A Different Dummy! Jim W6LG Builds and Demonstrates a Dummy Antenna that is Very Different

[@williamgonzales1980]

I just wanted to say I appreciate all you have done for the ham community new and old. I am taking my ham test in about a month and I hope to take up mu great uncle's old call sign. He passed in 1997 just before the summer when he said he was going to teach me all the ins and outs. Thank you.

[@ham-radio]

I hope you do that. 73, Jim

[@GordonHudson]

When I was a teenage ham I couldn't afford a dummy load so I tuned up my Heathkit transmitter into a lightbulb. Our 240v 60w lightbulbs were about 70 ohms on HF and could handle 100w of RF. It glowed red on speech peaks. One day I stuck it on the end of a lengthy of TV coax and got a 55 report from an Italian. About 700 miles from here. I git up to all sorts of crazy stuff back then. GM4SVM

[@ham-radio]

Me too Gordon. I worked my neighbor. Another commenter is asking from more detail and a schematic. Honestly, that does surprise me a lot. A schematic for a dummyh load. It is a resistor across a coax connector. A little bit like asking for a schematic of a dipole at the feedpoint. Today I am supposed to start chemo again but my blood test results from yesterday show that I am way too weak. I will know more in a few hours. 73, Jim W6LG

[@GordonHudson]

@@ham-radio I hope things improve and you get the treatment. I'm on holiday from work this week. My last ever work holiday as I retire on June 30th

[@tpobrienjr]

That's enough to work the neighborhood.

[@richardcallihan9746]

This video brought back a memory from my Tesla Coil days. My T.C. partner and I balanced a large Hydrogen Thyratron Tube out of a linear accelerator, Atop the ball of the T.C. The tube was known bad, but the vacuum was still good. The corona was absolutely beautiful emanating off all metal parts within the tube. After playing around with it for a while, we lowered the voltage to a minimum. Then, we just kicked back in the dark, watching it. About 10 minutes had passed and we were about to move on to something else, when the tube ignited, unfortunately, once we turned it off we could never get it to re-ignite again.

[@timbacchus]

I remember when a novice in 1965 I loaded up my AT1 into a light bulb Worked fine at ten watts.

[@ham-radio]

I was running a little more power. Thanks, Jim

[@thomasweigel2328]

Jim, great video...In about 1963 I was General Class, used a 100W frosted lightbulb to tune up my Pacemeker, 2B/2BQ statiion. Great memories! Watch and learn from your videos. ATB, Tom ABØJ Minneapolis.

[@ham-radio]

I think we all did that. I did make contact with a neighbor who heard me testing my Johnson Ranger. Thanks, Jim

[@timgoad5750]

I well remember using a light bulb for a dummy load for my Johnson Viking 1 and 2 transmitters many years ago.

[@ham-radio]

Hi Tim, I think we all did that. Good memories! 73, Jim

[@mewrongwayKOCXF]

I used to use a light bulb in series of a power line going into a circuit. A good circuit the bulb would not light, a shorted circuit and the bulb would light. For example put a 12v bulb in the line from power supply to the transceiver. The brighter the bulb the worst the short. Most of the time the culprit was an Electrolytic cap. Awesome Jim!!

[@ham-radio]

Yes, current flows. 73, Jim

[@JayN4GO]

The light bulb always helps having a visual representation

[@ham-radio]

I can see the light! 73, Jim W6LG

[@everythingelectronic63]

Nice work. When the lamp filament temperature goes up at higher power than what an swr meter uses, lamp's resistance goes up, in parallel with 50 ohms and will not influence the resulting swr so much, as shown here

[@ham-radio]

I could barely see the change. Literally, see the change. 73, Jim

[@ua9cdc]

Hi Jim.nice to see you. This is one very good educational video you have made. I only miss a picture inside the box.

[@randystarace4166]

Hi Jim, great video !! fun stuff. I remember when I was younger I used a 200 watt bulb on the output of the Johnson Ranger as a load and modulated it for hours on end working local guys on the fun band !!

[@ham-radio]

Indeed. 73, Jim

[@donl1846]

I think pretty much all us "old-timers" tuned one of our rigs using a light blub as novices....thanks Jim for the memory, I forgot all about that !!

[@rksg2003]

Jim I watch every video you have made for the last 2 years.. I’m not a ham operator as of now I’m a 11 meter guy. Those hams give me crap lol. I just wanted to say I enjoy your channel and thanks for making these videos I love to learn…

[@ham-radio]

That is awesome! Thanks, Jim

[@GeorgeOswald-e4s]

Really enjoyed the video. When I had an antenna tuner/coax issue on the boat and my old test instrument were not available or toas, I used the light bulb trick. Whoda thunk it? Worked very well and I was on the air in an hour! So good to see you again, right now catching up on your latest videos. Please keep them coming. 73 OM de AA7MO

[@g0fvt]

Many years ago I built a tetrode amplifier for 2m , it had too much gain for the radio I was going to drive it from. I drilled a matrix of holes in 2 small pieces of unetched PCB and use a number of parallel resistors in order to swamp the grid. It was surprisingly effective, I believe in my case I used 9 470 ohm resistors... close enough. With minimal lead lengths and the reduced inductance of multiple resistors in parallel this style of load can serve very well to VHF and above. 73

[@ham-radio]

I have heard about that from a former neighbor who did build a big tetrode with a thousand watts of plate dissipation. I stayed with triodes because they were so easy. For a time, the driver was a Swan transceiver that had lots of output. It wasn't clean. 73, Jim W6LG

[@g0fvt]

@@ham-radio yes Jim, for most HF amplifiers triodes are the way to go. Plus no screen supplies to worry about. Always great videos on your channel, 73

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Jim.. Love it!

[@ham-radio]

As always, I am grateful for your support from the home country. 73, W6LG

[@ianharling9569]

Nice video Jim. I built a dummy load in an old tin can and just for fun I also coupled two germanium diodes into an LED bulb 💡 and had similar results 👍It's always nice to see things light up when we are testing our transmitters. 73 Ian G7HFS/PA3IKH

[@ham-radio]

I can always add one! Thanks for the information. Regards, Jim W6LG

[@SdjdidjeuDidjdjdkkd]

Lookin and sounding much better Mr Jim 👍

[@ham-radio]

Thanks but actually i am much worse. As a result, chemo which would have started today was put off for a while. My blood tests from yesterday came back very low. Thanks for caring. 73, Jim

[@philmaxwell1858]

Most illuminating!

[@ham-radio]

Another bright comment glowing because of its focusd narrative from Mr. Maxwell. With respect, Jim

[@greasydot]

That great Jim. You are looking fantastic. Still keeping you in my prayers.

[@ham-radio]

Blood tests came back with terrible results. WBC, RBC, HGB, ANC and others are all dangerously low. I am like the boy who lived in a bubble with zero immunity. I am grateful for ham radio and KZbin to get me out of my 10 by 10 room. 73, Jim W6LG

[@greasydot]

@@ham-radio I am so sorry to hear that Jim. I am thankful for you and enjoy your teachings. I appreciate your experience and wisdom. My uncle passed away that was my family Elmer so I have adopted you. My mom and dad are both going through cancer treatment also. Dad is 88 and mom is 82. Their cancer doctors say if you live long enough something like that will come for you. Nobody just dies from old age anymore. I will continue to pray for you when I pray for my folks.

[@n8sot]

This is what we are all about!!!!! experimenting. Thanks Jim!!!! Looking good bud!! 73, N8SOT

[@jeffminnick5209]

Agreed....lookin good Jim, what amp are you using?? I see the drakes sitting idle Jeff de WD8JM

[@ham-radio]

For that, a KPA500. It blinks off quickly if there is a problem. One Drake is highly modified with a better power supply, step start and more. The other has a very large power supply and a GS35b tube, vacuum, etc. 73, Jim W6LG

[@k5edd128]

Smiling! Used a light bulb for a load years ago.

[@ham-radio]

Lots of us did that. it was fun then and it is still fun today. 73, Jim

[@paulhillier9281]

Looking Great Jim, As always great information, would it be possible to show a couple of build images of the dummy load or a rough schematic?

[@ham-radio]

Paul thanks. You are asking for a schematic of a dummy load! I provide a drawing of the resistors. Honestly Paul that does surprise me. It is a resistor connected to a coax connector. There are two wires to a resistor. They connect to the coax connector as I drew. it is the same the load presented by a dipole. It is a dummy antenna. The light bulb is connected to the resistors. 73, Jim

[@paulhillier9281]

@@ham-radio It was just to clarify if you was using anything else in circuit Apologies Jim I should of made myself clear. I can see now how it would appear hi hi!.

[@adyg6ad73]

A fun build and wayyyyyy cheaper than a Bird!

[@ham-radio]

That's is sooooo true. Hey, it glows in the dark. 73, jim W6LG

[@jamescady723]

Fascinating project, Jim. Thanks. Really enjoyed this and it actually made sense to me. lol I must be learning something.

[@ham-radio]

I always learn something from a project. This time I learned that I fried my soldering station. It quit mid project when soldering the bank of resistors. It's "toast"! 73, Jim W6LG

[@jamescady723]

@@ham-radio 😆

[@Jed-q2q]

Great projest and information !

[@ham-radio]

Thanks, Jim

[@tpobrienjr]

I guess I should save my old 75w incandescent that I used for a dummy load in 1958.

[@ham-radio]

I think they are very expensive if you can find some. 73, Jim W6LG

[@richardblanchard2743]

I wish you showed how you mounted the resistors.

[@ham-radio]

They are suspended. 73, Jim

[@joelaut12]

Thanks!

[@ham-radio]

Welcome! 73, Jim

[@basshorseman998]

Very neat Jim but, Why was the bulb flashing on/off? Did I miss something you had explained somewhere? Thanks

[@ham-radio]

Me keying. 73, Jim

[@deanmason560]

I'm not sure I can donate blood. I take eliquis 5mgs twice a day, but if I can how do I assign it to you. I used to assign it our local law enforcement. Great video.

[@ham-radio]

That's very kind. I take the same medication. I believe that you are not able to donate. Also, I don't think a persons's donation can be given to a specific individual. Again, it is very kind of you to offer and I wished it could happen that way. Thanks you, Jim

[@donschneider7252]

Thank You!

[@ham-radio]

You're welcome! 73, Jim

[@joeblow8593]

Thanks

[@raymondmartin6737]

Oh no, temu pops up on my phone all the time.😮 Are dummy loads in the dummys guide to amateur radio ?😮 Dummy loads are good antennas for CB rigs. 😮 Hi, just joking, thanks for the video. 😊

[@ham-radio]

Temu bothers me a little...maybe a lot. Not sure if it is ligit. I used my PayPal since there is little money in the account. Again, I am not sure about them and the constant harrasment. 73, Jim

[@raymondmartin6737]

@ham-radio Yes, Thank 😊 you.

[@richardcallihan9746]

What is the voltage in the circuit? Do you think you could ignite a mercury lamp?

[@CamilleCullen-ow6qj]

Very interesting project! You are right, there is something to learn from this!! Robert K5TPC

[@ham-radio]

Yes, every time I do a video, I study the subject again. I gain a little more knowledge each time. Thanks, Jim W6LG

[@cwebs1000]

What about using a florescent light bulb. Might not have to turn the switch on ?? Carl AB1ZI

[@ham-radio]

The light needs to restive. 73, Jim

[@Jed-q2q]

Do you have a drawing of how to configure the resistors?

[@fubarsnafu4994]

I couldn't help but think about that poor guy at the goodwill about ten years from now in total silence with a blank look holding your home brew dummy load 😆 73

[@ham-radio]

Maybe even sooner. He's thinking what kind of a lamp is this? Where do you plug it in? I did get a chuckle from your comment on a very difficult day health wise. Thanks, Jim

[@fubarsnafu4994]

@@ham-radio it's a pleasure Jim.. ✌️ really enjoy the videos. Thank you

[@GoonyMclinux]

I had a ham friend that worked at goodwill, he always called me with "you want this bro" was good times. 😂

[@amateurshooter6054]

Thanks Jim 73 AB7RR

[@ham-radio]

Thanks again for watching. CUL Jim

[@russkruse]

Temu? Be careful!!!

[@ham-radio]

Several have warmed me. There must be some place I can read about them. I will Google the name and see what I can find out. I am starting to worry. 73, Jim

[@ewartwharton8612]

Hi Jim am Ewart from Trinidad and Tobago I like what you has build am I ham operator call sign 9z4zw good job

[@ham-radio]

Yes and hello. Nice to hear from you. 73, Jijm W6LG