Not receiving 80m properly

[VA3WEX]

Greetings, all. First post here.

I have a Yaesu FT-818 with an MFJ-1982 End Fed Half Wave antenna, which is a 132-foot long antenna which is supposed to be good for 80m to 10m bands. I use it both for hamming and a lot for just listening. It's fine on 40m band and higher, but lower than that I have problems hearing anything. Although the antenna is supposed to be good for the 80m band, I don't hear much on there but the hiss of static, using LSB mode. Neither do I hear much LSB on 160m (though to be fair to the antenna, it's not really supposed to work there).

On the other hand, I hear AM radio quite well, too well, actually it seems to be EVERYWHERE bouncing around in the lowest frequencies my radio can pick up, even outside the broadcast band--I assume these are "images"?

FWIW, I'm in an urban area, but this is true even when I operate in the suburbs at a park.

Any ideas on what is going on?

My guess is that the AM radio stations are so strong they are desensitizing the radio on the 160m and 80m band, even though the broadcast AM band is fairly far away from the 80m band.

 

[alcahuete]

That antenna should work just fine for 80m. The chances that the AM radio stations are desensitizing 80m are probably zero. Is there anyone close who can try 80m with you?

 

[ka3jjz]

Is there something nearby that is radiating so much RFI that it's clobbering the receiver?

Mike

 

[KB4MSZ]

If my FT-891 wasn't in California being repaired, I would test it with you right now.

 

[mikewazowski]

Try the ONTARS net on 3755kHz which is active most mornings. Since it’s mainly Ontario hams, you should hear something.

 

[hamstang]

Any length of wire will receive 80 meters to some degree. 132 ft wire definitely will. Try any length of wire into center conductor of radio antenna port to see if radio will receive 80 meters. The issue may be the balun on the MFJ antenna, or the radio itself. Noise floor can be pretty high on lower frequencies, and reception much better at night.

 

[K6GBW]

Just curious, what time of day were you trying to receive 80 meters? It's mostly a night time band. Also, do you have an LED lights outside? I had an LED porch light that when switched on created an S9+10 noise floor. Apparently some LED lights aren't properly shielded and put out a tremendous amount of noise. I switched the light out and added a common mode choke on the coax right before it enters the house and it made a huge difference.

 

[GlobalNorth]

I'm with K6GBW on this. LED lighting has become very popular for exterior lighting and people being people, they tend to buy the cheapest stuff they can find. These lights, include some "as seen on TV" motion lights, are RF screaming mimis. Take a portable transistor radio around your yard to the outlets and see if any electrical outlets/LED lights are RF noisy. If your property is clear, it might be a neighbor or two. If you have an SDR, you may be able to see the wideband noise.

The other issue that I am seeing around here [Arizona] is that people are getting solar panels to offset the costs of electrical generation. Good idea for them and bad idea for those who want to work MF or the 160 to 75 meter bands, due to the bad grounding and lousy build quality in the panels. Not as likely in Canada, but it can be a cause.

 

[VA3WEX]

Thank you all for the kind replies.

ka3jjz and GlobalNorth: I do have powerlines in my back hard, but I have the same problem even when operating from a park, well away from powerlines. None of my neighbours have solar panels, but they could well have other things going on.

mikewazowski: Ah, good, thanks for the tip about ONTARS--something to use as a beacon.

hamstang and K6GBW: I've never tried it at night, so it's worth a test.

alcahuete: I'll try to find someone who come over and check it with their radio--that's a good idea.

 

[WA0CBW]

Are you saying it doesn't work away from your house/neighborhood/park? If so that sounds like a radio problem.
BB

 

[K6GBW]

Well, if you're listening to 80 during the day then it's no wonder you only get noise. Try it at about 2100 hours and you'll see the noise floor drop dramatically. Make sure you do NOT have any pre-amp on with 80 meters. It's not needed down there and makes it way too noisy. Use the RF gain to reduce the noise floor as well. Most people just leave the RF gain cranked all the way up and that makes it hard to hear weaker signals. If you find some signals on 80 at night then reduce the RF gain gradually and you will hear the noise level subside and the received signal will become clearer. It takes some practice to find the "sweet" spot but I guarantee once you get used to using it you'll never go back to full crank on the RF gain!

Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[Boombox]

80 Meters is primarily a night-time, or early morning band. Daytime is generally thddddt in my area and always has been. Sounds like that might be problem number one, another possibility being some RFI, but if you're trying to catch 80 meter SSB or CW during the day it'll be slim pickin's, even with no RFI. First, propagation won't be in your favor, and second, not many hams on 80 meters during the day because of that.