I think I am getting overwhelmed

[michael_schaap]

Hi all. My name is Michael. I am prepairing to take my exam again. I used to be an operator and am comming back to the hobby. One reason why I left was Voice was too hard for me to hear as I am partially Deaf. Looking into getting into CW. Start there and see where it takes me. I never really went too much farther then voice as it was what my father had been into and we talked a lot on the air with friends. Now that I'm looking into CW (QRP) there is a lot of things that I need to read that I had never really dug deep before. So, learning the code (leanred that its not needed to pass the exams now.... this is going to come back and bite us on our *ss I feel :oops: ).

The problem I am having is that I have been reading a lot. A LOT! I just dont know what to get now. Lets start with the basics....

1. Getting the Small Wonders SW40 kit as it seems to have high reviews.
2. I live in an apartment so I have antenna issues. I just bought two slinkys to make a 40 meter slinky antenna I found on the net. Looks cool actually and the wife just looked at me wierd when I spent a total of $6 :lol: .
3. I found plans to make a simple Balum made with a PVC core and 18 to 21 feet of coax line. Looks as simple as you get. Do you think I need this? Not that its all that expensive.... just wondering... (read here that with the reading that I have done on balums I am not EXACTLY SURE what they are and if I even need it....).

One problem I am having is that I do have electronics experience. Just have not used it in some time. Things are comming back though :) Just made an oscillator to practice morse with :) My first project in oh..... 10 years or so :D Many of the plans I am finding dont have pictures. Just schematics so its hard to tell how things fit together.

So, here is where I am starting to throw my hands in the air with.... dont know if I need.....

1. Do I need an SWR metter?
2. Do I need an Antenna Tuner? I found a kit that's $55.... the SW40 is $55... so this is one of my ouches.

Because I am buying 1,2, and 3 and so far the other half has not really looked too deep since they dont cost too much I'm good to go now. Although the second 1 and 2 seems to do cost a little bit more. I am looking at home made alternatives but there are many out there. I just am not sure what I need. I've seen some that are both that uses an LED that goes out when you hit the right combination. I have an ARRL book from 1993 that has some interesting projects. There is a Balanced tuner in it that looks simple enough, but I think I need an unbalanced tuner right? Then there is the whole thing that I'm using it for CW... QRP.... under 5 watts. Many I'm seeing are rated at 25 watts or higher...

So... in short. Ah... help :?

Michael

[M0HAK]

You will pretty much need an SWR meter to verify your antenna is actually working - at the very least to borrow one to get it set up, and ideally to continue to monitor.

You don't need an antenna tuner unless your antenna isn't resonant. Since you're building for a single band, then you should be able to get the antenna resonant and not need a tuner.

If you're making the antenna as a dipole then a "choke balun" should be all you need - just a few coils of the coax feeder on the downlead to stop RF travelling back down the coax shield will suffice for this.

Hope that helps cut through some of the murk for you

Andy 2E0XAC

[5B4AJB]

Hi Michael!

You'll need an antenna tuner if the antenna isn't tuned (really!), they work with a SWR meter.
I should think, for QRP, a CB swr meter would be OK for HF.
An ATU is incredibly easy to build and will give you much satisfaction doing so, I have used a hombrew one with 100W that consists of a roller-coaster inductor (variable coil) and a nice big variable capacitor, both got from rallies for less than £2 each.

The antenna balun might resolve EMC problems if you get them, not really neccesary.

I'm a great fan of digimodes, once you get your antenna going, try giving some time to PSK, it's very good for QRP...