[Hi-zreceivingarraydiscussions] Grounds for 4 square

[pflorig at windstream.net]

Hi Lee and group,
Thanks for the good information here and is appreciated.
-Testing with the delays off is nice check. Also have the sig source here and really has helped also.
-Glad mentioned about AGC and didn't have it off. Finally had to go on setting and now can turn off in one of the positions. Will try the voltmtr and see what happens.
Also have a DB mtr and will try it also.  Tnx
-What I did for checking resistance if to measure with a 259B and find the resonant point and look at the terminal resistance.  In my case the antennas resonate around 55Mhz and res is around 50ohms. Nice thing about this is can check the 8 antennas and see if they are all close to the same reading. (I have one here that is 87 ohms?)
-Above measured right at the ant w/o the amp connected. Also tried running an additional short jumper from the ground to the angle iron holding the antenna system up and sure made a difference as to resonance and other things. This would be like adding two different grounds together. Not sure why such a big change except if the two grounds are so bad on the lower side of the vert dipole.
Think this was mentioned before from some as to different grounds. I am still checking on this except getting cold here. (for NC. Hi.)
73  Phil  W9iXX  
On Wednesday, December 14, 2016 3:42 PM, contact at hizantennas.com wrote: 
>  Hello Phil and the group, 
>   The reason for using a distant station is so the error between antennas is 
> not affected by the square law loss of signal versus distance to the source. 
> You do not want the distance between elements to be a significant portion of 
> the distance to the source. This becomes very important for sources close to 
> the array. Ground wave would be fine as you are looking for a large enough 
> signal to give you some resolution in the measurement. This is just a quick 
> field test to determine the health just as it did for you and your bad amp. 
> This test easily lets you know when something is drastically wrong. 
>    There is a better way to more accurately test the system and that is why 
> we make the little battery powered Signal Source. Without disconnecting the 
> delay lines you can attach our source to each element in turn and induce a 
> S-9 fixed level signal right into the amp and element combination. The 
> signal source is a 1.8432 MHz source at approx.. S-9 with a 56pf capacitive 
> source capacitor. This allows the oscillator to simulate an element or 
> inject to an element a signal simulating a received signal. Because this 
> source does not transmit, it is direct connected to only one element  it can 
> be applied with the delay lines left connected to each element in turn 
> testing both the element and the amplifier plus the system. You should test 
> each direction for each amp/element you test. 
>   In order to test the system you can simply use the S-meter. If you desire 
> better resolution you can turn the receiver AGC off and use a voltmeter 
> connected to the RX speaker. The voltmeter should read the tone and indicate 
> the changes in level between tests. Most SDR radios also allow you to switch 
> to dBm readings instead of S-Meter readings. I understand the Elecraft K3 
> can do this also. I have a K3 but have never looked this up and how to 
> accomplish that. 
>      The only way I know of right now to test the ground resistance without 
> really expensive equipment  is to use one of the little VNA devices to read 
> the R component of the element with ground rod. As John pointed out the 
> element itself R component is very small for a shortened element like this. 
> That allows the VNA or bridge to read  the ground resistance. If you have a 
> N2PK VNA and the RFIV impedance bridge it is perfect for this as it measures 
> high impedances much more accurately. The high impedance part of this is the 
> elements source capacitance of around 70 to 100 pf. 
>    Nothing is too basic Phil, I should have written this down long ago. I go 
> through it quite often as people contact me with questions. 
>  
> Lee K7TJR 
> Hi-Z Antennas 
>  
>  
>  
> >>> 
> Hi Lee and all, 
> Have done those tests here on the 4-8P and shows a lot as found one amp that 
> was down a little and was distorting the signal. The stronger the sig the 
> more it distorts. 
> Changed to a new amp there and all seems fine now. Have not checked fully 
> bad amp. 
> Questions: 
> -As you suggested to use WWV, I found Canada time at 3.330Mhz also. What 
> will the distance and time of day effect things. RE: ground or sky wave? 
> -My ant are set at 80ft per side and would 2.5Mhz be better? Realize it is 
> just comparison sig strength. Have noticed long fades on sigs so have to 
> wait for max sig time for true comparison. 
> -Assume discussion here is antenna resistance. Is it worth doing a "ground" 
> resistance of each ground rod. If so what would the best method be? 
> -When testing full system, I have been using Smeter with attenuater on max 
> sig at less than S9 for better reading. Is there a better way? Way for 
> actual Db readings? 
>  
> Sorry if this too basic and/or long, but have been thinking/testing on this. 
> Too much of an engineer here. Hi. 
> Thanks for the great discussions here, have learned a lot. Now remember what 
> I learned. Hi. 
> 73  Phil W9IXX 
>  
>  
>  
>  
> _______________________________________________ 
> Hi-zreceivingarraydiscussions mailing list 
> Hi-zreceivingarraydiscussions at hizantennas.com 
> http://mail.hizantennas.com/mailman/listinfo/hi-zreceivingarraydiscussions_hizan
> tennas.com 
>