HF

Remote testing Antennas

BenLeave a comment

I’ve always wanted to take the radio with me while on holidays and I always do. However I’ve always been limited to 2m and 70cm including local repeaters and digital work.

Our family enjoy holidays all over Australia into some of the most remote places without water, power or any mobile signal. Sometimes this can last week’s at a time.

If your keen to learn more about our travels around Australia and learn more, please let me know.

Most of these remote locations means limited activity on 2m or 70cm as there are no repeaters for days!

Because of this remoteness, there are several outback radio networks we can join or listen to. They make quite interesting listening.

However, when on holidays, we amateurs don’t want to just listen, we want to be part of the action! And HF is the next best thing.

I’m currently on holiday in the Victorian high country, also known as “The Man from Snowy River” country. It is rugged, beautiful and high. So up here I can actually can receive several 2m and 70cm repeaters, but this is a good test for HF work.

High up on Mount Buffalo

With me, I brought a battery pack, that has a 12 volt lithium battery which we run our camping fridge off.  I now run my HF gear off it!

I also brought my new QT-80 radio, which is small in size yet puts out 80 watts.  I have placed a video below on this radio if you are not familiar with it.

I used a magnet mount antenna base as the car I was using is not mine. This mount sticks to the car like glue, but also comes off on demand so you can adjust the antenna as required.

I brought two antennas to test.  The first one was the HF-008 antenna that covers more bands than the QT80.  I have a video on both these below for you if you are not familiar with it.

I also brought the new CBL-561 HF antenna so I could compare the two antennas. This antenna can be used while mobile unlike the HF-008 antenna. I have another video for you to show you that antenna below:

Before leaving home, I went to the hardware store and bought two lengths of pipe with caps that could safely store each antenna. I could then almost throw them in the boot of the car and not be worried about them being damaged or caught on something as I pulled them out of the boot.

Hot Tip

The funny thing was, while on holidays, I forgot to bring a measuring tape to adjust the antenna. Fortunately one of my children had a ruler with them so I was able to mark measurements down the side of the tube with a sharpie.

I also wrote down next to the measurements the lengths Radioddity recommended and then as I tuned in the antenna myself with the lowest SWR, I marked the pipe to my best measurements which were very close to the same as Radioddity.

This Tip I am sure will be very useful going forward when I’m out in the Australian outback or somewhere that I have no ruler!

Results

Both antennas fitted the same magnetic base which made this setup work well.

On testing both antennas using the same frequency to the same long distance contact, I and they couldn’t tell the difference between us. I found both antennas easy to tune in and get the SWA right down before making any contacts.

I then tried again from the top of Mount Buffalo, one of our highest mountains and got the same results where both myself and the contacts I spoke to didn’t know I had even changed the antenna.

There are differences between the antennas though which may help you decide which antenna is right for you.

Compare Antennas

HF-008

This antenna covers a lot of HF bands, as covered in the video above. However it cannot be used while mobile, mainly due to the jumper cable. It is a great antenna and can be used with a radio that puts out a lot more watts than the small QT-80 radio I used.

CBL-561

The CBL-561R antenna does not cover as many HF bands as the HF-008 does, but if you are using the bands it does cover, then this antenna might be good for you. One big advantage to this antenna is that it can be used while mobile, not just stationary.

Both antennas will need adjusting if you switch bands or switch from one end of the band to another. So setting the antenna to a permanent mount on the car on the top of the roof where it ends up out of reach, then you may want to rethink this. I found the magnet mount ideal, as you can still have it on the highest point of the car and access it easily.

Another option I also use is a bull bar mount that I use on my 4×4.

I’d encourage you to watch my video below as it explains what I discovered.

Remember the old saying Hight is Might and going portable gives you an opportunity to test this theory.

Hope you enjoyed this read. Below are some other interesting articles I have also written that you may enjoy.

Fishing Line Antenna DIY

Ben2 Comments

With so many different HF antennas available, I often wondered what people in high rise buildings did.  If they can not put an antenna on the roof, what options are left for them?  I talk to so many people from Asian cities who would have this problem, and occasionally I see what they do.

The easiest option is to stay on digital like DMR.  These only require internet, and a hand held radio, but this always asks the question, is this real amateur radio?  My opinion is if it connects people that are licenced and only licenced people can uses it, then I guess it is, while understanding it may not be everyone’s cuppa.  I do understand there are many even in Australia in retirement villages who only have the option of digital radio due to restrictions on antennas.

Today, I made contact with Lok Shui Fan VR2VAZ in Hong Kong, and on his QRZ page, he came up with an amazing idea that clearly works for him.  While it is not going to be the best antenna ever seen, it is perhaps the best antenna he is able to use.  Given we are about 7450 km (4627 miles) apart, and still made contact on this antenna, you can’t say it doesn’t work.

On his QRZ page, Lok says “This is my DIY HF Fish Pole Antenna. Can be used under 80M,40M,30M, 20M, 17M, 15M, 12M, 10M band.”

He also says “If I am not playing radio, all the antenna will be hidden in flower bed”.

There are more photo’s on his QRZ page. He even has a youtube video on it.

I guess it would feel like catching contacts everytime you made a contact. If you enjoyed fishing and radio, this might be a bit of fun for you?

I think it is a fantastic idea.  What do you think? Have you built your own antenna that camouflage’s when not in use?

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Band Stacking

BenLeave a comment

Have you ever tried Band Stacking before? This is where you have three options per band every time you go to that band. For example, you may have one set up on SSB, one on CW and another on Data, all on the same band. You can easily switch between them all.

For example, if you are on 20 metres, press band and 14 again, and if band stacking is on, it will keep you on 20 metres but to the different stack. This different stack could have a different mode. You usually have three per band.

Have a look at the video for more on how to use it and turn it on:

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10 metres 28.490

BenLeave a comment

On the 10-metre band, 28.490 is the unofficial calling frequency for Australia and New Zealand. This is interesting as the Band plans state it is 28.390 as the recommended intra-VK calling frequency.

That said, 28.490 is more recognised as the unofficial calling frequency down under.

Most amateurs down under will listen to 28.490 on ten metres and put out a call there, but then QSY to another frequency 10 or 20 kHz away either after making contact, or before contacting another station by announcing where you plan to go.

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DXHeat.com

BenLeave a comment

DXHeat.com is a great website that can update you the current conditions on each band. The website has filtering of incoming DX Spots which can be displayed instantly using great graphical tools.

From the main landing page dxheat.com you can do a search by call sign or open DX Cluster. You can also scroll down to see more information.

Callsign Search

By typing in a call sign, you will see a lot of information instantly about that person. Some of the graphs are interesting as it shows how often the selected user does DX Spots by date, by band and what Continent they have been heard in.

It then shows what DX spots this user as submitted by time, band, and Continent.

DX Cluster

This is the best part of the website.

In the middle you can see live data. You can apply filters as required on the left side. On the right is the current UTC time and a lot of other interesting things.

On the right is a Propagation box which is helpful.

Also on the right is a Band Activity box which is great and perhaps the best part of the website.

This graph is powerful and shows you instantly where the bands are open.

Select your area via the drop-down box. I have selected Oceania in the example shown. You can see the band is open on 10 metres to NA, which is North America, and slightly open to NA on 20 metres also.

10 minutes before I took this screen dump, 10 metres was in the red to North America, so it changes live. 10 minutes after this screen dump, 20 metres was in the purple meaning conditions were getting harder, however 10 metres became a solid red.

20 minute later after the above screen dump, I took the following one on the right.

Now you can see 10 metres to North America is strong, and 20 metres is not even showing anymore. 15 metres is also on the graph now potentially growing in strength.

Asia is also starting to show signs of colour on 17 metres which it wasn’t before.

While these graphs are powerful, they are limited to the amount of activity on the band. For example, if no one picks up a microphone, then there is still no one to listen to.

It is a great starting point though and displayed very well. I would love to embed this on my QRZ page if anyone knows how.

The main text in the screen, you can hover over the green boxes and filter according to that box. Up towards the top, there is a mode section on the left side with green boxes, you can filter by them also. You can filter via region and band also.

Login

At the top of the screen is a login/sign up option. I would encourage you to create an account. Simply put in your email and password, then confirm it and you will be able to update your profile. You will then have an opportunity to adjust your display DX-Cluster settings as you like.

Other websites

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Diamond Antenna W-8010 and expanding it to all bands

BenLeave a comment

I purchased the Diamond W series W8010 antenna and quickly put it together. The instructions were a bit hard to read as it was exceedingly small. However, I found someone who did a video on how to put it together. (this is not my video)

To me, an antenna is far more important than the power you put out and the radio you own. You can make a fantastic contact on an extremely old radio on a good well positioned antenna. But if you have a bad antenna and a fantastic radio, you may find it a bit harder.

Tip when tuning

The above video, and instructions will tell you when tuning the antenna to cut the tuning wires to length. Instead, I folded the tuning wires back on themselves towards the centre of the antenna. You may need to fold back a little more than you would have cut off, but if you ever need to move the antenna, you will need to re-tune it and you cannot re-tune it if you have cut the tunning wires off already.

So, for my antenna, all I did was set up the antenna where the wires were greater than 30 degrees from each other, and then bend the tuning wires on themselves with electrical tape. For one of the bands, I took the tuning wires completely off.

As my antenna is on the roof, I had to adjust and climb down many times and check the radio before trying again. At one stage I got a helper who stayed in the shack, and I stayed on the roof. However me being on the roof affected the antenna, even if I wasn’t near it. One of the bands wouldn’t tune in, but when I was sure it was right, I went off the roof and then it worked fine without me on the roof. Maybe my antenna doesn’t like the site of me!

Review of W-8010

This W-8010 antenna is a good cheap antenna that does a decent job. It isn’t hard to install and put together and covers several bands once you get it up and going. I was expecting it to take a lot longer than it did. It doesn’t need a huge mast and if you have the space, can be installed so it doesn’t look too bad either.

I managed to get this antenna working on all bands as advertised except 80m. I am still trying to get this band to work. I understand the antenna is very narrow on this band when I purchased it, so I expected tuning to be difficult. Given the antenna is above the house on new tiles, I didn’t want to climb on the roof to many times, so I tried several times while tuning the other bands, but ended up giving it away. Each time I get on the roof I adjust it a little, then try again, but I have almost given up and sure it won’t work right across the band either. 80m is my main issue with this band.

Expanding the W-8010 antenna to WARC Bands

After tuning in the antenna, I wondered if I could modify it to also be usable on the WARC bands. It was a little frustrating hearing people talk on the other bands yet couldn’t talk to them as I didn’t have a resident antenna.

I found some coaxial cable on the footpath on my morning walk. It was against a power pole and looked like the same cable used for pay TV which was above me at the time. I had a closer look at it, and noticed it was RG66 which is 75-ohm, but also had a strong wire wrapped in next to the coax. So, using this wire, I could hang it and put all the strain on the wire, and not the coax. Better still it was free!

So how much do I need for which band I hear you ask, especially since I am using 75-ohm not 50-ohm coax?

To calculate the lengths, you need is easy. Just work out what frequency you want to use. Try one in the middle of the range of the band you want to use. Then with this frequency, use the following formula:

Dipole total length in meters: 143 / frequency in MHz

This total length in the above is from point to point, so you need to half that for both sides of the dipole. But before you cut, don’t only measure twice (as they say in the building industry), but cut it longer than you need. It is a lot easier to trim the ends off than stick the ends back on! As I said earlier, I was using RG66 75-ohm coax, so these measurements may not be exact. But it also depends on how your antenna is mounted. For me, I added about a metre to each length so when I was on the roof, I knew it was about a metre longer than it should be. Depending on the band and length, you may want to leave more or less on it.

I first got it all working at a height I could reach, as I got sick of climbing up the ladder hundreds of times. Once it worked, I put it to the height I wanted, but it needed to be re-tuned again. Ah! If I had cut the wire, guess what, I would have had fun trying to extend my coax on the roof! You can see below how I folded the wire back on itself. As mentioned, this coax is RG66 and has a wire next to it. You can see this small wire in the photo that isn’t folded back and it supporting the coax on the nail. Don’t worry, this wasn’t my final setup, I was still tuning when I took the photo. It is secured a lot better than this now.

I noticed a lot of birds sat on some of my wires that were almost horizontal, and I was concerned their weight might break the antenna. About the same time, we were throwing out our old trampoline, so I kept some of the springs and have used them after the insulator and the mounting point. This may give the antenna a few more years of life hopefully.

Hope you enjoyed this read. What is your experience with Dipole antennas? What tricks have you learnt? I have been making antennas for some years, but really don’t think I am an experienced antenna builder. Please add your comments below so we can all learn from you.

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Solar Data & Propagation

BenLeave a comment

There are several website that tell you what bands are open in your area. Most people paste them on their QRZ page, but there are some examples below that update every hour.

You can see more on their webpage https://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html where all you have to do is paste the code and put on your website. There is a great option to donate also. There is a wealth of information on this website that you can spend hours on.

This data is updated every hour, which is fantastic.

But what if you are not in front of your PC and want to look it up. There is a handy little app I use called Solar Data and Propagation. It is a small app only 12.5Mb in size on the iPhone and it is free. It is also available on Android at only 6.75Mb, I will talk about further down.

Below is the app on an apple device.

While it is only a little app, and doesn’t do a lot, it is a simple app that gives you what propagation is open at your current location. While other apps have heaps of features and functions that you may or may not use often, this little app has just what you would use often.

Above are the HF conditions, but you can also see VHF conditions and terrestrial. Adds do pop up from time to time, but the app is free so I don’t see this as a problem.

You can download it from the App Store.

Android

If you have an Android device, go to the store and search for HF Propagation. It should be the first one on the list with an orange sunshine as the logo.

Once installed, you have a lot of different options available on the first screen.

Scroll down, and you will see the HF then VHF conditions as mentioned for the Apple app.

Conclusion

This little information may save you from running out to the shack and turning everything on to find nothing or trying on the wrong band. As mentioned above, it can be on an apple or android device.

Hopefully, this makes it a little easier for you. Please put in the comments below what apps you enjoy using or let me know what you think.

Happy DX-ing, hopefully we talk on the air soon.

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