Went down to Delaware yesterday afternoon to fuel two of my habits – one being served by Ham Radio Outlet, and the other by a store next door that sells things by the carton cheaper than in NJ or PA. Of course, we got there at 16:28, two minutes before they closed, but I wasn’t really there to browse; I had a mission. Asked for a soldered type N connector, but they’ve been out of them for four months. Okay, how about a SWR meter that does 2m/440? He asked how low in frequency I wanted it, and I admitted I’d like it to go to HF. That one is $200. Okay, how about just 2m/440? That one’s $79.95. So I bought the less expensive SX40C, made by Diamond (who coincidentally made my antenna as well). Last question was about standoffs for mounting my antenna mast on the house. Right now, I drove a good 2.5′ of it into the ground, and bolted it around 5′ from the ground, but I’d like another standoff near the top of the house so I could make it taller too – only problem is, the gutter sticks out more than the 4″ that the current standoff gives. But, they didn’t have any of those either, so I’ll have to check the home improvement and hardware stores in the area I guess.
The good news is, when I got home and installed the SWR meter, I checked the antenna and have barely any reflected power, even when pushing out 100W on 2m or 440MHz. So I guess that N connector adapter I used which I didn’t like very much is doing a good enough job. Oh, and I’ll see if I can get some more photos uploaded today, since I haven’t been doing that much and we have a lot more done in the house now :>