ANTENNAS and THE SUN

Well as of today it looks like the numbers are looking better for a change as I compose this SN is 138 A index is 5 and K is 1.....Enjoyed some DX on both 10 and 15m this morning hope it holds out for a few days as I would like to chase some DX on RTTY this weekend.

From my past posts you all know I have antenna restrictions where I live and I have tried very hard not to let that put a damper on my love for the hobby. I have done some work arounds that have been ok and even better than just ok...I did not like the idea of attic antennas as they cause so many RF issues such as.....setting off the smoke alarms, turning on the dish washer, tripping the GFI's in the kitchen oh yes and in some cases inflating and deflating our air bed.....

This was not a constant problem but each band seemed to have it's favorite appliance to fool with.
I decided to install another vertical antenna ( have one hidden a flagpole) in the back yard in plain sight and see if I get any complaints....what's it hurt to try?

This is just an old Hustler 5BTV which I have found to work pretty well for what they are. I first painted it OD green so no shiny aluminum in the yard then installed radials which the flagpole is lacking on, it only has one for each band due to it's location....

So guess my point is see what the neighbors will accept ( I will let you know if I get busted) it has been up about a month and no complaints yet! The test will be when the leaves fall and it will be more visible....we will see..... : )

So no matter your situation try hard to get on have fun and 73....

RTTY CONTEST

Well my second try at RTTY contesting proved to be much harder than the first. My first try was a NA contest which seemed to be laid back and a good time to get my feet wet without to much stress....
Well my second try was the CQWWDX RTTY contest hummm....I told my friend for a new guy it goes like this....you put on your bee keeper suit wade into the swarm of bees and try to catch just one with a pair of tweezers...I give to the experienced RTTY contester my total respect you guys are the real deal. Due to family obligations I did not get to spend all the time I wanted to with the contest but as it turned out it was enough....

I managed to work some DX and some U.S. stations and I thank them for being good operator's and having the patents to work me, as I was screwed up about half the time with wrong macro clicks and the like....I have a renewed interest in RTTY and look for DX almost every day in the RTTY sub bands, and will no doubt jump in to another contest.

Thank you to all the great RTTY ops that taught me allot this past weekend I admire you all. RTTY being one of the old modes is great fun, and I recommend it to all who have not tried it or who have been away from it for a long time like me..... so if you are tired of the everyday digi modes give RTTY a try.....A great bunch of guys operate the mode and will be polite, and helpful to you.

RYRYRYRYRY...get on have fun and 73....Jim K7JAN

SUMMERS END

Well Labor day is upon us, my grand kids are back at school and that all seems to signal the end of summer. In ham radio world that seems to mean the end of the E-skip season, my last 6m QSO was Aug. 5th out here in the West. A very mixed bag of HF propagation and dismal solar cycle made 6m almost all the operating I did this summer.
I know summer is for other things not radio, and I did all that stuff too but I try to enjoy the hobby year around when I can. A few bright spots for me was getting my RTTY setup working better and learning the software so I do not look like a total fool on the air, and working some late night 20m DX a few times. First real DX on RTTY in well over 20 years it was fun.

Also enjoyed doing a restoration on my old but wonderful Yaesu FT-301 station ( now I have to find a place to set it up)

Also working my first South American stations on 6m CW this summer so you see there were some bright spots. Had a nice FD trip with K7BUY but conditions were sooo bad we mostly enjoyed a nice visit and nice scenery from our seats in my Jeep.
I hope you all had some good operating this summer, and in my part of the world it was a hot, hot summer with smoke filled Sky's due to many forest fires here in the western U.S. So I am looking foreword to cooler weather, some fall contesting and getting to tryout my new FT-950....

Get on have fun and best 73.....

An Antenna I Love.....

Wanted to share a vertical antenna I love. A few years ago a friend shared with me this very cool antenna that works great, it can be installed as a base station antenna, a portable antenna, or even a back pack antenna.
This past field day I used this antenna as a stationary ( when stopped) antenna and it was wonderful even with very bad band conditions....
The first element of this antenna is a JACKITE pole these telescoping poles are used to fly kites with, jackite.com is a good place to start. The pole you want is the 30 foot, it telescopes to four feet and is light weight great combo. You will feed the 32 feet of wire attached to the pole with a 9 to 1 UnUn that would be a balun for Unbalanced to Unbalanced.....The core is a T130-2 set of 3 enamel wires 9 turns.
I will not go into the math here but it works great. From the balun you add 32 feet of wire an antenna tuner is required and an auto tuner is the best but manual tuner will work fine. This antenna will work 6m-20m with out a counterpoise but you should add another 32 feet of wire to the ground side for 30 and 40m.

Ok First get your pole (jackite.com) the 30 foot model. second build the balun....

 

 

 

Ok now add your wire and go for it....

TX5K Clipperton , Class Act !

For many of you it is easy to work about any of the DXpedition stations that have been on in the last year or will be on soon. For some of us low power so-so antenna guys it is real work and a challenge, it is such a help when the DX station is running a well controlled and orderly operation.

I would say that the TX5K group that operated from Clipperton this spring has no doubt set the bar very high for operations to come, great operators, well controlled pile up ops and just a pleasure. It was fun to follow them on the web and there online log was great....

Clipperton is not so rare anymore I have cards from two previous operations in the 80's and 90's but this card is most special to me. If it had not been for the great operators and there class act a station like mine ( 100w and low random wire antenna) would have never worked them on the 80 and 160m band....So thanks for a great job and thanks for the great QSL for 80 and 160 cw.....

6 Meters - What Works ?

I was just on the eham site looking at some posts pertaining to this years E-season. We who operate 6 here in the U.S.  get a mixed bag depending on our location. We who live here in the Northwest always feel short changed when we see the guys in the East and S.East working Europe and the Caribbean many days at a time....
I was very active on 6M in the 80's and at that time I spent many hours working JA's and the South Pacific on F2, what a great time that was. I missed out on some years but now have been active for about 7 or 8 years again on 6. In the 80's I ran a 3el beam for a while and a 5el beam later on at about 50 feet and a 20w Yaesu FT 620B and in my opinion then and now it is all about the opening.

Yes big stations with good antenna systems have the edge at times but us little guys can hang in there too with some operating skill and knowledge. My current station is of the smallest with antenna restrictions I am pushing it with a 3el beam at 15 feet that is painted camo green to blend in and not to be seen from the street. My other antenna is a ground mounted 5BTV that works ok on 6....it just does !
Not being the best E season but not the worst I managed to work 160 stations so far this summer and two new DX countries ( both South America)and a few aurora contacts so not all is lost, now if I could get RI and Del to finish my 6m WAS....many years in the making ! My point as always is use what you have, try new things and get on and have fun, still another month of E season so get that 6m antenna up and have at it....73

Our Ham world

There is so much going on in our world today...much I tend to avoid. We can go to hundreds of web pages and see it all so I try to keep it lite here, ham radio, Jeeps and all things non political we can get it else where.
In one of my previous post you saw that my station had to be removed for all new flooring in our house, what a job all rooms had to be moved out then back again. Most of you know what a mess that is but when you have a Ham station it is a real mess. Well we are all done and most is back to normal I thought it would be fun to post some photos of the Ham shack rebuild...

Empty shack with new floor...

Little at a time..

Back on the air and only took a couple of days after the two weeks of floor work....Have a couple of bugs but will work on those when my back stops hurting....get on have fun and build a station...73