AmateurRadio.com

Action on 20 meters

The propagation numbers have been flying high and the bands are open and hopping!! The above shot is 20 meters viewed on PowerSDR. It has not been this busy in some time even at 14.060 the QRP calling frequency I was able to pick up with out with any trouble KG1AFO, W4LVP K4YKI all in a QRP QSO's. In the other segments of 20 meters there both local (North America) and DX.  In the above picture where the yellow cross hairs are is the interference my Plasma TV is giving me. Even in that area I was able to copy  VA2DW and K4JJW who came in over the Plasma garbage!!
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

With the bands heating up like they are, several new “Firsts” for me have been flying into the logbook.  Something I’ve never been able to accomplish was working a major DXpedition.  I tried many, many times to work K5D from Desecheo Island back in 2009.  I could hear them and so could all the other hams trying to bust the pile up.  I guess this is a good problem to have for a successful DXpedition.

I first learned about what a DXpedition was all about soon after getting my ticket in 2007.  At a club meeting they showed the DVD from the 3Y0X DXpedition to Peter I Island.  I think I was just as fascinated with the logistical efforts of getting all the gear and the people onto the island as I was with the radio operations.

Anyway, I learned of the T32C DXpedition a few months ago and I put the dates in my calendar.  The dates were 28 September through 26 October.  While I didn’t intend to wait until almost the last moment, it is just how it ended up.  The first part of the month I had family in town and this led to some long days in the office and other activities. 

Last week I began to get serious about trying to work T32C. After trying and not finding success with K5D, I figured if I could work T32C just once I would be pleased.  So I began what I recently blogged about called “The Thrill of the Hunt” to locate T32C.  The bands have recently been performing really well and fingers crossed the hunt would go well.

I checked DX Cluster and saw a few US stations reporting T32C on 17 meters SSB.  I went down to the shack, turned on the HF rig, the computer and tuned to where the cluster indicated I might find them.  Low and behold, I could hear T32C and I could hear the pile up trying to work them.  I gave my call sign a few times and within about 5 minutes I had been heard.  The T32C operator confirmed my callsign and I logged them in my HRD logbook.  I was excited….I had worked my first DXpedition.

The next morning I checked their online logbook and was disappointed to find when I entered my callsign it returned no results.  I wasn’t 100% certain of just how long it should or would take for their logbook to get updated.  However, I read on Tim Kirby’s, G4VXE blog that he had worked them the same day and he was able to confirm his QSO.  While I knew I worked them, I also wanted the confirmation via their website and also I wanted their QSL card to document this special occasion.  By the way, the T32C website indicated that if you didn’t see you callsign on their online logbook to try them again.  This is exactly what I planned to do.

The next day was Wednesday and I routinely work from home on Wednesday and Fridays.  Between the conference calls and a few other urgent tasks I needed to complete, I kept an eye on the DX Clusters and saw them being reported on several bands, but not on 17 meters.  I took a short break in the afternoon and found them on 12 meters with very few takers.  They heard me on the first call and once again T32C was in my log, but on 12 meters. 

Later that evening I went back downstairs and quickly worked T32C on 15, 10 and 20 meters.   I was excited and pleased to have worked this DXpedition four times on four different bands in one day.  But one thing didn’t feel right..I wanted to get them on 17 meters.  I still had several days and would just have to keep trying. 

Friday afternoon between conference calls I managed to work Italy and a new DX entity of Netherlands on JT65.  Then when spinning the dial on 17 meters, I heard T32C calling CQ.  Once I worked out the split frequencies, I replied to their CQ and heard them answer me.  I carefully listened to make sure he heard my callsign correctly.  QSL….he had.

On Saturday morning I checked and YES….the 17m QSO was showing.  As you can see below, I successfully worked T32C on 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters.  I’ll call this the T32C Sweep.  I’ve gotta admit that I’m somewhat glad my first 17m QSO didn’t end up in their log.  I’m afraid I might not have been as motivated to keep trying.

 

A long story short, I’m really delighted to have worked the T32C Sweep and I look forward to working more DXpeditions.  My next goal is to work TX7M.  Will you join me?  Now I need to go so I can try to find TX7M on the bands. 

Until next time,

73 de KD0BIK

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

 

 

Well let me see if I can come up with enough words to get all the pictures on this post.

Well October is here and along with the State Fair of Texas in Dallas it is also time for the Texhoma Hamarama in Ardmore Oklahoma. For many years a friend of mine and organizer of this event Henry Allen W5TYD has been trying to get me to make the track to Ardmore and check it out.

 

So I gathered myself up at 4:30 in the morning put a spark to the B.S.S. Improbable and made my way toward the Indian territories. I had really forgotten that the middle of the night was the only time that it is not a total pain to drive through Dallas. A little over two hours later I found myself in Ardmore. As described the hamfest was very easy to find. The shiny almost new convention center was right off I-35 at exit 33. I exited made a right turn then made another right turn and I was there ( I could never be a Nascar driver ).

The parking lot at the Ardmore Convention Center was more than ample and I was able to find a parking space very close to the front door. Not like Ham Com here locally where you have to park on the other side of town and ride a shuttle bus. Due to a mistake on the website I found myself there an hour before they opened the doors. So I spent some time talking to other Hams that had made the same mistake.

After paying a very resonable $8.00 to get in I roamed around looking at all the wonderful items to be had. At the end of the first row I went down I ran into Jimmy (Pinky) Pinston N5WYT from the Texas Baptist Men who was debating on buying some hardline for the freshly installed commercial repeater at the Baptist Mens building in Dallas. We talked about a few things like ARES in Van Zandt county where he lives and the fact that his license expired at midnight that night. Shame on you Pinky.

 

Went and sat in on the OK section ARES presentation. Then went and sat in on Andy WY5V’s amateur radio in the park presentation. Andy is king of amateur radio these days. King of ARES in Dallas. Big Chief at the VHF-FM society everything. Spent some time visiting with folks that I have known for years David Kaun N5DBK, Tim KD6FWD, and my little buddy Paul KD5TKO.

 

I really didn’t come home with anything except some good memories but we had a great time in Ardmore and I expect to go back many times in the future. Russ was not in attendance but you all know how he is.

 

73 everybody

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is a spreadsheet I designed in Microsoft Excel for calculating the first cut and the final cut (after testing) of a 1/2 wave dipole, whether center-fed, classic off-center-fed, Windom, or New Carolina Windom. If you use it for a plain ol’ center-fed dipole, just ignore the references to “long leg” and “short leg” — the numbers will still be right. Anyhow, you’re welcome to use it, pass it around, whatever:

DipoleWorksheet.xls (Microsoft Excel)

I’d enjoy hearing from any of you who end up using this spreadsheet to build an antenna!

If you find any bugs in this spreadsheet, please let me know. Note that it is protected for your convenience, but you can unprotect it anytime you like to see the formulas in each cell (there is no password).

Todd Mitchell, NØIP, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Minnesota, USA. He can be contacted at [email protected].

What is the best way to hang an off-center-fed dipole or windom antenna as an inverted-V? Should you hang the feedpoint at the apex, or hang the center of the antenna at the apex?

From an electrical standpoint the best way is to hang the center at the apex. That is where the current is at a maximum on the lowest resonant frequency. But that leaves all the weight of your balun, coax, and (in the case of a New Carolina Windom) RF choke unsupported by anything but the antenna-wire itself. So from a mechanical standpoint the best way is to hang the feedpoint at the apex, with all that weight hanging straight down from the hanger. Either way it’s a trade-off.

I think it makes sense to hang the feedpoint at the apex if the angle of your V is reasonably broad. The mechanical benefit outweighs the electrical cost in this case. As you can see in this diagram, you really don’t give up much height at the center of the antenna. My own 40m New Carolina Windom, with the longest leg at 74^o from vertical, sacrifices only 2.3′ at the center of the antenna. Even if it were cut for 80m the sacrifice would only be 4.5′. A 160m version (I know of one fellow who plans to build one!) would give up almost 9 feet, though. You might want to hang the center at the apex in that case, unless it’s already so high that 9 feet doesn’t matter much. You can always figure out a way to support the feedpoint in some way if you need to.

This changes if you mount your V with a narrow angle. Dropping the longest leg to 45^o from vertical would cost me 6′ on my 40m New Carolina Windom! In that case it would probably make more sense to hang the center at the apex.

The way to calculate this is shown in the figure above. Notice how I labeled the sides of that triangle with “H” and “A?” Now why did I do that? Glad you asked! The “H” stands for “hypotenuse” and the “A” stands for “adjacent” — adjacent to the angle of 74^o in this triangle (your own angle may be different, of course). Just remember this sentence: “Oscar And Ole Have Huge Appetites.” (Up here in Minnesota we all love that name Ole, don’t ya know!) That will help you remember the way to calculate the sine, cosine, tangent, arcsine, arccosine, and arctangent of any angle. “O” stand for opposite (the length of the side opposite the angle you’re dealing with), “A” stands for adjacent, and “H” stands for hypotenuse:

So to figure out the height of the apex above the center of my antenna, I figure:

A/H = cosine(74^o)
A = cosine(74^o)*H
A = 0.276*8.5′ = 2.3′

There you go! Of course, you’ll have to know the angle to figure this out. To see an example of that calculation, check out my previous post.

Todd Mitchell, NØIP, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Minnesota, USA. He can be contacted at [email protected].