Newbie Here w/Some DX Questions....

[Hobie102]

Greetings everyone from the frozen tundra of VT (God forsaken H... Hole). I recently picked up a Uniden 980ssb w/a Ranger SRA198 Mic. I built a base antenna off of instructions given by Cryptic Cricket on youtube using a 102" ss whip mounted to the peak of the house. I'm getting a flat 1.0 swr. Reception has been incredible since powering it up this past weekend. I heard some folks from CA as if they were sitting in the room with me as well as BC, New Orleans LA, MO, Lots from FL, Jersey, MN, ME, Montreal and today I listened to a guy in the UK and Spain yesterday. I live in a deep valley with 3000+ ft mountains on either side running north to south. The valley is app' 3/4 of a mile wide. I haven't been able to connect with anyone yet. According to my cheap'o swr/watt meter from Radio Hack I've got a 2 watt deadkey AM with a swing to a solid 4 watts and 10-12 on SB.(Not that the meter is that accurate) I know the swr is spot on as it is the same on the radio.

Please give me your thoughts on whether I will ever be able to transmit to connect living where I do. Also, I have heard that unlocking the clarifier will help. Can someone explain this more? I have a Sirio Turbo 5000 arriving tomorrow and will be mounting it to the CC and heading up high to see what happens. Reception is incredible on this little radio.
Thanks for any input you may have.

 

[SouthernRoller]

Persistence will pay off, but one day that connection with another station will occur. As for unlocking the clarifier, IMHO I have never really seen the need for it... But that's just my opinion....

 

[TheSpaceMan]

See what happen when you put the Sirio up! That might make quite a difference.

 

[RC286]

Just give er a shot.
Sounds like you have half decent setup. My base SWR is 1.6:1 and my mobile is 1.4:1. I have talked 1000's of miles on both. It takes patience and perseverance. Skip is weird. Just because you can hear them, doesn't mean they can hear you. It all depends on how mother nature wants to play the game at that time.

If you get a strong signal calling for a CQ answer, maybe a few times. Keep in mind they may be also getting strong signals skipping into their QTH just like you that may swamp your signal. I have has QSL's that have taken me over half an hour to make, just because of conditions.

As for unlocking the clarifier, All it does is make your TX the same as your RX. It can help a bit, if you know how to use it, but it will not increase performance by any means.

Cheers.
73

 

[Hobie102]

Thanks for your reply's! I have since made hordes of contacts and have made some changes to the ground plane as well. To complete the setup I have attached 2 additional ground plane wires. One runs south to a tree and the other connects directly to the ridge cap on the roof. The roof is metal and the cap is screwed to every panel on both sides of the roof. This has created a ground plane of 40'x28'. I have connected with Venice Italy,Germany, most of the UK, France, B' Virgin Islands, Fl to Texas to Saskatchewan.

I am having difficulty punching thru (on the busiest days) even after bumping the #203 SSB ALC pot to 18-20 watts PEP so decided to build a 11 meter moxon. Got it up yesterday and I think the metal roof is de-tuning the antenna. It's about 25 feet up and the swr's at ground level are perfect 1.1. But, up on the end of the house above the metal roof it jumped to 1.8. Think I will have to put it out in the yard somewhere and get it away from that roof.

Anyone have some thoughts on how that metal roof might be affecting the beam antenna? Going back on the roof this morning to check everything.

Thanks again!