Exam passed.. callsign inbound.

orm0nd

Popoutman wrote: »

Good point - I had not thought much about long path, but of course it may work better than a short path through the auroral regions. Cheers for the pointer.

I believe UK stations were working VK and ZL past couple of evenings on 20 mtrs. just after dusk

Popoutman

Finally have an amplifier on the way.

I'm buying a secondhand SPE Expert 1.3KW solid-state amp with inbuilt ATU.
Works 160m through 4m, network controllable, two rig input, four antenna output, lots of protections internally, 9kg, 12" x 15" x 5 1/2";

That'll have enough headroom to lope along all day at the legal limit, whatever EU-based legal limit that is

Might even keep up with the Italians during contest days when we're apparently allowed up the power output, and both of my antennas and coax feeders can handle the amp's full power output.

I'll have to carefully calculate the safe distances from antennas to people and get that right, have to conform correctly to the license safety requirements. Based on my calculations, my Hexbeam antenna would require at absolute minimum 12m from the front of the beam for safety under 400W conditions (gain of ~10dB gived ERP of 4000W out the front; and if at contesting power then 28m from the front. Of course at 8m up it's perfectly safe to sit under at max power given the field shape, but still would have to watch the direction to the neighbours in suburbia..

Popoutman

Popoutman wrote: »

Finally have an amplifier on the way.

I'm buying a secondhand SPE Expert 1.3KW solid-state amp with inbuilt ATU.
Works 160m through 4m, network controllable, two rig input, four antenna output, lots of protections internally, 9kg, 12" x 15" x 5 1/2";

That'll have enough headroom to lope along all day at the legal limit, whatever EU-based legal limit that is

Might even keep up with the Italians during contest days when we're apparently allowed up the power output, and both of my antennas and coax feeders can handle the amp's full power output.

I'll have to carefully calculate the safe distances from antennas to people and get that right, have to conform correctly to the license safety requirements. Based on my calculations, my Hexbeam antenna would require at absolute minimum 12m from the front of the beam for safety under 400W conditions (gain of ~10dB gived ERP of 4000W out the front; and if at contesting power then 28m from the front. Of course at 8m up it's perfectly safe to sit under at max power given the field shape, but still would have to watch the direction to the neighbours in suburbia..

Sh1t Man, if that's the same Amp I'm looking at it can do up to 1.5 Kw and costs 3400 Pounds ? :eek: haha

Hard to resist spending money on the Hobby!

Does the hex offer a 10 db gain ? I hope in a couple of years I can have a Quad band Optibeam and 30 meter tower.

I'm not sure you can run big power like that in a contest without registering for a temporary contest license ?

The band plan and power limits are on the IRTS site.

I'm currently using the myantennas.com EFHW-8010 as a base antenna and quite happy with it to be honest, get great DX with it too and good local coverage, it's in kinda inverted L config so might not provide the best for local or NVIS so when some locals come back to me saying oh you're only 20 over and such and such is 30 over or a Ham friend of mine in Belgium is coming back with a S10 and another chap from Ireland he's chatting to he is giving an S15 so it's a bit of a p1ssing contest. My antenna config isn't designed in this config to provide max radiation for NVIS however the real great thing about that is that some chap from Brazil was calling me one night over the Lad in Belgium and Greystones, they couldn't hear him and he couldn't hear them as he was only calling my call sign, this was on 40m so I had QSO with him but I am really happy still with this Antenna.

Anyway, the reason I got the Acom 1000 was because I didn't want a solid state Amp and because it can output full power up to 3:1 mismatch which is great because most solid state amps need a tuner from above 1:5:1 and this can add a lot of expense and because the EFHW has under 2.2:1 SWR on most bands this means I can operate any band from 80-10m without a tuner except 60m.

The Acom 1000 has many safety features too for HAMs like me who never used a Valve Amp before + it has an attenuation so you don't have to turn the power down for tuning and tuning is simple and takes seconds.

I would like 160m, I can use the EFHW-8010 on 160m but at much reduce performance because the UNUN causes more losses on non resonant bands but I have got to the East of England with it and a tuner before but SWR is around 10:1.

I have space for 160m but unfortunately at the bottom quarter there is a 10 Kva power line so it limits my ability to erect an 80 meter long antenna.

Popoutman

As for the temporary contesting license I have to do a bit of research for that, but I've not seen indications that it's required, but I'd like to be corrected on that. It appears that it's already built-in to the license. My reading of the IRTS site and the Comreg regs, suggests that it's just the contest days that determine whether the extra power is required. Either way I won't be exceeding the normal limit until I have some definitive clarification on that, but the following is interesting reading from https://www.comreg.ie/industry/radio-spectrum/licensing/search-licence-type/radio-amateurs-2/:

Radio Amateur Contests
The table below provides a list of all Radio Amateur contests where licensed Radio Amateurs are temporarily permitted to transmit increased power for the duration of the contest. Transmission at the increased power outside of the contest date is not permitted and is a breach of the Radio Amateur licence conditions.

(note that it does not say that taking part in the contest is a requirement for the temporarily-increased power limit, but one may assume that this is in fact the expected reading of the regs. But.. I also know for a fact that Comreg have ambiguities in their documentation.

I am getting the amp secondhand and not for that price - I really don't have *that* much disposable income.
Getting an amp that has that much headroom pretty much ensures that I'll have perfect linearity and low IMD etc when operating at the normal legal limit, as the amp will be well within the design envelope. Having the headroom will keep the engineer in me happy. The fact it can auto-tune for the band without input does help me with implementing an idea or project of mine to have remote radio equipment that is not heating up the shack. but that can be completely and safely controlled over the network.

Agreed regarding SWR and solidstate amps, one must be rather careful compared to tube amps. This SPE Expert one does have an inbuilt ATU and will handle full power 3:1 and reduced power 5:1. At least the antennas I have available are low-SWR and all lower than 2:1 across my band usage.

The DXC provides a really low SWR on the all the installed bands, and would be runnable without the tuner, and could run full tilt as well. Plus the 50m of Hyperflex-10 coax from the rig to the antenna also ensures I'm not creating a hot bottleneck along that route.

The Hexbeam - I am incredibly happy with it. It does appear to have a proper 10dB gain to the front, and at least 7dB for a 90 degree wedge either side of front. Of course, much lower sensitivity to the side and rear but I do have a narrow high-gain line to the direct rear for some reason. SWR curves are all generally lower than 1.7:1 for the band width. I got a Hygain AR-500X rotator secondhand, and that sits on top of the push-up mast, sitting happily at 7m up and twisting the Hexbeam adequately. Pity there's no PC control possible with it without rolling my own driver and IR sending to the inner unit. The tripod width and the height of the mast are not the best for stability at that height, the configuration of the mast I am using can go to 9m but the assembly is a little bit "nervous" until I get the guys taut. Given that I have to have it as temporary so that it's not falling foul of planning, I don't have the alu mast set as well as I'd like, as the hexbeams do like their height. If one can run it at 14m up, it should be a very interesting DX antenna. Mine is begin fed with a 50m length of Ultraflex-7, and the 6m element I go for the hex has been used effectively over the past month or so..

The Aerial-51 807-HD can take 600W for most bands, (150W for 30m though) and is low enough SWR that it should not *need* the tuner but the tuner will be useful.

Right now, I've only got my 2m/70cm Yagi and the DXC up, I took everything down to perform some maintenance when it wasn't windy, and I'll put up the Hexbeam later in the week / next week, once I get further clarification on planning - that fight is not yet over..

In your case, instead of going long for 160, why not go up: https://www.spiderbeam.com/product_info.php?info=p337_160m%20Wire%20Vertical%20kit%20including%2018m%20fiberglass%20pole.html You appear to have the room and you don't have neighbours to complain about it overshadowing!

I got the DX 12m pole, and I hope in the next few weeks to be able to put it up as an 80m linear-loaded vertical, with a 60m and 30m element on it as well if needed. Just waiting for Callum to be able to move his location and get back to the R&D on it

The beauty of the valve rigs is that, well at least in the case of the Acom 1000, it can output the full 1Kw at up to 3:1 SWR can't do that with Solid state even with a tuner.

What's your QTH again ? what's the issue with planning ? problem with neighbours ?

Yeah I got room for antennas but I also have a mature garden I don't want to destroy, verticals are a pain, it would have to be in the middle of the back lawn with tonnes of radials. It would work in the bottom quarter of the garden but very sadly for me the 10 Kva power line makes this impossible. I would love a full size vertical for 80m but this power line really restricts me but a 20-30m tower would be ideal and do-a-ble but I've spent enough for now and enjoy using the EFHW-8010, it's a great antenna, I've had lots of DX fun with it. And I don't really have the time to justify investing on tower, optibeam, rotator, installation etc. It's a 5K or more investment.

Getting a suitable tower in Ireland is hard enough, ensuring it's built properly is equally difficult then getting someone to lay the foundation, base etc this is beyond my skill.

The power limits make no sense especially 10 watts on 160m. We're constantly being drowned out by high power stations with high gain beam antennas and lots of splatter from over driven amps and audio, not that I am wanting to cause splatter but 400 watts is a little on the low side.

I had a lot of fun with 100 watts but being shouted over by 1.5-2 Kw of power and big beam antennas gets old, these days, as soon as a DX station starts calling they can be easily seen on the waterfall, then they're up on DX cluster so within 5 mins there could be thousands of mega power stations calling, it kind of takes the good out of it if it's so easy.

Still, having the extra power is nice to have a QSO with someone over a noisy band or conditions might not be so good when you're talking to someone state side and the power really does help.

orm0nd

I've have an old ranger 811 here for years does what I need. Replaced the tubes with Taylor 811 s a good few years ago. It popped one of the tubes a few weeks back. Some bang and also blew the fuse on the power socket and tripped the internal trip

Dx shop recommended replacing with 572s but his prices for same are crazy.

RF parts don't have Taylor tubes in stock. They had them the time the amp blew but I couldn't get the amp to power up then.

For now I put back 1 of the original 811. Well down on power but tipping along.

Would like a new amp but cash flow and my interest in the hobby doesn't justify.

If I do come across a few euros some time I might price a om power. They seem to be getting good reviews but for now the ranger will have to do.

orm0nd

orm0nd wrote: »

I've have an old ranger 811 here for years does what I need. Replaced the tubes with Taylor 811 s a good few years ago. It popped one of the tubes a few weeks back. Some bang and also blew the fuse on the power socket and tripped the internal trip

Dx shop recommended replacing with 572s but his prices for same are crazy.

RF parts don't have Taylor tubes in stock. They had them the time the amp blew but I couldn't get the amp to power up then.

For now I put back 1 of the original 811. Well down on power but tipping along.

Would like a new amp but cash flow and my interest in the hobby doesn't justify.

If I do come across a few euros some time I might price a om power. They seem to be getting good reviews but for now the ranger will have to do.

Wow, those OM power amps sure are big power :eek:

If I were you I'd just fix up the old amp, maybe replace the caps as well.

Check out the Acom 1000 too, really fast to tune, built in attenuation so I don't have to turn the power down on the radio all the time to tune.

I love the Ameritron style amps but couldn't find one I wanted anywhere, I would have loved to have seen the valve glow you can't see with the Acom 1000 but I just love the look of the Ameritrons but the Acom 1000 is a really good amp and I've very happy with it.

Popoutman

Deleted User wrote: »

The beauty of the valve rigs is that, well at least in the case of the Acom 1000, it can output the full 1Kw at up to 3:1 SWR can't do that with Solid state even with a tuner.

Amplifier hopefully arrives tomorrow. According to the spec sheet, I should be able to use the full 1.3KW output with tuner up to ~3:1 antenna SWR. Above that SWR, alarms show and drive reduced, and that makes sense. Digital modes are recommended to use the mid-power range if working continually e.g. FM or RTTY, but I expected that - there are not many amps that are guaranteed to push 100% duty cycle at 100% rated power. I think that FT8 on the 1.3KFA V1 should be possible to use at full power though as it's ~40% duty cycle. Amps that I amaware of that can run 100/100 at rated output are the current SPE amplifiers (V2 - mine is a V1), most of the Acoms, iirc the OM with their 4KW output capability, the RF-Kit.de amp, and of course the Alpha amps were famous for the brick-on-the-key demos.

At least both of my main antennas are more than usable enough without ATU.

• DXC - <1.5:1 40/30/20/17/15/12/10/6 tuner for 60/80 and almost tunable on 160, and the antenna will take the full 1.5KW
• Hexbeam: <1.7 20/17/15/12/10/6 and will tune up on 30 and 40, almost tune on 80, no tune on 160 and this antenna will take the full 1.5 KW
• Aerial-51 807-HD no tuner needed for 80/40/20/17/15/12/10/6, tuner needed on 30 and 60. This antenna is 600W max though.
• The rest of the antennas I have/have built are ~100W and not in scope for the amp anyway.

Deleted User wrote: »

What's your QTH again ? what's the issue with planning ? problem with neighbours ?

Ugh. QTH is suburban Castletroy, rented house, one of the neighbours made a complaint to Planning about my temporary and portable antennas up on the lawn. A bit of investigation on my part very strongly suggests that a temporary antenna on a lawn is not subject to planning at all as it's not definable as a development under the 2000 Planning act - no works taking place for the erection, no concrete, no permanent installation, etc..
A wireless or TV antenna on a roof is defined as exempt as long as it's within 6m above the roofline, and a satellite dish on the grounds is exempt as long as it's under 1m and only one of them. The guys in planning have misread the guidelines for the planning and are trying to tell me that they do have the right to request planning for an antenna even though it is not a development under the Acts, and that while I would be exempt with one antenna that putting up a second antenna is in breach of the Planning Acts (without specifying what portion of the acts...)
My point to the Planning guys is that a) they have no right to request planning for something that is not defined as a development, and b) there's no specific call-out for a non-dish antenna on the house grounds, and that means that if temporary/portable there's no planning required when there's no works or development. I'll always comply with the law. but I will not be restricted if there's someone that is grossly mistaken in their opinion.
It's apparent as well that even if they did have the right to request planning, by the wording of their own publications there's no limitation on the number of roof antennas that can be put up - the limitation is only for number of dishes. I would expect this to be clarified the next time the Act is modified..

I know that my case is very much a corner case that is not accounted for within the guidelines and a very rare situation - but the planning office are not applying any semblance of common sense to the situation. It'll be really interesting if they do decide to make their opinion official in an actual decision, as I suspect the Bord won't uphold the opinion of Planning as the opinion contravenes other decisions made in the past as well as directly contravening the relevant Acts

My suspicion is that there's a curtain-twitcher in the neighbourhood that doesn't like anything new, and instead of being an adult, they're trying to appeal to authority and they will fail.

Popoutman

Popoutman wrote: »

Amplifier hopefully arrives tomorrow. According to the spec sheet, I should be able to use the full 1.3KW output with tuner up to ~3:1 antenna SWR. Above that SWR, alarms show and drive reduced, and that makes sense. Digital modes are recommended to use the mid-power range if working continually e.g. FM or RTTY, but I expected that - there are not many amps that are guaranteed to push 100% duty cycle at 100% rated power. I think that FT8 on the 1.3KFA V1 should be possible to use at full power though as it's ~40% duty cycle. Amps that I amaware of that can run 100/100 at rated output are the current SPE amplifiers (V2 - mine is a V1), most of the Acoms, iirc the OM with their 4KW output capability, the RF-Kit.de amp, and of course the Alpha amps were famous for the brick-on-the-key demos.

At least both of my main antennas are more than usable enough without ATU.

• DXC - <1.5:1 40/30/20/17/15/12/10/6 tuner for 60/80 and almost tunable on 160, and the antenna will take the full 1.5KW
• Hexbeam: <1.7 20/17/15/12/10/6 and will tune up on 30 and 40, almost tune on 80, no tune on 160 and this antenna will take the full 1.5 KW
• Aerial-51 807-HD no tuner needed for 80/40/20/17/15/12/10/6, tuner needed on 30 and 60. This antenna is 600W max though.
• The rest of the antennas I have/have built are ~100W and not in scope for the amp anyway.

Ugh. QTH is suburban Castletroy, rented house, one of the neighbours made a complaint to Planning about my temporary and portable antennas up on the lawn. A bit of investigation on my part very strongly suggests that a temporary antenna on a lawn is not subject to planning at all as it's not definable as a development under the 2000 Planning act - no works taking place for the erection, no concrete, no permanent installation, etc..
A wireless or TV antenna on a roof is defined as exempt as long as it's within 6m above the roofline, and a satellite dish on the grounds is exempt as long as it's under 1m and only one of them. The guys in planning have misread the guidelines for the planning and are trying to tell me that they do have the right to request planning for an antenna even though it is not a development under the Acts, and that while I would be exempt with one antenna that putting up a second antenna is in breach of the Planning Acts (without specifying what portion of the acts...)
My point to the Planning guys is that a) they have no right to request planning for something that is not defined as a development, and b) there's no specific call-out for a non-dish antenna on the house grounds, and that means that if temporary/portable there's no planning required when there's no works or development. I'll always comply with the law. but I will not be restricted if there's someone that is grossly mistaken in their opinion.
It's apparent as well that even if they did have the right to request planning, by the wording of their own publications there's no limitation on the number of roof antennas that can be put up - the limitation is only for number of dishes. I would expect this to be clarified the next time the Act is modified..

I know that my case is very much a corner case that is not accounted for within the guidelines and a very rare situation - but the planning office are not applying any semblance of common sense to the situation. It'll be really interesting if they do decide to make their opinion official in an actual decision, as I suspect the Bord won't uphold the opinion of Planning as the opinion contravenes other decisions made in the past as well as directly contravening the relevant Acts

My suspicion is that there's a curtain-twitcher in the neighbourhood that doesn't like anything new, and instead of being an adult, they're trying to appeal to authority and they will fail.

That's really good that amp can output full power at up to 3:1 SWR, I never heard of a solid state amp able to do this.

You know it's very strange but I think I heard you on one of the DMR TG was it the YSF bridge talking about this to someone ? sounds very familiar.

Yes, it's unfortunate but there are interfering gits that want to make life hard for everyone else just because they can and they are very sad but also very dangerous because they like to cause upset interfering in someone else's life making your business theirs.

You can get one of those hydraulic masts that can go up quite high, that would be really cool but expensive but so is a tower when you get it installed.

You know about RF so there's nothing better than an amplifier to highlight a less than perfect antenna system and /or poor grounding.

I'm very fortunate that my myantennas.com EFHW 8010 causes no stray RF except if I try to operate it on 160m which it will work but I wouldn't use it at more than 100 Watts at 10:1 SWR and I don't have a tuner capable of handling the Acom 1000 and I wouldn't pay 600 odd Euros for a tuner for only 160m which isn't going to help much because it's not designed for 160m it would be a lot better and cheaper just to buy another EFHW for 160m it does get out though @ 100 watts but for best performance I would need to remove the 49:1 UNUN and add a bunch of radials, but that's the beauty of the 49:1 antenna, you don't need radials, just the Coax on the resonant bands is all the counterpoise I need and as a result I have no requirement to have these mad earths going to the shack and I can't because the shack is in the attic and I risk the earth wire resonating causing more problems. I have the UNUN earthed and it did make a big difference to SWR, It's a very short Earth because the UNUN is only around 3 feet above ground where they are said to work best.

So with a good antenna system you should be fine and if not then earth but sometimes earth can cause more problems.

IF the neighbours hear you in their stereos or TV you could be in trouble, this could be just down to being too close to them.

The only Issue I had with RF is that it drove my old Samsung tv mad, turning it on and off, volume up and down and changing channels and it was driving the XYL insane but I later found out it was not the antenna or bad RF issues but the TV touch panel was hyper RF sensitive, I read about these issues on the internet so I gave the TV to my Mother and bought another without this touch sensitive panel.

IF your UNUN/Balun is getting too warm you'll see the SWR rising so keep an eye on that.

You're all set with the Hex and DXC for the amp the others you will be limited which is no real problem unless you want to use the wires for NVIS at high power so you can change the transformer or get one of the EFHW, antennas. Hyendfed.nl make great ones, expensive but very high quality, also the myantennas.com EFHW 8010 is great. Loads of companies make them but the quality of the UNUN makes a massive difference to performance, the transformer core materials are crucial so I recommend the hyendfed or myantennas.com.