Author: john

Posted on

Building an off-center fed (OCF) Dipole.

Hey there.

After chatting with Rick N1RM over the holiday I decided to replace my old dipole with an off center fed dipole. I primarily wanted this because I wanted lower SWR with wider bandwidth so I can use more power on 80 meters. It turns out to be very beneficial for at least 4 bands that I normally use over a single wire!

Part of this project was to build my own balun because I didn’t want to buy one. Contrary to popular belief, I’m as cheap as every other ham I know. They cost about $100.

Normally with my projects I’d just put in the new antenna and move on but I decided to put proper design notes together and publish in a new section of our web site I called DIY in hopes it could also help others.

I pulled a bunch of information from various sources which I have published in this page on our web site.

Check my work. Build your own! If you want to publish your own DIY project let us know and we’ll get it out there.

73,

John
W5ODJ

Posted on

LARG 80M Winter Schedule Digital Watering Hole

Reminder that the winter schedule for the digital net is standard Time: Nov-Mar at ±3.58275 MHz. The default mode for this net is Olivia 500/8.

I showed up there tonight and called CQ 4 times while listening to the repeaters but got no takers. Maybe I’ll see you on digital next week?

I’m happy to change modes to something more interesting and new. The JS8 program and protocol is fun and very robust. Now they have developed three different modes/speeds to use. The decoder can now decode all speeds at the same time. If you want to play around with that the latest is version 2 RC3. There are versions for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux!

73!

John
W5ODJ

Posted on

HF Net report for April 25, 2019.

We gathered tonight at 3.676 MHz due to QRN below us on our normal frequency of 3.675. We also listened for general class license holders at 3.810-3.818 MHz but heard no one. Those that checked in tonight:

  • W2YE, Dick
  • KE4S, Dave
  • K3WD, Bill
  • N4PD, Paul
  • N0JSD, John
  • W5ODJ, John (NCS)

75 Meters was in great shape as was 10 meters (28.405 MHz). Signals were between +20 and +40 at my QTH. It was good to hear everyone tonight. Thank you for joining the net with us.

73 DE W5ODJ

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HF Net March 28, 2019

Hi everyone.

We gathered at 3.675 MHz tonight at 20:00 local time. There were 5 check-ins:

W2YE, Dick
KE4S, Dave
K3WD, Bill
W4PMP, Chris
W5ODJ, John (NCS)

Of notable mention, Dave let gave us an update on the XR0ZRC Update from Robinson Crusoe Islands. I guess it’s going to go on a few more days if you want to make contacts. I found a couple of links on the web for you here and here if you are interested in more information on that effort.

We also met on 10 meters at 28.405 MHz where W2YE, KE4S and W5ODJ checked their equipment there. It was a very brief meeting with very strong signals this week. Stronger than I’ve recorded in some time.

Y’all have a good weekend! See you soon.

John
W5ODJ

Posted on

New LARG web site!

Thanks for visiting our new web presence!

This new platform will enable us to make rapid and relevant changes by many contributors to track all of the happenings in our club. 2019 will be a busy year at LARG and this will be the platform to keep you up to date with everything happening.

Stay tuned! Much more content coming.

Best,

John
W5ODJ