Compromise HF antennas

I think I have to change the terminology that I normally use to describe my normal Home HF antenna….

They have to be stealthy but I can no longer think of them as “compromise”. Its working great for the operating conditions here….

If you are putting up the best darn antenna you can that keeps you on the air and fits in with your local operating conditions, its a great antenna and not really a compromise antenna.

Remember using a 10-160 OCF dipole in an inverted V (rather than in a flat top) is not a compromise…. Its just getting the antenna to fit in your yard or operating location. Running a 43 foot vertical with lots of radials (instead of a 10-40 OCF due to yard size or lack of trees) is not a compromise. A 48 foot tower is not a compromise (because the local municipal restricts the height of towers so you can’t put up that 100 foot self supporting one in your city lot)

Now there are little things like municipal bylaws, HOA restrictions, Condo restrictions, Rental restrictions, cranky neighbors and of course family opinions (to name a few) might come into play when trying to install your antenna.

Its not a restriction…. it becomes a challenge….. it challenges you to put up the most effective antenna you can while trying to make everyone else happy. If you are successful in completing your challenge it should make you happy as well.

The antenna of choice here is an end fed random (about 50 feet or so) length wire being fed by my SGC237 auto tuner. It is in an “inverted Vee” configuration with the wire leaving the tuner and thrown over a tree branch then it terminates at my back fence. I also have some random length radials (counterpoises) running north/south and east/west along the fence perimeter. Using the magic in the SGC 237 I am able to make contacts on all Amateur Bands between 6m and 160m. This antenna is not fancy…. its actually cheap…. (How much does 100 feet of automotive wire cost at Princess Auto???). Its fairly (75%) stealthy. So far no one is complaining about it and the “Condo Cops” has not been knocking at my door (yet).

So…..

Is it the best antenna? NO…

Does it work? YES…

Is it stealthy? YES..

Am I making contacts? YES (Including a VK on 40SSB)

Could I do better? NO… (Not here at least)

There you have it… although I could do better, its the best I can do while living where we do. So I no longer feel I have a “compromise antenna”…. Its actually a “pretty good antenna”.

73bob

PS…. This is just a reminder to those of us who operate in an “antenna challenged” environment that HF contacts are actually possiable.

So far 46 states confirmed from here in Digital and 31 states confirmed in SSB and nothing yet in CW….Sooner or perhaps later I will finally work on my CW log again.

73bob

#hamradio Contest Weekend (again)

Last weekend we had the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes and it seemed to go well. I had no complaints… and as with all contests… I plan to( expect to) :

a– Have fun (I did)

b–Give out the “Rare ONE (Ontario East) ” Multi so those who are actually taking contesting seriously have a chance to get bragging rights for their accomplishments (I managed to give out “ONE” out to 50 stations)

Clean Sweep if you contact all 84 sections

c– Either increase my State totals or my DXCC totals depending on what the actual contest of the day leans towards. (I did- increased my confirmed SSB WAS totals up to 30 from 20 and if everyone left that I contacted confirms on LoTW I should be up to 37 confirmed)

Now this weekend is the CQ WW CW contest ( https://www.cqww.com/) and its a popular one…

I’ve only participated in this contest once (2015) and managed to successfully obtain my regular goals and so I was pleased. My best (and only) showing was with a Flex 1500 (QRP) and between the decoding program CW Get and the built in computer keyer in the software needed to run the Flex (remember its a SDR) I also managed some wallpaper.

I have to admit for this one my computer did 99% of the heavy lifting

But following the line of selling then regreting it I did (in September 2019) at the OARC Hamfest in Carp sell my Winkeyer USB Computer Keyer.

Another case of I don’t need it so why not sell it… I can always find another one later. Well no luck finding one so now I won’t be operating any CW (or very little) until I can replace that now badly needed piece of kit… As always hindsight is always 20/20.

Once I find one it will take the place of the Keyer Programming in the Flex (which I also sold) and then I can try and regain what little CW skills I had (or thought I had) in the past.

If you have the skills to participate then enjoy the contest….

Other than that enjoy your weekend

73bob

ps ….. and don’t forget the RAC Canada Winter Contest is coming up in 3 weeks. Listen for me there

No “Clean Sweep” in the #hamradio ARRL Sweeps…

…But for me at least but I consider the event a fantastic success…

Operating (very casually) I made 50 contacts on 15m, 20m, 40m and 80m. As this was the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes all of the contacts had to be Single Sideband and I was more than good with that

I was aiming just to participate to give out the Rare Ontario East (ONE) multi to stations who were aiming for the “Clean Sweep” of the 84 ARRL/RAC sections to obtain their bragging rights.

For me …. I was hoping that my small home station could put out enough ommph to be heard by the big guns…(it could) and also to have fun playing radio (I did).

My station
Their Station

A side effect of my efforts would hopefully raise my Worked All States (WAS) Counts which I have not been working on recently (and it did)

My WAS Mixed Mode rose from 46 to 48

My SSB WAS rose from 20 to 27 but there are still 15 stations yet to be heard from and some of those are new ones for me so the total count for SSB should rise a bit more once the missing 15 submits their logs

When living in Ottawa I did complete my WAS for SSB, CW and digital, but as I changed cities when my family and I moved to Kingston I got to reset the counter so to speak and start over again. My previous contacts still stand as an Ottawa total but now I am on my way with the Kingston totals

For only having a “Pop Gun” to play with… I am having one helluva good time.

73bob

Antenna changes for the good

This weekends post is a bit strange but here we go…

I have been subject to lots and lots of static across the bands here with my stealthy antenna.

Yaesu FT 950 (my shack rig)

The FT 950 / SGC237 combo receives fantastic signal reports but to be honest I have issues hearing most average stations.

It was suggested by the local repeater crowd that I try building an “Ugly Balun” and put it in line with the chances that it would help with my static issues. So this morning I acquired an empty Folgers coffee Plastic Can and went to work. I am more than pleased to say that its working fantastic. I now have lower static levels with the pre amp on than I did with the preamp off. This is a big deal for me as my stealthy antenna consists of 40 feet (approx) of green insulated wire hidden in the Fir Tree beside my backyard. I have a few radials strung around the perimeter of the yard which along with the green wire is feeds my SGC 237 Smart tuner.

The above picture is not the one I built but I think it shows the way it supposed to look when constructed properly.

As I had no PVC Pipe laying around the Folgers Red Plastic can worked and as I was already feeding the SGC with RG58 from the FT 950 and I had lots left on the 50 foot run it was easy enough to wrap the can with about 20 feet (or so)

Safe to say I am NOW pleased because now we get into the 2nd part of the story…

The statement “if it ain’t broken …. don’t mess with it” was also proven true today…

I run about 50 feet of RG58 from the radio (PL259 connectors) from the radio. At the end that connects to the SGC I used a small commercial patch cord with a SO239 to BNC which connects to the SGC 237. After completion and the balun was in place I had nothing but grief. The tuner (which I think can tune dry string if asked to) could not find a match on any band. I double checked all my connections but no luck. Out of despiration I took an Amazon SO239 to BNC adapter (no patch cord) and it worked and all is well with the universe again.

I don’t know why that patch cord decided to fail after years of faithful service… perhaps like me it just wanted to retire and decided that that was the time to do so.

But at the end of the day its working great …

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

73bob

Catching up on some paperwork

Well I still hate computers but… I was able to get my logging program talking to Logbook of the world and so….

Any contacts (I logged) that happened before September 2021 have been uploaded to LoTW. This includes POTA contacts in the same time frame.

My 2 DX contacts from October have been uploaded and VJ4K (Australia) has already been confirmed.

All of my POTA for September and early have been uploaded..

All remaining contacts will be entered then uploaded.

Still lots to catch up on. Next on the list is getting computer talking to the Sound Card for better use of the Digital modes after I get the POTA logs completed

73bob

A tool I use in my hobby

Its warm and dry in the shack but its a cool, rainy Saturday morning outside and after making a few POTA contacts from the shack I am being forced to continue on trying to get my new laptop into a working tool in my hobby.

Many, many times in the past I have stated that:

“My hobby is Amateur Radio…. Computers are a tool I must use to enjoy my hobby”

There you have it. About the most stressful thing a non-computer type (like myself) can do is try to remember how I get all the different software packages back up and running after a forced upgrade in computers.

So far I have gotten the programming software for my Yaesu 7250d and my Yaesu 70d running and now the radios will talk to and listen to the laptop as needed.

Getting CAT Control between my laptop and my FT950 eludes me so far but when (if) I finally succeed then I can start looking at a new logging program.

I was able to get my favorite CW Decoding program (CW GET) running and talking to my SignaLink and then on to the 950 but thats about as good as it gets so far. It was fun to decode the ARRL Bulletins to a buffer and then read it later.

And my Wires X Personal Digital Node (PDN) for my Yaesu FTDM100 is still waiting to get installed and reconfigured. 2 years ago it took me about a week or so of Configuration Setup to get it work.

All this is being done with hopefully keeping my blood pressure down as well as my stress level.

And if you are wondering why I had to upgrade….

73bob

POTA and #WAS

I’ve been playing semi seriously with POTA recently and so far I have been confirmed as contacting Parks in 28 states. As at this time I am having trouble getting my logbook to talk to Logbook of the World so….these are not confirmed by the ARRL for my Worked All States award but….

Hopefully by the time I get the computer crap re figured out…. I will be able to submit my log to LoTW and those contacts (if confirmed) will give me what I need to confirm my WAS from Kingston.

Its a great was to spend a day in the shack

73bob

Giving a little back to the #hamradio community

This morning I took the 11am to 12 noon shift (EDST) or 1500-1600 UTC shift as the Net Control Station (NCS) on the Trans Provincial Net (TPN) which operates on 7.100 on the 40m band.

Check out their website at http://www.tpn7055.com/

The net has been running (forever) since 1982. It operates from Monday to Friday from 8am eastern to 5pm eastern. It serves as a meeting place for all who can hear the Net Controller and have operating authority in that part of the band. Canadian Amateurs can check in either SSB or CW with American Amateurs checking in on CW. CW check ins depend on the CW skill of the NCS at the time.

If you read back through my last 2 years of postings here…. I have checked in whenever I am able and now that I retired and have more time on my hands… I figured why not contribute a bit to the hobby…

So here I am

Hope to hear you check in with me some day (I’m one of those with lousy CW skills) so please SSB only and follow your countries restrictions as far as modes go

73bob