thanks james.
i find that most people reach a point where they feel they are too good to offer help to someone who is just joining the hobby.
i for one hope i never reach that point.
also, i am at work while i do this, so i probably have a bit more time to explain things than most. LOL
i think we have scared everyone else off with the length of our posts!
questioning me is a good thing, and i never take offense to it.
heck, according to my wife im wrong 67.8% of the time, so i need someone to check my thinking. LOL
i hope i did not come off as condescending in my last post.
it was not meant that way.
about the coax connectors; i tend to make it sound harder than it is so that people will do exactly what you did and do some research and then decide for themselves if its something they think they can tackle.
if you tell them it is easy, they tend to slack off. LOL
sounds like you did fine.
as long as the solder holes in the connector body look as though the solder is concave, then you are probably fine.
if its blotchy and flaky, then you might have a problem.
also, not sure if you are using a flux core solder or not, but it helps if you do.
not sure if what you meant about the inner conductor of the coax having a jacket on it.
did you mean that you thought the inner conductor would be an insulated wire?
if so, there is no coax that i know of that is made that way.
not saying it doesnt exist, just that ive never seen it, and ive used most of the different coaxes used for radio.
as for the grounding of the mast thing; i do see your point, and i cannot say for sure that it would cause a problem if you ran a ground wire from the mast to one of your ground rods.
it would be an easy test to find out if it was creating any noise, which would be the only thing i can think of that might happen.
remove the mast ground wire from the ground rod and see if that changes anything.
if not, then re-connect it and it should be fine.
as for the safety of it, i cant say ive ever heard this come up before, but this whole isolate the antenna from the mast idea is a newer one.
the way i see it, (and remember that 67.8% thing!) is that the lightning is looking for a path to ground.
your antenna has one, and its also higher in the air than your mast.
if the antenna has a path to ground and the mast doesnt, then i would think the lightning would find the antenna before it found the mast.
but with safety in mind,i say go ahead and do it. ground the mast and if it causes noise; disconnect the ground from it.
you have inspired me to do some reading on lightning.
the reason is that i have a way i think it works, and want to check it before i give advice on it.
the way i see it, the antenna is more likely to get hit BECAUSE it is grounded, and by grounding the mast, you might actually be making it more attractive to lightning, but again, im not going to advise you NOT to ground that mast because at this point i would rather err on the side of caution.
glad to hear there are actually some people to talk to in your area.
some people these days spend lots of money, time, and effort setting up their station only to find that they are the only one in town with a cb!
i am a die-hard CB'er. i got my ham ticket when i was 14 years old, and found it to be boring, pretentious, and full of itself.
i went back to CB and let the license expire. i plan on getting it again someday, but only so i can put up a really big antenna for "10 meters" LOL.
to me, CB is much more fun, and i am the type of person that enjoys a bit of irreverence. i also have an inherent problem with authority, and all the rules of ham radio make it seem pretty inhibitory to me.
i noticed your avatar and im assuming that is you with the guitar.
i am a musician also , and in my 20's i was sure that i was going to be the next big thing. LMAO i think im getting a bit too old now. (im 35)
these days i enjoy playing my guitar over the radio.
i wired a 1/4" jack into the audio amplifier of my CB radio and i can plug in anything from a guitar to a mixer to a studio mic.
once i get all the equipment together, i will have my own little radio station!
the locals just LOVE IT! when i key on them with a blues riff. LOL
ok, take it easy and keep me posted.
seeing as how im the only one reading this thread anymore, id better not give up on you! J/K!
LC
