One down, one to go

Yesterday was the day of the Great American Eclipse.  I wasn’t thinking too much about it; as I was at work, where my desk happens to be in a room with no windows. I wasn’t anticipating much of a view. Around 2:44 PM, when totality for NJ reached the peak of approximately 75%, I wandered out to the lobby, where I saw a bunch of people just outside the building, looking at the sun with eclipse glasses, cell phone cameras and the like.

It just so happened that there was a light to medium cloud cover which totally obscured the Sun, at times. The silver lining to these clouds was that, when they got thin enough, you could see the Sun/Moon do their tango for a few seconds without even squinting or straining your eyes in any fashion. So I got to see the great eclipse of ’17. 

I don’t much remember the 1979 eclipse; but I do remember the 1972 eclipse pretty vividly.  I set up the 4″ refracting telescope that I owned at the time, to do a projected view onto a white screen. I took pictures and I know that I still have those, somewhere – probably mixed in with all my Apollo program ephemera and miscellania.

The post title has to do with antennas, once again. The “One Down, One to Go” title means that this Saturday, I am hoping to replace the coax to the W3EDP antenna. This is a much shorter run than the Butternut.  The W3EDP is anchored by a second floor window which is more or less directly in line with the window that serves as my entry point to the shack.  I am anticipating that a run of coax probably no longer than about 30 feet will be required.  I am looking to replace the RG-8X with the LM-213 that I purchased to serve as coax stub filters for Field Day 2017.  I figure I can always buy more coax for a replacement filter next year. In the meantime, the band pass filters that I ordered from QRP Labs arrived yesterday.  I will build those over the Winter and will combine them with stub filters, if necessary, next Field Day. With the W3EDP coax replaced, both antennas should be set for the next decade or two barring any critter damage.

Oh, and by the way, Hans Summers has announced that the QCX transceiver kit, which I originally posted about on August 3rd, is now ready for ordering and shipping. Here’s the link, so you don’t have to scroll all the way back to August 3rd: http://ift.tt/2wgOaJZ

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP – When you care to send the very least!

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