24 April 2010
Well over a quarter of the year has already gone, and I am struggling to find where it has gone to? Time is a bit like your shower - when the water runs down into the plug you are not too sure where it has gone and you will never get it back!!
Despite the lack of rain the fine weather has meant that a great deal of work has been done on refining shack cabling and conducting a cleanup. My dear wife is astounded that the side way has been cleared of all of the antenna bits and pieces collected over many years. I have either destroyed old unwanted bits and pieces, donated some of those antennae of use to others or sorted and stored components.
The footing for the End Fed Zepp support has been completed and in the next few days the support will be bolted on and commissioned. I have also poured a footing for a support pole for sloping wire antennae. THe intention is to build a couple of sloping dipoles and a true sloper and have them slope from the tower down to the support pole.
The UHF Ringo is now in its final position, as too the VHF groundplane. The groundplane is mainly used to listen to aircraft and I receive very reasonable signals from both Essendon and Melbourne towers, together with aircraft taxiing on the ground.
An old 70MHz vertical antenna has been pruned to resonate around the aircraft band and this will be commissioned on a second aircraft receiver.
The 50MHz 1/2 wave end fed vertical will be moved this week and raised another couple of metres into the air. That does not sound much, but it will make a difference. The vertical is very useful for local FM simplex contacts on 52.525MHz and for access to a number of 6 metre FM repeaters scattered around Melbourne.
And having read an interesting article on ground radial systems for HF operations I have decided to cunningly lay out at least 16 radials across the backyard for HF operation. Why cunningly? My Director of War (DOW - wife) is particularly good, after our many years of marriage, at measuring the excitement level of her husband (me)when a new or used piece of additional equipment or antenna is acquired or a project is in full swing. Although the radials will be fine copper wire buried or concealed under ground, one can imagine the prospect of the DOW finding, or worse still, unearthing the radials in the backyard. So one must implement a very cunning plan to complete this work, preferably not in the dark as this may arouse suspicions and prove to be a very unsafe venture!
More later - I am off to hang some more antennae from the tower!
May 21, 2009
The mast goes up......
Although we need the rain it has been marvellous to have so many good clear weather days to work on masts and antennae!
Pictured is the old trusty
Yaesu FT-7, MFJ Antenna Matching Unit and HK-708 morse key portable at Pambula on the South East coast of NSW. It is amazing what you can do with 10 watts QRP and a home brew end fed zeppelin antenna with open wire feeder!! Normally I would use a solar panel charging an old car battery, but in this case I was forced to take power from the car.
At the home QTH I have finally erected the new "pre-loved" Hills Telemast and although it can be extended to 15 metres no need to go that high - 8 metres is enough.
Already it has been worth putting this up - the vertical for VHF/UHF is at the top, just above the 15 element 2 metre beam. And just below both is an inverted vee for 40 metres and an inverted vee for 17 metres, fed from the same single coax feedback.
The vee antenna is made from stock standard speaker wire and is running south east - north west. 40 metres has been exceptional, particularly since the broadcast stations have moved from the 7.100 - 7.200 section of the band. Yes, the odd broadcast station appears to pop up from Asia, but otherwise the band is fantastic. Last week I worked a K6 in California and prior to that an ON4 in Belgium. Both stations were doing all the work with 3 element beams over the 100 foot mark (30 metre) mark, however it was pleasing to be heard with the TS50 and 100 watts into the humble vee antenna.
On 2 metre sideband the signals are better than ever before. I can hear the Latrobe Valley beacon, VK3RGI, at around S2-S3 at all times now on the old IC251 rig. This was not possible when the beam was at 5 metres or so - an extra 3 metres has made the world of difference. I am now keen to see how well the beam works now across the Tasman, so I will sit patiently on 144.100 to see what pops up.
Otherwise the shack is the focus during the colder days and nights. The IC2000 has now been mounted permanently in the shack and the next step is to install a solar panel on the roof to feed this, and other rigs. No further work has been done on the tower at this stage, except more planning.
The Syntrx project at WANSARC is now progressing, with documentation and pin connections agreed. Professional boards have been made up to allow an EPROM to be used in place of a PROM. The units we have were originally high band UHF and we will be bringing them back to UHF Amateur, a great little project for our members.
And the VK3PI website project is continuing. This is a dedicated radio website - go to
Australia Radio VK3PI
February 7 2009 - active again
For awhile the shack door was firmly closed and the Huntsmen spiders were starting to feel at home.
Now, however, we are back into the hobby with enthusiasm - a month off work on recreational leave helped!
It has been a very exciting Christmas and New Year period on radio, commencing with portable camping operations on the South Coast of New South Wales.
The portable equipment consists of my trusty 1979 Yaesu FT-7 ,Homebrew End Fed Zeppelin antenna, Antenna Matching Unit, Solar Panel and battery.
The Yaesu FT-7 has stood the test of time and is a marvellous rig. As I have always been a low power operator (QRP) the 10 watts produced from this rig is more than adequate to have some very good contacts.
In fact during the week of camping I managed to work 30 stations on 7, 14 and 28MHz, even working three DX stations, two from the Sultanate of Oman and one from Rarotonga in the Pacific.
Since coming home I have been busy finally getting the shack operational again. All 18 coaxial cables coming into the shack have been checked, tagged and now I am in the process of terminating each of the cables with connectors.
VHF conditions have been extra good and I now have my 15 element 144MHz beam in operation. Despite only being 3 metres above the ground I have recently worked VK4 (Queensland), VK5 (South Australia) and VK7 (Tasmania), all on only 10 watts!
On the 50MHz band I hastily erected a vertical antenna on the side of my tower and again with only 10 watts I have managed to work into VK4 (Queensland. Two stations, one in Rockhampton and one in Gladstone could hear me well with just the vertical. I am now enthused!! Time to build a 2 or 3 element beam for 50MHz.
And I now have an antenna up for 28MHz - an old half wave end fed vertical again side mounted on the tower at about 6 metres. It appears to be working well and I have had a number of local contacts.
Frank VK3ZO, a long time friend, is keen to have some more morse code (CW) contacts, so another joy recently was to pull the morse key out and have a contact. For 40 minutes Frank and I pounded the key in conversation and it was like not having ridden a bike for a long time - bit shaky for the first few minutes but one mobile the dits and dahs flowed. 28MHz is a great band for this type of activity so we will be using 28MHz in the future for more CW contacts as we get our speed up!
So what next - well it is far too hot to do anything today - 44 degrees Celsius is the estimate and at this time it is 41 degrees at our local weather station. Too hot to be in the shack and on a roof for antennae work.
However we are well on the way to having the shack fully operational. Wayne VK3VCL has recently purchased a pre-loved Kenwood TS-660 , a quad band rig running on 21/24/28/50MHz. The units runs 10 watts and also operates in FM mode, so it is useful for the 29MHz FM repeaters on 28MHz and 50MHz. I also have one of these units although since purchasing this in 2008 I had not had it on air. In my experience this unit works very well, with the added bonus of two antenna inputs, one for HF and one for 50MHz.
I am still to make a final judgement on what goes on the tower in terms of antennae, but we are getting closer.
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August 15, 2008
Finally things are coming together. I can now walk around the shack without knocking too many things over and I have nearly stopped picking things up and shifting them around to another location again and again and again.
Let me confirm that father-in-laws can be useful and Nick has come up with a useful ex-stereo cabinet with doors. Neatly fitted into the shack with the removal of a small table, but the table fitted neatly on to the workshop bench to accommodate a very old PC and monitor........love it when a plan comes together.
I became so enthused with progress that I dragged the aged but very good looking
Icom IC-2000Hout on to the bench. A rummage to find a power supply, connection to a quarter wave steel whip on the roof and bingo - hearing Essendon Tower well and local 2 meter activity.
The is a variable power 2 meter radio with a VHF receiver spanning 118MHz - 174MHz. The radio is simple to use, with three power settings - 5, 10 and 50 watts. It is able to be modified for transmit over the range from 118 to 174MHz but why bother? The radio itself is very compact and is really 75% heatsink. I have used this rig sparingly on transmit and it is the mainstay aircraft receiver in the shack.
I am sure I purchased this rig some 13 years ago and it is still faithfully performing. And for a unit with a general VHF receiver it does not get belted by pager interference.
I also salvaged a "homebrew" collinear VHF/UHF antenna which was thrown in by a recent e-bay seller when I was purchasing some metal mast elements. The construction is reasonable, using PVC pipe and a coaxial matching section at the base, however the fly-lead has an "N" type connector at the base, no doubt to minimize losses. I think I will change this over to fit some of the UHF adaptors that I already have, given the antenna is going to be side mounted on my small tower as s "stand-by" antenna.
Finally commenced putting connectors on the coax tails in the shack and managed to clear a whole shelf of equipment, so the benches are looking much clearer and cleaner.
AUGUST 5 2008
The weather has not been kind so the outside antenna activities have been put on hold. I did inspect the coax cables and they all appear to be in good condition in readiness for antenna mounting.
The inclement weather has given me an opportunity to sort out some more equipment in the garage and I must say it is looking slightly better - at least I can walk through the garage without grazing my legs on bits and pieces jutting out.
And I have found the
Realistic HTX-100, a rig for 10 metres which I had completely forgotten I had. I remember making some modifications to the microphone to change its response and actually getting the radio to work as the previous owner had made some terminal modifications.
So now that I have found this rig it is time to get it on to the bench for an on-air test. The HTX-100 will compliment the old VHF box (IC22S) and old UHF box (IC245), both on FM only, as it will give me access to 10 metres SSB/CW. 10 metres is a great band for local contacts and is quite surprising with respect to openings. I have often said that people think that the band is not open when in fact
no-one has actually made a CALL on the band.
Moral of the story is
CALL CQ - you never know when someone is going to come back to you.
Getting back to the HTX-100, it is a very neat rig only operating on 10 metres SSB/CW. It does, however, have a low and high power setting, the high power producing 25 watts. It has a digital display and the ability to operate on CW, which is handy as I have just dusted off the key.
I should have a 10 metre vertical back up in the air shortly, or as a worse case scenario the End Fed Zepp with a tuner.
July 31, 2008
Aside from some rag chewing on VHF this week, and of course the WANSARC club net, my radio activities have been limited. Admittedly work has interfered with play but I guess this is bound to happen from time to time.
However all has not been lost - the WANSARC club magazine for August has been compiled and distributed with great feedback again.
And the radio brain has not been idle - much reading this week on high frequency (HF) antennae and I have decided to build a couple of 1/4 wavelength sloper antenna's on the weekend.
I have an 8 metre free standing tower which should be high enough to be the cornerstone for a 40 metre and 20 metre antenna. The key to the sloper is the earth point and this may be a challenge, despite the fact that the tower is earthed. Another interesting point is that the coaxial feed arrangement must have the earth or braid fed at the top of the sloper, with the centre conductor fed to the main 1/4 wavelength section. According to the theory, it does not matter as to the height of the lowest point of the antenna (hmmm, does that sound confusing??) and that the Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) should not change if the height is varied.
Let's see how they work or do not work!
July 26-27 2008
It has been a cleanup weekend and every muscle in my body is sore - and I did not even climb the tower!
It has been time to sort out the "stuff" in the garage and a lot of junk has found its way into the bin.
While sorting out load of junk I had the opportunity to have a listen around the HF bands this weekend, using the trusty
Kenwood R100O and just the end fed zepp hanging off the tower and draped around the fence.
Surprising what you can hear with just a "wet string" - apt really because it has rained quite a bit this weekend. Certainly some strong CW signals at the bottom end of twenty metres -
ZL1TM was giving it a good crack and with solid signals.
VK3HJA (Jeff) came up on twenty metres both days with a very good voice signal mobile - he was getting a few people to call him. Truth be known he was stationary mohile with a 1/4 wave vertical on twenty metres using some type of squid pole lashed to the front of his bullbar. Jeff's 100 watts was doing a credible job into the United States and Canada.
And
Peter W6KW takes the cake for the strongest signal and best station!! Peter was on his ranch and when asked how his station was set up, replied that "he was a bit lazy having a rig per band!" In the words of David Letterman, "What??.......What??...." The mouth drools - seems Peter has an FT1000 for each band, with each operating position set up exactly the same with an amplifier, power meter etc. so in his own words "all I have to do is slide my chair down the table to use a rig dedicated to the particular band I want to work on".
Guaranteed the radio band switches on his rigs will NEVER wear out.
0n the funny side Peter was saying that he has to be careful of the rattlesnakes when he walks the 100 metres from his shack to his home. I did send Peter an email saying that I had heard him and that the only thing I have to watch out for is the dog and the dog crap! Peter thinks I have a very good sense of humour!
Some VK signals on 80 and 40 metres were quite good, with local rain static and noise. All in all some interesting listening.
Now to the hard work - this week will see the first of the antennae going back into the air.
My tower is only 8 metres high but I am going to try a 1/4 wave sloper for 20 metres using the tower as the anchor point. According to theory the sloper can provide omnidirectional signals providing the high point has a good earth on the tower......this we will see. Still, it will be a good result if the sloper works well as my intent is to use this initially for digital mode working and only low power is required. I have also built two new inverted vees - one for 40 metres which will also work on the 3rd harmonic (15 metres) and one for 30 metres. I have never operated on the WARC bands so 30 metres will be interesting to try.
July 17 2008
Not so much work on radio this week as wireless cards for computers. Trying to get the trusty old Compaq to work with a wireless card has been a torture....checking the card, the firmware, the software, the updates, the port, the connectivity, the wireless SSID etc etc etc. No wonder computer technicians are sometimes called geeks.....that's what they turn into!
At the end of the day I think I will have to go back to the trusty cable connection and perhaps contemplate the purchase of a new machine.
On a radio note, however, it is interesting to visit the USA eBay site and see so much historical radio equipment being advertised for such low prices. As an example some old 1960's receivers are selling in the low 20 or 30 dollar bracket, however to post these items to Australia will cost 10 time the cost of purchase for the item. I could have picked up an old valve receiver for 22 U.S. dollars (with the Australian exchange rate at 97 cents per US dollar what a bargain!) however the postage cost to Australia was in excess of $250 dollars US!
Having said this I must have a look around for either an AX-190 or SX-190 receiver from the 80's. This was the first type of receiver I had when a short wave listener and although, by today's standards, they are a very simple receiver, they looked great with the polished silver finish and ease of operation. Originally marketed in Australia as Realistic the American's know them as a Radio Shack model.
Speaking receivers I still need to do some work on the Kenwood R1000, recently acquired and needing some tender loving care. More on this later.
July 14 2008
Amateur radio operators are often called "bower birds" because they pick up so much "stuff", which MAY become useful in time. I am no exception. After 30 years as an amateur (where has that time gone!) my garage is full of "treasures". Time to sort it out and move on.........although I must admit it has been fun to find a rig or two that has been hidden in a box for the last 10 years.....it's like having Christmas over and over again, opening a present to find a dusty old rig with vacuum tubes....what, you say? Tubes......? We call them valves here in Australia....in any case, you have to marvel at the engineering of some of the early rigs. Certainly built to last.
Finally, after 6 months of planning, I am now ready to rewire the shack and start getting back onto the airwaves. All cables have now been run into the shack, with each cable tagged with a numbeer and I have even recorded the type and lengths of each cable run. The tricky bit now is to work out what to put in the air - I prefer individual antennas for individual rigs, rather than the dual band commercial type antenna. This requires a bit of pre-planning as I also tend to run inverted vee antennaws for the lower bands.
I am currently rebuilding a HQ-1 Hybrid Quad antenna for 20. 15. 10 and 6 metres. This is a small two element beam antenna, manufactured many years ago. It consists of a driven element with a quad loop reflector. Tuning is achieved by inductive coils and capactive tuning stubs. The antenna has a turning circle of only 1.8 metres, so it is perfect as a light weight rotatable beam. Yes, it does not give the same gain as a large scale antenna but it does have the benefits of being very directional and obscure.
As I am a QRP fan, preferring 10 watts or less, it gives a great deal of pleasure to operate with this type of antenna and just see how far one can get with a low power box.
So while I am contemplating the effort necessary to rebuild the Hybrid Quad, the mainstay antenna for H.F. is an end-fed zepp antenna.
Created on 07/10/2008 10:41 PM by mesadm
Updated on 04/24/2010 12:17 PM by mesadm
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