[pskmail] Re: A few things we could improve ?

  • From: Walt DuBose <dubose@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: pskmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2007 02:13:08 -0500

Note on antennas...
The T2DF is OK if you want a low noise receive antenna but it has about 6 to 8 dB less radiation than a dipole or Inverted V at the same feedpoint heigth. If you use a 90-120 ft T2DF, it starts becoming directional between 10-12 MHz.
A long wire is a strange animal and can mean different things to individuals. I think of a long wire as something like 3-7 wavelength. Otherwise, I think of a random wire more like an Inverted L. In that case, its good to have the horz. element 15 - 35 ft above ground and the antenna must NOT be a mutiple of a 1/2 wavelength. I have and excellent performance with a 90 ft wire on 80/40M that was 15 ft above ground.
No doubt that a 1/2 wavelength dipole (or Inverted V) with the feedpoint at 17% of a wavelength above ground is an excellent NVIS antenna with a feed point of 50 ohms.
If using a Inverted V, try to make the angle between the two legs of the "V" no less than 120 deg. (its hard). I find that making the ends of the "V' at least 10 ft above ground works fairly well for 40M and even 80M but would try to the then ends of an 80M Inverted V up 15 ft above ground. The 50 ohm feedpoint for 40M is about 27 ft and 40 ft for 80M. 30-35 ft seems to be a nice compromise for 80/40M.
One always should consider their need for a high angle of radiation antenna (NVIS) or low angle of radiation antenna depending on the desired length of the desired path. I generally prefer a verticle on 30/20M but sometimes a dipole on 30M and most generally a dipole or Inverted V on 80/40M. 

73 All and Happy Easter.

Walt/K5YFW

Per Crusefalk wrote:

Hi,

I'm not really back from our trip up north yet (just 3 hours to go) but
I figured I should write down some of the things I noticed during the
trip. We were in a cabin in Orsa, right next to the bear park, and I
tested three different kinds of antennas:
(We did go to the bear park as well and looked at Kamchatka bears, lynx,
foxes and more).

1. T2FD, worked great for rx but not vy good for tx
2. Random wire (7 meters) with tuner, worked well for tx but it picked
up RFI and made the band unusable
3. A standard dipole for 80 meters, the antenna that worked...
Also, I use an FT-817 and I have had much fun with it but I have now
decided that life is too short for QRP... I need more power.

So, back to the pskmail things. This is a list containing a lot of work
for me and Rein. But, I'm not just going to complain here. I intend to
work on these things too. Here are the things I noticed:

1. View and clear "mailfile/headers/sendfile/mail archive"

This works but takes a while to get used to. Could we change this into
an "inbox, sent and unsent" ? Also, I forget to clear the sendfile at
times and that causes me to resend old stuff. Could we move the messages
to sent when they are ?

2. Favourites/bookmarks/get web page

Works great and I would like to extend it. I would like to see more of a
firefox bookmark approach and I would like to be able to save/load a
file containing bookmarks. Also, need to reevaluate the use of
lynx/links on the server.

3. QTC?, Download and Read

These buttons are connected to the input field on the bottom of the
client. If I would like to read message 149 then I need to enter that in
the field before pressing the button. I would like it to ask me about
what message to read if that field is empty. That way I won't initiate a
new download of the entire message list if I just forget to enter a
message number before pressing the button.

4. Binary downloads

Works but does not handle swedish characters (ISO-8859-1).

5. Invisible functions...

There are functions that you can only use from the "command line", I'm
thinking abt PSKaprs messages and partial message listings (well,
mentioned that above). Anyway, I would like a menu shortcut at least and
a tiny window where pskaprs messages can be edited. Also, I would these
very nice functions to be visible to the novice. So, all the "hidden"
functions need to be more visible.

Time for breakfast here so 73 for now de Per, sm0rwo

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