Month: March 2014

Antenna Trimming Day

March 2, 2014
Dave Barnhart
Antennas

I built an inexpensive 40M dipole using a crappie pole as a mast. Today was a great day to take it outside and trim it to the correct length. There is a nice little park not far from my house and so I set up there. The whole job was pretty simple thanks to my MFJ-269.

If you look closely, you can see that the tip of the pole is bent over from the weight of the antenna wires but it still worked just fine. I’d love to have a Buddipole but for now this gets me there for a fraction of the cost.

Anderson Powerpoles

powerpoles_45_xlrg About a year go I started converting power connections in the ham shack to Anderson Powerpoles and I really like them.

Years ago in my earlier ham shack I used banana plugs. I’ve still got a drawer full of them. When I started having multiple boxes in the shack that needed 12V, my first instinct was to build another power distribution box using banana jacks and plugs.

Then a fellow ham told me about Anderson Powerpoles. I took a look at the RIGrunner 4008H at my local HRO and bought it on the spot.

RIGrunner 4008H The connections are positive and I like the fact that every output is fused. So now I keep a back of Powerpole connectors and crimper on hand.

My new solar powered ham station project is using Anderson Powerpoles throughout.