My first HF contacts!

[KI6ABZ]

I threw up a long wire antenna, going through a 4:1 balun and an LDG Z-11 auto-tuner today.

From San Diego, I made a contact with Arizona, which was pretty cool, but then I hit a net in Oregon...

I thought that was pretty cool, considering the fact that I'm just using a 50' spool of #22 wire strung through the trees in the back yard.

[ridgescan]

Listen you gotta stop eating long wires ok???
wow That was a good haul up the coast to Oregon! What radio are you running and how many watts?

[KI6ABZ]

The doctor tells me I need the minerals in my diet.

The radio is an FT-897 with 100w. So far, it seems like a pretty solid performer; I'm still learning how to use it, but Ham Radio Deluxe makes it a lot easier. Unfortunately, HRD doesn't have CAT commands for "IPO" and "ATT" yet. The IPO feature turns off the receive pre-amp (way too noisy here for that anyway), and the ATT turns on the attenuator. I found that the contact in AZ came through much more clearly with the attenuator on. When I talked to him, I was getting S9 noise with the default settings; with IPO on, I was getting about S7, and ATT on knocked the noise down even more - it barely registered on the meter. The contact was making maybe 2 s-units over the noise at that point.

One thing I found interesting is that the antenna tuner can make a HUGE difference on RX as well as TX. When I first hit the 20M band, there was very little noise. So I went to the center of the voice portion of the band and hit the carrier button (it's an external trigger that makes the radio send a blank AM carrier wave.) After the tuner finished its thing, the noise was back up to about S5 (With IPO off.)

So the moral of that particular story is that an antenna tuner can be a valuable thing for shortwave listening, too... but you'll need a manual tuner or a tuner with a display for that purpose, otherwise you won't be able to remember and restore the settings. (My tuner just has 4 LED's that give me minimal feedback.)

I'm actually impressed enough with the long wire and tuner that I may just somehow mount that permanently, rather than mess with a commercially produced antenna.

[k9rzz]

Originally Posted by KI6ABZ

The doctor tells me I need the minerals in my diet.

The radio is an FT-897 with 100w. So far, it seems like a pretty solid performer; I'm still learning how to use it, but Ham Radio Deluxe makes it a lot easier. Unfortunately, HRD doesn't have CAT commands for "IPO" and "ATT" yet. The IPO feature turns off the receive pre-amp (way too noisy here for that anyway), and the ATT turns on the attenuator. I found that the contact in AZ came through much more clearly with the attenuator on. When I talked to him, I was getting S9 noise with the default settings; with IPO on, I was getting about S7, and ATT on knocked the noise down even more - it barely registered on the meter. The contact was making maybe 2 s-units over the noise at that point.

One thing I found interesting is that the antenna tuner can make a HUGE difference on RX as well as TX. When I first hit the 20M band, there was very little noise. So I went to the center of the voice portion of the band and hit the carrier button (it's an external trigger that makes the radio send a blank AM carrier wave.) After the tuner finished its thing, the noise was back up to about S5 (With IPO off.)

So the moral of that particular story is that an antenna tuner can be a valuable thing for shortwave listening, too... but you'll need a manual tuner or a tuner with a display for that purpose, otherwise you won't be able to remember and restore the settings. (My tuner just has 4 LED's that give me minimal feedback.)

I'm actually impressed enough with the long wire and tuner that I may just somehow mount that permanently, rather than mess with a commercially produced antenna.

+1

Welcome aboard!

[KI6ABZ]

heh! Only problem is that the other folks who live with me don't like wires strung across the yard... so I will have to revise my antenna strategy. I'll probably end up with a nice, simple multi-band vertical.

[ridgescan]

Originally Posted by KI6ABZ

heh! Only problem is that the other folks who live with me don't like wires strung across the yard... so I will have to revise my antenna strategy. I'll probably end up with a nice, simple multi-band vertical.

Yup my problem exactly-too bad though since it was working out so well-cant ya reinstall it at one of the perimeters sort of unobtrusively blending in with the property line?

[KI6ABZ]

I thought about that.

I was actually thinking about putting up a couple of poles arnd running the wire along the fence at the property border; I might even be able to put up a full 80M dipole there, but the big problem is the power line right next door: the wires are only about 15' up. I can't get the antenna at any appreciable HAAT, or there will be a real danger of hitting power lines right there. I have a similar problem in my yard: the utility lines come right down to the corner of my room, and to be safe, I don't want to run any wires under my power line or put up a mast where it can fall on the power line. So I'm limited to a vertical that's less than 20' high or a dipole that has to be less than 15' off the ground.

My compact vertical should be here today. I'm going to mount it so that the base is just above the eave, and one of the counterpoise radials runs up the roof to the peak. I'm going to run another 2 counterpoise lines; one will follow the path of my existing antenna line and attach (with a non-conductive rope) to my kid's swing set, and the other will go to a small tree in a planter.

Let's see if I can draw a picture....

[kb2vxa]

Hi Donna and welcome to the fray. You need to learn a few things, like a bit of antenna theory considering the fact that a long wire is fed against ground and is an unbalanced load, I have no idea how or why you connected a balun or coax for that matter. Such a radiating element is supposed to be connected to the unbalanced (wire) output of a tuner and the ground post connected to earth ground. I'll save the rest of the techie talk until you get some book reading under your belt (if you wear one, hi) so you have some hope of understanding the way I babble on.

FB on the contacts but please stay within the terms of your license, you cannot transmit in the phone portion of any HF band except for the old Novice sub band on 10M. Transmitting a "tune up" carrier or what the FCC calls "test" on 20M or anywhere outside your Tech privileges is quite illegal. Hint: This is where an auto tuner sucks eggs, bypass it for listening purposes, you really don't need it. The probable reason you couldn't hear well until you tuned up I'll bet it was a "detuner" in circuit at the time acting as an attenuator.

Like I said you have a bit of learning to do, it seems you jumped the gun and unfortunately violated the rules in doing so. Patience, my dear, will keep you out of trouble and so will ironically one with the same name as yours, Gordon West WB6NOA, look him up. (If he's your father please tell him I said to give you a good spanking, hi.)

*Gordon West Radio School* •* 714-434-0666

[KI6ABZ]

Dude.

It's abz, not abG.

I am using the balun because my tuner does not have a long wire nut. The guys at HRO recommended it, and the two I talked to have been extras longer than either of is has been licensed.

And if Mr. West tried to spank me, he'll find it's a bit harder than he expected.

[ridgescan]

Originally Posted by KI6ABZ

I thought about that.

I was actually thinking about putting up a couple of poles arnd running the wire along the fence at the property border; I might even be able to put up a full 80M dipole there, but the big problem is the power line right next door: the wires are only about 15' up. I can't get the antenna at any appreciable HAAT, or there will be a real danger of hitting power lines right there. I have a similar problem in my yard: the utility lines come right down to the corner of my room, and to be safe, I don't want to run any wires under my power line or put up a mast where it can fall on the power line. So I'm limited to a vertical that's less than 20' high or a dipole that has to be less than 15' off the ground.

My compact vertical should be here today. I'm going to mount it so that the base is just above the eave, and one of the counterpoise radials runs up the roof to the peak. I'm going to run another 2 counterpoise lines; one will follow the path of my existing antenna line and attach (with a non-conductive rope) to my kid's swing set, and the other will go to a small tree in a planter.

Let's see if I can draw a picture....

Let us know how the vertical turns out.

[KI6ABZ]

The Chameleon didn't work even as well as the untuned long wire. I went back to the long wire, but turned it in to an off- center fed dipole. I'm going to get another length of wire and make a half wave 40 meter dipole out of it. The only bands that really work where I am are 40 & 80, so I'm going to focus on 40 for now.

[fritz73]

KI6ABZ, I just wanted to say I have the LDG Z11pro and I think it's fantastic. It doesn't sound like you've had any problems yet, but if you find that it starts trying to tune while you're talking on SSB, try raising the SWR threshold up to 1.7 instead of 1.5. Worked perfect for me. By the way there was finally a band opening around 10 and 11 mtrs last Saturday afternoon which allowed me to finally make my first HF contact, too-with Alabama! Not only could he hear me but said I sounded real good. I'm only using a AlphaDelta DX-EE dipole on a one story house! Sorry, I guess the excitement still hasn't wore off.

[KI6ABZ]

The only thing I don't like about the tuner is that there is no output monitoring, so I have no idea what the actual antenna SWR is. I will probably pick up one with a meter and eBay this one.

Made a contact in Georgia last night. Roughly 1900 miles. He was running 1000 watts and a beam. I have 100 watts and a straight wire...

[k9rzz]

Don't run the radial 'up' the roof, keep it below your vertical. Bend it, shape it, anyway you want it, as long as you use it, it's alright.

[gcgrotz]

Try out some of the digital modes. I worked a guy in SoCal on 30 meters the other night on PSK31 with 30 watts into a vertical.

Speaking of Verticals, can you put one on the ground and have room for 60 or so radials? That will work quite well with a tuner on all bands. Or, the HyGain 620 works very well on your roof.

And don't worry about Warren, he's just a harmless little fuzzball

[KI6ABZ]

Originally Posted by k9rzz

Don't run the radial 'up' the roof, keep it below your vertical. Bend it, shape it, anyway you want it, as long as you use it, it's alright.

I put the Chameleon back up and extended the mast a little. I'm going to try another experiment tomorrow: I'm going to mount the antenna on a steel shed that's about 40' away and see if it provides a more effective ground plane than the wire radials.

Right now, the mast has 5 sections installed (they're about 3.5 feet.) That puts the bottom of the antenna well above the peak of the roof. One radial is going toward the peak of the roof, one is going along the edge, and another is going to a tree.

I reached Washington tonight on 80 meters. I also made a contact in Texas. Both said I was weak but readable: I've got my mic gain up pretty high; the guy in WA told me I was most clear when I had the mic gain at 100%.

I did hear some PSK a few days ago, but I haven't managed to intercept any since I've had the 897. I will listen on the digital sub-bands over the weekend and see if I can hear any PSK....

I also got a VERY clear signal from a guy in Alaska. He was running a 1000 watt amp through a quad, pointed at the Midwest. I couldn't work him, because every time he asked for a call, 40 guys would key up. What surprised me was when I heard him get a call from Hawaii. KH6FT was running a simple vertical and reached Alaska and California. Not bad.

[gcgrotz]

It is fun, is it not? The guy in HI has a lot of salt water around him, that helps!

Get up early some mornings and listen on 40 meters around or just after sunrise, you are likely to hear Japan, South Pacific, Far East, etc. If not so much now, but certainly in the fall around Sept/Oct at the time of the equinox. Watch out for DX contests in the fall, they are a great opportunity to snag DX easily. And don't forget the November sweepstakes for filling up your Worked All States log.

Have fun!

[C138Kaysone]

Dont know if this relates but i was at a HAM radio club meeting and at the end i was watching one of the club members or board members play with a yaesu base station and contact was made with australia or somewhere in the south pacific region.

It was pretty cool

[KI6ABZ]

Wow. I read about 14% off center fed dipoles. I simulated one on 4NEC, and I discovered that while the swr can get pretty high, the gain is still high in most bands.

So I tuned my antenna last night to 3.5~3.6 MHz. One leg is about 66' long and the other is about 45'.

Wow! My test is to tune in to the Mojave station on GlobalTuners.com and talk from my station. Before, I could just barely hear my call over the static. After tuning my antenna, I was able to hear myself on 80M on 5 watts. I can also make Mojave on 40, as well. Since I caN only play at night, I am missing out on the daytime skip...

For fun, I tuned in to the PSK sub band on 40m. I replied to a CQ and chatted with a very helpful ham for maybe 15 minutes. He helped me understand the macros in Digital Master 480 and also helped me tune my TX. Turns out I was seriously overdriving my tx output.

As we talked, we kept dropping power. We ended up on 5 watts... For an 800+ mile trip.

So I'm feeling pretty good about this configuration. Since I'm buried between 3 mountains, I think I'm doing ok.