Friday, August 9, 2013

Club Installs a New Beam Antenna for W4RYZ

The club now has a new directional antenna at the top of a their 50 foot tower, It is a hexagonal beam. The beam works on six bands 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 and 6 meters. This particular antenna is made by NA4RR in Pensacola, Florida. It is the equivalent of a two element yagi. Each loop of wire is actually a driven element and a reflector. It was a team effort to get it installed. The team was headed up by Mr. Grumpy KK4DWC. We had two climbers of the tower Bob Noakes and Gene Cornelius who did an outstanding job. Assembly is easy. We had the most trouble with a premade coax connector that was not soldered properly. The Standing Wave Ratio was right on the mark for all bands. It is broad banded so it does not need a tuner. This antenna is capable of DX or distance contacts. So we hope to have lots activity from the club station. There is some remodeling of the operating area inside the clubhouse planned. W4RYZ is the club callsign. More photos are here.