XG1 or XG2 on 10M?

[N2TK]

Has anyone had any luck trying to get a XG1 or XG2 to work on 10M? If so,
please pass along how you did it. I would like to have it to check out coax
loss by hanging the XG on the end of the coax and measuring the  loss in the
shack. This would take into account anything inserted in the line such as
lightning protection, coax switches, etc.

 

73,

N2TK, Tony

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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Tony,

The XG1 and XG2 require a fundamental mode crystal.  Reliable
fundamental mode crystals for 10 meters are difficult to find.

For what you want to accomplish, I would suggest an alternative.  Put a
dummy load at the antenna end of the coax.  Use a wattmeter at the shack
end, and transmit at some known (and controlled) level - then put the
wattmeter at the dummy load end and transmit with the same level.
The power difference will allow you to calculate the loss.

If you have a signal generator like the HP8640 and a low level power
meter, you can use that instead of the transmitter and high level wattmeter.

There are many other ways to "skin that cat".

73,
Don W3FPR

N2TK, Tony wrote:
> Has anyone had any luck trying to get a XG1 or XG2 to work on 10M? If so,
> please pass along how you did it. I would like to have it to check out coax
> loss by hanging the XG on the end of the coax and measuring the  loss in the
> shack. This would take into account anything inserted in the line such as
> lightning protection, coax switches, etc.
>
>  
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[N2TK]

Hi Don,
Tnx for the info. In the past I used the wattmeter, dummy load setup. And it
does the job quite well. It is just a pain to do by yourself and requires a
number of trips back and forth between the shack and the tower out back to
check out 7 coax/hardline runs. I only tilt over the tower every few years
(I'm rebuilding the MonstIR and adding 60/80M to it). The last time was 4
years ago. When I do that I like to check out everything. I keep a log on
everything including measured coax loss in case a problem occurs.  

I had bought a fundamental 10M crystal but could not get it to oscillate
with the XG1. But I had not played much with changing capacitor values.

I plan on using a signal generator and low level power meter this weekend.

But a 10M XG2 makes it easier to do. 20M is too low in frequency to really
indicate loss on 10M.

By the way I had installed a 160M crystal in one of my XG1's. Stick a wire
in it and it becomes a nice signal source for checking low band receive
antennas.  

73,
N2TK, Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Wilhelm [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 6:44 PM
To: N2TK, Tony
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] XG1 or XG2 on 10M?

Tony,

The XG1 and XG2 require a fundamental mode crystal.  Reliable
fundamental mode crystals for 10 meters are difficult to find.

For what you want to accomplish, I would suggest an alternative.  Put a
dummy load at the antenna end of the coax.  Use a wattmeter at the shack
end, and transmit at some known (and controlled) level - then put the
wattmeter at the dummy load end and transmit with the same level.
The power difference will allow you to calculate the loss.

If you have a signal generator like the HP8640 and a low level power
meter, you can use that instead of the transmitter and high level wattmeter.

There are many other ways to "skin that cat".

73,
Don W3FPR

N2TK, Tony wrote:
> Has anyone had any luck trying to get a XG1 or XG2 to work on 10M? If so,
> please pass along how you did it. I would like to have it to check out
coax
> loss by hanging the XG on the end of the coax and measuring the  loss in
the
> shack. This would take into account anything inserted in the line such as
> lightning protection, coax switches, etc.
>
>  

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