinlead connected to the K1 (just like the 20 meter configuration).

Then, just for chuckles I tried it on 40 meters - same outcome as the 30 meter test.

Every CQ I answered resulted in a QSO.

I didn't try a QSO on 15, but the darned thing sure seemed to load up with no difficulty.

All of this cannnot be correct - I thought anetnnas were more finicky than this.
Why does this hunk of wire and 14-feet of twinlead seem to be working no matter which band I choose?


By the way, my QTH is not in a dream location.  I'm 250 miles inland at 250 feet ASL.  I'm surrounded by two-story houses, down in a hole in a residential neighborhood built on very poor conductivity soil.

I gotta be doing something wrong - first of all, I'm right in the midst of making a homebrew balun (very similar to the BL2) because I thought I would need one for the twinline.  Since I've never even tried an end-fed antenna, I knew that my trusty dipoles would work (a Norcal doublet is next on the list of antennas to test).  Will the KAT1 also like the Norcal Doublet without a balun?

[Dick Dievendorff]

Elecraft has received a number of reports of very slow firmware load,
sometimes accompanied by a Windows "blue screen", when using some USB to
Serial Adapters when loading the DSP with the most recent versions of the K3
Utility.

Many USB to Serial Adapters, including the Elecraft KUSB, contain a Prolific
Technologies Chip Set, and some of the earlier Prolific device drivers
(including the one on the CD shipped with the KUSB) suffer exceptions during
error recovery situations.  The result is a Windows "Blue Screen".

If you have this sort of USB to Serial adapter, the remedy for the class of
errors we've seen is to install an updated Prolific USB to Serial Adapter
device driver.  

To determine what driver you have installed now, on Windows 2000, 2003, XP
and Vista:

1) Plug the USB to Serial Adapter into a USB port on your computer.  It
doesn't need to be connected to the K3 for this test.
2) Right click the "Computer" or "My Computer" and select "Manage".
3) In the left pane of "Computer Management", select "Device Manager".
4) In the right pane tree view, click the + sign next to Ports (COM and
LPT).
5) Look for a COM port that says something like "Prolific USB-to-Serial
Comm Port (COM4)"
6) Double click that entry to open a Properties viewer, and select the
"Driver" tab.
7) The driver manufacturer (Prolific) and driver version should be
visible on the Driver tab.

If you are using Windows Vista, the appropriate device driver is the one you
get from Windows Update when you first plug in the USB to Serial Adapter.
I have version 2.0.2.1, and it works fine with the K3 Utility.

If you are using Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003, the currently
available device driver is version 2.0.2.8, and it's available from the
Prolific web site, http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31.  This
driver may also work on Vista, but I haven't done that as I'm getting
working drivers from the Microsoft Update facility.

Prolific Driver version 2.0.2.4 also works fine with the K3 Utility.

If you're using the driver that came on the CD with the KUSB, this is an
update you really want to make.  We've had at least a half-dozen reports of
this sort of failure, and all were corrected by installing the current
device driver from the Prolific site.

The K3 Utility issues standard Windows 32 API serial port requests.  However
sometimes in error recovery situations a pending asynchronous Read operation
must be cancelled (we waited a while, and it didn't complete in time), and
cancelling pending I/O has on occasion been an area of difficulty for some
device drivers.   It's hard to test.  Prolific has it right now.

The link to the Prolific web site is in the Troubleshooting section of the
K3 Utility Help, and Eric has recently added a link to the Prolific
Technologies driver update web page on the Elecraft K3 Software page at
http://www.elecraft.com/K3/k3_software.htm.

The chipset in the KUSB is a Prolific Technologies 2303, and the top link on
the page is the appropriate driver. Version 2.0.2.8, the file is named

wd_pl2303_v20019v2028.zip

Dick, K6KR


_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Thom LaCosta]

At 05:33 PM 1/14/2008, crstrode wrote:

>Yes, that's right, my portable field antenna is working too well.

That's encouraging.

Now if that happened to me, I'd just figure that I wasn't technical
enough to understand why it shouldn't work.

Wonder if the K3 hase more range in the tuner than the KAT1?

73,
Thom k3hrn

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Dave Van Wallaghen]

Hi Carl,

>
> Connected directly to the KAT1, it loaded up very easily and facilitated
> my
> first "field" qsos with the K1.
>

I did a similar thing here last summer with a 66' doublet I made from 28g
wire and ladderline with 3" wooden dowels as spacers. At the urging of Ron
and Don, I connected the balanced line directly to my KAT2 and it tuned up
nicely on all bands (80 - 10) with some trouble on 20. I simple made a 6
foot stub of ladderline that I inserted for 20m and it worked well.

I thought it worked pretty well with my longest contact into Liberty, UT
(from Detroit) at 1500 miles or so on 40m at 5 watts. I look forward to the
warm weather again this spring so I can try it out again. My guess is that
with better solar conditions approaching, it will be even more fun.

Then again, it may just simply be the "Mojo" everyone talks about ;-)

73,
Dave W8FGU

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Gary D Krause]

I think it's the Mojo.  I have a K2 and I'm always getting responses like, "I
can't believe you are only running 5 or 10 watts".  I use quarter wave ground
plane verticals.

Gary, N7HTS


On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:30:57 -0500
  "Dave Van Wallaghen" <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi Carl,
>
>>
>> Connected directly to the KAT1, it loaded up very easily and facilitated
>> my
>> first "field" qsos with the K1.
>>
>
> I did a similar thing here last summer with a 66' doublet I made from 28g
> wire and ladderline with 3" wooden dowels as spacers. At the urging of Ron
> and Don, I connected the balanced line directly to my KAT2 and it tuned up
> nicely on all bands (80 - 10) with some trouble on 20. I simple made a 6
> foot stub of ladderline that I inserted for 20m and it worked well.
>
> I thought it worked pretty well with my longest contact into Liberty, UT
> (from Detroit) at 1500 miles or so on 40m at 5 watts. I look forward to the
> warm weather again this spring so I can try it out again. My guess is that
> with better solar conditions approaching, it will be even more fun.
>
> Then again, it may just simply be the "Mojo" everyone talks about ;-)
>
> 73,
> Dave W8FGU
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Dan Romanchik KB6NU]

Hi, Dave--

Ann Arbor here. Last summer, I also built a 66' doublet, but used  
twisted pair for the feedline. Connected the twisted pair directly to  
my KX1 with an internal antenna tuner. I didn't' work UT, but I did  
have solid contacts with VT, OK, and MD stations. It seems to work a  
lot better than the random-wire antenna (28' vertical radiator, three  
radials) described in the antenna tuner manual. For more information,  
go to http://kb6nu.com/a-new-antenna-for-my-kx-1/.

btw, Dave, our club here in Ann Arbor has a portable operating event  
every last Monday of the month. We'd love to have you join us. For  
more details on that, go to www.w8pgw.org.

73!

Dan KB6NU
----------------------------------------------------------
CW Geek and MI Affiliated Club Coordinator
Read my ham radio blog at http://www.kb6nu.com
LET'S GET MORE KIDS INTO HAM RADIO!



On Jan 14, 2008, at Jan 14, 6:30 PM, Dave Van Wallaghen wrote:

> Hi Carl,
>
>>
>> Connected directly to the KAT1, it loaded up very easily and  
>> facilitated
>> my
>> first "field" qsos with the K1.
>>
>
> I did a similar thing here last summer with a 66' doublet I made  
> from 28g
> wire and ladderline with 3" wooden dowels as spacers. At the urging  
> of Ron
> and Don, I connected the balanced line directly to my KAT2 and it  
> tuned up
> nicely on all bands (80 - 10) with some trouble on 20. I simple  
> made a 6
> foot stub of ladderline that I inserted for 20m and it worked well.
>
> I thought it worked pretty well with my longest contact into  
> Liberty, UT
> (from Detroit) at 1500 miles or so on 40m at 5 watts. I look  
> forward to the
> warm weather again this spring so I can try it out again. My guess  
> is that
> with better solar conditions approaching, it will be even more fun.
>
> Then again, it may just simply be the "Mojo" everyone talks about ;-)
>
> 73,
> Dave W8FGU
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com