This weekend I reached the "5 band DXCC" level. Quite a remarkable milestone considering the journey...
Where it started
When I came back to ham radio in 2010 I was eager to work as many DXCC as I could. I started with a shortened dipole in the attic - very far from ideal - but each and every country was a new one. Even with limited radio time my progress was smooth and I was happy for a while.
I upgraded my license in 2011 adding a load of new bands and with that the challenge increased: I would have to collect at least 100 DXCC on each (why?... I don't know, that is how addiction works).
My antenna changed into a wire behind the house running from 8m high to 2m high in a corner of the garden. An upgrade from my in-house dipole and an opportunity to add a few more DXCC.
Chasing /P
In the mean time I had developed a new addiction: activating WWFF nature reserves. Going /P inspired me to develop better antennas. Portable operations have their limitations (especially if you look at it from your multi tower station) but in my case I saw opportunities I did and do not have at my QTH.
From a mobile whip I quickly moved to vertical end fed antennas that already were more effective than the wire behind my house. And as time went by, adding more DXCC meant going out /P.
I took the opportunity of big contests - with lots of DXCC's active at the same time - to make my /P DX hunting as effective as possible. All the while trying to improve my /P station.
Beaming with delight
In 2012 I had one of my most pleasant chases when I went out with a 4 element beam for 10m (a band still open at the time) during CQ WW SSB . I added 24 atno's and 14 new bands, working a few hours on Saturday evening and a few hours the following morning. I don't think I have ever worked so many new ones in just two time slots.
Although the 10m beam was instrumental in the fun that time, it was also the first time I used the folding hexbeam that I just finished building in the week before the contest. This became and still is my favourite /P antenna. It has helped me work DX even now, at the bottom of the solar cycle.
With the hexbeam and a small mobile amplifier I added to my /P setup, I went DX fishing during a few other contests the next year. I scored 10 atno's and 22 new band dxcc during WPX in 2013 with the hexbeam, 4 atno's and 27 new band dxcc during EU HF contest in 2013 and 6 atno's and 24 new band dxcc during CQWW SSB 2013.
3 band DXCC
By August 2013 I had logged more than 100 DXCC on three bands: 10, 15 and 20m. 17m was the candidate for the next 100 and I think I reached that somewhere in 2016 (time to play radio had been rather limited in the interim and I had not been out to actively chase DX /P).
By 2016 12m was no longer a feasible candidate to reach 100 DXCC as the sun spots had disappeared and I had failed to give that band enough attention in the preceding years. So my focus shifted to the lower bands. In 2016 I went out again during a CQWW SSB. This time focusing on 40m and 80m. I was only able to add 4 new DXCC to 40m, while adding 12 new ones to 80m and 28 new ones to 160m.
This left a challenge with still quite a few to go on 40m. The most feasible new ones required different operating hours than I could use from home (with the whole family asleep). So it looked like I needed another contest and /P operation. However I did not find the time.
The final push
Then came last weekend with yet another CQ WW contest. I had not planned to be particularly active. There was no time to go /P but I did have some free slots to switch on the radio at home. Somehow I had brought my total to 96 DXCC worked on 40m in the meantime. With no expectations at all I started chasing some new ones I could hear. With the simple setup at home I could not reach all of them but with some persistence I was at 99 DXCC on Saturday evening. Of course this was not going to be the end result of the weekend. I continued my chase on Sunday in between other obligations and by the end of the day I was at 102 DXCC with an amazing JT and KL7 in the catch (thanks to their antennas).
Next up: 80m.. only 50 DXCC to go.
Showing posts with label beam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beam. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Saturday, June 24, 2017
First 4m QSO - getting a transverter kit working
Almost a year ago I bought a 4m transverter kit from DF2FQ (XV4-40). I have basic understanding of electronics, acquired in part through the hobby but building a project like this was new to me. With my mechanical engineering background I am more confident in building robust stuff like antennas, masts, supports, baluns, etc. Soldering loads of tiny components on a board seemed challenging.
However the level of documentation provided by DF2FQ and some motivating words by PG8M - who was already using the transverter - pushed me to the point that I ordered the kit. When I received the package I must admit it looked daunting.
I started building the kit sometime in August last year. I tried to work as meticulous as I could (a challenge when you are as impatient as I am). When I had completed the kit and ran the first tests, I found that I received 70 Mhz signals with the radio tuned to 29Mhz. Hurray!
However, when I tried to transmit, the transverter appeared to be dead as a dodo. No LED, no signal. A very disappointing result. I did some tests (as far my knowledge goes) and could not find the cause of the failure. So the kit went back in the box it was shipped in. Time for other projects.
The Es season is rather good this year and I have enjoyed the effects on 6m but 4m was open a lot of times as well. I really had to get back to the abandoned transverter project. PG8M had already kindly offered to help me months ago and today I took him up on his offer. We went through the error checking process step by step, finding and fixing four major issues. It turned out I had made two soldering errors and two of the smd resistors were faulty. Whatever happened to these resistors I really don't know.
The good news is that we ended up with a transverter that delivered up to 35W on 4m with 5W drive on 10m.
There was no one around to do an on air test so back home I hooked up the transverter and put my tri-band yagi on a pole @2m high in the garden. PG8M was QRV 30km away with his 4 ele beam pointing in my direction. That is when I made my first 4m QSO.
It is a bit late in the Es season but I am sure I will get back to this band in the future. The next thing I need is an antenna I can set up quickly at home in case of any high MUF situations. For 6m I use an end fed wire that I can attach to a pole that I push through the attic window. For 4m I am going to try a slim jim vertical. More on that later.
However the level of documentation provided by DF2FQ and some motivating words by PG8M - who was already using the transverter - pushed me to the point that I ordered the kit. When I received the package I must admit it looked daunting.
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I started building the kit sometime in August last year. I tried to work as meticulous as I could (a challenge when you are as impatient as I am). When I had completed the kit and ran the first tests, I found that I received 70 Mhz signals with the radio tuned to 29Mhz. Hurray!
However, when I tried to transmit, the transverter appeared to be dead as a dodo. No LED, no signal. A very disappointing result. I did some tests (as far my knowledge goes) and could not find the cause of the failure. So the kit went back in the box it was shipped in. Time for other projects.
The Es season is rather good this year and I have enjoyed the effects on 6m but 4m was open a lot of times as well. I really had to get back to the abandoned transverter project. PG8M had already kindly offered to help me months ago and today I took him up on his offer. We went through the error checking process step by step, finding and fixing four major issues. It turned out I had made two soldering errors and two of the smd resistors were faulty. Whatever happened to these resistors I really don't know.
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| PG8M trying to locate the next error |
The good news is that we ended up with a transverter that delivered up to 35W on 4m with 5W drive on 10m.
There was no one around to do an on air test so back home I hooked up the transverter and put my tri-band yagi on a pole @2m high in the garden. PG8M was QRV 30km away with his 4 ele beam pointing in my direction. That is when I made my first 4m QSO.
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| DK7ZB tri-band beam in action twice this week |
It is a bit late in the Es season but I am sure I will get back to this band in the future. The next thing I need is an antenna I can set up quickly at home in case of any high MUF situations. For 6m I use an end fed wire that I can attach to a pole that I push through the attic window. For 4m I am going to try a slim jim vertical. More on that later.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Playing with 6m Es - compact beam versus vertical
Some time ago I built a compact beam for 6/4/2m aimed at /P operations. It is a design by DK7ZB featuring 3 elements on 2m, 2 elements on 4m and 2 elements on 6m. I tested it when I finished building it and SWR was good on all bands.
I followed the design of DK7ZB (link) with a few changes to make this a /P antenna:
Apart from a short appearance in LX (2 QSOs), I had not used the beam on the air. For 6m I use an end fed half wave vertically - both when I am /P as well as at home.
It is amazing how effective a vertical wire is in Es conditions. I have worked stations all over Europe with that antenna using 100w. I was curious how the beam would perform in comparison.
We are in the Es season at the moment and there was a 6m contest on last weekend. So I decided to go out /P and test the beam properly against the end fed wire. I used one of my Spiderbeam poles with the end fed wire in the top (feedpoint about 12m high) and the beam a bit lower at about 8m high.
I used an antenna switch to be able to quickly switch between the two antennas. You need quick switching as the signals themselves vary constantly under Es conditions. The difference was significant most of the time. Of course the heading of the beam is a factor that influences the difference. With the beam heading the right way, the signal strength on rx differed multiple s-points. On the low end this meant there were stations I could only copy on the beam. I recorded a view video's while switching between the antennas. One of them is on YouTube:
With PG8M - who lives just under 30km from where I was /P - I tested the characteristics of the beam via ground wave. We found a difference of 2 s-points front to back and 5 s-points front to side.
All in all this shows me that this beam is definitely an interesting antenna to use in the field for 6m. It is light, easy to set up and relatively easy to transport. As the 6m reflector is rather long for easy transportation I am thinking of splitting the reflector in two or three parts.
While I was testing this setup I logged 25 stations, collecting 10 new grid squares on the go.
I followed the design of DK7ZB (link) with a few changes to make this a /P antenna:
- I use wing nuts on the 4m elements and the 6m reflector to be able to remove them easily for transport
- I split the 6m driven dipole in a short center piece connected to the boom and removable parts on both ends of the dipole
- I added spacers for the dipoles to keep them at the right distance from each other (refer to picture below)
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| Spacer for the dipole elements |
It is amazing how effective a vertical wire is in Es conditions. I have worked stations all over Europe with that antenna using 100w. I was curious how the beam would perform in comparison.
We are in the Es season at the moment and there was a 6m contest on last weekend. So I decided to go out /P and test the beam properly against the end fed wire. I used one of my Spiderbeam poles with the end fed wire in the top (feedpoint about 12m high) and the beam a bit lower at about 8m high.
 |  |
I used an antenna switch to be able to quickly switch between the two antennas. You need quick switching as the signals themselves vary constantly under Es conditions. The difference was significant most of the time. Of course the heading of the beam is a factor that influences the difference. With the beam heading the right way, the signal strength on rx differed multiple s-points. On the low end this meant there were stations I could only copy on the beam. I recorded a view video's while switching between the antennas. One of them is on YouTube:
With PG8M - who lives just under 30km from where I was /P - I tested the characteristics of the beam via ground wave. We found a difference of 2 s-points front to back and 5 s-points front to side.
All in all this shows me that this beam is definitely an interesting antenna to use in the field for 6m. It is light, easy to set up and relatively easy to transport. As the 6m reflector is rather long for easy transportation I am thinking of splitting the reflector in two or three parts.
While I was testing this setup I logged 25 stations, collecting 10 new grid squares on the go.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Project - Changing a CB beam into a 10m beam
USING A CHEAP 11M YAGI TO GET A HIGH PERFORMANCE 10M YAGI
(originally posted in June 2012)
As blogged before I got myself a cheap 11 meter 4 element yagi (Sirio SY27-4). I am now in the process of making a manageable yet strong and high enough mast to use in a portable set-up as well as optimising the antenna itself.
Today I started using a modelling program called 4nec2. It took me some time to figure out how to use it but in the meantime I have modelled a few different configurations of the Sirio.
This is what the antenna radiation pattern looks like when used in its original configuration on 27.2Mhz
| Horizontal pattern (original) | 3d pattern (original) |
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Paul MM0ZBH advised me to shorten all elements by moving all sections in by fixing them with only one screw (they are normally held by 2 screws per section). This means a reduction of the elements lengths by 8cm. This slightly changes the relative size of the elements (relative to eachother). So I was wondering what would happen to the radiation pattern. It looks like this:
| Horizontal pattern (one hole shorter) | 3d pattern (one hole shorter) |
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Gain is up a bit but F/B ratio suffered from this change. F/B ratio is however not a main concern for me in the portable set-up. To be sure that this configuration would be a good one I also compared this to a completely scaled down version of the antenna - changing the element lengths and boom position by x% based on the higher target frequency. The outcome of this exercise:
| Horizontal pattern (scaled down) | 3d pattern (scaled down) |
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The F/B ratio is back up to 18dB. Gain is roughly the same. To me this does not seem like a worthwhile change as it involves adding new holes to the elements. It might be a good step when F/B ratio is relevant.
While researching antenna models I also came across a model designed by DF9CY. Christophe apparently also changed an 11m beam into a 10m one. The radiation pattern of his antenna also looks very good. The position of the elements along the boom is a bit different: the dipole is much closer to the reflector.
The radiation pattern of the DF9CY yagi:
| Horizontal pattern (DF9CY) | 3d pattern (DF9CY) |
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The performance looks a lot like the scaled down version of the Sirio. Christophe achieved a bit more gain while opting for a bit lower F/B ratio.
All in all this tells me that taking the Sirio and changing it by just moving all sections in by one screw hole leads to a very acceptable 10m beam that is hard to beat by any other configuration (if you take the 4m length of the boom as a given). The sigma match for this configuration needs to be 22cm extended for the SWR to be flat around 28.4Mhz.
Another advantage of taking the "one screw hole"-approach is that you can use it the other way around and create a rather decent 12m antenna. If you keep the boom positions as they are and move all sections of all elements out by one screw hole (from the original two screw connection) you get a 12m antenna that works as shown below.
| Horizontal pattern (one hole larger, 12m) | 3d pattern (one hole larger, 12m) |
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This is not brilliant - especially the F/B ratio is low - but compared to my vertical wire this should deliver a better performance. The question is whether I will be able to tune this antenna using the standard gamma match. Will have to find that out later.
Note that all models above are based on an antenna in free space. If you take the chosen configuration for 10m ("one screw hole shorter") and put it on 6m height (what I am aiming for). You get the following performance:
| Horizontal pattern | Vertical pattern |
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At 15 degrees elevation (more relevant for DX) the gain is still 12dB. This should help me to get in touch with some DX.
Update November 2012: In the meantime I built the portable alu mast to hold this antenna. The mast goes up to approx. 13m (43ft) without the need for guying (even with the beam). I used this combination during CQWW SSB 2012. The beam was at that time around 11m (37ft) high. It then has a theoretical gain of 13.6dB at 15 degrees. Perfect for DX-ing on paper but also in practise. Check out my experiences here.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Back on 2m after 20 years
In 1994 I got my first ham license. It was a novice license that allowed me to operate on 2m FM with low power. My Yaesu FT-227R produced a whooping 10w output. This was quite a change from my pre-ham period where I ended up working DX on 11m SSB with 200w.
To make the most out of this situation I bought a good antenna - a Jaybeam 10 element beam. This I was able to install on a good location as I was at the time living on the top floor of a 4-story apartment building. The building was to be demolished which was good news for me as a student at the time (cheap!) but also for me as a ham. No one was going to care a lot about antennas on the building. Although I did get an official warning note from the janitor a few days after putting the antenna up. It was never followed up however.
With this station I participated in the monthly Dutch region contest. I was able to work stations from all the corners of PA (up to 160km) - which I guess is OK with 10w on FM and no special conditions like Es. It was however nothing like the DX-ing I had gotten used to on 11m. So when I left this apartment in early 1995 I neatly boxed my radio and antenna to never touch them again except when moving house (where they went from the cellar to the garage etc.)
2 week ago PD7YY presented me with a good reason to return to 2m. He was out /P on one of the Dutch islands (EU-038) and brought a 2m antenna. I dug up my antenna to find it in a not too glorious state. The cardboard box was falling apart and quite a number of bolts and nuts were oxidised.
When I had everything unpacked I was left with the following nice collection of parts:
So.... hmmm.
There was no manual to be found anywhere. Clearly I did not keep it and there was nothing on the web. Looking at the parts I saw it was not a straightforward yagi as there were some bent parts and funny clamps. 20 years onwards I just was not sure what the beam had looked like.
Google-ing for images I was lucky to find an OZ OM that had a picture of the same beam. Looking at it I was able to re-create it myself:
With PD7YY and PG8M I planned a time slot to try and work EU-038. I partly disassembled the beam, took my home made mast and drove to my favourite weekend /P location on a deserted parking.
Re-assembling was a piece of cake (once you know what the beam is supposed to look like).
With the beam at about 9m high and 50w output from the Yaesu I was not surprisingly able to hear and work PG8M (25km away). PD7YY (160km away) was able to hear both of us in CW. I could not hear PD7YY however, while PG8M could only hear something weak in the background. So no QSO with EU-038 unfortunately. While listening around I did hear some stations in DL up to 500km away and contacted one at 200km - a new ODX for this band.
The beam is back in the garage now - partly assembled and ready to be used again. Question is if I will find another reason to bring it out within 20 years...
To make the most out of this situation I bought a good antenna - a Jaybeam 10 element beam. This I was able to install on a good location as I was at the time living on the top floor of a 4-story apartment building. The building was to be demolished which was good news for me as a student at the time (cheap!) but also for me as a ham. No one was going to care a lot about antennas on the building. Although I did get an official warning note from the janitor a few days after putting the antenna up. It was never followed up however.
With this station I participated in the monthly Dutch region contest. I was able to work stations from all the corners of PA (up to 160km) - which I guess is OK with 10w on FM and no special conditions like Es. It was however nothing like the DX-ing I had gotten used to on 11m. So when I left this apartment in early 1995 I neatly boxed my radio and antenna to never touch them again except when moving house (where they went from the cellar to the garage etc.)
2 week ago PD7YY presented me with a good reason to return to 2m. He was out /P on one of the Dutch islands (EU-038) and brought a 2m antenna. I dug up my antenna to find it in a not too glorious state. The cardboard box was falling apart and quite a number of bolts and nuts were oxidised.
When I had everything unpacked I was left with the following nice collection of parts:
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| Contents of the cardboard box |
There was no manual to be found anywhere. Clearly I did not keep it and there was nothing on the web. Looking at the parts I saw it was not a straightforward yagi as there were some bent parts and funny clamps. 20 years onwards I just was not sure what the beam had looked like.
Google-ing for images I was lucky to find an OZ OM that had a picture of the same beam. Looking at it I was able to re-create it myself:
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| The completed 10 element Jaybeam |
Re-assembling was a piece of cake (once you know what the beam is supposed to look like).
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| The beam ready to be lifted |
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| Beaming towards EU-038 with the beam @9m |
The beam is back in the garage now - partly assembled and ready to be used again. Question is if I will find another reason to bring it out within 20 years...
Sunday, March 23, 2014
A long activity from PAFF-056
Last Friday afternoon I went to PAFF-056 as planned. Weather turned out okay so I brought a couple of antennas, including my hexbeam. The plan was to activate the park and catch some DX in the process.
Long setup time
Setting up took more time than usual. This was caused by a bit of damage control I still had to do after the mast crashed down during the PACC contest. Of course there was a new mast support to install and I brought my C-Pole for 40m for the first time.
I arrived in the reserve at 15h local time but logged the first contact only at 16h - J8 on 20m for a new band DXCC. After listening around for other DX I only encountered VU4 but the zoo was enormous - not something I was going to waste my time on.
Just before 16:30 I started calling CQ on 20m using my mono band End Fed (vertically on a fibreglass pole) and my Hexbeam pointing towards NA. After about one hour things started to quiet down and I scanned the bands for new DX to catch. I found 3B8 on 10m and added that one to the log to reach 200 DXCCs. One of the targets for this year but clearly not very a very ambitious one.
Tuning my new C-Pole for 40m
Then it was time to go down to 40m. This was a time consuming switch as the new C-Pole antenna I brought turned out to be a bit too short. I tried it above my roof at home one night after constructing it and there it was okay, but having it in the field and on a different height clearly has a lot of effect on the resonance frequency. I do not take any tuning devices with me when I go /P as I am careful to always take resonant antennas (I do not like the idea of wasting valuable radiation energy when /P) so I had to fix this - it was resonant around 7.4Mhz, "slightly" off.
Fortunately I brought extra wire and randomly added some lengths to both legs of the folded dipole. With some luck I got it to resonate in the relevant portion of the band.
With a resonant antenna I was ready for some serious WWFF activity again - 40m is always a popular band for WWFF chasers in EU. However it turned out the band was a terrible mess. It was crowded and QRM was S8-9 all over the band with a spiking signal (electric fence?) every second of 9+10. Great!
I logged 5 contacts before giving up and returning to a higher band - 15m this time using only the hexbeam.
15m was not particularly busy and was slowly closing while it was getting dark outside. I was planning to go back to 40m hoping the QRM would die out a bit. Before that however I packed up the hexbeam and all other stuff I was not going to use and definitely would have a hard time finding in the dark.
Trying 40m for a second time with a nice surprise
Around 20:20 local time I was back on 40m but to my disappointment it was still one big sea of QRM all over the place. However there were quite a number of strong signals (above QRM level) around so I gave it a try anyway and logged 56 contacts in the following 40 minutes.
Half way during this session on 40m a very peculiar thing happened. I got a call from a station that I heard to be something like ?K7AC. Now you have to imagine that it was a terrible QRM mess and that I had been logging EU contacts only. So I initially thought it was IK7AC - although the OM was definitely not Italian. When he repeated his call a couple of times I could only conclude that it was VK7AC - peaking S9 with me. He gave me 57.
Before this contact my ODX on 40m was TG - just a bit over half the distance - that I worked using my full size inverted V (my favourite DX antenna on 40m until this day) and more power - 300 in stead of the 90W I was using now. A nice surprise that completely wiped out my frustration about the band condition.
At 21h I called it a day - completely exhausted from pulling stations through the constant noise. I packed up the last bits and went back home.
All in all I logged 175 contacts from 40 DXCCs, including a lot of familiar call signs and some fellow FF national coordinators. Noteworthy DX included - VK7 (duh!), 3B8, 5R8, J8, ZS6 (on the side of the hexbeam) and a couple of stations in central USA. Not as much as I hoped to catch with the extra hassle of installing the hexbeam but enough highlights to travel home satisfied.
Long setup time
Setting up took more time than usual. This was caused by a bit of damage control I still had to do after the mast crashed down during the PACC contest. Of course there was a new mast support to install and I brought my C-Pole for 40m for the first time.
I arrived in the reserve at 15h local time but logged the first contact only at 16h - J8 on 20m for a new band DXCC. After listening around for other DX I only encountered VU4 but the zoo was enormous - not something I was going to waste my time on.
Just before 16:30 I started calling CQ on 20m using my mono band End Fed (vertically on a fibreglass pole) and my Hexbeam pointing towards NA. After about one hour things started to quiet down and I scanned the bands for new DX to catch. I found 3B8 on 10m and added that one to the log to reach 200 DXCCs. One of the targets for this year but clearly not very a very ambitious one.
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Tuning my new C-Pole for 40m
Then it was time to go down to 40m. This was a time consuming switch as the new C-Pole antenna I brought turned out to be a bit too short. I tried it above my roof at home one night after constructing it and there it was okay, but having it in the field and on a different height clearly has a lot of effect on the resonance frequency. I do not take any tuning devices with me when I go /P as I am careful to always take resonant antennas (I do not like the idea of wasting valuable radiation energy when /P) so I had to fix this - it was resonant around 7.4Mhz, "slightly" off.
Fortunately I brought extra wire and randomly added some lengths to both legs of the folded dipole. With some luck I got it to resonate in the relevant portion of the band.
With a resonant antenna I was ready for some serious WWFF activity again - 40m is always a popular band for WWFF chasers in EU. However it turned out the band was a terrible mess. It was crowded and QRM was S8-9 all over the band with a spiking signal (electric fence?) every second of 9+10. Great!
I logged 5 contacts before giving up and returning to a higher band - 15m this time using only the hexbeam.
15m was not particularly busy and was slowly closing while it was getting dark outside. I was planning to go back to 40m hoping the QRM would die out a bit. Before that however I packed up the hexbeam and all other stuff I was not going to use and definitely would have a hard time finding in the dark.
Trying 40m for a second time with a nice surprise
Around 20:20 local time I was back on 40m but to my disappointment it was still one big sea of QRM all over the place. However there were quite a number of strong signals (above QRM level) around so I gave it a try anyway and logged 56 contacts in the following 40 minutes.
Half way during this session on 40m a very peculiar thing happened. I got a call from a station that I heard to be something like ?K7AC. Now you have to imagine that it was a terrible QRM mess and that I had been logging EU contacts only. So I initially thought it was IK7AC - although the OM was definitely not Italian. When he repeated his call a couple of times I could only conclude that it was VK7AC - peaking S9 with me. He gave me 57.
Before this contact my ODX on 40m was TG - just a bit over half the distance - that I worked using my full size inverted V (my favourite DX antenna on 40m until this day) and more power - 300 in stead of the 90W I was using now. A nice surprise that completely wiped out my frustration about the band condition.
At 21h I called it a day - completely exhausted from pulling stations through the constant noise. I packed up the last bits and went back home.
All in all I logged 175 contacts from 40 DXCCs, including a lot of familiar call signs and some fellow FF national coordinators. Noteworthy DX included - VK7 (duh!), 3B8, 5R8, J8, ZS6 (on the side of the hexbeam) and a couple of stations in central USA. Not as much as I hoped to catch with the extra hassle of installing the hexbeam but enough highlights to travel home satisfied.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Time for serious contesting during PACC
Entering PACC in multi op mode as PI4ANH from a deserted camping ground
This weekend I will have my first serious contest. I have entered contests before but mainly for either of these two reasons: (1) absolute boredom - contacting stations randomly or (2) serious DX-ing - trying to get new DXCCs in the log, like with CQWW 2012 and CQWW 2013.
The idea was born last year
Last year the idea to enter the PACC contest with the our local ham club call was coined. A few club members met in our club house for an afternoon & evening activity. Unfortunately I was not able to join as I had other commitments. On my way home that Saturday I could not resist setting up my newly constructed 80 inverted V on a deserted parking area and entered the contest anyway on my own call sign.
This year I have been able to block the PACC weekend. Together with PD7YY and PG8M - who mainly operated our club call PI4ANH during the contest last year - we drew a plan to make a more serious effort this year. The contest runs for 24h from Saturday 12pm UTC to Sunday 12pm UTC and we aim to be active during the whole contest with the three of us and some other club members visiting on Saturday.
Finding a location
We decided to use our club call PI4ANH again but were quite keen on finding a more suitable operating location. Our club house has a long wire running over the roof. This is not a very effective antenna that on top of that features matching problems on 80m. Even if we could do something about the antenna we would have to fight QRM at S9 on 80m and high QRM on 40m as well. This would limit our operations to the higher bands which close in the early evening.
After some searching PG8M found a camping ground near to his QTH that is closed at this time of year but agreed to house this crazy party of hams. The camping features two cabins - 1 comfortable one that is usable in the current weather conditions to sleep in and 1 that will be a challenge to keep warm but that is located next to the sports field and the camping owners allow us to set up antennas on the sports field.
The camping is in our own province so we will be handing out GD as exchange code.
Set-up: antenna farm
If all goes well we will be using four to five antennas. On my aluminium push up mast we will set up my tried and trusted hexbeam for the higher bands 10-15-20m. If 10m is busy we might add my 4-el yagi (in a set-up I used during CQWW last fall).
For the low bands we will be using a full size inverted V for 40m and one for 80m. They will be on my new 17m long SpiderBeam fibreglass pole. I added this pole to my collection only last week specifically for the 80m inverted V. On my 12m pole the tips of this antenna nearly touch the ground.
The last antenna we will install will be a 160m full size end fed constructed by PG8M. This will run horizontally over the sports field on a height of 10-12m. Most probably not a "killer DX antenna", but it might help us to gain a few multipliers.
We will hook up the antennas to my IC-756ProIII and run N1MM to log our contacts.
The three of us are all phone operators, so we will focus on SSB. In the late afternoon on Saturday we expect to have a couple of CW operators visiting us - so we will do some CW activity as well. Another mode does not give us any extra multipliers but it might give us a couple of new calls to log.
I hope we will do well and meet a few friends in the running.
73 from PI4ANH
This weekend I will have my first serious contest. I have entered contests before but mainly for either of these two reasons: (1) absolute boredom - contacting stations randomly or (2) serious DX-ing - trying to get new DXCCs in the log, like with CQWW 2012 and CQWW 2013.
The idea was born last year
Last year the idea to enter the PACC contest with the our local ham club call was coined. A few club members met in our club house for an afternoon & evening activity. Unfortunately I was not able to join as I had other commitments. On my way home that Saturday I could not resist setting up my newly constructed 80 inverted V on a deserted parking area and entered the contest anyway on my own call sign.
This year I have been able to block the PACC weekend. Together with PD7YY and PG8M - who mainly operated our club call PI4ANH during the contest last year - we drew a plan to make a more serious effort this year. The contest runs for 24h from Saturday 12pm UTC to Sunday 12pm UTC and we aim to be active during the whole contest with the three of us and some other club members visiting on Saturday.
Finding a location
We decided to use our club call PI4ANH again but were quite keen on finding a more suitable operating location. Our club house has a long wire running over the roof. This is not a very effective antenna that on top of that features matching problems on 80m. Even if we could do something about the antenna we would have to fight QRM at S9 on 80m and high QRM on 40m as well. This would limit our operations to the higher bands which close in the early evening.
After some searching PG8M found a camping ground near to his QTH that is closed at this time of year but agreed to house this crazy party of hams. The camping features two cabins - 1 comfortable one that is usable in the current weather conditions to sleep in and 1 that will be a challenge to keep warm but that is located next to the sports field and the camping owners allow us to set up antennas on the sports field.
The camping is in our own province so we will be handing out GD as exchange code.
Set-up: antenna farm
If all goes well we will be using four to five antennas. On my aluminium push up mast we will set up my tried and trusted hexbeam for the higher bands 10-15-20m. If 10m is busy we might add my 4-el yagi (in a set-up I used during CQWW last fall).
For the low bands we will be using a full size inverted V for 40m and one for 80m. They will be on my new 17m long SpiderBeam fibreglass pole. I added this pole to my collection only last week specifically for the 80m inverted V. On my 12m pole the tips of this antenna nearly touch the ground.
The last antenna we will install will be a 160m full size end fed constructed by PG8M. This will run horizontally over the sports field on a height of 10-12m. Most probably not a "killer DX antenna", but it might help us to gain a few multipliers.
We will hook up the antennas to my IC-756ProIII and run N1MM to log our contacts.
The three of us are all phone operators, so we will focus on SSB. In the late afternoon on Saturday we expect to have a couple of CW operators visiting us - so we will do some CW activity as well. Another mode does not give us any extra multipliers but it might give us a couple of new calls to log.
I hope we will do well and meet a few friends in the running.
73 from PI4ANH
Sunday, December 1, 2013
PH0NO's aluminium push up mast
On request of a number of people I added a section about my DIY aluminium push up mast under "PH0NO projects". This mast has allowed me to set up my 4 element 10m yagi and my hexbeam. In this way it is a vital component for my DX fishing.
It is quite heavy and not as practical as a fibreglass pole, but it does allow me to put either (or both) of the beams on considerable height - up to 14m in low wind conditions.
Check out the details here if you are interested.
It is quite heavy and not as practical as a fibreglass pole, but it does allow me to put either (or both) of the beams on considerable height - up to 14m in low wind conditions.
Check out the details here if you are interested.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Results of CQWW 2013
Saturday I went out for an afternoon and evening of DX fishing in the CQWW contest. Setting up my rather elaborate /P station - see previous posts - took more time than during the last test on Wednesday. The wind was to blame.
Windy conditions
Aiming for DX I was a bit too enthusiastic and started with a fully extended mast. With both antenna's on it (yagi and hexbeam). The last section however is not strong enough in windy conditions. With the whole construction up I saw it rocked far too much and no guying was going to help.
So I took the mast down again, removed the yagi and lowered the upper section.
All in all it took me more than an hour to get the station in the air. The mast was a little lower than I hoped (hex at approx 11m and yagi at 9m) but it stayed upright and was still turn-able while guyed.
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| Double beam /P operation |
Starting on the high bands
At 13h local time the hunt started. With my cluster app and two fellow hams - PD7YY and PA3GGI - online via WhatsApp I was able to find quite a number of new band DXCCs and even completely new DXCCs. I hopped around over the bands using the yagi for 10m and the hex for all others. The yagi pointed in the opposite direction from the hex, so I was able to quickly determine SP/LP paths on 10m by switching between the two antennas.
From the ones I actually heard I in the end missed three: VP2M (pileup too large and then gone) and FO4 (faded while calling by number) for new one all band and 7O on 20m for new band (lost in splatter). See the list and map at the end of this post for the total score.
Going down to 40m
Around 22:30h 10m was closing and I did not notice any new ones any more on the other bands so I took down the mast and antennas. At 23:30h however I was still not ready (mentally..) to go home so I set up my inverted V for 40m. This is a challenging band for DX in almost all cases but definitely when you are /P. Before this day my top DX on this band was KP2 (7000km) from home with a shortened dipole abt. 4m above my roof, followed by one US station from NJ (6000km) using my sloping wire and then R9 stations less than 5000km away. I did work some more US stations but only digitally and all at < 6500km.
So I was very happy when I added to W3LPL (6300km) as the first station on 40m this evening and even more happy - not to say ecstatic - when I added B9 (6500km and new DXCC on this band). Then I tried to hunt TF (new one as well on this band) but the pileup was too large as every serious contester was looking for zone 40. When I came back later he was gone but to my total surprise the station that was on his QRG and actually copied me was PJ2T. Brilliant! New max distance on this band with almost 8000km. I added a few more US stations and RW0A to complete the DX hunt on this band. I did manage to log TF later and added new DXCCs on this band from A7, 9K and HZ.
At 1:00am I ended the operation for the day planning to return in the morning to look for some remaining new ones on the higher bands.
No portable activity on Sunday
Sunday morning the weather had deteriorated however. As I was quite happy with the results of Saturday and not looking forward to getting extremely wet while setting up a large antenna in windy and rainy conditions I decided to stay home and work some more stations with my sloping wire (end fed). With this minimal set-up I just scanned the 10, 20 and 40m bands and called whoever I heard - handing out some points. I added two new band contacts with 7Z on 20m and XP on 20m (PSK).
Most of the contacts were in EU but I did manage to work US into W7 and even KL7 on 10m and 20m.
Pleased with the results
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| Map of stations logged during CQWW 2013 |
The total score this year is 6 new ones (all band - 5H, 7O, C6, OA, TI & XW) and on top of that 24 new band ones: 7 new on 40m, 9 new on 20m, 2 new on 17m, 7 new on 15m, 1 new on 12m and 8 new on 10m.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Portable set-up with two beams
Yesterday morning I had some time to go out again to do some /P-DX-hunting and some lasts preparations for CQWW.
With 10m open as it is at the moment (yeah!) I decided to bring both my DX antennas: my 4 element yagi for 10m and my 6 band hexbeam. My idea was to try both to decide what I would bring next weekend to my CQWW chase.
I tried to set up both antennas on my aluminium mast to do some A-B testing. It turns out my home-brew mast is sturdy enough to carry both antennas. The hexbeam was on top (due to its construction it must be - it inserts into the upper tube of the mast) and the yagi some 2-3 meters below it. I used one guy wire just to be sure the mast would not bend too much, but in fact it was not really a necessary addition - even though it was a bit windy.
This gave me a set-up that looks very impressive (to me as the ham-without-a-beam-at-home at least) and turned out to be effective as well. Being limited in time and of course using this opportunity also to catch some DX, I did not do a lot of A-B TX tests - it is quite bold to ask that DXpedition to give two real reports. One JA OM told me there were some 2-3 S-points difference (in favour of the yagi). Closer by a UY OM saw less difference. So there is still some testing to do. On RX however I could test the difference all the time. Here I saw that the yagi even when positioned lower is one S-point stronger. This is especially noticeable on the weaker signals. There you could really hear (as well as see) the difference.
During the short period I was actually on the radio I managed to log DX from TN2 (new band), HS0, B9, JA3, R0 and D4 (new band).
What I learned for the contest this weekend is that it is useful to bring the yagi to catch the weaker DX (assuming 10m is open for a considerable amount of time). I also learned that I can have both beams on my mast at the same time. This gives me another nice opportunity: if I point the yagi and hex in opposite directions I can quickly check short path versus long path propagations on 10m. That is a feature that helps me as I am not used to working with a beam and therefore have too little experience to choose the right path given the direction and time of day.
Looking forward to more fun this weekend.
With 10m open as it is at the moment (yeah!) I decided to bring both my DX antennas: my 4 element yagi for 10m and my 6 band hexbeam. My idea was to try both to decide what I would bring next weekend to my CQWW chase.
I tried to set up both antennas on my aluminium mast to do some A-B testing. It turns out my home-brew mast is sturdy enough to carry both antennas. The hexbeam was on top (due to its construction it must be - it inserts into the upper tube of the mast) and the yagi some 2-3 meters below it. I used one guy wire just to be sure the mast would not bend too much, but in fact it was not really a necessary addition - even though it was a bit windy.
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| Stack: yagi and hexbeam - leafs are an indication of the windy conditions |
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| Portable set-up: hex at approx 12m, yagi at approx 9m high |
What I learned for the contest this weekend is that it is useful to bring the yagi to catch the weaker DX (assuming 10m is open for a considerable amount of time). I also learned that I can have both beams on my mast at the same time. This gives me another nice opportunity: if I point the yagi and hex in opposite directions I can quickly check short path versus long path propagations on 10m. That is a feature that helps me as I am not used to working with a beam and therefore have too little experience to choose the right path given the direction and time of day.
Looking forward to more fun this weekend.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Out with the Hex again logging a lot of "new ones"
Last weekend I booked some time off from family duties. My first idea was to enter the EU HF contest. I missed the IARU HF contest due to other commitments. The EU HF contest was the first possible alternative. Aimed at EU only I considered it an opportunity to increase my DXCC level on the low bands.
The contest ran for from 14:00 local time till 2:00 local time. So I booked the afternoon and evening off and headed over to my favourite /P spot on a (during weekends) desolate industrial zone in Arnhem. I set up my Hexbeam 12m/40ft high and installed my mobile amplifier to boost my power to about 300w PEP.
Fishing DX first
I started around 16h local time, focussing on DX first (no point in using the low bands at that hour). Because of the contest the WARC bands were quite busy and these were the bands where DX was to be found (hiding from the contest activity on 10/15/20).
Quickly I discovered a positive side effect of the EU contest: EU was busy chasing EU, so chasing DX became easier: pile-ups were noticeably smaller. Also conditions turned out to be rather interesting. The bands were not completely stable - some QSB around - but even 12m opened up a couple of times.
I started working far east stations on 17m, then went down to 15m to collect some contest points and stumbled upon 9M8 and ST2M - both new ones on this band. As no one had spotted ST2M yet we had the opportunity to have a real QSO in stead of only the usual 59 TU.
A lot of "new (band) ones"
I quickly became bored with the contest and went back to 17m where I contacted a lot of JA and North-American stations including West Coast US and XE (new on this band). Then I went up to 12m where I added A61, 4X and PZ to my list for this band. I visited 10m (contest) and 6m (Es opening towards DL/OK/SP/UR). Then I hopped around using the cluster to add V47, A92, CP, FJ (new ones), CE, JW and ZF (new band) to my log.
With the low activity from EU towards DX there was time to have a long chat with a ZL as well as two VKs.
Around midnight I had a chat with my friend PD7YY who was working from a hotel on TF. His mediocre set-up (end fed wire sloping from 4m high only to the ground) still gave him an S9 in the peaks on 20m. So the band was in a good shape.
No low bands
As 17m and 20m remained open there was no time to pick up on my original plan to join the contest on the low bands. There was just too much going on on the higher bands. It was difficult to find a good reason to stop and go home (you need to at one time or another). After logging ZF I turned off the radio at 2 am and began breaking up the station.
End result
In total I logged:
The contest ran for from 14:00 local time till 2:00 local time. So I booked the afternoon and evening off and headed over to my favourite /P spot on a (during weekends) desolate industrial zone in Arnhem. I set up my Hexbeam 12m/40ft high and installed my mobile amplifier to boost my power to about 300w PEP.
Fishing DX first
I started around 16h local time, focussing on DX first (no point in using the low bands at that hour). Because of the contest the WARC bands were quite busy and these were the bands where DX was to be found (hiding from the contest activity on 10/15/20).
Quickly I discovered a positive side effect of the EU contest: EU was busy chasing EU, so chasing DX became easier: pile-ups were noticeably smaller. Also conditions turned out to be rather interesting. The bands were not completely stable - some QSB around - but even 12m opened up a couple of times.
I started working far east stations on 17m, then went down to 15m to collect some contest points and stumbled upon 9M8 and ST2M - both new ones on this band. As no one had spotted ST2M yet we had the opportunity to have a real QSO in stead of only the usual 59 TU.
A lot of "new (band) ones"
I quickly became bored with the contest and went back to 17m where I contacted a lot of JA and North-American stations including West Coast US and XE (new on this band). Then I went up to 12m where I added A61, 4X and PZ to my list for this band. I visited 10m (contest) and 6m (Es opening towards DL/OK/SP/UR). Then I hopped around using the cluster to add V47, A92, CP, FJ (new ones), CE, JW and ZF (new band) to my log.
With the low activity from EU towards DX there was time to have a long chat with a ZL as well as two VKs.
Around midnight I had a chat with my friend PD7YY who was working from a hotel on TF. His mediocre set-up (end fed wire sloping from 4m high only to the ground) still gave him an S9 in the peaks on 20m. So the band was in a good shape.
No low bands
As 17m and 20m remained open there was no time to pick up on my original plan to join the contest on the low bands. There was just too much going on on the higher bands. It was difficult to find a good reason to stop and go home (you need to at one time or another). After logging ZF I turned off the radio at 2 am and began breaking up the station.
End result
In total I logged:
- 121 calls - 22 in the contest
- 4 new DXCCs (all band)
- 4 new ones on 20m
- 12 new ones on 17m
- 3 new ones on 15m
- 7 new ones on 12m
- 1 new one on 6m
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Some 10m fun on a Sunday morning
Out with the beam once again
Last week Marcel PD7YY - a 10 metre enthusiast like me - put the high SFI to my attention. When I then read the Tony 10 metre report mentioning a short 10m contest on Sunday morning I started building support with the station manager for a few hours off on Sunday morning. I was successful and went out with a whole collection of radio stuff to an empty parking lot in Arnhem, just 10 minutes from where I live.
It was from this spot that I was active in CQWW last year. The good thing about the location is that it is completely desolate in the weekends and has a clear path to all directions (from a 15 degrees take off angle point of view).
I had some difficulty getting my alu mast up as there was ice between the different segments (it was kind of cold that day). In the end I managed to set up my 4 element beam again at about 12m (40 ft) high.
This time I brought a small amplifier I bought recently through ebay. It should be capable of putting out 400w PEP but I could not get it past 250w. This increase from the 100w the radio can provide is probably not worth the hassle of bringing an extra car battery.
The DARC contest did bring quite a bit of activity on 10m. Unfortunately there was not a lot of DX amongst the stations I heard. Not surprisingly I did copy a lot of DL stations...
I handed out a couple of points and managed to contact R9, 9W2 and three VKs (VK3 and VK4). VK3XPT commented that I was the strongest station on the band. Now that is a first.. Of course it might have helped that all beams were pointing towards DL in stead of VK.
Even taking into account the amount of time to set up and break down the station (about half of the total time I was out) it was a morning well spent.
In the mean time the world has turned white over here. The layer of snow will probably spoil my weekly DX /P activity on Wednesday morning. Glad I took my shot of DX on Sunday.
Last week Marcel PD7YY - a 10 metre enthusiast like me - put the high SFI to my attention. When I then read the Tony 10 metre report mentioning a short 10m contest on Sunday morning I started building support with the station manager for a few hours off on Sunday morning. I was successful and went out with a whole collection of radio stuff to an empty parking lot in Arnhem, just 10 minutes from where I live.
It was from this spot that I was active in CQWW last year. The good thing about the location is that it is completely desolate in the weekends and has a clear path to all directions (from a 15 degrees take off angle point of view).
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| PH0NO/P portable, beaming VK short path |
This time I brought a small amplifier I bought recently through ebay. It should be capable of putting out 400w PEP but I could not get it past 250w. This increase from the 100w the radio can provide is probably not worth the hassle of bringing an extra car battery.
The DARC contest did bring quite a bit of activity on 10m. Unfortunately there was not a lot of DX amongst the stations I heard. Not surprisingly I did copy a lot of DL stations...
I handed out a couple of points and managed to contact R9, 9W2 and three VKs (VK3 and VK4). VK3XPT commented that I was the strongest station on the band. Now that is a first.. Of course it might have helped that all beams were pointing towards DL in stead of VK.
Even taking into account the amount of time to set up and break down the station (about half of the total time I was out) it was a morning well spent.
In the mean time the world has turned white over here. The layer of snow will probably spoil my weekly DX /P activity on Wednesday morning. Glad I took my shot of DX on Sunday.
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