Ham radio manual ground rod driver

Sep 24, 2015 in this video i demonstrate how i use the water jet or garden hose method to install a 10 ft long, 12 diameter copper pipe ground rod i use for all of my antennas. Rather, it acts like a capacitor between the antenna, and the surface under the vehicle in question. While you may get 15 to 20 miles with a ground wave like cb a repeater can extend your signal for over a hundred miles in some cases. The ground rod thing is a relic of the early days of ham radio due to the use of very low frequencies in the spark gap daysno its not. Testing the grounds resistance now mainly indicated the contact resistance between the ground rod and the earth itself. Easy online ordering for the ones who get it done along with 247. Articles of interest to radio amateurs around the world. Notes on grounding amateur and commercial radio installations. The ham itup upconverter was one of the first upconverters to go on the market that.

Parts, accessories and tools for bucket trucks, digger derricks and all other utility industry needs. This unit may be used with rods which are 34 in diameter. The 400 and 600 series coils are custom designed and hand constructed in our own machine shop in texas. Some time ago i do had the necessity to have a power supply to work only with the little youkits telegraphic radio. These manuals contain enough data to tear apart, and reassemble any or all parts of the vehicle.

Texas bugcatcher hf mobile antenna info mtc texas sized ham. However, if such a counterpoise is connected to a ground rod at its far end, it becomes a highz rf choke. Presented is a method learned from other hams on how to install a ground rod with minimal or no hammering. The dcu1 control unit is not weatherproof and must be located in a house or other protected location.

Radio manuals on qrzcq the database for radio hams. Scorpion antennas are the hoa busters with our home package. I had an s7 noise level and lots of noise from my computer and other things in the house. Ground rod a copper or copperclad steel rod that is driven into the earth. Ground rods radials grounding is for safety lightning protection blows a breaker if a power system short connections should be big copper and short. Power, grounding, bonding, and audio for ham radio safety, hum, buzz, and rfi jim brown k9yc. I took my first steps on 2 metres in 1963, with an scr522a. A ground rod will saturate the ground for a radius of twice its. Ground the mains power going into the equipment with the appropriate protector. Yaesu ft100 faq knowledge base lee devlins website. Oct 19, 2014 dual homestead, david nash, prepper, preparedness, how to, diy, teotwawki, homestead, homesteading, diy prepper, prepper projects, diy prepper projects, project, diy. Grounding is key to good reception iw5edi simone hamradio.

The mfj1932 consists of 2 sets of 4 radial wire assemblies giving a total of eight 14foot radial wires. Our company has been building quality antennas for ham radio for over 16 years. It features a one piece machined construction with a long socket. The problematic ham scribbled quickly in a piece of paper and came up with a final wiring that looked like the circuit shown in fig. The number on the lower lefthand corner of the back cover with the format such as 9907vey is the printing lot number and does not contain information. The meter in the ft817 if that is your radio is ok, however it does not yield readings that i believe 100%. Four nonconductive guy ropes should be fastened above the center insulator. Mfj1775 rotatable minidipole instruction manual 1 mfj1775 parts list as you unpack your antenna you should find the parts in the following list.

Experience wnrd535 in your recent post you advised that coax should be grounded at two sites, first at the antenna and then just before entering the house. That surface, whatever it is, forms the actual ground plane, albeit rather lossy. Mfj mfj1932 cables ground, mfj1932 ham radio outlet. A conductive ground rod is driven into the earth for a certain distance. As a new ham you wont know if the issue you are having is your lack of experience, or something thats broke on the radio. A ground that is good enough for dc or low frequency power lines 60 hz is not necessarily a good ground at radio frequencies. Amateur radio station grounding and lightning protection.

Jul 14, 2019 start digging a hole with a shovel or posthole digger. This is an impact driver and it takes about 10 minutes to drive in an eight foot ground rod into gravel and clay. Where swl is the wellknown abbreviation for shortwave listener and rf82 is a 4character grid square describing your kiwis general location available from this site. Feb 03, 2019 like you, one of the first things i did was to install a ham radio. I was thinking about putting a j pole in the attic, just for times i need to lower the mast, which should only be for a couple days. A portal that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the internet. If the antenna is ground mounted, install as shown in figure 4. This connection can be made inside to a metal coldwater pipe or outside to a ground rod. Mfj1775 rotatable minidipole instruction manual 4 tools and time required for assembly the estimated assembly time is two hours. If not, you can tap them into place, prior to the concrete setting. Dont worry about a long trench to ground the entire house electrical system.

The adapter connecting the radio to the tuner is two of the amphenol rightangle adapters connected with a short piece of lmr600 with the center conductor diameter ground down from 0. Milwaukee tool 48624091 ground rod driver bit graybar. Figure 2 shows a grounding diagram of a typical ham station. Ideally that ground should be at the connector entrance, but often it is located up on some board near an audio preamplifier. Ive bought new from universal radio, dx engineering, gigaparts and ham radio outlet.

Wilson 305430 no ground antenna kit, slide to tune coax, fiberglass, 3ft, black, 300 watt, 26. Kenwood tmd710ga ham radio install lots of pics 2018. Antenna assembly requires the following hand tools. Ground rod installation water jetgarden hose method youtube. Oct 12, 2012 ground rods in rocky areas ground rods in rocky areas may 11th factoftheday it is practically impossible to drive a ground rod in some mountainous areas of the western united states and in certain other parts of the world without rock drilling equipment or dynamite. I used velcro on the base and cable ties to secure it. If the entire rf spectrum behaved exactly the same, i would fully agree with you that it was a joke. After building a mains psu for the set, i gave the soft 832 tubes a decent burial and reworked the bc625 transmitter completely. I wanted to use bronze or some other material that wouldnt rust, but home depot was out of the bronze rod on the day i happened to go there. You would still need to bond it to the service ground rod.

This no ground antenna kit was specifically designed to solve the lack of ground plane problems found on vehicles constructed of plastic, fiberglass, wood or aluminum. I had a ground rod outside my window so i decided to use it to ground the radio. The length of the lmr600 and the mounting position of the tuner are critical because you dont want to obstruct the ports on the rear of the radio. Harger cuspgw lightning protection, cuspgw ham radio. The ground strap eventually reaches the earth ground system, a ground rod, through a heavy gauge copper wire 11 feet in length. The jpole antenna, more properly known as the j antenna 6, is one of the most popular antennas for 2m vertical use in the amateur radio ranks. Ground connection a connection made to the earth for electrical safety. Ground assembly has melamine backing plate with predrilled 16 on center mounting holes. I also wanted a ground rod at each antenna site, so i again headed to the local rental store. A heavy copper wire from the ham shack connects all station equipment to the ground rod. The receive signals were very much better when i grounded the radio to an outside ground rod.

Power, grounding, bonding, and audio for ham radio safety. I can tell you honestly that this was not so fervently discussed on the radio in earlier decades. A good ground is one that has a low resistance to the earth at radio frequencies. Vhf and uhf antenna construction, satellite antenna cross booms, masts, quad spreaders uhf to 40 meters. The ground rod is bonded to the ac service ground as well. Id like to ground my radio, speaker and psu with a dedicated conductor that is separate from the houses wiring. The antenna can be ground mounted directly at earth ground level similar to a ground mounted vertical using earth ground as the counterpoise. Its designed for use in the field to ground your amateur radio station. Erico nvent egrd58 ground rod driver graybar store. Sorry road boy i myself am not a ham operatori hope kc0rey sees this, or another truck driver who is a ham operatorthanks redneck, aug 18, 2006. Is there an advantage in grounding at more than these sites. For example a microphone input normally has a ground inside the radio.

Finally holidays, time for my experiments and radio transmitions. Ive read that j poles should be grounded and i wanted some opinions on that. It does, however, serve as a convenient tiepoint for such radials, as does the bolt. An upconverter allows you to receive hf frequencies 030 mhz with an rtlsdr which has a lower frequency limit of 24 mhz. The tech bench elmers amateur radio society club station callsign kf6gdj. My understanding is that this will help keep the equipment at the same potential as ground and thereby reduce the chance that a surge, either from the antenna or the power. Est 770 6147443 phone 678 7317681 fax email 312 swanson drive suite b lawrenceviile, ga 30043. The push of one button either up or down starts the motor in the antenna moving and if the transmitter is on the motor will keep going until the swr bridge sees an improvement, it then slows the motor and starts recording the swr seen in the dip.

Minimum gauge wire for connection to ground rod showing 8 of 38 messages. Grounding systems in the ham shack paradigms, facts and. Safety from the human, dwelling, and equipment aspects. Each set has a 14 in ring lug for attaching to the antenna ground point. Wax the powder coat and the lexan weather shield, dielectric grease on the quickconnect for the whip. The manual revision can be determined by the part number of the manual. There is a heavy ground strap running along the back of the equipment. Annually i tear it down per owner manual, clean up components, grease the threaded rod. Remove the long ground bus and terminate all ground wires from each equipment into a single point near your ground rod. This number is located directly below the barcode on the back cover of the manual and will have a format like e08981003. Alt offers ground rod drivers made from durable steel and allows the user to easily drive ground rods by hand. The parts can be found at any home improvement store. Radio communication methods during emergencies part 4, by r. If an external device is connected to the mic jack, and that external device grounds the mic shield back to the station ground or power mains safety.

Amateur radio station grounding and lightning protection preface grounding and lightning protection are critical to the safe and legal operation of an amateur radio station. Figure 1 shows the most basic form of radio antenna ground. There is one more ground rod to add at the base of the mast for the 144440 vertical on the north side of the shop and that will be tied to the ground rod at. With a 5894 pa, modulated by a pair of 6v6gts in a special triode connection, and a 6252 driver, the transmitter delivered 35w am to a 50ohm load. It is a convenient and effective radial system that provides the necessary return path for ground currents to reduce ground losses. Id rather thread thinner solid aluminum than to solder copper. The ham radio manual ground rod driver is, no one is heating a matchbox as a product you can reduce for a agreement down the use.

Start digging a hole with a shovel or posthole digger. Ham radio grounding bar kits are available with or without call sign engraving. The va1 is full featured, a less expensive model is available with less features. The function of a ground rod is to place the antenna at d. Just provide your call sign in the comments section when placing your order, or call 18667169773. Gigaparts your trusted source for amateur radio, computers and more. The top 2 issues every ic7610 owner needs to check for. By putting the end of the ground rod in the hole, it will be easier to start hammering.

As with all gla systems coils the inserts in each end of the coil center post are machined from 1 hexagon brass bar. A proper ground consists of an 8 foot copper clad, steel ground rod driven into the ground as close as possible to the antenna base. All ground system connections that are subject to moisture should be soldered with 5% silver95% tin solder. A notch up in performance is to cut the wire radials to the frequency bands of operation. Some documents may be very large, be patient when downloading. All manuals are unless otherwise noted, you will need at minimum to open. My choice for a portable antenna analyzer is the small autek va1 as pictured below. It is small, light and runs off a single 9 volt transistor radio battery.

If the shank on this looks a little different than the shank on your spline carbide tipped drill bits it is because a ground rod driver is made not to rotate just like a cold chisel. Building an underground earth probe antenna for 0 14 mhz txrx. Guys are a form of insurance, however, which we recommend. To get the top down to a more manageable level, dig a hole 24 feet 0. This is a simple portable ground rod you can build out of copper pipe. Triband hf vertical 308 industrial park starkville. Oct 27, 2017 that way you are not buying someone elses problem. But elf 3 to 30 hz is used to order submarines to rise to a shallow depth where it can receive some other form of high bandwidth communication can penetrate seawater deeply, to the the full operating range of submarines. I found a space behind the access panel under the steering wheel that was just large enough for the body of the radio the d710 may be wider than the d700, so may not fit. It cannot take the place of an effective rf ground system, such as a number of radial wires, regardless of its depth in the earth.

The antenna elements are 18 steel rod and were measured using digital calipers. The ground rod thing is a requirement for lightning protection of your antenna system. If youre really serious about doing a proper installation, here is a bit of sage advise, purchase a repair manual for your specific make and model from the manufacturer. If you dont have a ham radio callsign, but would like to contribute your kiwis wspr decodes to, set the reporter callsign field to something like swlrf82. Because a ground rod is so long, it can be hard to get leverage on the top of it when you start installing it. Connect a ground wire to the 1420 terminal on the back of the dcu1. There is quite a bit of talk these days between amateur ham radio operators about the desirability for good grounding systems for their home radio stations.

I realized that if the resistance between the wire and the top of the ground rod was high, the resistance between the bottom of the rod is probably high as well. Building an underground earth probe antenna for 0 14 mhz. If you dont find the manual youre looking for, please use the contact page to let me know. Our line is designed with the needs of the amateur ham radio operator in mind. Bosch ground rod driver, 118 hex 1umhs2172 grainger. Our antennas will tune to all the hf bands and 6 meters. With grounds the most common experience isread more. Each kit includes a ground bar, 2 ul recognized standoff insulators, 1 stainless steel mounting bracket and 2 stainless steel assembly bolts. A better ground system is to use uniformly cut wire ground radials laid either directly on the earth or buried.