Thursday, 11 July 2013
21 Mhz
Conditions seemed quite strange today, most of the times I listened the bands seemed pretty flat. However I tuned around 15 metres at teatime and managed to work 7Z1TT on my first call. Running 100 watts I got a report of 58 on the Antron vertical. Not bad for a CB antenna!
!
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Vertical!
The pole at the end of my garden has just up until now been supporting one end of my HF doublet, and more recently had the Wellbrook receive loop on top of it. The Wellbrook loop doesn't need much height in reality. At my previous QTH it was mounted less than three metres from the ground and worked well especially on the lower bands. It didn't seem to work much better in its new home at around 7 metres up on the pole.
So I have had a change around. I dropped the pole down on the weekend. I will find a new home for the Wellbrook, in the meantime I have put a vertical antenna on the pole. What antenna? An Antron 99. Yes its a CB antenna but at the radio rally I attended the other week I picked up "Practical Wireless's" book "Even more out of thin air". This book mentions the fact that the Antron is usable on 18,21 and 24 Mhz as well as we would expect 28mhz. I decided to purchase one and give it a try, being of glassfibre construction it is lightweight and hopefully will not put too much strain on my unguyed pole!
The antenna is 5.6 metres long, has no radials and comes pre tuned to the lower end of 27Mhz. Since at the very least I wanted to use the antenna on 10 metres I adjusted the "tuning rings" at the base of the antenna, hoping to raise the operating frequency a little. This was still when the antenna was on the ground so the adjustment was guesswork!
As it turned out I guessed fairly well. Once up in the air the antenna covered 28 to 29.6 Mhz with an acceptable SWR reading. Digging out the CB rig I have in the shack the SWR on 27 mhz was still within acceptable limits (below 1.5:1) so this is a pretty wideband antenna.
The surprising thing is the Antron covered 24, and 18 mhz without an ATU.
The Western HF-10 wire doublet I use gives me pretty good results but I never really heard much on 24Mhz (12metres) with it. The vertical seems more lively on this band as well as 21 Mhz. In fact I worked LU8EEM on my first call with it.
My very quick evaluation of the antenna so far is as follows:
28Mhz- works well but as far as signals heard to date goes is about equal to the HF wire, sometimes slightly down.
24Mhz- Much more lively than wire- signals generally two three or more s points better.
21Mhz- Generally again signals several S points greater than the wire.
18Mhz- Two or three S points weaker than signals on the wire.
14Mhz- Antenna tunmes using internal ATU but pretty deaf on this band.
It will be interesting to compare this antenna with the Hygain AV12 Vertical when I get that erected. However the AV12 covers only 20,15 and 10.
Here it is up in the air, the visual impact is pretty low I think and I haven't had any adverse comments from my (very tolerant) neighbours.
So I have had a change around. I dropped the pole down on the weekend. I will find a new home for the Wellbrook, in the meantime I have put a vertical antenna on the pole. What antenna? An Antron 99. Yes its a CB antenna but at the radio rally I attended the other week I picked up "Practical Wireless's" book "Even more out of thin air". This book mentions the fact that the Antron is usable on 18,21 and 24 Mhz as well as we would expect 28mhz. I decided to purchase one and give it a try, being of glassfibre construction it is lightweight and hopefully will not put too much strain on my unguyed pole!
The antenna is 5.6 metres long, has no radials and comes pre tuned to the lower end of 27Mhz. Since at the very least I wanted to use the antenna on 10 metres I adjusted the "tuning rings" at the base of the antenna, hoping to raise the operating frequency a little. This was still when the antenna was on the ground so the adjustment was guesswork!
As it turned out I guessed fairly well. Once up in the air the antenna covered 28 to 29.6 Mhz with an acceptable SWR reading. Digging out the CB rig I have in the shack the SWR on 27 mhz was still within acceptable limits (below 1.5:1) so this is a pretty wideband antenna.
The surprising thing is the Antron covered 24, and 18 mhz without an ATU.
The Western HF-10 wire doublet I use gives me pretty good results but I never really heard much on 24Mhz (12metres) with it. The vertical seems more lively on this band as well as 21 Mhz. In fact I worked LU8EEM on my first call with it.
My very quick evaluation of the antenna so far is as follows:
28Mhz- works well but as far as signals heard to date goes is about equal to the HF wire, sometimes slightly down.
24Mhz- Much more lively than wire- signals generally two three or more s points better.
21Mhz- Generally again signals several S points greater than the wire.
18Mhz- Two or three S points weaker than signals on the wire.
14Mhz- Antenna tunmes using internal ATU but pretty deaf on this band.
It will be interesting to compare this antenna with the Hygain AV12 Vertical when I get that erected. However the AV12 covers only 20,15 and 10.
Here it is up in the air, the visual impact is pretty low I think and I haven't had any adverse comments from my (very tolerant) neighbours.
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Uprating the 857
I have owned my Yaesu FT857D for about 9 years. I bought it to use portable and apart from a stint in the shack as a 6 and 2 metre rig that is what it has been used for.
However portable work usually involves less than efficient antennas, or at least the way I do portable does! In the past I have used the Buddistick and now I have the Pro Whip vertical, for what they are the antennas work quite well but are not as effective of course as my doublet at home.
To make the best of things then I need to use CW. My CW is still a bit hesitant but is coming along and of course I need to practice more! The 857 however doesn't have a CW filter and the standard SSB filter is a bit wide for CW when the bands are busy.
So I decided to bite the bullet and order and fit the 500hz CW filter for my 857.
it arrived today
So eager to install it I set about removing the top cover of the rig. I have never needed to take the cases off the 857 before, but I thought it would be easy enough, just remove the screws at the top......................but wait....the covers would not come off! The Answer? Read the manual, you have to remove these screws which are attached to the bottom panel too!
Once the covers were off it was an easy matter to drop the filter in
There is still space for another filter so I could add the 300hz one but I don't think I will need it and they are very expensive.
Anyway I put the rig back together and switched on:
As you can see the rig has recognised it has a 500hz filter so all is well. The filter makes quite a difference so it should give me an incentive to operate CW on holiday!
However portable work usually involves less than efficient antennas, or at least the way I do portable does! In the past I have used the Buddistick and now I have the Pro Whip vertical, for what they are the antennas work quite well but are not as effective of course as my doublet at home.
To make the best of things then I need to use CW. My CW is still a bit hesitant but is coming along and of course I need to practice more! The 857 however doesn't have a CW filter and the standard SSB filter is a bit wide for CW when the bands are busy.
So I decided to bite the bullet and order and fit the 500hz CW filter for my 857.
it arrived today
So eager to install it I set about removing the top cover of the rig. I have never needed to take the cases off the 857 before, but I thought it would be easy enough, just remove the screws at the top......................but wait....the covers would not come off! The Answer? Read the manual, you have to remove these screws which are attached to the bottom panel too!
Once the covers were off it was an easy matter to drop the filter in
There is still space for another filter so I could add the 300hz one but I don't think I will need it and they are very expensive.
Anyway I put the rig back together and switched on:
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Update on the RTL dongle
I have had a little time now to play around with my low cost Digital TV dongle. It works well enough, the specification that came with it stated the frequency coverage to be 48Mhz up to 863 Mhz. It is however wider than that. I have detected (very) local signals in the 27Mhz range and the unit works up to over 1Ghz.
Using a program called RTL1090 in conjunction with the "Planeplotter" software I am able to decode live position transmissions on 1.090Ghz from aircraft flying locally. All this using the tiny "mag mount " antenna which is about 15cms long that came with the dongle. The antenna is sitting on top of my R1000
receiver on the shack desk. Now personally this is part of the hobby (receiving aircraft transmissions etc) that I have never been particularly interested in but it is quite compelling to see the aicraft symbols pop up on the screen and amazing to see what this little device can do.
Using a program called RTL1090 in conjunction with the "Planeplotter" software I am able to decode live position transmissions on 1.090Ghz from aircraft flying locally. All this using the tiny "mag mount " antenna which is about 15cms long that came with the dongle. The antenna is sitting on top of my R1000
receiver on the shack desk. Now personally this is part of the hobby (receiving aircraft transmissions etc) that I have never been particularly interested in but it is quite compelling to see the aicraft symbols pop up on the screen and amazing to see what this little device can do.
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Noise source?
I have mentioned before about my occasional operating from the YL's QTH and the high noise level there. In some ways I felt the noise was worse because I was using a vertical antenna (The pro whip) although the noise level was a great deal lower when using the same antenna at my own home.
So what is the cause? As we all know there could be many causes-Plasma TV's, internet over the mains and so on. But in the middle of the housing estate and very close to the house is this:
It must be 25 Metres or more high and is covered in all sorts of antennas from what looks like VHF beams and verticals to Microwave dishes. I have no idea what frequencies are being radiated from this mast but I think that at least part of the noise problem may be coming from it. I am just glad its not at the end of my garden, on the other hand I would like to be able to run a wire dipole from the top of it!
So what is the cause? As we all know there could be many causes-Plasma TV's, internet over the mains and so on. But in the middle of the housing estate and very close to the house is this:
It must be 25 Metres or more high and is covered in all sorts of antennas from what looks like VHF beams and verticals to Microwave dishes. I have no idea what frequencies are being radiated from this mast but I think that at least part of the noise problem may be coming from it. I am just glad its not at the end of my garden, on the other hand I would like to be able to run a wire dipole from the top of it!
Radio Rally
I took a trip down to the West of England Radio Rally today held at Frome in Somerset. This is one of the few remaining rallies that are within reasonable travelling distance for me. The event looked to be fairly well attended with exhibitors both inside the main hall and outside in the open air, luckily the weather was dry!
The rally was perhaps a little unusual in that there was no talk in station nor was there a bring and buy stand.
A useful rally for picking up those bits and pieces we all need. I emerged with a reel of Coax cable and a book.
The rally venue "The cheese and Grain Centre" at Frome
The rally was perhaps a little unusual in that there was no talk in station nor was there a bring and buy stand.
A useful rally for picking up those bits and pieces we all need. I emerged with a reel of Coax cable and a book.
The rally venue "The cheese and Grain Centre" at Frome
Inside the hall
Some exhibitors outside
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
10 Metres
Interesting evening on 10 metres. I managed to work HB30OK, IS0DCR and EI6JK as the skip shortened. Oddly though I heard a single Brazilian station, at good strength around the same time. Couldn't get back to him on 100 watts to my doublet though!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)