Thursday, January 2, 2014

Antenna is on order

The MFJ 1788 is now on order.........well back order for now and was told it could be up to 4-6 weeks before the supplier see's it. I did go online and see if any U.S radio outlets have the antenna. They do but the shipping is close to 200.00 then you add taxes and custom fees it puts the price out of reach. I chose this antenna over the MFJ 1786 as it has 40m  but not 10m. Seeing the solar cycle is on it's way down 10m is not going to be a go to band for me. Having 40m seemed the way to go and thus the MFJ 1788 was chosen. To go along with the antenna Comet has a great way to bring your coax indoors without leaving a door open to the cold. The CTC-50M is a ribbon type coax cable that is supposed to allow you to run it threw a door or window.....now having said that I have read online that some have damaged the cable by slamming a
MFJ 1718
window or sliding glass door on it. I don't plan on putting it to the test in that fashion any time soon. Also I ordered the MFJ 1918 tri pod stand for the antenna. I'm not going to play around with cheap tri pods or ones that are just meant for cameras, don't want to come home to the antenna on it's side and possibly damaged. From what I have read about the MFJ 1918 online it seems to do a great job in supporting the antenna. The last thing I have to pick up from the local hardware store is a BBQ cover for the antenna to make it look like.........yes you guessed it....a BBQ! At this point in time it looks like the ham radio bug is going to have to be satisfied with the KX3 and portable operations. It's a bit cold out these days for op's from the car (-30 with wind chill today) so for the time being I will be putting the Alexloop on the balcony and see how the fishing is.

4 comments:

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hello Mike, it will cost you some money but then you'll have some nice stuff. As you know I made a ribbon coax cable myself from flatcable, works excellent. But this Comet thing looks neat! Really good one to cover the antenna with a BBQ cover ;-) 73, Bas

Dick said...

Hi Mike,. I use that Comet bypass with success. First thing I did was carefully wrap a single layer of good electrical tape around it. It is used to pass coax through a pop-up window in our house's pitched roof. As instructed, do not frequently open and close and lock a window or door over it as It will eventually fail if this is done too often. My window is very rarely open. You could close your balcony door against it but I would recommend not firmly closed and locked. The Comet is very thin and will allow much less cold air to pass into your room. Much less than would a coax lead. 73 Dick

VE9KK said...

Good afternoon Bas, I hope this setup is going to do the trick I have had good success with the Alexloop on the balcony in the horizontal position.
Mike

VE9KK said...

Good afternoon Dick, great to hear from you and nice to hear from someone who has used the comet bypass. I plan to only use it when operating and take it in all other times. I have read online of others putting a layer of electrical tape around the conductor just for extra protection. Thanks for the feedback Dick and good to know I am heading down the right path with using this.
Mike