As you guys know, I have a carrier current transmitter.
It works fine into a dummy load. And that signal
goes about 5 or 10 feet.
Probably fairly soon, i will be experimenting
As you guys know, I have a carrier current transmitter.
It works fine into a dummy load. And that signal
goes about 5 or 10 feet.
Probably fairly soon, i will be experimenting
with injecting RF into the AC line. That is depending
on a crystal I hope to get soon. If I get onto 1020 - daytime
only - well - that is a channel that won't hurt anybody. And that will
be good. And that 1020 crystal is what I'm waiting for.
However, the 1020 crystal was not made for the transmitter.
It is a hefty FT-243 - so putting it into a tube circuit
is no problem. But the other characteristics of it
are unknown. It may oscillate off channel or not at
all. But compared to ordering a crystal custom made
by somebody, this is a nice inexpensive start.
And this is being donated to DOGGRADIO by a
great friend, who also was kind enough to give
me 3 new 6AL11s for the transmitter.
IN THE MEANTIME, the transmitter is on 860. This
is not a good channel. It is very close to a local
station, and has a semi local on the other side.
However, it there any easy way to allow the transmitter's
860 KHz transmission to be heard just in my house?
I've heard theories before.
Do you guys have any simple ideas just so the transmitter
will cover a couple of rooms, without having to string
wires all over the place?
Actually, ANY ideas are fine with me.
(Eventually, and if the 1020 rock isn't suitable, I will find a
way to get the unit on some good clear channel - during the
daytime, anyway.) And then I will work on injecting the Rf
into the AC line.
So, anyway, how do I get this thing to cover just a couple
of rooms?
Best Wishes,
Bruce, DOGGRADIO STUDIO 2
Bruce, I have an idea for putting a low-profile antenna between two rooms, but I don't know how to match a short antenna to 50-ohms..... at least you should probably have a loading coil of some kind .......
If you like, I can present my idea here later tonight.....
But of course other good ideas will be coming along...
Well...as you know that RC-6A puts out WAY too much power to be Part 15 compliant into an antenna, be it a wire or loaded 3 meter whip/copper rod.
Here is my suggestion, and it will not require any loading coil, matching network or direct connection of the wire antenna.
Simply wrap as many turns of wire as you can AROUND the dummy load resistor (use some form of insulating material like rubber or heat absorbing material over the resistor if it is not a canister metal type) starting at the ground side, wrapping as many turns around it as possible along the dummy load length, then secure with a clothes line clamp or other non-inductive clamp, then simply route the rest of the wire up and away, such as hanging from the roof. Ensure the length from the beginning of the free end of the wrapped wire to its final end point is 10 feet or less. The other end where the winding began connects to nothing.
This approach is the very same approach as coupling the 10 foot wire from an SSTran or other high impedance TX around an extension cord to couple to the AC.
RFB
I appreciate both your posts.
Lately, my timing has been bad.
My wife is here to pick me up from work,
which is where I am now.
But I will get back to you guys and let you
know what I tried.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, DOGGRADIO STUDIO 2
It's basically like a CC coupler except your using the wire to loosely couple to the dummy load and the RF field emitting from it. It prevents going through the nonsense of direct connection while maintaining proper match to the TX and it also prevents from having to make a simple thing needlessly complicated.
For the one or two extra room coverage, it will work perfectly for that purpose.
RFB
RFB's advice is on the right track for this project. I use a Heathkit Cantenna for my ham work and though it is well shielded my two meter receiver pegs with 1/4 watt from my handheld into the Cantenna. This is probably leakage from the coax and the handheld which is in a plastic case.
Point being, start with only the dummy load and then add the coupling. I would predict a 2 watt signal into the load would be readable throughout the house and beyond but there are too many unknowns to be accurate about this without trying.
Neil
Hi Bruce!
Have you tried the wire wrap-a-round the dummy load approach? I think it might be enough to get those other radios in the other rooms to come alive! 🙂
RFB