Antenna thread

[Vipersan]

2 items of interest to post today ..
First ..my sig gen and analyser arrived safely from China ..
ordered from TomTop ..
About £400 all in ..
Not unpacked both nor tested as yet ..so fingers crossed..

...and the large die cast box I ordered arrived ..so made a start retro fitting to the backplate of the Helical ..
Photos are attached
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

Inside the boxes ...
Some stub antennas ...
And no instructions ..
..which are available on their website ..as is the software to link and run on a PC for the Analyser ..(on the left)
Internal batts are supposed to last about 8 hours on a full charge..
we shall see ..
but all in all ..a lot of handheld tech for the price..
;)
just hope it works..
lol

..oh and you get a nice protective case with the Analyser..

 

[Vipersan]

here is a link to a youtube demo of what I bought..

 

[Channel Hopper]

I used to habituate places such as these in the sixties and seventies. In Liverpool there was Beaver Radio (which was more hi-fi and components) and another place whose name I've forgotten which more ex-WD and surplus. Later on there was PRS Components which has only relatively recently stopped trading. On this side of the river in Birkenhead there was Bert Ault's and Browning's to browse through.

Oh happy days. Now all sadly gone.

When I first started secondary school in 1975, there was an army surplus store right next door that ran for a year or so. They often had a bin out the back which they threw out all the old /useless stuff including a load of 90v batteries that made for great entertainment making shock devices among the class. The fun was suppressed slightly once a colleague of mine electrocuted the English teacher with a 'demo'.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Inside the boxes ...
Some stub antennas ...
And no instructions ..
..which are available on their website ..as is the software to link and run on a PC for the Analyser ..(on the left)
Internal batts are supposed to last about 8 hours on a full charge..
we shall see ..
but all in all ..a lot of handheld tech for the price..
;)
just hope it works..
lol

..oh and you get a nice protective case with the Analyser..View attachment 93884

Very tempted for my own line of work, and Staines is just down the road.

 

[Vipersan]

..One things for sure ..
The Helical is undeniably pretty ...
Now to make it work ..
lol
The brass and copper surfaces have neen laquered ...and a thin sheet of 3mm thick ...of neoprene rubber was ordered to make a back box gasket ..along with some thin walled transparent plastic tube to make a helical element cover..
Always got to consider weatherproofing OOoop north ..
The story so far ..

 

[Lazarus]

You might find time to refresh that whitewash one of these days, innit.

 

[Vipersan]

You might find time to refresh that whitewash one of these days, innit.

..On my to do list G ...but a low priority ..on account it only makes use of the visible spectrum ..
lol
;)

 

[Lazarus]

That's all white, then.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Very tempted for my own line of work, and Staines is just down the road.

Unless I am mistaken , the blurb on the Youtube demo suggests that a - future - firmware upgrade converts the analyser into a signal generator as well.

 

[Vipersan]

Unless I am mistaken , the blurb on the Youtube demo suggests that a - future - firmware upgrade converts the analyser into a signal generator as well.

That may well be the case CH ...but it might be an additional module has to be fitted ..
Not going to open one up ...but I believe they are modular construction..
I hope I'm wrong ..and such an upgrade can be firmware only ..

If you do make enquiries I'd be curious as to their retail price of the 6G analyser ..
I'd like to think my risky purchase (TomTop dont have a good rep ) saved me some money ..
;)
rgds

 

[Channel Hopper]

I will listen to the Youtube article again, I could be wrong.

 

[Vipersan]

Well ..
Not much I can do whilst waiting for my second LNA ...but a kind hearted Ebayer who was selling some plastic tubes with end caps ...BULK in boxes collection in person only by the winner of the auction ..
Well they were a perfect size ..
200mm x 70mm ..with polythene end caps ..
So ..I took a chance they had more ..and asked if She was in a position to sell me 6 and post them to me ..
She (Elizabeth) did just that ...but no money changed hands other than to cover the postage ..
So ..they arrived today ...and are indeed a perfect size ..
Had to trim down the Helical support by 1cm ...and have cut the bottom out of one of the end caps ..
The top one is opaque atm ..but this too will have its middle cut out and a circle of polycarbonate fitted as a window for RF ..


..Id say well on the way to being weatherproof now ...
rgds
VS

 

[Lazarus]

It's looking more and more like a TARDIS console, VS .............

 

[Vipersan]

It's looking more and more like a TARDIS console, VS .............

Perhaps I'm a Time Lord in waiting ...and just not realised it yet ..
Hope So ....I wanna see a man on Mars ..and that might be tricky if they don't get a wriggle on ..

 

[Vipersan]

Well there's a stroke of luck ..
No need to cut a hole in the top lid and fit a window ..IF it is sufficiently invisible to RF ..

Amazingly a pringles plastic cap ..fits zactly inside and is so tight it dont need glue ..
lol

 

[Vipersan]

A slightly more mundane project today ..
Made myself a half decent carry case from an old burnt out dremel one ...
I throw nowt away that might be re-purposed..
This should keep these little units safe and all the various antennas and cables in one place
rgds
VS

 

[Lazarus]

Nice.

And room left for a Cheese Butty and a Sausage Roll.

 

[Vipersan]

Nice.

And room left for a Cheese Butty and a Sausage Roll.

Sadly no room for my flask tho' ..
Might just squeeze a miniature in there ...
Single Malt comes to mind...

 

[Channel Hopper]

Perhaps I'm a Time Lord in waiting ...and just not realised it yet ..
Hope So ....I wanna see a man on Mars ..and that might be tricky if they don't get a wriggle on ..

Too late, the fairer s_x had it a while ago