UPGRADING THE CTE INTERNATIONAL LW-150

[HomerBB]

Thanks sanman, that is exactly the same as I have except the two hand written dimensions are different.

I think one of the advantages touted by some is that these Sigma4 styled antennas work well, even when close to the ground. So you don't have to get it real high, but I sure would try to get it in the clear as much as possible, even with a small back yard. Since it is nearly 30' feet tall, just be careful around your electric utility service. Make sure everything is tight enough, without stripping the parts.

Good luck and be careful,

I found the Qv4k I had owned the best set of ears when it was 12 - 15 feet from the ground than any other antenna I've owned/made at that height. Nothing touched it. However, I think it may have developed a dominant higher angle lobe when there because the increased ears seemed to predominate toward far field local and US continental DX. When reading the posted EU contacts put online by many of the EU DXers what I see as intercontinental/international DX would mostly neatly fit into the continental North American land mass. A contact from Great Britain to Italy (1900mi) is a similar distance as from Vancouver, BC to Arkansas (1800mi), and less distant than from Washington to Florida (2500mi), or LA to Bangor, ME (2700mi). It is difficult to determine the angle of the best lobe under those conditions when the distances are equally within reach of multi-bounce skip and/or a single low angle lobe skip.

Probably will never know for sure as the brains who invent modeling programs do not know how to simplify them, nor make them WYSIWYG, and the Vector styled antennas apparently defy modeling as the programs now operate.
If i were smart enough to build such a program, I'd be in jail. Dumb keeps some of us honest.

 

[gamegetter]

WAS THE HAND WRITTEN DIMENSIONS FOR 10 METER ? IM ASSUMING BECAUSE THE LATER VERSIONS CAN BE USED FOR 10 OR MORE? IM GUESSING THE MATERIAL IS THE SAME AS THE V4'S. I WONDER IF EUROPE HAS ALOT OF THESE ANTENNAS UP. IS THE TUBES MEASURED IN METRIC AND WOULD BE DIFFICULT FOR ME TO UPGRADE?

i believe the 10 meter dimensions were put in at or around the time when 11 meter metal antennas were outlawed. this way the antenna could still be marketed and sold in the usa.

 

[sanman]

JUST AN IDEA! WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO PUT AN ANTRON 99 INSIDE THE LW-150 FOR STABILITY ? WOULD IT CAUSE AN RF PROBLEM DOING THIS ? I WAS ON U TUBE CHECKING OUT THE ANTENNA AND IT LOOKS LIKE A FISHING POLE BEING PULLED BY A SHARK . ONE VIDEO SHOWS THE TOP THREE BREAKS. IS THAT THE WEAKEST POINT TO THE ANTENNA?

 

[curlyjo]

I had great sucess rebuilding my LW 150 last year from help from this forum. To save time and money go to DX Engenering and buy three pices of tubeing. Get the first three they offer in six foot lengths. Use this to beef up the top section. They will slide together perfectly. Replace all the sheet metal screws with stainless steel machine screws. Double hose clamp the top three sections with stainless steel clamps. Measure the hole thing out to twenty nine and a half feet to start the tuning. Put it in a price of 1 5/8" 8g fence pipe. Slide the gamma all the way down. Tune the SWR's on chanels 1 & 40 the most even match you can. To lower the SWR's move the gamma up to.you find the sweet spot of the antenna. You may end up a little higher on Chanel 1 than 40 ; but flat on channel 20. These are factory tuned to be flat mid band on 11 meters. Look at Sundower and Marconi's thread about Sigma 4 anntenna won't tune for Marconi's instruction sheet with the hand writen notes and use this for the guide line. You may look at my thread Sigma 4 clone CTE LW 150 and YouTube vedieo under the same title to see it. 73's to all whiskey Hotel Four Nine Zero.

 

[sanman]

curlygo thats the same antenna i have new in the box . your honest opinion does that antenna perform well for u ? have u had others , like 5/8th's , and compared ? If u can , can u tell me extactly u bought ? size tubes , size hardware , did u slit the tubes , put the clamps above the screws ? dont understand the mast thing u did . did u put the mast inside the bottom tube of antenna,or the side of it and isolate it. im looking to put it on at least 20 to 25 feet above ground with no guys. did u change the so239 on it. thinking of using noalox , looks the same as penetrox . i would like to set it up like BM but booty has a different set up . i mean he built a marvelous setup . wished he lived down the block from me , build antennas and have a coors light at the end. start making BMV 4000'S . once again curlygo thanks ,
P.S. the post i was reading was V 4000 wont even calibrate to set swr. I was just wondering on the poor mans side , if i can put a A-99 inside the LW-150 , do u think that would help since i have one ?

 

[Marconi]

curlygo thats the same antenna i have new in the box . your honest opinion does that antenna perform well for u ? have u had others , like 5/8th's , and compared ? If u can , can u tell me extactly u bought ? size tubes , size hardware , did u slit the tubes , put the clamps above the screws ? dont understand the mast thing u did . did u put the mast inside the bottom tube of antenna,or the side of it and isolate it. im looking to put it on at least 20 to 25 feet above ground with no guys. did u change the so239 on it. thinking of using noalox , looks the same as penetrox . i would like to set it up like BM but booty has a different set up . i mean he built a marvelous setup . wished he lived down the block from me , build antennas and have a coors light at the end. start making BMV 4000'S . once again curlygo thanks ,
P.S. the post i was reading was V 4000 wont even calibrate to set swr. I was just wondering on the poor mans side , if i can put a A-99 inside the LW-150 , do u think that would help since i have one ?

sandman, you're funny, an A99 inside of a LW-150. Why don't you hook your radio up to some railroad tracks. You'll have a really long radiator then. You need to quit reading that stuff on restroom walls.

Give us the link to that post where is says the V4000 won't even calibrate to set swr. I read those words the other day, but I don't remember where. I ignored it at first, but now I hear it repeated...like it's gospel. op:

 

[sanman]

sandman, you're funny, an A99 inside of a LW-150. Why don't you hook your radio up to some railroad tracks. You'll have a really long radiator then. You need to quit reading that stuff on restroom walls.

Give us the link to that post where is says the V4000 won't even calibrate to set swr. I read those words the other day, but I don't remember where. I ignored it at first, but now I hear it repeated...like it's gospel. op:

http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-anten...-even-calibrate-set-swr.html?highlight=vector ; HERE U GO MR MARCONI . I HOPE I DID THIS RIGHT. WHEN I DID A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR THIS ANTENNA , I READ SOMEWHERE THAT A PERSON FROM EUROPE . DID THAT . I JUST THREW THAT IN THEIR FOR OPINIONS. SOMETIMES THE CRAZIEST THINGS WORK OR LAUGH ABOUT.

 

[Marconi]

http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-anten...-even-calibrate-set-swr.html?highlight=vector ; HERE U GO MR MARCONI . I HOPE I DID THIS RIGHT. WHEN I DID A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR THIS ANTENNA , I READ SOMEWHERE THAT A PERSON FROM EUROPE . DID THAT . I JUST THREW THAT IN THEIR FOR OPINIONS. SOMETIMES THE CRAZIEST THINGS WORK OR LAUGH ABOUT.

Did what?

I don't read minds and my crystal ball is broken.

As far as the Vector link I asked about. I see now what that was about, another gubber that had no idea what he was doing, and probably couldn't pay attention long enough to figure it out if someone drew him a picture.

Let's put an A99 inside of a Vector antenna and see how that works.:laugh:

It's all good, I won't bother you anymore sanman.

 

[sanman]

MR. MARCONI I DONT MEAN TO DISRESPECT U . I TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT . JUST WANTED TO BE OPEN MINDED TO THE LOW END OF THE SITUATION. MY APOLOGIZES TO U IF I INSULTED U FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE . IM ALWAYS OPEN MINDED FOR MY QUEST. I LIKE TO GET MY STATION UP AND RUNNING, WITH THE SITUATIONS I RUN INTO, HAVING LITTLE TO NO KNOWLEDGE.

 

[mackmobile43]

Did what?

I don't read minds and my crystal ball is broken.

As far as the Vector link I asked about. I see now what that was about, another gubber that had no idea what he was doing, and probably couldn't pay attention long enough to figure it out if someone drew him a picture.

Let's put an A99 inside of a Vector antenna and see how that works.:laugh:

It's all good, I won't bother you anymore sanman.

I think the word you're looking for is "GOOBER"

 

[Marconi]

I think the word you're looking for is "GOOBER"

I think you're right.

 

[curlyjo]

SANMAN you have the right thread. I got the name mixed up because I wrote a quick responce @ lunch from my cell phone. I used three 6' pices of tubeing to beef up the top of my antenna. The diameters are 0.375; 0.058; 0.625. They fit perfectly into my antenna. The bottom of your antenna should be about 1 3/8" dis. Slide in and bolt it through a pice of 1 5/8" chain link fence pipe. There's your mast. I dug a hole big and deep enough to fit a 5 gal.bucket in. Used this as a concrete mold. Put a pice of 2" PVC 2' long pipe for a shaft for the masting to slide into. Then I secured my mast to the side of my patio about 8' up. My antenna is not going anywhere. My masting was bought at a comercial fence supply. You can get 20' & 24' sticks of it. My mast is 30' to the feed point of the antenna. There enough pipe left in side it to strech it out to a 35' feed poinht. The whole thing is over 60' long and took four guys to manuver it over fences and in between houses to drop it in the hole and stand it up ! We get gale force winds over here and it holds up just fine. It' s fun to watch it blow around in the wind and bind over like a fishing rod. The hole project took me over six months to complete. I did not know what I was doing . Did not have anyone to help me figure it out. That's where this fourm came in. By the way, DX Engenering has a minium price on a order. So you have to figure that out to. I am almost ashamed to say this probably cost over $350.00 by the time you through in the LMR and ground rods for the antenna and station. However now I got a good antenna system. Just last weekend I was talking to New York from over here by Los Angeles with it. 73' s. To All

 

[sanman]

NO PROBLEM CURLYJO, WE DONT LIVE IN A PERFECT WORLD . IF WE DID , LIFE WOULD BE BORING. THANKS FOR A MORE INFORMATIVE PICTURE OF THINGS . IT DEFINATLY SAVES ME TIME TO GET THINGS GOING, AND HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF THE COSTS. MY PROBLEM IS I LACK THE KNOWEDGE OF THINGS , EX: I SUCK AT THE METRIC SYSTEM OR FORMULAS, OR EVEN TO MIX CEMENT , HOW DUMB I FEEL, BUT WILLING TO LEARN. EVERY DAY IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR ME TILL IM DEAD . I HOPE MY SON PICKS UP THE HOBBY SO I CAN GIVE HIM MY EXPERIENCE . THIS IS Y LIKE THIS WEB SITE !IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE STRICTLY HAM . HAVE THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS LEADING TO MY HAM TICKET. HAVE FUN ! ENJOY ! THANKS

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

you took a different approach than i did curlyjo . you strengthened 3 top sections and i double walled the 2 bottom sections . but you started with the same antenna that sanman is . your way would not require him to change his lower hub and insulating hub , it has also worked for you .

not knowing what you were doing .... sounds familiar

 

[sanman]

BM : YOUR VERSION IS FAR SUPERIOR BUILT QUAILITY ! HANDS DOWN ! I TOOK THE WHOLE ANTENNA ASSEMBLY OUT OF THE BOX AND SAW THE THICKNESS OF THE TUBES , THEY ARE REALLY CHEAPLY MADE. THEY SHOULD OF CONSIDERED THE SIZE OF THIS ANTENNA. IF U WOULD OF PRODUCED THAT ANTENNA , I WOULD DEFIANTLY BUY YOUR PRODUCT THAN THIS PIECE OF CRAP, !!!!BUT I HAVE TO MAKE DUE TO WHAT I HAVE. I HOPE THIS ANTENNA DOES MY PURPOSE SINCE I HAVE A HILL NW OF MY HOUSE . THERES NO LINE OF SIGHT IF I WENT ON THE ROOF BUT TREES AND HILL . SE OF ME IS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN , LINE OF SIGHT IS SWEET. I CAN SEE THE OCEAN ABOUT 100 MILES , IM ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL. IM HOPING THIS ANTENNA WOULD DO THE TRICK ! THE ONLY THING THAT BOTHERS ME IS , PEOPLE CLAIM THAT THIS ANTENNA IS A 1/2 WAVE J POLE . PRETTY LARGE FOR A HALF WAVE. I MIGHT BE WRONG , IM STARTING TO LEARN ABOUT ANTENNAS