[600MRG] KU4XR Tree-Tenna Note-1

[Carl]

The tree is acting as a termination or antenna; in any case it has some 
electrical properties so just cutting the wire will not tell much without 
duplicating the termination.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy - KU4XR" <ku4xr at yahoo.com>
To: "1750 Meter List" <lowfer at mailman.qth.net>; "600 meter group" 
<600MRG at w7ekb.com>; "Part 15 Group" <part15 at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2014 10:32 PM
Subject: [600MRG] KU4XR Tree-Tenna Note-1


> Greetings all:
>
> A couple of comments to get out of the way first.. I have read Ralph's 
> very well prepared
> article on his tree antenna experiment, and I have read every other 
> article I could dig out
> of the internet archives, including the papers by General George O Squier 
> on the discoveries
> of the time by the US Military .. I certainly don't lack available 
> information .. I mention again
> that I am doing this in a very non-scientific experiment... Out of 
> curiousity... to see what
> happens..
>
> Contrary to popular belief; tree sap does not recede into the bottom, or 
> roots of hardwood
> trees during the winter.. A quick Google search with the phrase : " what 
> happens to tree sap
> in winter ? " will provide plenty of reading on the subject.. If you care 
> to; you can read it for
> yourself, and I'll leave it at that.. Here in the Knoxville, TN. area; we 
> just came out of a 4 day
> artic freeze where the day temps were in the 15 to 20 degree range and 
> wind chills were
> -15 to 5 above.. The night temps hovered between 0 and 11 above with wind 
> chills dropping
> to - 5 to -20 .. Gentlemen, that is flat out cold for TN. Wx.. and I hit 
> sap when drilling ...
>
> On Sat. 2/1/2014 when drilling the pilot hole for the lag bolt; I hit the 
> sap vein at about
> 2-1/2 inches ( counting the 1/2 bark ) into the tree.. The pilot hole was 
> 4 inches, and the
> lag bolt was 3-1/2 inches long, so I made connection with the sap vein of 
> the tree.. It was
> pretty evident that I did when watery sap squirted out of the hole while I 
> was drilling, and that
> section of drill wood was wet.. And this is 12 feet up the tree...
>
> Tonite 2-2-2014 , when I got home from work, I had just enough light left 
> to be able to see and
> take the leadwire down from the limbs and lay it flat on the ground.. 
> There is close to 100 feet
> total wire length all the way from the tree tap point to the connection at 
> the radio..There is a
> 12 foot section running vertically up the tree.. Apart from burying the 
> lead-in wire; I can't reduce
> it's ability to capture signals and noise any further.. I won't make any 
> conclusions based on
> a couple of hours of monitoring... I'll let it run overnight and see what 
> the results are on Mon..
> I am of course using WSPR on 630 meters.. Make of this what you will; but 
> on Sun. night,
> XXM was the spot catcher of the 1 watt stations, and NO decodes from XKA.. 
> However ,
> tonite, after laying the wire on the ground; XKA is decoding repeatedly... 
> XXM is in there, and
> I fully expect that as the night goes on, he will get stronger, and decode 
> more often..
> BTW, I can " Hear " Jay - XGR/2 with just a clip lead connected.. no 
> surprise there though..
>
> OK.. To make this Tree-Tenna actually receive a signal, I had to use a 
> variable Inductor in
> series with the lead-in wire, and hung an air variable to ground on the 
> antenna side for
> peaking.. Then, it started to hear signals.. To answer the question 
> whether it is just the wire
> doing the receiving; the only way to find that out will be to cut the wire 
> and leave it hanging
> on the side of the tree, and see if it changes reception.. That; I will do 
> a bit later.. Before that;
> I want to try it on 1750 meters, and possibly 2200 meters to see if it 
> will receive signals, as is..
>
> That's enough for this posting.. more details later as my experiment 
> proceeds..
>
> 73 to all:
>
> Andy , KU4XR
>
> _______________________________________________
> 600MRG mailing list
> 600MRG at w7ekb.com
> http://w7ekb.com/mailman/listinfo/600mrg_w7ekb.com
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2014.0.4259 / Virus Database: 3684/7056 - Release Date: 02/03/14
>