Tag: antenna

This weekend in the shack…..

GYFWW: Get Your Feet Wet Weekend. This was an interesting event… all CW. My CW skills are atrocious and this was my attempt at improving. I enjoyed it, although at times it was very frustrating. The exchange was RST, name, state, FISTS #, and year licensed. Most folks were good at slowing down and repeating missed parts of the exchange. I spent a lot of time just sending CQ without a response. A contest doesn’t have the personal interaction of a regular QSO. At the end of the contest I had 18 contacts and over 200 points… no records broken here. I still have a long way to go on the CW. I would like to get my speed up to 15-20wpm – that will take a lot of consistent work.

Virginia Beach Hamfest: My second year attending the Virginia Beach Hamfest. A two-day hamfest, I went on Sunday. $5 to get in. There were a few vendors, but I had primarily come this year for RadioWorks, a local company from Portsmouth that makes great wire antennas. I purchased a Carolina Windom, 133′ long, good on 80M to 10M. The challenge now is to hang that bad boy. I’ll be assisted by my CSV19 Pneumatic Antenna Launcher.

T-238+ APRS WX Project: The main board was good to go. I put the modem board together Friday night, checked out and good to go. Then came Saturday, I was interfacing the WX sensors (temp, wind speed and direction)… it worked! I was getting the data to read out properly. However, when I tried to interface the modem board with the radio, the LCD screen started showing all solid squares instead of text and the heat sink got very, very hot. The LED heartbeat light is still functioning, but clearly there is something wrong. Hope I’m not back to square one. http://www.tapr.org/kits_t238plus.html

Weekend Wrap Up

Went up to the Yorktown Battlefield Saturday and linked up with Mark, N1LO. I got to see his portable setup. He was using a delta loop antenna made of speaker wire, maybe about 25′ per side. The speaker wire was in three sections, the sections were connected using fishing line lure links. The speaker wire was terminated using banana plugs and fed into a 1:1 balun. To support the legs of the delta loop, Mark used a combination of a painter’s pole and a fiberglass fishing rod secured by a 3′ picket easily driven into the ground about 8″.


The fiberglass fishing pole’s end easily nests into the painter’s pole with about 6″ overlap raising the loop to a height of about 20′. The painter’s pole was secured to the picket using two small hose clamps. The delta loop tuned easily from 80M to 10M, but would not tune 160M. All the antenna components compacted down to fit into a plastic rifle case. Mark connected the delta loop to his IC-706MKIIG through his LDG AT-200 Pro autotuner and was easily making QSOs into Ohio (the Ohio QSO Party was underway). Power was provided by a ~100aH marine battery and a nice homebrew PowerPole distribution hub. The best part of the setup was the location – in a very nice, shady park on the southern banks of the York River.


In an endeavor to consolidate my 2M packet operations (APRS, Winlink 2K, and good ol’ fashion BBS packet) into the garage, I spent a good chunk of time pushing around boxes and crates. I purchased three 3′ high bookshelves from Target, arrayed them in an open “U” and then placed a 4’x6′ piece of plywood across the top. I filled the bookshelves with back issues of QST and equipment awaiting to be put into use. Next to this workbench, I put a previously unused, small table where I positioned my monitor and PC. I spent the late afternoon converting the PC from Ubuntu back to Window XP (… I can’t commit the time needed to tweak Unbuntu to my needs). Now I need to move the my KPC-3+ from the radio room out to the garage and see if I can get a basic packet station operational.

Also been preparing for the upcoming RV DXpedition. I’ll be taking the ARSIB along with the vertical dipole, but was also thinking about taking a G5RV. I’m also going to try and use a 75M hamstick, we’ll see how that works out.

International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend

I enjoyed activating the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse this weekend. Went out both on Saturday and Sunday. Had some great QSOs. Was able to work N1LO and AG4GO (operating as N4P) at the New Point Comfort Lighthouse…. that was cool. Also had QSOs with Denmark, Bermuda, and El Salvador…. all new countries.

Learned some lessons when setting up a portable operation:
(1) Don’t set your operating station up farther away from your antenna than the length of your feedline allows.
(2) Don’t print your log sheets with an ink jet printer… when you’re sweaty after setup and try to write in the log, sweat will make the ink jet print smear,
(3) If you have a shelter to keep you out of the sun, go ahead and use it.
(4) Make sure you have everything BEFORE you pull out of the driveway (i.e. your feedline, log book, headphones, and tools).

Good news… this was the first real deployment of the ARSIB. Everything worked very well. Even used the the ARSIB and the vertical dipole on 17M, in addition to 40M and 20M.

Lazy Sunday

Knocked out some more QSL cards and certificates for the W4M special event station. It’s fun going through all the QSL cards. Two QSL cards stood out from this morning, one from Washington State near Fort Lewis and the other from Sierra Vista, AZ… near Fort Huachuca. Each QSL response has the W4M folded QSL card, the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse (USA 567) QSL card, the W4M US Army Amateur Radio Society special event certificates, and sometimes a picture or two from the actual event.

The US Army Amateur Radio Society is picking up more members. We’ve been able to identify more hams downrange as well as hams getting ready to go – trying to get them their reciprocal licenses as soon as possible. Also identified some folks in Korea, to include a POC to help with licensing. I need to start looking at Germany as well… I’m sure there has to be quite a few Army hams in Germany.

…. and I even had a 40M CW QSO today! Had about a 40 minute ragchew with AA4TB who is down in Summervile, SC (near Charleston). Tommy put up with my horrible CW skills and kept it slow. I need to find the time to do some serious work on my CW. I wish I could find somebody I could establish a regular CW sked with… like two or three times a week. I think this would really help me improve. Plus – on air practice is a lot better than working one of those CW computer programs.

I have grand plans for a new antenna. The Radio Works is a local company and produces quality antennas. I have two Radio Works G5RVs – one of which I bought from a local ham. The antenna was originally purchased back in the 1980s, but unused. I used the antenna for the W4M special event station – still looked like new and worked like a champ. My current antenna is a B&W end fed inverted vee. Although it has omnidirectional properties, it has a N/S orientation. My plan is to put a Radio Works Carolina Windom 160 Special with a E/W orientation. I intend to use it as a flattop, 133′ in length. I have nice pine trees in the front and back yards, I think I can get the Window up about 50′ or more. Just waiting for my CSV17 Pneumatic Antenna Launcher!

Field Day Wrap Up

I had a good time. Putting together the Amateur Radio Station In a Box (ARSIB) was a good learning experience. I now have a functional, portable system that I can take anywhere to operate. The actual operation and contacts during field day was very enjoyable. Other than the lighthouse activations and the W4M special event station for Memorial Day, I don’t do a lot of phone. So all the phone contacts were good experience. No big DX and no new states (still missing Alaska, Hawaii, and Wyoming for WAS).

I wish I had tried setting up my homebrew vertical dipole to see how it did against my end fed inverted vee.

I’d also like to get one of the Heil Traveler headphone/boom mike devices that has a PTT switch. I think it would make operating easier having a boom mike than constantly picking up and setting down a hand mike. I’d also like to try to integrate some type of control software between the radio, the laptop, and the logging program. I’m going to give FT-817 Commander a try. I know there are similar applications for my IC-706MKIIG,

I need to take advantage of some of the easy way to get more points….:
– Message Origination to Section Manager: 100 bonus points for origination of a National Traffic System (NTS) style formal message to the ARRL Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator.
– Satellite QSO: 100 bonus points for successfully completing at least one QSO via an amateur radio satellite during the Field Day period.
– W1AW Bulletin: 100 bonus points for copying the special Field Day bulletin transmitted by W1AW.

For next year I would like to try and operate away from the house. Maybe combine it with a summer vacation trip.

What’s been going on with AD7MI?

It’s been a busy summer so far.

– Memorial Day: I really enjoyed the special event station operation – W4M. I operated from Fort Monroe on Saturday and Sunday from a WWII coastal artillery battery overlooking the Chesapeake, wonderful weather and some great contacts. I setup a G5RV for the antenna and used a portable generator for power.

– The Smithsonian, NN3SI: During my trip to Washington DC, I had the opportunity to be a guest operator at the Smithsonian’s own amateur radio station, located at the Museum of American History.

– Lighthouse Activations: Enjoyed a relaxing few days down in the Outer Banks, NC and was able to activate the Bodie Island Lighthouse (USA-067) and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (USA-212). Link here to the Outer Banks Repeater Association: http://obra.aginet.com/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From : W2EHD
To : ad7mi
Subject : Re: 442.850

Scott – It was a pleasure to meet you – if only on the air.
Re: the the UHF side of the mobile radio. Might consider selecting medium or low power when running mobile – especially when the repeater of choice is not far away.
–
I am sending along a URL for a tape measure beam. Originally, I think the author meant to use it in DFing – Direction-finding – competitions – but despite the fact that it’s rather ugly and makes lots of noise when the wind blows the elements – it seems the ideal solution for accessing a repeater from a remote (vacation) location.
I bought an el cheapo grande 25 ft. tape measure a few years ago, and 8 bucks worth of the PVC tubing he recommends.
There are several of these antennae in my workshop. One thing I did was to cast a couple of concrete bases – using galvanized pails that I bought at ACE.
One 60-odd bag of Sak-Crete will let you make a couple of bases. Glue some scrap carpeting to the bottom and you’ve got built-on floor protection.

As presently described, the tape measure antenna is only good on 2 meters. The author mentions that it may well be possible to change the element dimensions and spacing to put it into the UHF portion of the spectrum. I may try one out on 70 cm, with a watt meter in the line, just for grins.
Keep in touch.
If you wish, I will add your address to the OBRA email list, which will keep you informed about major doings around here. You would not get a lot of mail from OBRA, believe me.
73,
Jack
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next project: I’m working on a portable HF/VHF/UHF system. Intent is to build a complete setup (rig, power supply, tuner, SWR meter, NOMIC RigBlaster, etc.) into an easily transportable box.

W4M – Day One

Wow! Day one is over – a total of 78 contacts to include two new states for me… Nebraska and Delaware. Worked a number of other states as well to include Washington, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Also a few into Canada.

Biggest lesson from today – operating a portable station away from a vehicle on generator power using a G5RV is a lot of setup work to do by yourself. I set my station up on the top of a WWII coastal artillery battery, taking advantage of the extra height and incredible view. However, this also entailed hiking up down a series of stairs with all the gear. Also learned some better techniques for using the G5RV. My intent was to use two painter’s poles nested one on the other with a 1/3 of the bottom sticking into the top one. I attached the center point of the G5RV and then tried to raise the pole to the vertical. The bottom pole’s top 1/3 ended up snapping due to the weight. What I should have done is run a line through the eyelet at the top of the top pole and then raised the center point once I had stabilized the pole into a vertical position. Also – I need to secure the guy-wires to the side of the pole, the guy-wires got needlessly tangled when I did finally get the pole into a vertical position.

The generator worked quite nicely – I had no issues with it at all. It started right up, operated quietly, and had hummed away nicely until I shut it down.

Overall, it was a good day and I learned quite a bit. Tomorrow’s operations should go a lot smoother.

Busy day…..

(1) Complete support pole for G5RV feed point….
– this is complete except for the guy-wire. I need to get guy-wire for the upper 1/3 and lower 1/3 of the mast. I think the mast is going to work out well. It is composed of two painter’s poles (Mr. Long Arm). Each has a maximum length of 23′. For the upper section, I cut away the handle on the bottom. This will allow me to nest the upper portion’s lower 1/3 into the bottom portion’s top 1/3 of the pole. I think the total height of the mast will be around 38′. Also drilled a hole in the very top of the upper section and put an eye-bolt through it. Attached to the eye-bolt is a d-ring. I will attach the top of the feed point for the G5RV to the d-ring. As long as I can get some guy-wire… I’ll be good to go.

(2) Prep supports for the G5RV ends….
– got two large buckets from Home Depot. I placed a 3″ piece of PVC pipe (length just over the lip of the bucket) vertically in the center of the bucket. Around the pipe I put in about 4″ of cement. Turned about pretty good. I’ll be able to slide in a 2 1/2″ PVC pipe (10′ long) into the bucket and use it to secure the ends of the G5RV.

(3) Get a pop-up shelter for the operations table….
– got it at Target. 10′ by 10′ with a mosquito net. It will probably due okay in light rain, but not much more.

… and that was it for the list.

I did set up the FT-817 outside with my new RigBlaster NOMIC. Worked pretty good, got an PSK31 contact on 20M from Iowa with 5 watts. Have not set up the Tokyo amp yet.

Old Point Comfort Lighthouse activation

What a wonderful morning at Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, Fort Monroe, VA on the Chesapeake! Blue, clear skies, temp at 60d F, with a slight breeze. I could see the Norfolk Navy Base across the bay and watched as USNS Comfort pulled out towards the Atlantic.

I pulled up to my position on the top of the wall surrounding historic Fortress Monroe, right above the moat. Instead of using my mag mount Hamstick, I set up the homebrew vertical dipole on the edge of the wall, raising the mast to about 10 feet. Setup was complete by about 0740/1140(UTC) and started calling CQ on 40M.

Callsign State Member
WA1OHR CT Y/#587
W1VR FL Y/#143 operating from USA 869
W1MCE NH Y/#491

The band died down and I took W1MCE’s advised and switched to 20M.

Callsign State Member
VO1RYL Canada Y/#1218
K0VDP ND N
KB7IOG WA N
KE5FWY TX N
KB7BGS UT N
KC0UIQ CO N
KE7CWR WA N

I then dropped back down to 40M to finish up the morning.

Callsign State Member
K2DNV NJ Y/#1004
N3LWM PA N
K8WFL OH N
N8GW OH N

I shut down at 1050/1450(UTC) and packed up. Thank you for the contacts and the spots on DX Summit and the Beacon Bot. I really enjoyed all the exchanges.

Please look for US Army Amateur Radio Society’s special event station W4M on 27-28 May, operating from Fort Monroe (and USA 567) in commemoration of Memorial Day.

KTF!

73 Scott AD7MI

Homebrew vertical dipole

I’ve been looking around for good ideas for a portable HF antenna and finally settled on Robert Johns’ (W3JIP) plan from a QST article (Aug 88). The antenna design is a vertical dipole (6M to 40M), using a loading coil at the base of the vertical with a tap and the other half the dipole is formed with a 1/2 wave length cut of wire. The coil is mounted on a 3/4″ PVC pipe which slips into a 6″ length of aluminum tubing. The tubing then slides into a bracket designed to hold a flag. Mounted on the bracket is a SO-239 with the center pin making contact with the bracket. The main element sitting on top of the coil is 8′, but you can lengthen it to 11′.

I spent the morning gathering the parts, had a hard time with some of the specific items, but ended up with a couple work-arounds. I put the coil together first, that went pretty easy. W3JIP’s plan calls for #8 aluminum ground wire for the coil – which no one has. I used copper instead. I wrapped the copper around a 4″ piece of PVC. The directions call for 12 turns, but I only purchased 12′ of copper (the directions didn’t say what length to get)… ended up getting 9 turns. I mounted the coil to the PVC and then secured the trailing end up the coil to a piece of aluminum tubing inserted inside the PVC. The element gets mounted above the coil and I secure the tap at the base of the element.

Once I had everything together, I went outside and mounted the coil section to the top of a tripod, inserted the 8′ aluminum element above the coil, set the tap at the top of the coil, ran a length of wire out as the other half of the dipole, ran some RG-58 out from my Icom 706 and after playing with the tap a bit was able to get out to Texas on 20M.

I have some more work to do:
– better secure the SO-239’s center pin to the bracket and bottom of the coil
– attach a banana plug to the ground side of the SO-239 to allow quick changes for switching bands
– find a way to secure the base of the antenna to a painter’s pole

I know the antenna will work on 20M, now I would just like to get it working on 40M.