Moving shacks

 I don't really have a 'shack' of sorts as most hams do.  I operate from my yard close to where my antennas are.  During the inclement months I would go into my small barn and operate from a small table and chair.  I have a small space heater to take the edge off when it's -30C and that has served me well.  The problem with my barn is that I share it with raccoons and squirrels.  It is an unwinnable battle with the current state of the barn and access points the critters have to its interior.  I'm not terribly upset that they are there.  They don't cause me any other grief...they do not get into my garbage or anything like that.

I also had an old decrepit large shed/building which raccoons lived under and I could store some things in but the doors wouldn't shut properly and the roof was rotting.  It needed to come down.  I tackled the task which ended up being much more work than I had anticipated.  It took two 20 yard dumpsters and two 40 yard dumpsters to take care of it all.  It took me months to deal with this very well built shed.  Now that it's gone I am having a new, but significantly smaller, pre-made 10' x 14' shed delivered from Pine Grove Sheds in Alexandria, Ontario, just 20 minutes away.  This shed will be located on the opposite side of the yard from the barn and I wondered if I could use this new shed as a new operating position or shack.  It will be protected from the elements and the raccoons and I am excited at the prospect.  I was thinking of putting a vertical antenna up as I had originally thought I would also keep the old operating position in the barn until I went in the other day and saw raccoon poop on my table.  I'm done with the barn.  I will move my antennas to new trees and have a new permanent shack.  This will allow me to leave things there without fear of rodent destruction.  I am getting excited at the prospect of this new locale.  I will post pictures once it arrives in a few weeks.

When I was thinking of putting up a random wire vertical I did a lot of youtubing and reading and I learned a lot about the differences between the EFHW and the random wire antenna.  I learned more about 9:1 ununs and their proper application as compared to the 49:1 auto transformer used in EFHW antennas.  I really enjoy when these concepts that I didn't quite fully understand become more clear to me.  I had been trying to use a 9:1 unun for my 80M antenna at 1/2 wavelength.  I had purchased a EFHW 80M mini tuner that plays the role of tuner and matching transformer but a part was incorrect in the bag and had been waiting for its replacement.  I didn't understand why the unun was giving me an "ok" match but not a great one.  I made some contacts but the SWR on the FT-817 was still fairly high.  Now I understand the difference between the 2 antenna types better and the need for the 49:1 transformer and that the 9:1 just wasn't going to cut it.  Once the proper toroid arrives and I finish the 80M EFHW tuner the 9:1 can be put away until the next time I decide to put up a vertical or random wire antenna....with a proper counterpoise.

Cheers for now,

Scott ve3vvf

Summer's gone already

 Summertime is not a big operating time for me these days but as the weather gets cooler I start to think of antennas and what I need to do before the snow flies.  I had put up the doublet in the spring and it ran just touching the weeping willow tree because that was the path between my 2 supports.  The antenna got tangled up with the tree and I was not pleased with using the tuner each time I moved on the band or changed bands.  Some bands worked well and others not so much.  I decided to rethink my options.  I had put up an end fed wire for 40 and that was fine with the little tuner I built but I decided to drop it and put up a tuned dipole instead.  The end fed is a compromise and I wanted to do a fan dipole using the window line.  I made one with 40 on top and 17 underneath.  This antenna doesn't interfere with any trees and I reused my center support from the doublet making this antenna slightly inverted V-ish.  Now I have the 2 fan dipoles (20/30) and (17/40) and my EFHW for 80 which I am still not completely pleased with but I have it and will use it this winter.  It works and I make QSOs and that is what counts.

I plan on taking part in more NAQCC monthly sprints this winter and they use 20/40/80 which I now have covered.  I am not a contester but these are low pressure and I really enjoy having 2x QRP QSOs.  The days are getting cooler and my operating position (a lawn chair and card table in the barn next to the window) is ready for me.  The raccoons will soon be coming home to find winter homes and I hope to seal up their access to the barn but it is a challenge as they can be pretty crafty.  They stay on the second floor and don't bother my stuff but I'd rather not have them but that's what you get when you live rurally...that and the red squirrels.

I have  had a couple of QSOs this past weekend but I am still busy with other jobs and not had a lot of time to operate.  Soon enough, I hope.

Cheers es 72/73 -- Scott  

Doublet update

I finished the support post and here is a photo.  It keeps the center of the antenna at about 25' and out of the weeping willow branches.  The wire actually runs north-south.  I am looking south in this picture and the wire goes over that tree just to the left of the support that you can see in the distance.  The near end of the antenna goes over my head to my TV tower behind me.  I installed 2 guy ropes at the top of the 2nd 2x2 to give the antenna more stability because it gets extremely windy here.  It's surprising what you can throw together with what's on hand.  It was only a few hose clamps that I needed to get.

I am happy with the antenna except for 20M which I will install a dipole for.  Incidentally, last night before the support was installed I had a 40M DX QSO with Italy with 5W.  I was very pleased considering the conditions and the band.

Doublet Up and more to come

On Saturday I installed my doublet and the center hangs down to about 23' above the ground.  It's heavy over a long run so it does sag some.  I have decided to prepare my center support to take some of the load off and also to provide me with another use.  More on that later.

I tested my doublet with my tuner and found a very good match on 40, 17 and 15 and a reasonable match on 30, 12 and 10.  I could not match on 20M.  I made some contacts and was pleased with the flexibility I now have across the bands...except 20M.  I thought the issue was the length of my feedline so I trimmed 8' from it and still it behaved about the same.  Someone suggested that the length of the antenna may need some trimming.    I lowered the antenna and trimmed 2' off each end and raised it back up again.  The bands that were reasonable improved slightly in the SWR department but 20M stayed unacceptable.  Rather than fart around with this doublet to get something "reasonable" at the expense of the other bands I decided that I would prefer a tuned antenna for 20M so that I can get back to doing some QRPp work eventually.  I have decided to make a single 20M dipole and support it from the antenna support I plan to install.

In the QRP tradition I want this support to do the job with low expense and also with what I have on hand which is challenging.  I have wood.  I have a patio umbrella stand that anchors with patio stones in the NPM (non-penetrating mount) fashion since I'm not quite ready to dig and bury a 6"x6" or 4"x4" post as a base anchor point just yet.  I have a pulley and I have a 20' fiberglass Wonderpole with the tip broken off.  Originally I was going to use just the top section of this rod as I explained I was going to do in my post Still a Bit Chilly but I have changed my plan a bit to use the whole thing.  The only thing I am missing to get this support up are some hose clamps and some paracord.  I used up all the cord I had on the weekend so I will place an order at the local hardware store for a curbside pickup.

I am using two eight foot 2x2s end to end for the support and then I will strap the Wonderpole to it at the top.  This will give me close to 30' of support.  I may be able to get away with no guys at all, since the Wonderpole is light.   Just below the doublet I will attach a pulley and install a dipole for 20M.  The paracord attached to the legs will give me some added support.  Joining the 2 wood 2x2s end to end is a challenge and here is what I have come up with.

I ripped some 1x8 down to about 2" wide which is the same width as the main support pieces. the pieces are about 2' long.  I sandwich the support pieces at the joints and secured with some screws, wire and hose clamps.  The photos show wire I used but this won't be strong enough.  I don't have any fencing wire or I would use that and hose clamps are easily removed and adjusted.

I have strapped the support pole to the umbrella stand and will add the Wonderpole to it hopefully today,

More to come
Cheers de Scott ve3vvf

Antenna Launch Success

I lowered my random wire antenna this week so that I could make the length a little less random.  I added 8' to it to help avoid half wavelengths on multiple bands by using a chart I found on this website.  The chart at the bottom shows you the wire lengths to avoid depending on which bands you plan to use.  You can visit the page for an explanation of the chart but basically you want to choose a length where the fewest amount of colour bars are present.  I chose somewhere just above 135'.

I lowered the antenna and added the length of wire to it and I was hoping to get it anchored higher in the tree with the newly purchased fishing reel and slingshot from Canadian Tire (Curbside pickup, of course) so I let the support rope come all the way down.  Bad Idea.  I was quite disappointed at the lack of punch this slingshot gave me.  The wind was also working against me.  I tried a few times and from a few different angles but it just wasn't working.  What I ended up doing was using the fishing reel attached to a screwdriver stuck in the ground (thanks Michael, ve3wmb) aimed at the tree top and I created a sling with a piece of broken brick and 6' of para cord.  I tied the fishing line to the brick also and then I rapidly started spinning the rock in an overhand fashion (think David and Goliath) and let the rope go at just the right time for it to sail towards the top of the tree taking the end of the fishing line with it.  This really did the trick.  It took a few tries before I was happy with the placement and height but once it was there I let the weight of the brick bring it to ground level where I detached the brick from the fishing line and tied a new rope to the fishing line and pulled it back up the tree and over the branch and down to me.  I wrapped some tape around it to help keep it from getting snagged in a notch or branch. I could then attach the antenna to it.  I pulled it up using the antenna rope and it was perfect.  I was very happy.  I seemingly bought a slingshot for nothing but you just never know.



Once my Random wire was back up it was time to get the rope in place for the doublet I plan to put up on Saturday.  Now that I had the method down pat it only took 2 tries to get the fishing line over the top of the tree my doublet support rope will be draped over.  Now on Saturday (tomorrow) I will lower the random wire because the doublet will pass over top of the low end of the random wire.  I'll attach the other support end of the doublet to my TV tower at 40' and once up I can raise the random wire again and I will have 2 antennas up...an all band doublet that I will use from 10-40M and an 80M end fed once I get the final toroid from QRPGuys in the mail, whenever that is.

I'm excited to try this doublet fed with balanced window line and the QRPGuys MultiZ tuner.  I'm hoping for a better match than I was getting on the random wire.  I will know tomorrow and there is also the QRPTTF (To The Field) "contest" all day tomorrow.  I say "contest" with quotes because it's low pressure which is right up my alley.  The theme this year is OPERATE FROM HOME.  Do not go out to parks etc but just go out in the yard instead because of the COVID-19 isolation rules currently in place.

That's all for now,
Cheers es 72/73

Little Tuner Helpful

When I built the QRPGuys Multi Z tuner it was so I could use it with the Doublet I plan to put up (once I get a launching method) but then I thought I'd give it a try with my random wire since the Doublet isn't quite there yet.  The random wire is about 125' long, I believe,  and works very well on 30M but that's about it.  I hooked the little unit up via a short run of Co-ax to my LDG 9:1 Unun and I was able to tune it quite well on 20M and on 17M.  40M was not so agreeable and I didn't try 12 or 15 but if I were going to use this antenna and tuner together regularly some adjustments to the wire length would likely be required.  I tuned around 20 for a while and there was a lot of activity and I was getting a little over-zealous trying to reach a Brazilian station and also a few other DX stations but I really should have known better and stuck with something more domestic.  As it was, my battery was down to 10-11v and I knew my FT-817 wasn't even putting out close to 5 watts into a non resonant antenna...during poor conditions.   All that being said I was happy with the tuner and how easy it was to operate by tuning to dim the tuning LED.  As the LED gets dimmer your match is better.  It was super handy and I think I am going to enjoy using it.  Tonight I'll charge my battery and test it again on more bands on the next nice day.

Still a bit chilly...

I went out with full intention of getting this antenna going.  After I put sheets on the clothesline my hands were already chilly.  What I decided to do was start fiddling with my support pole idea.  My plan is to make a pole by connecting 2"x2" pressure treated end to end until I reach the height I need to sufficiently support the center of the doublet.  Because it will be guyed I am not too concerned about strength.  What I will do is place four twelve inch 1"x2" around each joint to provide support.  It won't be pretty but should do the job.  I will guy the pole at the top and again at some midway point.

My biggest dilemma was what to do at the top to hold the antenna in place while still providing for some up and down movement as the antenna flexes with the wind in the trees.  In the barn I found a 3' fiberglass section from a 20' Shakespeare Wonderpole fishing pole that I used to use for portable dipole setups at parks.  The tip had broken off when I dropped it from the second story roof peak one time (on purpose...I thought it would land flat but it didn't).  Anyway, I plan to drill a 1/2" hole in the top end of the top 2x2 section and glue it in place.  I also drilled a 1/2" hole in the top of the plumbing T so it will slide over top and sit on the top of the pole.  The photos below of my plan explain this better than my words can.  I just did this in a scrap of wood to prove to myself that it should work.

The T is able to slide up and down on the fiberglass shaft by as much as 2'6" and I will put something on the tip of the fiberglass shaft to prevent the T from sliding up and off the top completely in strong winds.  Now I need to investigate what length of pressure treated 2x2 I can get (10', 14'...16') because I'd prefer not to use 8' lengths so I can have as few joints as possible in the mast.

The other thing I did was measure out the antenna wires on the ground at 73' each.  I left them on the ground for now and called it a morning.  If it warms up I will go out and solder the center connections.  I can make and put the antenna up without the support pole.  The pole is just an addition I will install to steady the antenna in the wind I will inevitably get here in farm country.  I am also still trying to figure out how I will get the para cord over the top of the 60' tree.

Cheers for now,
72/73 de Scott

Doublet length

So I had decided to install the 40m (and higher) doublet to save on weight even though I had the space for the 80M doublet.  My original thinking was that some day it might be neat to compare the EFHW 80M antenna with the 80M doublet since my QRP Guys tuner that I plan to use with the doublet does not support 80M.  Then I read that a doublet will actually provide better performance on a given band if the antenna were resonant on odd harmonics for that band so I thought that since the doublet length is not critical I could play with the length to give a boost to a favourite band.  I knew there are websites out there that will calculate this for you so I went searching.

I looked at a couple and then found this page on Spookmate.com.  I was able to put in the frequency for 80M in the calculator and see what my options were.

As you can see where the harmonics are listed that 10.5 is the 3rd harmonic.  This is very close to 10.110 where I like to operate on 30M.  I then adjusted the frequency at the top until the 3rd harmonic was where I wanted it to be.  3.37 MHz does the job and the legs of the doublet would be 72.9' long.  The key with the doublet is that the antenna is not resonant on 80M if I want to use 80M.  It is not (although it may be too close) but I am not using the antenna on 80M so I'm not concerned about that.  Really I'm taking advantage of the 3rd harmonic which I would not have if I were to put up the 40M doublet.

The harmonic frequencies gave me no joy for the 17M band which I also enjoy so I will go with the 73' length.  This is what I plan to experiment with when I put this doublet up, hopefully this weekend, weather permitting.  I'm not sure how much luck nor do I have a way to get tangible results but my random wire is currently working well on 30M only so I can compare the two.

Now you may remember I was going to avoid the 80M doublet because of weight concerns but I have come up with a plan for a guyed wooden support pole.  It'll be a little "interesting" looking but I think it should do the trick.  I'm fine tuning my idea in my head daily and am almost there.

Cheers for now,

72/73 de Scott

Doublet Dilemmas

When it comes to installing my, yet-to-be-built, Doublet antenna my biggest concern is weight and whether it will need a center support.  If it does need a center support what will I use and how strong will it be?  My original intention was to install an 80M doublet just because I have the space but that antenna will be significantly heavier than one for 40M.  The QRP Guys Multi Z Tuner that I just completed only tunes 10-40 so an 80M doublet is definitely overkill so it only makes sense to only put up what I will need in the immediate future.  As well, I have my random wire that will be modified to be my 80M antenna with the addition of the QRP Guys EFHW mini-tuner kit for 80M.  Once these projects are ready to test I will do so using my FT-817.

Here is the image from the QRP Guys website:

If I still need support for the doublet I have a couple of options I've been contemplating.  I could use a guyed wooden support made from pressure treated 2" x 2" or I could use a guyed PVC water pipe mast with about the same 2" diameter.  I live in a windy location but the center of the doublet will be somewhat shielded from the wind by my small barn but I still worry about it.  The wind on the antenna wire is not my concern as much as the window feedline is.  It is both heavy and easily caught by the wind.  Only putting it up will tell how these factors play out in real life.  The height this antenna will be remains unclear but I am hoping around 40' up.  One end support is the 40 foot TV tower attached to my house and the other end is a tree over which the para cord will be tossed so the actual height of that end support remains to be seen.

The center of the antenna, since I am unable to 3D print at the library is going to be something I have used before for dipoles, although this one is a bit larger.  It is a PVC water line "T".  It's durable and lightweight and I can easily drill or melt holes for the wires to pass through :

Cheers for now,
72/73 de Scott

QRP Guys Multi Z Tuner completed

Carrying over from yesterday the last thing I had to do with the tuner construction was to wind and install the transformer.  There are 3 windings on this transformer: a primary with a center tap and 2 secondary windings of different sizes.  I wound it all up once but it was too sloppy so I removed all the windings and made it a lot tidier and tighter.  Below are the 3 stages of installing the first, second and third windings.

 Once that was wound I had to ensure all the enamel was off the leads and tin them.  I then fed them through the appropriate holes.  When I did this the first time I saw that there was some enamel still not scraped off so I pulled it back off the board and did a better job of stripping the enamel with the Xacto knife.  I then reinstalled it in the holes and soldered them in place.

Now the final touch was to install the PCB washer to hold the transformer in place and put the rubber feet on the back.

I have also included the circuit design which is also available in the assembly instructions on the Multi Z Tuner page on the QRP Guys' website.  

My next step now is to build my doublet and get it up in the air.  That will be happening in the next week or 2 weather permitting.

Cheers for now,

72/73 de Scott 

During these times...Projects

With everyone pretty much stuck at home in isolation it's a great opportunity to think of antenna projects and other things like that.  I installed a random wire antenna last fall but with my Z11 tuner is not tuning it at all (I'm not sure if it's broken or just a bad setup) I can only operate it on 30M which is fine by me as it's one of my favourite bands.  That being said, i ordered 2 little kits from QRP Guys.  The first kit was the EFHW Mini tuner.  There are 2 versions to choose from and I chose the 80M version.  This little rig will hopefully help me turn that random wire antenna into a dedicated 80M EF antenna.  I will have to lower it down and add about 10 feet of wire to get to the recommended 135' starting point.  The below photo is from their site.

The second kit I purchased was for the Multi Z Tuner 10-40.  My plan with this little gem is to use it with the doublet I plan to install over the coming weeks.  I have the wire and space to install up to an 80M doublet and I figure I might as well go that route even though this tuner will only help down to 40M.  This kit is a bit more involved but shouldn't be too bad since there are no SMT components involved.  Here is the photo from their website:

A few years back I bought a good length of 450 ohm window line for a project that never came to fruition so now I can use it for this.  I have heard a lot about these antennas and the multi-band properties make it attractive.  I've always been one for using tuned dipoles but in my windy location they are a challenge to maintain.

I did have a plan to have the center support insulator 3D printed.  I found a nice one on  Thingiverse but the local library, which has the printer, is closed until further notice so I may just have to fashion one up.

I will post my progress with the Multi Z Tuner as I tackle that kit first.

Cheers es 72/73

Scott

Change of plan

My plan a few days ago was to build a maypole-style antenna supported in the center with inverted vee antennas coming down around it.  I was worried about the wires coming down all over the place and I also realized that there must be another cheaper and more easily implemented solution.  I have done some reading in the ARRL antenna book and also done some youtubing and now have a new plan.  Now my plan is to install a single wire, centre-fed, with balanced window line.  As long as I am at least 1/2 wavelength long from end to end, on the lowest frequency I plan to operate on,  I can feed it to a simple tuner for multi band use.  My tuner of choice will be the QRPguys Multi Z tuner for 10-40M.  I like the way this tuner has an LED that dims as a match is obtained eliminating the need for an SWR meter which is a huge benefit if I take this tuner to the field.  I have watched a great Youtube video on the building and testing of this tuner and I really like what I see.  For $40 US plus shipping I don't think it can be beat.

My existing long wire can be used for an end fed half wave (EFHW) antenna on 80 meters.  My first option is to adjust the length and try and use my 9:1 Unun to make it resonant on 80.  Failing that I can feed this into a QRPguys EFHW mini-tuner for 80M.  I may need to add some length to the existing wire since the recommended length for 80M use is 135'.

If I cannot get it working well enough on 80 with the LDG Unun I will likely order both kits at the same time so I can save on shipping costs.  

Less than favourable results...sort of

So I installed my random wire antenna from my barn out to a very tall poplar.  I used #10 wire so that the strong winds at my QTH wouldn't break it and I have about 130' of wire up in the air sloping up towards the top of the tree with the last 50' or so being para cord over a branch and down to the ground where it's tied off.  At the shack end I am using a ceramic egg insulator to a rope tied through a pulley attached just above the barn window to a bucket of bricks so that strong winds won't break the wire.  I then have another wire soldered to the antenna wire which comes into the "shack" to my LDG 9:1 random wire unun.  From there I connect straight to the radio.

I used the Agilent Field Fox to look at the resonance points on the antenna and saw that it wasn't really well resonant on any band but it wasn't too bad on a couple.  I added some radials on the ground of varying lengths and according to the Field Fox this made things worse.  What I really need is a MFJ-16010 L-network tuner to finish things up for me.  As it stands now, when I hook up the FT-817, the only band that presents no SWR issue is the 30M band.  30 has always been one of my favourite bands (along with 17 and 12) so I'm not extremely upset by it.  We are in a dismal part of the propagation cycle and I was still able to have a few QSOs on Sunday (Jan 12th) including a QSO with Ron, K5WLT, at almost 1700 miles in Texas and a 2xQRP with Alan, KR4AE, in Cleveland Georgia which is almost 900 miles away.  It's certainly not as good a distance as I can get with far less power during better propagation periods but I like the fact that I can still make QRP contacts, albeit with 5 watts.

Of course, as with many hams, I'm thinking of other antenna ideas.  The one that interests me at the moment is the Maypole style antenna.  I am a proponent of the fan dipole antenna and this is a variation on that.  The problem I have at my QTH with wind can best be defended against with stronger wires but thicker wire is heavier making supporting the center more challenging.  What the Maypole antenna does is use a non-conductive centre support with the inverted-vee antennas equally spread out in all different directions around the circle (looking from above) acting as guy wires and also not interacting with each other as much as with the standard fan dipole.  This antenna can be fed with coaxial cable but you'll want to keep the run as short as possible to reduce losses.  You could use a 1:1 balun or choke at the feed point to reduce feed line radiation but I don't think it's really that necessary, especially at QRP power levels, based on my use of dipoles in the past and from what I've read on the topic.  The leg pairs will all be of different lengths making the "V" angle different on each band but this shouldn't change the feed impedance too much.  The legs should not touch the ground but can be attached to stakes or pegs with non-conductive guy ropes.  Since I am operating QRP power levels I am not worried about RF burns but at higher power levels you should keep the antenna elements out of reach of people.  The key now is to choose which bands I want to operate on and figure out the best type of centre support to use.  There's PVC piping but the strength is suspect if it gets too tall and there's also wood or fiberglass.  I'm not quite sure yet which is the best choice.  As it stands now, this antenna will take up a fair bit of real estate and cutting grass around it will be a pain but if it works well it will be worth the extra effort.

A Lot of Time has Passed...

 Well, it's been quite some time since I've posted as I have been busy with other things in my world.  I am happy to say that I am getting back in the saddle on both HF and VHF.  For VHF I had a nice Alinco for local repeater work however my local HAM pals are now using (and have been for some time) a closed digital repeater system they have set up on many bands so the only way for me to chat with them is on a newer digital rig.  I haven't had a rig in the car for a number of years but I have decided to take that plunge again.  When ever I am in the market for something I watch for used items on the Kitchener-Waterloo Amateur Radio Club's Online Swap Shop.  I have been looking now and again for a used digital rig and this week I got lucky and found a HAM selling a Yaesu FTM-7250D which was priced nicely and in great condition.  I should be receiving it in the mail today and I will install it this weekend so I can use it during my commute next week.

In the HF department I had always used a fan dipole for multi-band operation.  I live in a very windy area surrounded by farmer's fields and my antennas often got tangled or worse.  As well, my office/shack has been re-purposed and is not the best spot for operating anymore.  My plan now is to set up a new long wire antenna for multi-band use from a small barn I have near the house.  I have always wanted to experiment with one of these compromise antennas and this way I can give 80 meters a go as well.  I will post my experimentation/installation results when I get them.  I have an LDG Electronics 9:1 Un-un on order from Radio World in Toronto and if it arrives today and the weather isn't too wet I may get to this project this weekend as well.  I will use the Keysight N9913A Fieldfox to get a good idea of the VSWR and performance on all my beams of interest and also see how adding additional ground radials changes/improves my situation.

In other news I am still in a Bagpipe Band in my community and I don't see that changing any time soon as it is a lot of fun.

Cheers for now and I'll see you soon!
72 de Scott ve3vvf/qrp

Silent Too Long

Well I went the whole winter without even turning a radio on and I was worried that I had lost my interest.  A lot has been going on which has had my mind on other things but all it took was listening to a couple of episodes of one of my favourite podcasts the QSO Today Podcast to get my mojo back.  I can always count on Eric (4Z1UG) to kindle my interests...especially on the QRP front.  I also believe some of my issue was the havoc the wind has been playing on my inverted vee antennas (not to mention the grim propagation these days).  The tangling that occurs with the fan dipole style of antenna is disappointing.  I need a better solution and I believe I may have found it.  I read an article in the ARRL Wire Antenna book that I bought from Amazon last fall.  The antenna from the article I read has the radiating elements made from ladder line/window line.  I can have a 2-band dipole that will not get tangled because the wires are evenly spaced/separated by the windows.

What is done is the length of the longest leg (34' for 40M) and the length of the shortest leg (24' for 30M) are added together making a 58' piece of ladder line the requirement for a 40/30 fan dipole.  Then you lay the cable out and measure 34' from one end and cut the top conductor.  Measure 34' from the opposite end and cut the bottom conductor.  What you have now, if you cut along the red line as shown below, is 2 pieces that will act as each leg of the dipole.  The long top wire is one side and the long bottom wire flipped over and end for end is the other side.

Then you need to strip the conductors bare at the double wired end and solder them together and attach them to the coax to create the feed point.  One leg connects to the center conductor and the other side to the braid of the coax.

Once this is completed you will have to raise the antenna and tune it for your desired operating frequency as with any dipole antenna.  I plan to build two of these.  One for 40/20 and one for 30/17 and I will post the results including photos of the tuning and testing process.

Cheers and thanks,

Scott, ve3vvf/qrp

Lessons Learned

I spent Sunday afternoon making and installing a replacement 40/20 inverted V for the flimsy one I had put up in the fall.  Here is one lesson I learned...QRP low power with lightweight wires is all well and good for temporary use but it is not robust enough to last through a windy winter.  The work was going pretty well and the weather was just above freezing and sunny.  Great for antenna work.  I had to raise and lower the antenna 4 or 5 times for trimming before I got it to resonance on both bands but I'm not quite sure if it's there just yet because as I was raising it the final time, a knot I had tied in the string I was using as a hoist came untied leaving 2 feet of string hanging from the pulley 40' up.   I had now been fiddling with this antenna for few hours.  I should have quit for the day and addressed this at a later date.  I didn't.  All I needed to do was climb the tower and detach the "yardarm" which keeps the antenna away from the tower.  The pulley is on the end of it.  Not too challenging.  Climbed up and realized that I had the wrong socket in my pocket for the U-bolts.  Back down and back up.  I ran a fresh piece of string through the small pulley and tossed the spool down to the ground keeping the loose end with me.  This was very challenging as the sun was directly behind the pulley.  I was clinging to the tower and struggling with the string.  I was cursing but eventually I got it after a few minutes.  I climbed down with the loose end and attached it to the antenna and started raising it up.  Half way up it got stuck.  The string (which is Mason's string) is very thin and quite durable however it jumped off the wheel and got stuck between the wheel and the side plate. I always knew this was a risk but figured the chances were slim of it ever happening.  No such luck.  My blood pressure and frustration level was maxed out at this point.  Luckily I did not have the right rope on hand to finish the job properly.  This gave me a good excuse to leave the task for another day.  This is a hobby and is supposed to be enjoyable.  We learn in many ways...from reading or watching videos or being taught by someone but the lessons learned through trial and error (mixed with frustration and possibly pain) are the ones we will never forget.

A Great Read

I have to tell you about a book I have got to re-read.  If you like suspense, true crime and factual radio from the turn of the century (20th century, not 21st) you will really want to read Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.  This is the true story of Guglielmo Marconi and how he developed his version of the wireless.

The story follows him from his early years on through his trials and tribulations evolving wireless to a point where it was commercially practical.  It's extremely interesting to see the approach he took and the lessons he learned along the way.  Intertwined with the Marconi story is a true crime story from England of murderer Hawley Crippen and the two stories come together in an very exciting fashion.  The book is definitely worth the time as the story is captivating and extremely informative for we radio junkies.  The fact that it is true makes it all the more interesting.  You will not be disappointed with this read.  Here are the details:

Thunderstruck from Amazon.com

Wind Is Not Our Friend

at least not if you're a minimalist QRP operator with wire antennas.  I have a couple dual band "Fan" style dipole antennas up and at this new QTH I have quickly discovered this winter that it is a very windy location being surrounded by farmer's fields.  A wire dipole in an inverted VEE set up is sensitive to position as far the angle of the legs goes.  Add to that the interaction between two sets of legs and the SWR can change continually as the wind blows.  When you operate QRP you tend to try and get away with smaller wire because you can since the power is so low.  The problem with that mindset is that when you are securing the wire legs you perhaps don't pull them as taught for fear of breaking them should the wind come up...especially if they are tied to a tree that will sway.   I made this mistake this past fall in setting my antennas for the winter.  One fan dipole for 20 and 40 was too flimsy and broke off on 2 different occasions at the center support.  A second antenna for 30 and 17 was constructed out of much more robust wire and a factory made 1:1 current balun.  Because of its robust construction I did not have the problem of breaking wires which is great but I did have the problem of the legs wrapping around each other in the wind.  This, of course, ruins the SWR and I had to go and fiddle with the legs.   Of course being winter it is not easy to tighten the ropes when one end goes down through the snow to a peg in the ground.  The solution I will employ this spring to avoid this problem is to offset the legs from being all in a straight line (north-south for example) to having one set of legs north-south and the second set of legs offset by 5 or 10 degrees.  This should eliminate them getting tangled up with each other.  I will replace my flimsy (read cheap) 20-40 fan dipole in the same fashion and hopefully have 4 bands I can use without interruption.

We are always in search of the best antennas or the simplest antennas.  I use tuned dipoles to avoid the bother of using a tuner which I chalk up to my minimalist ways.  I have one that I will use camping sometimes but it just seems like extra loss of QRP power when you can use a tuned antenna and avoid that problem.  I may be wrong there and feel free to set me straight.  I have also contemplated using ladder line to feed the dipoles as I have heard that it is a much better route to take due to low loss but then a balun comes into play and my coax run is quite short at less than 30' from my second floor window.  I'll still look into that as we are always trying to improve.  First order of business is to get that 20-40 antenna back up.  With the condx being so crappy lately I need all the options I can get.

That's all for now,
cheers es 72/73

Tower Up

My last post described my bat dilemma.  Since then the bat guy did his thing by sealing up all the openings in my soffit/roof line/windows with clear caulking and installing an exit tube for the bats to leave but not re-enter.  A few weeks later I was at home during a weekday working on the TV tower I was planning to put up for my 2M antenna, a TV antenna and as an anchor point for my fan dipole for HF.  I got it used for $50 and was quite pleased with that.  I had taken the rust off one of the sections and had painted all 4 sections.  I had 3 sections connected as that would take me up to the 2nd floor facia so I could attach it to the house.  I was trying to figure out how to get it up there on my own when I don't even own an extension ladder and my metal roof is extremely slippery.  Just then bat guy showed up to remove the bat tube and touch up the caulking.  He said to put the 4th section on and he'd help me walk the tower up.  I said 4 sections is extremely heavy but he insisted.  He went about his business with the house while I attached the top section to the tower on the ground.  When he was ready I said "Are you sure?  It's very heavy!".  He said "I work with 40 ' ladders all the time.  It'll be no problem."  I said Ok and got to the base to hold it in place.  He picked up the tower at the top section and walked it up.  I could see in his face that it was heavier than he expected but he powered through and got it up.  I was super pleased.  Then he put his ladder up to the facia and attached one of the brackets and the U-bolts finger tight.  This held the tower in place and I took care of the rest of the tightening and adding the second bracket.  I could not have been happier.

Now that I had my tower up and bolted to the house I had to think of how I would get the antennas installed.   I had gone up to the top of the tower and it was quite high but the height is not what worried me.  What worried me was the unsteadiness of the tower.  The problem with a used tower is that the bolt holes where the sections join get stretched over time so the tower is not as rigid as it should be.  I could stand on the ground and move the tower with my hands even though it was anchored and bolted to the facia.  I needed more support.  After speaking with another, more experienced, ham, VA3RDC, I knew what I needed to do to support the tower.  I got three 32" pieces of angle steel from Home Depot and lag bolted one to the wall of the house as an anchor.  Then I U-bolted the other 2 pieces to either side tower legs and attached the end of each of them to the anchor piece.  The tower was now rock solid.  Time to install the antennas.

I had the mounting pole (EMT) with 2 antennas on it and my plan had been to raise it up and install it as one unit.  I had the TV antenna pointed the correct directions (2 bays) and I had my 2M 5-element beam pointed, hopefully, to the repeater in the city 70km away.  This pole didn't seem too heavy on the ground until you try and raise it over your head as I would have to do to insert it into the top of the tower.  This was going to be a challenge.  I got my harness and climbed to the top to test how this was going to work as I would need 2 free hands to install this pole.  Figuring I had no other choice I contacted a local power pole company that has bucket trucks.  Since it was a Sunday I left them a message on their website.  Thinking about the task at hand some more I realized that I really just needed to take the antennas off the pole and attach them afterwards.  I did this and the pole installation was super easy.  I installed it with just 2 feet showing above the top of the tower.  I then raised up the TV antenna and installed it which was pretty easy since it attaches with wingnuts and the brackets are easily hooked in place with 1 hand.  We tested the reception with the TV and made some final adjustments on the pointing of it.   I then raised the pole another few feet so I could install my 2M beam.  Again installation was quite easy with wingnuts and clamps easily manipulated with one hand.  I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't be able to key the repeater from this far away with only 50W but when I tested it the repeater came to life on the first try.  I guess my compass pointing was pretty good.  From 70km away it doesn't take much of a move of the antenna to be off target.

Now all that's left is to install the pulley on the tower where I'm going to feed the rope for one end of my fan dipole from.  I may, now that I have the real estate, try an inverted L or something like that for 80M or 160M.  It's time to get that done now before it gets too cold.

Cheers es 72

Scott

Make the time

Wow I haven't posted since February!  That's what happens when you decide to move.    Packing and removing antennas and all that sort of thing really puts a dent in your operating time.  We have moved to a larger place about 20 minutes away from our old place.  This is a good thing.  The place is larger and closer to my pipe band practices.  It also means that my shack is on the second floor now instead of the basement.  I'm looking forward to that for sure.  I don't have anything set up in the shack just yet because there are so many other "house" things we have been busy at.  Minor renovations and painting seem to take a lot of my spare time lately...that and pipe band.  I do have a TV tower coming next week so that will be a start allowing me to get my VHF antenna up as well as a place to string my wire fan dipole from.  I hope I will be able to hit the VE3ORF repeater from my place with just 50W.

There's no rush on the tower work, of course, because as with most hams I'll likely leave that tower work to November when I'll need to wear gloves.  There's so much to do in a "new" house.  It's 100+ yrs old so it's not new...just new to me.  You always want to make a place your own and our place is no exception.  We have just under 2 acres and in the very center of the back yard is a monster weeping willow.  I may use it to anchor one end of my wire antenna however I'll likely need to use a pulley and counter weight system because I'll bet it will sway in the wind substantially.

I'm looking forward to getting my first contacts from the new QTH so I really should get going on it. I think the best plan is to take a week off in October and get it all sorted out.  As I've learned over the years, it's not about finding time for this hobby...it's about MAKING time for this hobby.