Monday, May 16. 2022Erecting the Aldi Supermarket Antenne Mast
Almost a year has passed since I was able to put the theoretical description of raising the mast into practice. http://dxerscorner.tikishop.de/archives/170-Aldi-Supermarket-antenna-mast-how-useful-is-it.html The conclusion: the flagpole segments of the discounter are excellently suited to erect a pole with a height of 10 m quickly. A little preparation time is necessary. First, the discs for the guy lines were sawn and drilled. I chose sturdy round plastic covers with a diameter of about 15 cm as the material. The length of the guy lines could not be determined in advance. They were laid out so that they could be extended at any time. A total of three guy lines are attached to the mast. The plastic covers were attached to the somewhat narrower connecting pieces on the mast segment. The diameter of these connecting pieces fits exactly for commercially available hole saws. The base of a swivel office chair was used as the foundation for the mast. This also fitted perfectly and coincidentally exactly into the lower mast segment. For additional security, the lower section was weighted down with washed concrete slabs. The guy lines (UV-resistant, tear-proof material from DX-Wire) were attached to nearby fruit trees with ring insulators. Mast structure: The mast top consists of a round black plastic element with a U-shaped feed-through. The antenna wire is fed through here first. I use 1,6 mm galvanised woven wire. This is on a large 1000 m roll, which has been attached to a small garden trolley so that it can be unrolled. The wire can be threaded through the top of the mast without any problems and can be pulled on even at great heights. I started with 3 mast segments inserted into each other and gradually worked them upwards. At some point you reach a point where the mast is no longer secure without guy lines. Therefore, the guy lines were then lashed tight, the mast aligned plumb and then the lines loosened by about a metre to insert another segment. After 8 m a critical point is reached. Here you have to make sure that there is hardly any wind, you also have to be able to lift the mast plumb upwards with your hands and have a helper place another segment at the base and connect it. This procedure is repeated until all mast segments have been inserted. Since the guy ropes are loosened by 1 metre at a time, the mast can practically never sway more than 1 metre and is protected from swaying by exactly this metre. This tolerance meter has never been used by me or by the mast. Connecting to a new mast element takes no more than 1 minute. I used 2 flagpoles to get to a height of 10 metres. Practically, another metre would also be possible, but I did without. The higher you go, the more wobbly the top can become. At the end of the construction you have to be able to lift 9 m and hold it plumb. That was enough for me, and the experiment succeeded. If someone manages to work in the 11th metre, I would be pleased to hear from you. This mast replaces the old mast of the DDA, which is only 4.50 m high. As this antenna shape still requires a second mast top - it has a height of 9 m at the moment - I will also replace this mast with a higher one when the opportunity arises. At the moment, however, the flagpoles of the discounter are not available. Monday, June 21. 2021Aldi Supermarket antenna mast: how useful is it?In June 2021, Aldi put a 6-piece flagpole from Gardenline on the shelf. The aluminum elements, which can be plugged together, have a diameter of 51 mm, the wall thickness is 1 mm. One element has a length of 980 mm. At the end of the flagpole is a large plastic head with grommet for a rope. Two of these poles put together gives a length of 11.76 m with 11 elements. One of the terminating elements can no longer be used in relation to this length. At first glance, the poles are suitable for the construction of an antenna. The material is sufficiently strong enough. In order to reach a length of almost 12 m and also to erect it, 2 suitable guy sleeves should be used. Erecting the mast in its entire length will probably not work. There is a risk of breakage. Therefore, the elements should be inserted individually from the bottom to the top. During erection, the guy lines must be gradually lashed tight. So you need a few helpers for this. At the plastic head should already be a long line to pull through so that you can later pull te antenna wire through. The mast comes with a construction manual for a concrete foundation. The following building instructions use recycled material where available. Assembly instructions
The screw cap lid of a pesto jar is the appropriate size. A 50mm hole is drilled into the lid with a hole saw. Then the thread of the lid is slightly lifted so that it can be slid over the pole. The resulting metal ring is attached to the mast with 3 small screws. To do this, first drill holes in the ring on the mast until the holes are also visible on the mast. Then continue drilling the drilled holes on the mast. The screws are fixed with superglue. The bracket for the guy ring is now complete. Cut a 50mm hole out of the lid of an espresso coffee can (86mm). A 50mm hole is also cut out of the lid of a standard twist-off glass (85mm). The lids are placed flat together. This gives more stability. In the protruding part of the lids 3 to 4 holes are drilled, which are to take the fastenings for the guy ropes. A correspondingly long piece is then cut from a bicycle shift cable, fed through the holes and screwed on at the end with a duplex clamp. The remaining end of the clamp is also provided with a shift cable. Here comes the carabiner as a terminating element to it, which takes the guy lines. The covers are pulled over the tapered end of a mast tube. Finished is the guy line.
5-legged bases of discarded office chairs have proven to be quite adequate for many of my mast designs. The tube of the chair should be slightly wider than the base of the mast. Two guy wires at 5 and 10 meters provide the stability needed by a mast of this height. The mast segments are placed next to each other and the brackets for the guy lines are slipped over them. Start with the top segment and the mast head. Here it is a good idea to either pull a rope through, which will later fetch the wire, or to pull the wire through already. I suggest the last, less experimental, variant. The prerequisite is that the attachment points of the guy lines on the ground are already fixed. This determines the length of the lines. If the antenna wire is already pulled through, the ends should be long enough to reach them after erecting the mast! After the first or second element has been inserted, the mast must be set plumb with a spirit level. Even a few degrees of deviation are enough to make the mast stand crooked! After 6m the mast reaches a height where it starts to sway. This is where the first guy point should be set. When inserting the remaining segments, the lines of this guy point should gradually be lashed tight. The lines of the 2nd guy point should already be loosely tensioned before the last segments are inserted. Then the guy lines are lashed and fixed so tightly that nothing can wobble. This completes the construction of a 12 m high antenna tip. The construction of a loop antenna can begin. ***Thanks to Wolfgang Büschel from Germany for the Aldi-Tip in a-dx@groups.io***
Last modified on 2021-06-23 21:46
Monday, May 17. 2021SDR-Console: script-controlled start & stop
Another possibility is to start and stop the SDR console script-controlled. In this case, the SDR console is started after the idle state. When the recording is finished, the programme is terminated and the PC is put into hibernation mode. I use this option to protect the SDR console from possible errors. They can occur if the console is opened and taken into hibernation mode.
Script for exiting: @echo cls taskkill /IM "SDR Console.exe" /T /F exit I integrated the script into the WOSB software with a "bat to exe converter". This software can also be used to initialise the start of the console. The script technique works flawlessly and also in operation with 2 SDRs, which record at two antennas at different times. Saturday, April 10. 2021How to operate the S3 permanently and reliably![]() The NUC is put to sleep by means of the WOSB software and started from there. An example: xx45h: the NUC is woken up, the SDR console starts or has already started xx50h: the S3, which was previously de-energized, is supplied with energy by means of a timer xx55h: the recording starts After the end of the recording, the NUC is first put to sleep. Only then is the S3 disconnected from the power. After restarting at a different time, the S3 is switched on again and connects smoothly to the SDR console. If you stick to this guideline, nothing can really go wrong. And before I forget: only one USB3 port of the USB3 controller may be occupied by the S3. So check your controller. Thursday, November 26. 2020ELAD FDM-S3 - OCXO Version with GNSS Antenna - First test resultsTested on two differently equipped win8.1 systems ■ The short story of a long birth
Defined tags for this entry: elad fdm-s3, ocxo Last modified on 2020-12-20 13:26
Monday, October 12. 2020Mediumwave through the USA & Canada puzzle
This section displays the status of my logged USA & Canada states. It will be updated.
![]() List of abbreviations for states Pin board at Google Maps Status 27 October 2020 Heard states/green (USA): 27 Confirmed states/red: 5 Latest heard or confirmed: Heard states/green (Canada): 6 Confirmed states/red: 2 Latest heard or confirmed: 1140 CHRB High River (AB) ![]() 840 CFCW Camrose (AB) ![]() 1060 CKMX Calgary (AB) ![]() 960 CFAC Calgary (AB) ![]() Map source: Free Software Foundation. The source has been changed. Sunday, September 27. 2020LOG: 560 kHz, NCN Voice of Guyana![]() Guyana is a small country on the northern flank of South America, on the Atlantic Ocean. The studios are located near the city of Georgetown, in Vreed en Hoop, at the mouth of the Demerara River. NCN runs three government controlled radio services: Fresh 100.1 FM, Voice of Guyana 560 AM and an 102.1 FM, and Hot FM, 98.1 FM. On September 26, 2020, the BBC Worldservice was broadcast between 0500z and 0530z via VoG. IDs were heard at the beginning and end of the period. ![]() A Screenshot from SDR Console V.3.0.23. To the left on 558 kHz is RNE from Spain which dominantes the frequency, and most of the time the area around. So, Guyana was a good catch on this September morning. The station was audible up from 0400z first under heavy QRM from Spain . Antenna was the 78 m Double Delta Loop pointing 325°. Receiver ELAD FDM-S2. And booster RPA-2 from DX-Engineering. Friday, July 31. 2020Listener's choice![]() Listener's choice: new headphone beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro The DT 770 replaces Sennheiser's HD 465. @home I'm still using the old Staxx Flat membrane headphone. Defined tags for this entry: equipment test, station Not modified
Saturday, May 23. 2020Test: ELAD FDM-S2 with the Intona USB 2.0 High Speed Isolator
These days I had the opportunity to test an Intona USB 2 high speed isolator on the SDR. Since I use the FDM-S2 at different locations, I decided for a disturbing reception area at home.
Unscreened USB cables were used for the first test setup. The antenna is the ALA 1530 S +. In Figs. 1 and 2 it can be seen that the intona increases the interference level in the medium wave range by an estimated 30 dBm. That was sufficient to put the galvanic isolator of the USB cable back into the original packaging. ![]() ![]() Shielded USB cables were used days later. Here the isolator behaved as intended: it reduced the interference by 6-10 dBm. In my setup, a wound ferrite core was used, which was connected with and without an insulator. Fig. 3 shows the setup without isolator, Fig. 4 with isolator. The crackling noise level was not reduced but appeared as a chopped noise level on the screen and in the headphones. No faults were eliminated here, but an attempt was made to output them modulated differently. ![]() ![]() The USB isolator behaves - without a measuring device - like a ferrite core for troubleshooting or like a standing wave barrier. For the proud price of 250 € you can buy 100 Amidon FT-140-43 ferrite cores. They are definitely a better alternative than the USB isolator from Intona. Defined tags for this entry: equipment test, noise Last modified on 2020-05-23 19:47
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