YCCC low band receiving array kit User`s manual
Contents
1. PI eet ELI LEE uri ANT3 to K1 470 uH NE is default unpowered state SPST Figure 35 Switching circuitry for 3 element inline array Should you decide to use the YCCC direction switch controller instead of the circuit in Figure 35 then read Section 10 3 for instructions on connections 10 3 Connecting up the direction switch controller The switching unit is normally installed in the shack with the control cable run from the switching unit to the combiner controller unit at the array Power for the entire system is provided by a 12 VDC or 13 8 VDC power supply with 1A capability or greater The kit does not include the power supply Do not use a wall wart type of supply because they generally have very poor regulation Connect the DC power source to the DC power connector on the switch box The 9 element system requires control line connections to the K1 K2 and K3 K4 terminals Use the plug that is supplied with the kit for making the control cable connections to the switching unit Relays K3 and K4 are always switched together as a pair by the direction switch controller so only one control line connection is needed The 5 element system requires control line connections to the K1 and K2 terminals The K3 K4 terminals are not used If you are building the 3 element system and decide to use this switch controller unit rather than the circuit of Figure 35 one control line connection should be made to the K1 terminal a2. 1 2 and 3 8 Allow 6 of overlap between telescoping sections The bottom section inserts inside a 3 foot section of a 0 5 ID PVC tube A 3 foot angle iron is driven into the ground leaving approximately 9 inches extending above ground Use two hose clamps to secure the bottom of the PVC tube to the angle iron Maintain some vertical separation between the bottom of the aluminum tube and the top of the angle iron to reduce stray capacitance between the element and the angle iron 3 8 x 6 aluminum tube Element is completely self supporting 1 2 x6 aluminum tube 5 8 x 6 aluminumtube drawing not to scale 1 2 x 3Q aluminumtube 0 5 ID x 3 PVC 3 angle iron Figure 9 Construction of an aluminum tubing vertical To make an electrical feedpoint connection to the vertical element drill a hole through the PVC tube and into the lowest point on the bottom section of aluminum tubing Insert a stainless sheet metal screw through this hole Each inline group of elements should be maintained in as straight a line as possible Side to side deviations up to two or three feet can be tolerated however with little effect on the array pattern However the 60 foot spacing between center and end elements is a critical dimension that should be held very tightly Aluminum tubing for constructing the vertical elements may be purchased from a number of sources including DX Engineering http www dxeng
3. C DL2 E SE CONTROL Figure 18 Bottom view of pre drilled combiner enclosure The enclosure includes a cover with a string rubber gasket that must be put in place Push the gasket into the groove around the perimeter of the inside of the cover Cut off any excess gasket material when done The cover with gasket in place should look like Figure 19 Page 23 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Figure 19 Combiner cover with gasket in place 27 Mount the PCB by passing the F connectors and the terminal block through the holes There are four mounting holes at the corners of the PCB refer to Figure 20 These holes line up with threaded holes inside the enclosure Install Phillips screws at each of the corners to secure the PCB to the inside of the enclosure Then install and tighten the nuts on all 14 F connectors on the outside of the enclosure The finished unit should look like Figure 21 Page 24 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Contest Club D gt C4 2 4 O D DX LE E NM pra OL2_0UT DL2_IN CENTER T s a RFCS r p gt RF C T4 gt an 4 3457 s PHASE CONTROLLER COMBINER COPYRIGHT 2015 Yankee Clipper RECEIVE ARRAY COMBINER Figure 21 Bottom view of combiner enclosure with PCB mounted inside Page 25 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 9 2 Cutting the delay lines The combiner controller requires connection of two RG 6 delay lines DL1 and DL2 in Section 9 5 as part of t
4. Make note of the labelling of the connections 12V GND K3 4 K2 K1 for future reference If you are building the 3 element inline system install two short wire jumpers through the holes circled in red in Figure 16 The jumpers bypass the unneeded relay switching circuitry on the PCB when there are only three antenna elements to be switched If you are building either the 5 element square or 9 element circle systems do not install the jumpers and leave the holes as is Cut off all excess component lead lengths on the bottom side of the PCB The two sides of the finished combiner PCB should now look like Figure 16 and Figure 17 Page 21 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 EN i RX RS w Qe cm pra Omit we e dr Ya we i RI y DL1 ma E zs A d a 1 P PETS m 3 Yankee Clipper RFC2 Gee Ta o T D Contest Club gc A dum A va C E 79 CS A E 0L2 OUT OL2_IN CENTER 1 ha K2 4 RFCS amp E nl RF C4 s PHASE CONTROLLER COMBINER COPYRIGHT C 2015 Figure 16 Component side of combiner PCB jumper locations circled in red see text Licensed under US Pat 7 423 588 DX Engineering me OL2 IN OL2 OUT Figure 17 Bottom side of combiner PCB Page 22 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 26 A predrilled combiner enclosure is provided in the kit for easy installation of the PCB See Figure 18 e 3 s e Yankee Clipper f 5 RECEIVE ARRAY d COMBINER e Contest Club
5. Thefeedpoint preamplifier that is built as part of this kit see Section 8 3 Aground rod Vertical element 15 25 ft Feedpoint amp Ground rod 3 4 feet Page 8 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Figure 6 An active receiving antenna Figure 7 shows how the various items are interconnected in a full 9 element array The connections for the 3 element and 5 element systems are similar amp amp feedline amp choke x9 amp Ll oe a a phase control cable bi l E acorns iner y pre direction switch box feedline x amp amp C gt YCCC project kits Figure 7 System diagram for a 9 element array The YCCC kits supply the following items circled in red in Figure 7 pe pcenas Array combiner Antenna feedpoint preamplifiers one per element Directional switch control unit Feedline chokes one per element The builder must supply the following items pus er RG 6 feedline see Section 7 10 foot section of Schedule 40 PVC pipe Control cable see Section 9 5 Materials to construct the vertical antenna elements see Section 6 Page 9 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 5 Outboard preamplifier with 10 20 dB gain as needed between the phase controller combiner and the receiver see Section 12 6 12V or 13 8V regulated DC power supply not a wall wart with at least 1A current capability 4 Ordering information Kits are ordered through DX Engineering
6. at either DXEngineering com or by calling 800 777 0703 The following three subsections list the quantities of kit components required to implement each of the three possible array configurations DX Engineering has each component available individually or in packages see Section O for part numbers and pricing 4 1 Nine element circle system fe Feedpoint preamp ka Combiner controller Direction switch unit I 4 2 Five element square system m Im Feedpoint preamp Combiner controller Direction switch unit Either 12 VDC or 13 8 VDC may be used with no difference in operation or performance However if you are using an outboard preamplifier see Section 12 1 that requires 13 8 VDC then it is recommended that you use 13 8 VDC rather than 12 VDC to power the entire system Page 10 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 4 3 Three element inline system LEE Feedpoint preamp Combiner controller Note that a direction switch unit is not specified for the 3 element system Although the YCCC switch unit will work with this system and could be ordered it is a bit of overkill because only two switchable directions need to be supported Instead it is recommended that builder construct the simple switching circuit described in Section Figure 29 5 Selecting and preparing a site The verticals should be installed on level ground with little or no elevation change around the array Clear away any foliage within 5 feet o
7. resistors The first test is to confirm that the termination impedance on all four combiner ports is 750 Significant deviations more than a few ohms from this value indicate wiring or component errors The most likely cause of errors is incorrectly wound transformers since the PCB virtually eliminates the possibility of other wiring errors other than misplaced components Connect the delay lines to their respective ports Connect a 75 resistor to each of the NE SW and C antenna ports and the analyzer to the RX port Do NOT connect the 12 VDC or 13 8 VDC source for this test The RX port impedance as measured by the analyzer should be very close to 75 resistive with little or no reactance on 1 8 through 4 0 MHz Repeat the same test with the analyzer connected to the NE port and a 75 resistor on the RX port The analyzer should read very close to 7502 Repeat for the SW and C ports 9 5 Connecting up the combiner controller There are 14 female F connectors and a 5 pin terminal block for control cable connections on the PCB All external cable connections to the controller are labeled on the outside of the enclosure and should be made as follows 1 Thelong delay line DL1 connects to the DL1 ports It doesn t matter which end goes into each port See Section 9 2 for instructions on how to cut DL1 2 The short delay line DL2 connects to the DL2 ports It doesn t matter which end goes into each port See Section 9 2 for
8. section can be used to switch the 3 element system in two directions but may be considered overkill for that application The 3 element inline array in fact requires only a very simple switching circuit with one SPST switch Let s say the user wants an array that is switchable between the NE and SW directions In this case only one relay K1 on the combiner controller PCB is active refer to Figure 43 Relays K2 K3 and K4 on the PCB are left in their unpowered states Figure 35 shows how this is done The top half of figure represents the relay circuitry that is already on the combiner controller PCB The user should connect the feedlines from the NE and SW ends of the array to the NE and SW ports respectively on the combiner controller unit while the center element is connected to the center element port The other antenna ports are not used and may be left unterminated Also be sure to install the jumpers on the phase combiner PCB see Section 9 1 and Figure 16 The direction switching unit that the user can build is the bottom half of Figure 35 consisting of just an RF choke and the SPST switch Only one control line conductor is used for switching and it connects to the K1 terminal on the controller combiner PCB The terminals for K2 K3 and K4 are not used Page 36 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Because the switching circuitry is so simple the YCCC kit does not provide parts for this unit and it is left to the builder to implement it
9. transformer shown in Figure 38 wound on a Fair Rite 2873000202 50 ohms 75 ohms 4 turns 5 turns Figure 38 50 to 75 ohm transformer core Materials for making this transformer are not included in the kit Commercial solutions for a 50 to 75 ohm broadband transformer can also be used for example the one sold by Hi Z Antennas http www hizantennas com 75 to 50 ohm transfromer htm DX Engineering has been the exclusive reseller of Hi Z products since late 2013 DX Engineering has been the exclusive reseller of Hi Z products since late 2013 Page 40 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 To insure that the output of the RPA 1 sees 50 ohms and thereby insure 50 ohms on its input you should run a 50 ohm coax line instead of RG 6 between its output port and the input to your receiver This assumes the receiver presents a 50 ohm load to the feedline 12 1 2 Clifton Laboratories Z10046A The Z100464 is a high gain 23 5 dB nominal preamplifier that presents 50 ohms on its input and output ports The large gain would normally be needed only if you have high loss between the combiner controller and your radio for example if your feedline is extremely long The 50 ohm side of the transformer in Figure 38 should be connected to the input port of the Z10046A and the 75 ohm side to the combiner controller RX port Run a 50 ohm coaxial line back to the receiver and connect directly to the receiver s receiving antenna input port
10. 1 and RFC 2 470 uH chokes light green body color Wind T1 on the binocular ferrite core with a 5 turn primary using green magnet wire and a 5 turn secondary using red magnet wire Refer to Figure 10 as an example of a transformer winding The primary and secondary windings should exit from opposite ends of the core 2 passes 6 passes 1 turn 3 turns Page 15 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 10 11 IZ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Figure 10 Transformer winding technique Install and solder T1 the red windings should go on the side facing connector F1 Install and solder C5 and C6 22 uF capacitors n22J3 marking blue body color Install and solder C1 and C3 0 1 uF capacitors 100n marking gray body color Install and solder C4 5 pF mica capacitor 5D marking dark yellow body color Install and solder C2 10 uF electrolytic capacitor observe polarity the grey marking on the cap is the negative lead and goes on the side opposite the marking on the PCB Install and solder integrated circuit U1 on the PCB Make sure the IC is oriented correctly with the small notch on the end of the IC facing the end of the PCB Solder the J1 pins to the foil side of the PCB This will place J1 on the top of the board the same side as the components as shown in Figure 11 Solder a 1 1 2 white wire through the ANT hole on the PCB Solder a lug to the other end of the wire Solder a 1 1 2 black wire through the
11. 12 1 3 Clifton Laboratories Z10043A The Z10043A has a nominal gain of 11 dB Unlike the 2100464 it mirrors the load impedance on its output port back to its input port If the output port of the Z10043A sees 75 ohms its input will also be close to 75 ohms and it can be connected directly to the output port of the combiner controller Run RG 6 from the output port of the Z10043A to the receiver At the receiver the 50 ohm input impedance of the receiver should be stepped up to 75 ohms using the 50 to 75 ohm step up transformer in Figure 38 to terminate the RG 6 properly 12 1 4 Hi Z Antennas 75 ohm preamplifier The Hi Z preamplifier has an advertised 15 dB gain and is designed to provide a 75 ohm input impedance when its output port is terminated in 75 ohms Therefore its input can be connected directly to the combiner controller output port Run RG 6 to the receiver At the receiver the 50 ohm input impedance of the receiver should be stepped up to 75 ohms using the transformer in Figure 38 to terminate the RG 6 properly 12 2 No preamplifier If you choose not to use a preamplifier then simply run an RG 6 feedline from the RX port of the combiner controller unit to the 75 ohm side of the transformer in Figure 38 Connect the 50 ohm side to the receiver 13 How to detune nearby towers and transmit verticals As described in Section 5 it is very important to keep interactions with nearby metallic structures to a minimum Otherwise stray coup
12. 3 dB Beamwidth 9 3 dB 94 degrees Page 45 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 14 1 3 40 meters Total Field EZNEC 4 7 MHz Azimuth Plot CursorAz X 32 0 deg Elevation Angle 20 0 deg Gain 15 91 dBi Outer Ring 15 91 dBi 0 0 dBmax Slice Max Gain 15 91 dBi Az Angle 32 0 deg Front Back 11 91 dB Beamwidth 134 6 deg 3dB 292 7 67 3 deg Sidelobe Gain 15 91 dBi Az Angle 327 0 deg Front Sidelobe 0 0 dB RDF 20 degree elevation 9 1 dB Beamwidth 3 dB 135 degrees Page 46 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 14 2 Feedpoint preamplifier schematic diagram 100k 100k E T 150 a AME 1N4740A 470 uH 0 22 uF 13 8 VDC 1 1 gt i l Feedline ANT r SpF 75 Q i ci 470 uH Notes e Transformer core Fair Hite 2873000202 5 turn primary 5 turn seconday use 26 enamel wire e All resistors 1 AW 5 W1FV 1 Jan 2013 e All capacitors 50V or higher Figure 40 Feedpoint preamplifier Page 47 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 14 3 Phase combiner controller schematic diagram There are two parts to the circuit shown as two separate schematic diagrams below These are both integrated onto the combiner controller PCB as a single circuit LOZ uer AJIM euipe9 G yBnoJy juauaja Ja uao 0 sj2euuoo Od Z NV uoneuruue JadoJd 101 peo Xy G4 e ees jsnui Pod XY JeuBiu JO AOS sJojoedeo y T 40 G Mb L SJOJSISO
13. 3a norton amplifier htm 4 Hi Z Antennas 75 ohm inline preamp http www hizantennas com preamp htm There are undoubtedly other suitable units that we have not tested When using a preamplifier it is important to understand that the antenna input port of the preamplifier must present a 75 ohm load to combiner controller in order to terminate the combiner circuit properly If the input differs significantly from 75 ohms the combiner circuit which depend upon a 75 ohm termination on all ports will not function optimally and degraded array performance will be the result Therefore the preamplifier must be operated in a way that insures that it terminates the RX port of the combiner controller in 75 ohms For the four preamplifier units listed above the following subsections describe how they should be installed If you wish to use another preamplifier type you should still read the information below to understand the issues involved in interfacing it properly with the combiner controller circuit 12 1 1 DX Engineering RPA 1 The RPA 1 provides exceptional dynamic range performance of 110 dB or greater IM3 at 500 Hz BW and a 43 dBm third order intercept It has 16 dB gain and is nominally a 50 ohm preamp but its input impedance varies with the load impedance on its output port If the output is terminated in a 50 ohm load then the input impedance is very close to 50 ohms This 50 ohm input can be stepped up to 75 ohms by means of the broadband
14. ARE DXE YCCC 9CIRCLE Additional kit information can be found at htt Description Feedline Choke Unassembled Components Kit Combiner Unassembled Components Kit Antenna Preamp Unassembled Components Kit Directional Switch Unassembled Components Kit YCCC 3 Element Inline Array Kit YCCC 5 Element Square Array Kit YCCC 9 Element Circle Array Kit Page 51 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Price 22 00 72 00 27 00 60 00 219 00 377 00 573 00 www dxengineering com search keyword vccc
15. GND hole on the PCB Solder a lug to the other end of the wire Thread a 3 8 32 nut onto J1 most of the way Install the mounting screw hardware through the lugs on the ANT and GND wires and leave them loose for now The order of hardware from inside to outside of the enclosure will be screw head solder lug flat washer pipe wall flat washer lock washer nut wing nut Cut off all excess component lead lengths on the bottom side of the PCB A finished PCB is shown in Figure 11 AAA a Ea NN ul eae Figure 11 Feedpoint preamplifier PCB Page 16 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 8 2 Building the enclosures To save money on the cost of nine enclosures for the feedpoint preamplifiers we use enclosures made from 2 ID Schedule 40 PVC pipe which is available at almost any hardware store or from home supply vendors such as Home Depot or Lowe s PVC is also used as an enclosure for the feedline chokes see Section 0 It is not included as part of the kit because it would cost more to ship an oversize pipe section than to have builders obtain the pipe on their own PVC end caps are used to seal off the ends of the pipe enclosures The builder should buy caps with flat ends rather than domed ends The builder should also obtain PVC cement which is available wherever PVC pipe is sold Cut a 4 length of PVC pipe Drill a 3 8 hole in the center of one end cap and push the F connector through the hole as illustrated In F
16. IJ V 9JI JBWEUS 9Z BSN ZOZOODE BZ 91hJ JIE S109 JOWUOJSUBI Iv SBJON 938 IQA 8 E L C LNY s ejas SH vu s ejas Bulyojims 0 gt a L INV ZO 8y 9H ey CH au ZHIN 8 10 ejep Bep oz Z10 SUI ZHIN 8 10 Aejep Bep op L 10 HN 04v O44 ar ZZ O v0 ED ZO N 49000 L9 U 00 ZYH UOL 8Y 9y O OSL SH UZI Y O OvZ vy TY OGL LY punoJB e oqe suunj s je dej susn GL sun Je ylq 9 SPL suuin JEWIG Z EL ZL padde Jajua9 SUN OL iLL cl A 1592 XY Figure 41 Combiner circuitry Page 48 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 On Tot GG e E Lo m LP o Qe oO o a e LL UL LL LL LL LL cr F oF de id tr 4 er KJ m E mE Es O Lj rj O O LJ O O o NE 8 59 en 9 a es S o C O O O i J Y O O O C L e E a Figure 42 Direction switching relay circuitry Page 49 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 WiFV 1 Jan 2013 14 4 Direction switch controller schematic diagram K1 K2 K3 K4 113 8 VDC GND D1 D4 D5 D8 D9 D12 E a R umm 50150 e o 55 e D1 D12 1N4001 or equivalent e RFC 470 uH e R 1500 0 Figure 43 Direction switch controller Page 50 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 15 Kit ordering and pricing information Part Number DXE YCCC CHOKE YCCC DXE YCCC CMBNR YCCC DXE YCCC PREAMPYCCC DXE YCCC SWITCH YCCC DXE YCCC 3INLINE DXE YCCC 5SQU
17. RDF and its use as a metric for comparing different receiving antennas Each dB increase in RDF generally translates into a one dB improvement in receiving SNR signal to noise ratio in the peak direction In designing the array primary emphasis was placed on 160 meter RDF performance followed by 80 meters and then 40 meters On 160 the RDF of the array matches that of a terminated Beverage antenna that is 800 1000 feet long On 80 its RDF exceeds that of a conventional 4 square array and is comparable to a 500 foot terminated Beverage See Section 14 of this document for calculations of beam patterns for this array Note Text in blue like this represents a hyperlink to a Web page or another section or figure within this document The listings in the Table of Contents at the beginning of this document are also hyperlinked to their respective sections You can click a hyperlink to jump directly to the referenced item Notes on kit building The Yankee Clipper Contest Club YCCC is cooperating with DX Engineering to provide kits to build the key electronics for the system This includes all discrete parts high quality PCB s and PCB enclosures Kit information can be found at http www dxengineering com search keyword yccc This manual includes assembly instructions for each of the kit units Experience in building and working with electronics are prerequisites for building the kits This includes soldering skills the ability to read resistor co
18. YCCC low band receiving array kit User s manual Page 1 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Table of contents 1 I 10 11 12 Backerouna on tre A GO GU dic 4 Selecting anaffavceontiguratio Nasrallah ia 5 2 1 Ehreesdifferent configurations saab a 5 2 2 Choosing between the 5 element and 9 element configurations eee 7 How a complete system is configured enenatis 8 Orderinz iNformatio Misha 10 4 1 Nineselementicircle systems ooi excom aaa 10 4 2 Five efementsquaresvsteMis inas ardea 10 4 3 Thiree element inline SVStelius queo toes veri Pe CORE di 11 Selecting and Preparing a ste Lilia rasa 11 Constructine the vertical elemielnts si pre Cove Eco irr IEEE DE EH UR evi pem d Eos 12 Choosing TE CC ING S aso etc ieu etes tina 14 Antenna fteedpoint preamplifier assembly iaia 14 8 1 Step bysstep Instl ctlOTiS outdoor E asia 14 8 2 Bula ne tne enclos Ure icis qd me essuotisecaca uh sedi bocne isi ninas 17 8 3 Connecting up the feedpoint preamplifier eese enne 19 Phase combiner controller assembly con pets a Pei Coe des nico Pest cea dreads Se rui odes 19 9 1 Step Dy SeMS EPHELIOTIS ccs once einer ede eoi ERIS orm eoo mU Sunde minces te vau atten IE aces EL SEDE 19 9 2 Cutting the dela lines itae pe cat ocn EE Ee or POR Ns Et da 26 9 3 CUTTING antenna Te COIN GS sos fecisse adr hehe ut acute i Ae anneau ter ieiunii obama hood pt 27 9 4 Testing the combiner circuit 27 9 5 Conn
19. at the value and the part designator are both stenciled on the board For the other parts just the part designator for example C1 or RFC1 is stenciled on the board The top side of the PCB is also identified by the Yankee Clipper Contest Club logo stenciled onto the board All components except the F connectors and terminal block mount to the top side of the PCB Refer to Figure 16 and Figure 17 as you follow these instructions Note that the labels on the transformers shown in Figure 16 are for reference for identifying the transformers but the labels are not included in the kit Install and solder the four relays K1 through K4 Install and solder R1 75 ohm violet green black resistor Install and solder R2 240 ohm red yellow brown resistor Install and solder R3 12 ohm brown red black resistor Install and solder R4 240 ohm red yellow brown resistor Install and solder R5 150 ohm brown green brown resistor Install and solder R6 1 0 ohm brown black gold resistor Install and solder R7 3300 ohm orange orange red resistor Install and solder R8 1 0 ohm brown black gold resistor Install and solder the nine RF chokes RFC1 through RFC9 all 470 uH light green body color Install and solder C1 047 uF capacitor 47nJ100 marking blue body color Install and solder C2 C3 and C4 all 0 22 uF capacitors n22J63 marking blue body color Refer to Figure 41 for configuration of the diffe
20. conductor of the vertical s feedline The relay is energized by grounding the base of Q1 through the radio s amplifier keying line the same line that is used to switch on a linear amplifier if used Grounding that line turns on the transistor and closes the relay contacts to complete the feedline connection to the vertical when transmitting On receive the relay contacts open and the vertical floats with no path to ground The circuit shown allows an amplifier and the relay to be activated simultaneously A generic PNP switching transistor can be used but be sure its maximum current rating is sufficient for the current drawn by the type of relay s used The value of R1 will depend on the amount of current supplied to the relay s Start with a value around 4 7k and if necessary trim R1 until the voltage between the transistor s collector and emitter terminals drops to a few tenths of a volt when the amplifier keying line is grounded CW QSK operation can be supported if the relay is a fast vacuum relay like the Gigavac GH 1 The YCCC kit does not include parts to build this driver circuit 13 8 VDC to amplifier T if used O MM R2 D2 D1 R1 radio amp key line Lui 4 gnd on xmit IM Q1 n 12V relay D3 N coil Q1 2N3906 or equivalent see text R1 see text R2 47k D1 D2 D3 1N4001 or equivalent Figure 39 Relay keying circuit If the vertical is shunt and not serial fed th
21. ecting up the combiner controller 27 Direction SWiteh controller as sembla Acne oput vbt sun vu iis de 28 10 1 Step by step instructions 5 and 9 element SYStemS enne 28 10 2 A switching unit for the 3 element inline array 36 10 3 Connecting up the direction switch controller 37 Building thie T ee dlineCROKOS sari ela 38 Connecting the combiner controller output to your radi0 i 39 Page 2 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 12 1 Use of an outboard preamplifier eee 39 T2 1 1 BDXEnBsSineerlhg RPAESL x ede pem ent Gi IE 40 1211 7 Clifton Laboratories ZI00464 ipe lea 41 12 1 3 Clifton Laboratories Z10043A nnne ennemis nnns annes 41 12 1 4 HrZAntennas 75 ohnmtpreamplifler uc ot etu with ets ade ete 41 1S MEE V Togelgzclaa ull T TU T TT 41 13 How to detune nearby towers and transmit verticals ii 41 14 Reference Informallo narra 43 14 1 Azimuth pattern calculations at 20 degree elevation 43 TACT ISO Meter ura ote ica 44 14 1 2 UMTS A ii 45 14 1 3 AO Meter alla 46 14 2 Feedpoint preamplifier schematic diagram 47 14 3 Phase combiner controller schematic diagram eese 48 14 4 Direction switch controller schematic diagram esee 50 15 Kit ordering and pricing Informations ss desea e de p e Cue ea tex ease ue e en c
22. ectrical connection to the PCB The front of the connector body has a metal tab visible through the opening as shown in Figure 22 Push the wide side of the pins into the back opening of the bodies as shown in Figure 23 until they snap in place The pins should protrude exactly 1 cm 39 inches beyond the rear end of the connector body when installed correctly The bent end of the pins should face downward towards the PCB where they will install Page 29 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Figure 22 DC power connector body and pin Figure 23 Rear side of DC power connectors with pins in place 10 The DC power connector bodies have rails and grooves on their sides that allow them to be joined together Engage the rail of the red body with the groove of the black body and slide them together lengthwise as shown below in Figure 24 The ends of the connector bodies will line up when fully joined Page 30 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Figure 24 DC power connector bodies being joined together 11 Mount the connector on the bottom side of the PCB and solder the pins on the top side as shown in Figure 27 12 Insert the wire staple around the power connector as shown in Figure 25 The staple should slide through grooves on the sides of the connector as shown in the figure Solder the two ends of the staple to the top side of the PCB Figure 25 Wire staple holding power connector to PCB 13 Cut off all excess lead lengths
23. en tower detuning techniques such as those described at http www W8ji com detuning towers htm should be employed In this case the relay is used to close Page 42 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 the connection to the detuning circuit when receiving and open it when transmitting For verticals that are wave tall or shorter the detuning circuit should be installed close to ground Try a vertical detuning drop wire about 20 feet long tapping the tower or vertical at the far end of the wire spaced about two to three feet out from the tower or vertical Insert a 1000 pF air variable capacitor in series with the bottom end of the detuning wire to ground The capacitor is tuned to resonate the detuning circuit to the transmitting frequency by doing the following Temporarily break the connection between the capacitor to ground and insert an antenna analyzer is series with the connection Keep the leads to the analyzer very short Tune the capacitor to minimize the total impedance Z The tuning may be very sharp because the drop wire and capacitor form a high Q circuit It should be possible to get the impedance very close to zero Remove the analyzer and remake the connection when done The relay contacts that are used to open the connection to the detuning circuit when transmitting should have sufficient spacing so as not to arc when transmitting and the contacts are open When interactions with towers and other antennas are kept reasonably smal
24. have a very long control cable run hundreds of feet or more you should use additional control line conductors in parallel for the power connections to reduce voltage drop along the cable Connect the K1 K2 and K3 K4 terminals on the plug to the corresponding conductors of the cable Relays K3 and K4 are always switched together as a pair so only one control line connection is needed for these The direction switch controller that is part of this kit will properly switch the K3 K4 relays together through the single conductor 8 If you are building a 3 element system a 3 conductor control cable is required One control line conductor is required and it goes to the K1 connection while the remaining two are for 12V and GND Leave the K2 and K3 K4 connections unused 10 Direction switch controller assembly 10 1 Step by step instructions 5 and 9 element systems Constructing the switch controller requires soldering of pins with very close spacing A fine tip soldering iron is strongly recommended for this job 1 Inventory the parts against the following list to be sure all parts are on hand 4 40 1 25 aluminum threaded standoffs w 01 Y i Page 28 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 10 S mepltedsrew 2 piece pre drilled steel enclosure 6 CS O Looking at the top component side of the board you will see the part designators for example R1 D1 etc are stenciled on the board The top side of the PCB is al
25. he green wire to GND Solder the tap where red and green are joined to R G Solder the red wire to R Transformers T2 T3 are T4 are wound as bifilar transformers Figure 15 shows the bifilar winding technique Take two wires shown as red and green in the figure in parallel and wind them through the binocular core keeping them together as though they were a single wire As in Figure 10 two passes form one turn Page 20 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 2 4 3 Figure 15 Bifilar winding technique Wind T2 and T3 as 7 bifilar turns Assuming you use red and green wires for each winding as shown in Figure 15 the red and green wires will each make 7 complete turns through the core The mounting holes on the PCB for T2 and T3 are labelled R G G R Solder the two red wires through the R holes and the two green wires through the G holes Wind T4 as 6 bifilar turns Assuming you use red and green wires for each winding as shown in Figure 15 the red and green wires will each make 6 complete turns through the core The mounting holes on the PCB for T4 are labelled R G G R Solder the two red wires through the R holes and the two green wires through the G holes Install and solder all 14 female connectors to the bottom side of the PCB as shown in Figure 17 Do not yet install the nuts Install and solder the 5 pin terminal block J1 to the bottom side of the PCB as shown in Figure 17
26. he phasing circuitry DL1 comprises a 40 degree phase delay as measured at 1 83 MHz while DL2 is 20 degrees When DL1 and DL2 are cut to these lengths they will also be the correct lengths for the higher frequencies 80 and 40 meters which allows multiband operation with a single set of delay lines and no band switching To minimize phase errors and maximize directivity of the array itis very important that these lines be cut accurately Do not rely on the published velocity factor V for a particular coax cable because it is not always accurate or it sometimes varies with frequency If you are using the Commscope flooded RG 6 coax cable referenced in Section 7 then the correct delay line lengths for this cable are as follows DL1 is 49 feet 10 inches and DL2 is 25 feet exactly If you are using a RG 6 line other than the Commscope RG 6 then the lines should be cut according to the instructions that follow An accurate antenna analyzer such as the MFJ 259B or AEA VIA that can measure complex impedance Z R and X is required A VNA vector network analyzer may also be used if you are fortunate enough to have access to one If you do have a VNA it is assumed you know how to make two port phase delay measurements on coaxial lines Therefore the instructions that follow apply only to the antenna analyzer method The trick to cutting a line with a specific phase delay at a specific frequency is to recognize that phase delay for a given line le
27. holes in the front panel of the enclosure The holes at the four corners and rear middle of the PCB should line up with the threads in the aluminum standoffs Install a 25 inch zinc plated screw through each hole to secure the PCB to the standoffs Install the lock washer and nut on the threaded part of the rotary switch shaft on the outside of the enclosure front panel Install the knob on the shaft Yankee Clipper Receive Array Direction Controller WiFU WHIM W1UE Figure 31 PCB mounted inside enclosure 17 Mount the 10 32 x 1 ground terminal screw through the hole in the rear panel of the enclosure as shown below in Figure 32 On the outside of the enclosure install the remaining screw hardware in the following order lock washer nut two flat washers and Page 34 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 wing nut Tighten the nut to secure the screw to the enclosure The wing nut and flat washers will be used to make a ground connection to the chassis once the unit is installed in your station ELA By e i pm y 4 COMBINER Nttp Wwww yccc org Figure 32 Ground terminal screw on rear panel 18 Attach the cover to the rest of the enclosure using three 25 black oxide screws and lock washers on each side of the enclosure The finished enclosure should look like Figure 33 from the front and Figure 34 from the rear W RECEIVE ARRAY DIRECTION CONTROLLER Fusce Figure 33 Front side of finished direct
28. igure 10 two passes through the pair of cores form one turn When constructing multiple chokes the lengths of RG 179 used for each choke should be exactly the same Each choke installs in a PVC enclosure similar to that used for the antenna feedpoint preamplifiers Figure 36 Feedline choke winding Cut a 3 1 2 foot length of RG 179 and wind the turns tightly through two side by side cores which should leave a few inches of line protruding from each end of the core stack Solder a female F connector at each end of the RG 179 Use PCB mount F connectors and solder the shield to one of the ground pins on each connector as shown in Figure 36 Cut a 6 length of schedule 40 PVC pipe Drill a 3 8 hole in each of two end caps Mount one of the F connectors through the hole in one end cap and secure tightly with a nut on the outside Insert the choke assembly inside the PVC pipe It should be a fairly tight fit Cement the end cap with the F Page 38 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 connector on the end of the PVC pipe Push the other F connector through the hole in the remaining end cap secure tightly with a nut on the outside and cement that cap in place A finished choke is shown in Figure 37 Figure 37 Completed feedline choke Although the cemented caps are reasonably watertight it is possible for moisture to collect or to seep in especially around the F connectors Therefore it is essential to provide a means for water to drain
29. igure 12 Secure tightly with a nut on the outside of the cap This cap will be the bottom of the enclosure so that the feedline drops vertically from it Temporarily mount the cap with the attached PCB to the 4 pipe section without glue Figure 12 Preparation of end cap for preamplifier enclosure Drill two holes on the sides of the PVC pipe to align with the end of the PCB where the antenna and ground wire connections will be made to the screw connections through the PVC pipe Remove the end cap from the pipe Apply a generous amount of PVC cement around the end of the PVC pipe and on the inside of the end cap Mount the end cap on the pipe Allow the cement to dry overnight After the glue is dry install the screw terminals for antenna and ground leads through the holes that Page 17 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 were drilled in the pipe Then tighten down the outside nut so that the wing nut can be screwed on and off without the screw coming loose It is suggested that the antenna and ground screw terminals be labeled on the outside of the PVC pipe as ANT and GND The partially finished assembly should look like Figure 13 Figure 13 Mounting of PCB inside PVC pipe Apply a generous amount of PVC cement around the open end of the PVC pipe and on the inside of the other end cap Mount the end cap on the pipe Allow the cement to dry overnight Figure 14 shows a finished feedpoint preamplifier unit Figure 14 Completed feed
30. ineering com search department rigid tubing part type aluminum tubing Page 13 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Ready to install vertical systems are also available from DX Engineering http www dxengineering com parts dxe al24 7 Choosing feedlines Use high quality RG 6 for the feedlines between the antennas and the controller combiner unit The most important parameter is the characteristic impedance of the line because a 75 ohm impedance must be maintained throughout the system to insure phasing accuracy Although all RG 6 cables are specified nominally at 75 ohms we have measured a number of different makes of RG 6 lines that differ significantly from 75 ohms We recommend Commscope flooded RG 6 or equivalent which is available from many vendors DX Engineering sells a flooded RG 6 feedline that is equivalent http www dxengineering com search department cable and connectors product line dx engineering 6uf 75 ohm dual shield coaxial cable autoview SKU amp N 4294953052 2B4294951385 amp sortby Default amp sortorder Ascending The phase combiner controller is designed to work with EQUAL LENGTH FEEDLINES between each of the elements and the controller Referring to Figure 7 the actual length of the feedlines between the vertical elements and the phase combiner controller is not critical but whatever the lengths they must all be EXACTLY THE SAME If the combiner is located at the center of the array which will be typical for mos
31. instructions on how to cut DL2 3 Thecenter element feedline connects to the port labeled C The feedline to the receiver connects to the port labeled RX 5 Theremaining ports connect to the feedlines from the vertical antenna elements For labeling purposes it is assumed that the verticals are arranged around the points of a compass as N NE Page 27 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 E and so on If you are building the 9 element system the eight feedlines from the verticals on the perimeter of the circle connect to their respective ports on the PCB If you are building a 5 element system then connect the feedlines to the ports corresponding to the element positions on the compass that you intend to cover Leave the other antenna ports unterminated If you are building a 3 element system connect the feedlines from the two end elements only to the NE and SW ports regardless of which directions you intend to support The other ports are not used and may be left unterminated 6 Control cable connections are made to the 5 pin terminal block Use the plug that is supplied with the kit Viewed from the bottom of the enclosure see Figure 21 the order of terminal block connections on the outside from left to right is 12V GND K3 4 K2 K1 7 If you are building a 9 element or 5 element system a 5 conductor control cable is required Connect the 12V and GND terminals on the plug to the corresponding conductors of the cable If you
32. ion controller unit Page 35 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 COMBINER CAN uw A J ane Y a 1 http www yccc org A UN E cte H Ld nx et p 4 i f Lu fi a La ANUS E fs XN Figure 34 Rear side of finished direction controller unit 19 You may test the direction controller at this time by connecting a 12 or 13 8 VDC power supply to the power connector A DC power cord with a Power Pole connector which can be purchased from many sources is required to make the power connection to the connector on the rear panel of the enclosure Be sure to observe the correct polarity As the switch is rotated you should see the LED s light up one at a time Note that the particular rotary switch that was selected for this unit has more positions than are actually used There will be several inactive positions where none of the LED s will be lit In the inactive positions the direction controller defaults to the NE direction even though the NE LED will not be lit You may also test the direction controller with the combiner by interconnecting the two units with a 5 conductor control cable Refer to Section 10 3 for instructions on the control cable connections As you select the various active positions of the direction switch you should hear the relays in the combiner box clicking on and off 10 2 A switching unit for the 3 element inline array The 8 direction controller described in the previous
33. l the RDF of the array suffers virtually no degradation and the only impact is on the sidelobe and backlobe levels RDF becomes impaired only when beam pattern distortions start to affect the forward lobe in a significant Way 14 Reference information 14 1 Azimuth pattern calculations at 20 degree elevation Azimuth patterns on 160 80 and 40 meters are shown in the following subsections These were calculated with EZNEC 4 which has the NEC 4 engine using the high accuracy ground model and for an elevation angle of 20 degrees Page 43 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 14 1 1 160 meters Total Field EZNEC 4 1 83 MHz Azimuth Plot CursorAz 0 0 deg Elevation Angle 20 0 deg Gain 39 24 dBi Outer Ring 39 24 dBi 0 0 dBmax Slice Max Gain 39 24 dBi Az Angle 0 0 deg Front Back 44 42 dB Beamwidth 79 8 deg 3dB 320 1 39 9 deg Sidelobe Gain 58 63 dBi Az Angle 122 0 deg Front Sidelobe 19 39 dB RDF 20 degree elevation 12 1 degrees Beamwidth 9 3 dB 80 degrees Page 44 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 14 1 2 80 meters Total Field EZNEC 4 3 66 MHz Azimuth Plot CursorAz 0 0 deg ElevationAngle 20 0 deg Gain 24 38 dBi Outer Ring 24 38 dBi 0 0 dBmax Slice Max Gain 24 38 dBi D Az Angle 0 0 deg Front Back 19 84 dB Beamwidth 94 0 deg 3dB 313 0 47 0 deg Sidelobe Gain 44 22 dBi D Az Angle 180 0 deg Front Sidelobe 19 84 dB RDF 20 degree elevation 11
34. ling to those structures can introduce distortion in the array s beam pattern If the nearby structure is a tower or resonant transmit vertical then the special measures that are described here should be implemented A transmit vertical is commonly a wave radiator that is fed against a ground system usually radials Regardless of whether the vertical is actually a physical wave an electrically loaded vertical that is physically shorter than wave an inverted L or some other implementation it will couple strongly to the array if it is close to resonance at the frequency of operation of the array even at large physical separations One way to reduce the stray coupling is to open circuit the connection to ground at the Page 41 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 base of the transmit vertical when it is not being used for transmitting In many cases this will reduce interaction with the array to an acceptable degree If a serial feed system is used for the vertical this can be accomplished by means of a SPST relay installed at the feedpoint of the vertical and keyed from transmitter If a multi element transmit vertical array is used then the base connections at all of the verticals must open circuited on receive The transistor driver circuit shown in Figure 39 can be used for this purpose The relay is installed at the feedpoint of the vertical with the relay contacts opening and closing the connection between the vertical and the center
35. lor codes and other component markings and some mechanical assembly skills The kits have been designed for ease of assembly with very little point to point wiring However if you are in doubt about your kit building capabilities please consider having someone with the necessary skills do it for you Technical support Technical support for the kits is being provided by YCCC volunteers Technical questions should be directed by e mail to yccctechsupport verizon net Page 4 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 2 Selecting an array configuration 2 1 Three different configurations The user can select one of three possible array configurations These employ a 3 element inline array with 60 foot element to element spacing as the basic building block All three configurations generate the same beam pattern The only difference is the number of switching directions The YCCC kit supports all three options with details to follow later 1 3 element inline A single array with two directions of coverage as indicated by the arrows in Figure 1 End element to center element spacing is 60 feet giving an end to end span of 120 feet Note that this spacing is different than the 70 feet originally specified in the NCJ article The reason for the change is that improved performance is obtained on 80 meters with virtually no degradation on 160 meters The closer spacing also yields a 40m beam pattern that may be useful although not as directive as
36. nd K2 and K3 KA left used Page 37 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 11 Building the feedline chokes Feedline chokes are an essential part of the system Do not be tempted to skip them They are needed to suppress common mode signal pickup that can distort the beam pattern Each feedline from one of the vertical antenna elements requires a choke be installed at the point where the feedline enters the combiner controller box as illustrated in Figure 7 One side of the choke will connect to the feedline from an antenna element while the other side will connect to the combiner controller box The exact insertion point is not critical but we suggest that a choke be installed at a distance of a few feet from the combiner which will normally allow the chokes to lie flat on the ground The lengths of RG 6 from each choke to the combiner box should all be the same such that the feedlines from each element to the combiner are exactly the same length Maintain some physical separation between the individual chokes to prevent coupling between them Each choke consists of 7 1 2 turns of RG 179 miniature 75Q coaxial line wound through two cylindrical 31 material ferrite cores Fair Rite part no 2631102002 put together in the binocular arrangement shown in Figure 36 This choke is designed specifically to maximize common mode suppression in the 160 and 80 meter bands It provides several thousand ohms of common mode choking impedance on those bands As in F
37. ngth scales directly with frequency The easiest way to cut a 40 degree cable at 1 83 MHz is to find the frequency where that line becomes 90 degrees in electrical length When it is 90 degrees long the input impedance at one end will ideally look like a short circuit when the far end is left open circuited This condition is then easy to measure with the analyzer The 40 degree line at 1 83 MHz becomes a 90 degree line at 1 83x 90 40 4 118 MHz by applying frequency scaling Similarly the 20 degree line at 1 83 MHz becomes a 90 degree line at 8 235 MHz To cut the 40 degree line start with a length of RG 6 that will be slightly longer than will be required using the specified velocity factor as a starting point for determining approximate length As an example let s assume the velocity factor is V 0 85 If this figure is truly accurate then the correct length would be 85x 984 1 83 x 40 360 50 78 feet However we will start by cutting the line to approximately 55 feet long Install a male F connector on one end of the cable Leave the other end open with no connector Connect the F connector end of the line to the analyzer using a connector adapter as necessary to mate to the analyzer Then sweep the analyzer to find the frequency where either of the two conditions preferably the first occurs 1 Reactance X 0 or as close to zero as possible or 2 Total impedance Z 0 or as close to zero as possible This frequency should be lowe
38. on 160 or 80 End element to center element spacing 60 ft 120 ft end to end Figure 1 3 element inline configuration 5 element square Two 3 element inline arrays with a common center element Switching circuitry selects which of the two inline arrays is activated The elements are normally arranged to form a square as shown in Figure 2 so four directions of coverage every 90 degrees in azimuth are provided End element to center element spacing is 60 feet and the sides of the square are 84 9 feet The inline arrays are independent and if desired can also be oriented in a non square configuration For example the arrays can be aimed along the NE SE axis and the E W axis forming a rectangle Page 5 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 End element to center element spacing 60 ft Square side 84 9 ft Figure 2 5 element square configuration 9 element circle Four 3 element inline arrays with a common center element laid out in a circular configuration as shown in Figure 3 Switching circuitry selects which inline array is activated The array provides eight directions of coverage every 45 degrees in azimuth The diameter of the circle is 120 feet Outer element to center element spacing 60 ft Circle diameter 120 ft Figure 3 9 element circular configuration Page 6 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 2 2 Choosing between the 5 element and 9 element configurations Potential builders may question whethe
39. on both sides of the PCB and check carefully for solder bridges The finished PCB should like Figure 26 from the top and Figure 27 from the bottom Page 31 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Yankee Clipper Receive Array Direction Controller WAFU WWAMN HIVE Contest Club Ri 01 0S D9 e 111 Figure 26 Top side of direction controller PCB Pines E321638 ETK 1 094V 0 Figure 27 Bottom side of direction controller PCB 14 The direction controller enclosure consists of two pieces Each needs to be prepared first by scraping away paint around two of the mounting holes on the inside of the enclosure The locations that are to be scraped are indicated in Figure 28 and Figure 29 Removal of the Page 32 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 paint is necessary to insure good electrical connections are made to the metal enclosure at those locations Figure 29 Scrape away paint around hole encircled in red 15 Mount the five aluminum standoffs as shown below in Figure 30 Install a 25 zinc plated screw silver in color from the outside of the enclosure to secure each standoff to the enclosure Page 33 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Figure 30 Mounting of aluminum standoffs 16 Remove the nut and lock washer from the shaft of the rotary switch and mount the PCB on top of the aluminum standoffs as shown below in Figure 31 The shaft of the rotary switch and the eight direction LED s should protrude through the
40. on how to minimize interactions 6 Constructing the vertical elements All verticals must be constructed as identically as possible The height is not critical but they should all exactly the same The recommended vertical height is 15 20 feet for operation on both 160 and 80 meters Greater heights do not improve or otherwise alter the beam pattern but do yield somewhat greater signal output For a system that is to be used only on 160 meters heights up to 25 feet will provide plenty of signal output Construction tubing diameters lengths should be exactly the same for all vertical elements All wiring from the vertical feedpoint preamplifiers to the vertical elements and to the ground rod connections should be kept as short as possible no more than a few inches All verticals should use exactly the same wiring lengths in the same physical arrangement Ideally the environments around each vertical should be the same A 3 to 4 foot ground rod close to the base of each vertical is sufficient for a grounding system under each vertical Do not use radials because wires of significant length in the vicinity of electrically short vertical elements will induce beam pattern distortion Page 12 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Figure 9 shows a construction technique for a self supporting vertical approximately 20 feet tall and completely self supporting The vertical is constructed from telescoping sections of aluminum tubing with diameters of 5 8
41. out and for the enclosure to breathe Drill two small drain holes in the pipe or end cap at the lowest point in the enclosure depending on orientation A 5 64 inch hole 47 drill bit or 2mm allows air and water flow while restricting insect ingress 12 Connecting the combiner controller output to your radio 12 1 Use of an outboard preamplifier The gain of this antenna system is very low particularly on 160 meters so you may find that an additional outboard preamplifier is needed between the receiver output port of the combiner controller circuit and your radio If the feedline to the receiver is long i e has more than a few dB of loss it is recommended that the preamplifier be installed right at the combiner controller end of the feedline so as not to degrade the overall noise figure of the system Otherwise the preamplifier may be installed right at the receiver if it is more convenient In most applications 10 to 15 dB of preamplifier gain will be sufficient There are many possible preamps to choose from We have tested several with good results including the following in no particular order 1 DX Engineering RPA 1 http www dxengineering com search product line dx engineering receive preamplifiers Page 39 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 2 Clifton Laboratories Z10046A http www cliftonlaboratories com z10046a high gain amplifier htm 3 Clifton Laboratories Z10043A http www cliftonlaboratories com z1004
42. point preamplifier Page 18 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Although the cemented caps are reasonably watertight it is possible for moisture to seep in Therefore it is essential to provide a means for water to drain out and for the enclosure to breathe Drill two small drain holes through the bottom end cap A 5 64 inch hole 47 drill bit or 2mm allows air and water flow while restricting insect ingress For reference a schematic of the feedpoint preamplifier is provided in Section 14 2 8 3 Connecting up the feedpoint preamplifier The antenna and ground connections are made as shown in Figure 6 with the ground terminal connected to a ground of three to four feet in length The controller combiner and feedpoint preamplifier circuits are designed to pass and accept DC power for the preamplifiers through the feedlines so no separate DC power connection is needed at the preamplifier 9 Phase combiner controller assembly 9 1 Step by step instructions 1 Inventory the parts against the following list to be sure all parts are on hand 9 a70pHRFchoke OOOO 4 opoti2vocrelay ooo o a pes o o SoS S S Enclosure prede ooo Hi Termina block 5contacts Hi Terminal block plug 5 contats 1 length ofred magnet wie 1 length ofgreen magnet wire 4 Philips head srew Page 19 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 16 17 18 Looking at the top component side of the board you will see for the resistors th
43. r so of each vertical Trim away any tree branches that may come into contact with the verticals Experience indicates that the presence of trees even large ones nearby has little noticeable effect on array performance although a separation of at least a few feet between an array element and a large tree trunk is prudent Do not install the verticals near large metal objects towers other antennas building structures etc Do not allow any wires such as Beverage antennas or other metallic structures to pass into the interior of the array If possible maintain breathing room of at least 50 to 75 feet or more around all sides of the array when 160m operation is intended As an example the keep out zone for metal structures around a 3 element inline system is shown below in Figure 8 as the red shaded area Page 11 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Keep out zone for metal structures 50 75 ft from each side for 160m Figure 8 Keep out zone for 3 element inline system In order to realize a highly directive beam pattern in a relatively small footprint tight tolerances in amplitude and phase must be maintained through the system It does not take much in the way of stray coupling to nearby metal objects to upset a finely tuned system In the special case where there is a resonant antenna nearby such as a transmit vertical detuning techniques should be applied to the resonant antenna See Section 13 for more information
44. r than 4 118 MHz Trim off a small amount of line from the far end of the cable and repeat the process until you obtain X20 or Z 0 at 4 118 MHz at which point the line length is correct Install a second F connector on the open end of the cable Page 26 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 The process is the same for the 20 degree line except that the line will should be half as long Start with a line that is about 27 28 feet long and trim until you obtain X20 or Z 0 at 8 235 MHz 9 3 Cutting antenna feedlines The combiner requires the feedline lengths from every array element to the combiner to be exactly the same The exact length is not critical at all What is important is that the lengths be identical If the combiner is located at the center of the array a feedline length of about 70 feet including the feedline from the center element should be sufficient to reach from each element to the combiner The feedline to the center element may simply be coiled for neatness Note that each feedline will connect to a feedline choke first before it terminates in the combiner box as shown in Figure 7 9 4 Testing the combiner circuit If you have an accurate antenna impedance analyzer such as the MFJ 259B AEA VIA etc a few simple measurements may be performed to check for correct assembly of the combiner circuit before installing itin the field If you do not have an instrument like this skip this section This test requires three 75
45. r the additional cost and complexity of the 9 element configuration with eight directions of coverage can be justified relative to what the 5 element version offers with four directions of coverage Figure 4 and Figure 5 calculated for 160 meters are provided to help answer that question As you can see the difference lies in the amount of overlap between adjacent switched directions The red trace in Figure 5 illustrates how the 9 element array fills in the gap between the patterns in Figure 4 The individual patterns are otherwise identical in shape in all directions The 9 element array does not provide any directivity improvement over the 5 element array other than the ability to cover additional directions With 5 elements the relative gain response has dipped by 4 dB relative to the peak where it crosses over to the next adjacent direction This translates directly into a 4 dB reduction in RDF With 9 elements the loss is just 1 dB at the crossover point Figure 4 Pattern overlap of 5 element array Page 7 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 Figure 5 Pattern overlap of 9 element array 3 How a complete system is configured The system is based on the use of active receiving verticals that use amplification at the feedpoint to make up for the large amount of loss incurred with the very short element Figure 6 illustrates the concept Each active element consists of three basic parts 1 Thevertical element see Section 6 2
46. rent transformers Please take care to wind and install the transformers exactly as described here Mistakes here will prevent the combiner from working properly Transformer T1 consists of a center tapped winding 10 turns total made with a single wire As in Figure 10 two passes form one turn You may find it convenient however to make the portions of the winding above and below the tap point with separate wires First wind 5 turns through the core and then start a second winding of 5 turns with another wire Join the end of the first 5 turns with the beginning of the second 5 turns to form the tap point Install and solder the three transformer connections to the PCB The center tap goes to the middle hole on the PCB Because of the symmetry of the tapped transformer it does not matter which ends of the transformer go to the outer holes Transformer T5 also consists of a tapped winding 7 turns total made with a single wire with the tap at five turns above the ground side Like transformer T1 you may find it convenient however to make the portions of the winding above and below the tap point with separate wires Let s say you make the five turns between the ground and the tap with green wire and the remaining two turns with red wire Join the green and red wires together to form the tap connection The mounting holes on the PCB for T5 are labelled GND R G R Assuming you made the windings with red and green wires as just described solder t
47. so identified by the Yankee Clipper Contest Club logo stenciled on the board All components except the terminal block rotary switch and DC power connectors mount to the top side of the PCB Refer to Figure 26 and Figure 27 as you follow these instructions Install and solder RF choke RFC1 light green body color Install and solder R1 1500 ohm brown green red resistor Install and solder the eight rectifier diodes D1 D8 Orient each diode so that the white band at one end lines up with the white band on the stenciled outline on the PCB Install and solder eight LED s N NE E SE S SW W NW Be careful not to bridge solder across the LED leads on the bottom side of the board Be sure the LED s are lined up straight and facing outward from the board edge as shown in Figure 26 Install the 5 pin terminal block header P2 on the bottom side of the board The pins are soldered on the top side of the board Install the rotary switch on the bottom side of the board The pins are soldered on the top side of the board The pins are spaced very close together so be sure not to bridge solder across the pins The DC power connectors mount to the bottom of the board and consist of two halves one black and one red There are several steps involved in assembling and mounting these connectors so pay close attention to the following instructions A right angle metal pin is used with each connector body as shown below in Figure 22 for making an el
48. t installations then a feedline length of 70 feet should be sufficient 8 Antenna feedpoint preamplifier assembly 8 1 Step by step instructions A small soldering iron is recommended for all soldering work The component numbers and outlines are silkscreened on the top of the PCB to make it easy to identify correct parts placement Refer to Figure 11 as you follow these instructions Color codes for the various resistors are provided below for easy identification If you are still unsure about the value of a resistor measure its resistance with an ohmmeter 1 Inventory the parts against the following list to be sure all parts are on hand fay Part description 1 ADBOSSANZOp amp H1 Ferrite binocular core Page 14 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 2 2 nms OO OSS 4 Fat Washerss32 o OO Looking at the top component side of the board you will see for the resistors that the value and the part designator are both stenciled on the board For the other parts just the part designator for example C1 RFC1 etc is stenciled on the board Install and solder R1 and R2 100K brown black yellow resistors Install and solder R4 and R5 470 ohm yellow violet brown resistors Install and solder R3 150 ohm brown green brown and R6 75 ohm violet green black resistors Install and solder diode D1 match the dark band on one end of the diode to the white bar on the silkscreen Install and solder RF chokes RFC
49. uba edis 51 Revision history Revision number Date Description 1 July 2015 Initial version Direction controller build instructions yet to be added 1 0 26 August 2015 Added step by step build instructions for direction controller Added miscellaneous additional information editorial changes and clarifications Page 3 of 51 Rev 1 0 26 August 2015 1 Background on the YCCC kits The YCCC kits implement the key components of the low band receiving array described in W1FV s article A Compact Dual Band 9 Circle Receiving Array that appeared in two parts in the September October 2011 and November December 2011 issues of NCJ Builders are encouraged to read the article to understand the design construction and operation of this system A few design improvements have been made since publication of the article In cases where the information in the original article differs from what is described in this document use what is presented here The implementation is based on the use of electrically short vertical antenna elements that are easy to build and erect and electronics to implement to combining and phasing of element feeds to form a beam pattern that can be switched in multiple directions The array provides a highly directional beam pattern with a RDF receiving directivity factor of 12 1 dB on 160 meters 11 3 dB on 80m and 9 1 dB on 40m See W8JI s Web site http www w8ji com receiving htm for more information on
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