Thursday, September 22, 2011

The CJU Antenna

September 2011

Tired of pulling the Arrow out every time you work a pass?  Tired of being afraid to work a grid while portable because of how long it takes to assemble the Arrow?  Tired of getting all the funny looks when you DO pull it out in public?  The answer is simple... build a CJU antenna!  Build a CJU for the 440 downlink and use the 1/4 wave for the uplink on the roof of your car.  All you need to do is pull over, roll your window down, and work the pass!  I just built one recently, and I was astounded with the results.  Now, it is important to mention that I was using a preamp, but even with the preamp on the Arrow, I would have to say that the CJU performed just as well, if not better, than the Arrow - and it is only about 9-10" long! 

EA4CYQ provides some very good instructions on his webpage, so I will not go into a bunch of detail.  He uses mm, so you can take mm / 25.4 to get inches.  If you have a measuring tape with millimeters on it that is even better.


Instead of clamping my BNC connector RIGHT at the bottom of the PVC, I let the coax run out about a foot, and used hot glue (or any glue) instead of the screw clamps to hold the elements in place.  I also used silicon-copper welding rods instead of whatever he used.  In other words, I did the "built in 30 minutes" version.

A couple pics...



Monday, September 12, 2011

ARRL GLD Convention 9/11/2011

September 11, 2011

I was extremely honored this year by receiving the ARRL GLD (Greak Lakes Division) Young Radio Amateur of the Year Award.  A special thanks to Jim, K8LE, Director of the GLD; Gary, KI4LA, Vice Director of the GLD; Frank, KI8GW, Ohio SM; Mike, KC8YLD; Mark, AC8FV;  Jim, KD8UT; Howard, K8PWL; Craig, KB8TZE.  Below are a couple pictures of the convention.  Sorry they are so blury.  They didn't like being uploaded to Blogger.

Left to right (standing):  Gary, KI4LA, Director of the ARRL GLD; Frank, KI8GW, OH SM; Zack, KD8KSN; Jim, K8LE, Director of the ARRL GLD.


Left to Right:  Jim, KD8UT, Elmer; Zack, KD8KSN; Howard, K8PWL, Elmer


KD8KSN/m EN80/83 Ops 9/6 & 9/8/2011

September 9, 2011

KD8KSN/m operated one AO51 pass while mobile in EN80 in Ohio on 9/6 and one from EN83 in southern MI on 9/8.  The trip to MI was a father/son canoe trip to the Pigeon River near Indian River just south of the Mackinac Bridge.  Operating mobile was very limited due to poor receive.  I was using a Comet quarter wave for the downlink, and it was sandwiched between two canoes on the truck roof.  I will be back in this area in December, and I am hoping to be a bit more successful at getting a few of these grids on the air at that time. 

As always everyone in the log will receive a card, and all QSOs are in LoTW under KD8KSN with the correct grid.  Below are a couple pics: