Firstly I attached it to my old camera tripod which is bigger and heavier than the tripod that came with the Buddistick. It would be much less likely to blow over than the standard tripod but will be heavier to carry!
Then I cut some quarter wavelength radials, one each for 40 metres, 20 metres and 10 metres, I also added one for 6 but again I could not get the antenna to tune anywhere near 6 metres.
The antenna does now tune more easily on 40, 20 and 10 metres but it is still quite a difficult process to get it just right. I may have to resort to an ATU just to get the SWR down a little more easily.
One thing I have learnt is that the built in SWR meter on the IC706 transceiver is useless. It was indicating a 1.5:1 SWR when two external meters both agreed on 3:1. I just hope the SWR protection circuitry is better than the meter!
And here I am in the garden, with My 706 and the obligatory mug of tea!. Since the camera tripod was supporting the antenna I was using the Buddystick tripod for the camera. It seemed to work!
Hi Kevin, I got the same experience with my IC-706 SWR meter. It's much too optimistic. As far as the protection is working, I transmitted WSPR with 1 W without a antenna connected on 28MHz for half a day and the radio is still doing fine. Don't what happens with 100W. But as far as I know the radio does give a safe amount of power when the SWR is bad. Did you made any QSOs with the buddystick? 73, Bas
ReplyDeleteHello Kevin,
ReplyDeleteGood photo of you in the garden with the gear! Yeah, I wonder how good the SWR meter is in the 703. Probably not as good as it should be! Shame about selling that Drake receiver! 73 Adam
Hi Adam and bas,
ReplyDeleteBas, yes I have made contacts with the buddistick, mainly on 10 metres, running around 20 watts with the recent sporadic E conditions.
Its good to know the 706 has good SWR protection.
Adam you could try putting an SWR meter in line with your IC703 and seeing what the difference is. you may be suprised!
73 Kevin