The OFCD

The guys want to hear about my off center fed dipole antenna and the details.

I have already explained that I made it and got it halfway set up before darkness set in. It was up and the shorter leg was tied to the roof, the balun was in a tree and the long leg was down back laying on the ground.

I has the coax plugged into the tuner and the long leg was draped over a bush with the end on the ground. I had planned on using it AFTER I got the long leg in the air. If course, the tuner automatically picked up on it and I made an inadvertent QSO with FL and got a 5x9 signal.

It was raining when I woke up the following morning and I decided to brave the perils of the storm. I donned my slicker, boots and Sou'wester cap and headed out into the perils of the maelstrom.

The first thing I encountered was a humongous man eating chicken!

As he drove by he threw his KFC bucket out the window and it landed in my driveway. I picked it up and took it over to the trash can and got rid of it.

I went around back and started down the hill and the mud slid out from under me and I cascaded down the hill, grabbing for bushes or anything to save myself. Miraculously I was unscathed when I got to the bottom of the hill.

Getting to my feet I found the end of the OCFD and tied a piece of 550 paracord to it. Then I fired the line thrower and got the line over the proper tree, hauled the 550 cord up and made it fast.

The antenna was up and I retraced my steps home, doffed my rain gear and  went to the rig upstairs. I unplugged the OCFD from the tuner and plugged it directly into the rig and fired it up.

I set the rig to 3.55 Mhz, CW and keyed the key. The SWR was 1:1 so I knew I was good to go on all the other bands, too. This antenna was built based on mathematics and I felt I didn't need to check the other bands. If it fit 80 meters with a 1:1 at 3.550 then I has to be good to go.

If I ever manage to track down that man eating chicken I plan on dumping kitty's litter box on his front porch.





To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY