New HAM First QSO

05-11-2019 11:11am

Shyboy wrote: »

Thanks Mad_Lad for the head's up. I know that you never know for sure what questions will come up so I am trying to get familiar with every aspect just in case.

Really want to pass so trying to put every spare hour or two into revision...

No bother, definitely concentrate on the band plans, know it inside out, beacon frequencies on each band also.

Rules, Regulations, know them all inside out and you can't go wrong, know the electrical end too because remember there are 2 sections and you have to get a pass in both. Don't focus too much on Resistors, Capacitors.

SWR, Antennas oh and definitely know the block diagrams of the receiver they will probably ask questions on this.

orm0nd · 05-11-2019 11:50am

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't get the FT8 and similar modes , what's the interest ?

horses for courses, just another branch of the hobby,

started on cb in the early 70's literally worked the world on 11 mts ssb , mostly mobile with 50w into a k40

always had a slight hearing difficulty and could never master cw, over the years my hearing loss has increased and I now struggle big time with voice, (having said that I'll try to give out a few point (very few I reckon but taking part is waht's it's all about) in the UKEI contest 2 moro night.

tried psk , rtty , fell. jt65 etc, etc, and now other than a couple of RY contests they don't appeal to me anymore,

I contest for fun and to try to improve my operating procedure,

had a better than I expected run last night . I had worked out a plan and it seemed to work ok, having said that I failed to work a couple of the longer distance stations , lesson learned there and need to work on aerial system (again this is only for my own achievment and keep upping my game)

good conditions on 30m this morn and plenty of ei activity working ja etc on ft8

sorry for a very long reply to a simple query , i know hams licensed for decades who never tx on air, instead they're into home brew, aerial design, and in later years software, so whatever tickles your fancy

enjoy the hobby , hopefully work some of you folk on air or on the waterfall soon, 73

05-11-2019 11:59am

orm0nd wrote: »

horses for courses, just another branch of the hobby,

started on cb in the early 70's literally worked the world on 11 mts ssb , mostly mobile with 50w into a k40

always had a slight hearing difficulty and could never master cw, over the years my hearing loss has increased and I now struggle big time with voice, (having said that I'll try to give out a few point (very few I reckon but taking part is waht's it's all about) in the UKEI contest 2 moro night.

tried psk , rtty , fell. jt65 etc, etc, and now other than a couple of RY contests they don't appeal to me anymore,

I contest for fun and to try to improve my operating procedure,

had a better than I expected run last night . I had worked out a plan and it seemed to work ok, having said that I failed to work a couple of the longer distance stations , lesson learned there and need to work on aerial system (again this is only for my own achievment and keep upping my game)

good conditions on 30m this morn and plenty of ei activity working ja etc on ft8

sorry for a very long reply to a simple query , i know hams licensed for decades who never tx on air, instead they're into home brew, aerial design, and in later years software, so whatever tickles your fancy

enjoy the hobby , hopefully work some of you folk on air or on the waterfall soon, 73

Thanks for the reply,

I guess being one who likes to talk to other people a lot I kind of fail to understand the attraction to some digital modes and when you said some hams never talk on air it reminded me of a ham friend of mine who doesn’t frequently talk on ESB he’s more of a tinkerer and experimenter, unfortunately I lack that level of time and commitment having to work shift and take care of two small boys when I’m off but I’m hoping to attract them to the hobby, my youngest is shown a keen interest , just messing about with the radio tuning and pressing buttons but he loves it.

So I suppose whatever keeps people in the hobby.

Shyboy · 14-11-2019 9:58pm

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

14-11-2019 10:26pm

Shyboy wrote: »

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

Don't let it torment you the next 2- 2.5 weeks, I felt the same , you did your best and that's all you can do.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

14-11-2019 10:37pm

orm0nd wrote: »

horses for courses, just another branch of the hobby,

started on cb in the early 70's literally worked the world on 11 mts ssb , mostly mobile with 50w into a k40

always had a slight hearing difficulty and could never master cw, over the years my hearing loss has increased and I now struggle big time with voice, (having said that I'll try to give out a few point (very few I reckon but taking part is waht's it's all about) in the UKEI contest 2 moro night.

tried psk , rtty , fell. jt65 etc, etc, and now other than a couple of RY contests they don't appeal to me anymore,

I contest for fun and to try to improve my operating procedure,

had a better than I expected run last night . I had worked out a plan and it seemed to work ok, having said that I failed to work a couple of the longer distance stations , lesson learned there and need to work on aerial system (again this is only for my own achievment and keep upping my game)

good conditions on 30m this morn and plenty of ei activity working ja etc on ft8

sorry for a very long reply to a simple query , i know hams licensed for decades who never tx on air, instead they're into home brew, aerial design, and in later years software, so whatever tickles your fancy

enjoy the hobby , hopefully work some of you folk on air or on the waterfall soon, 73

I had my first PSK31 contact a few days ago, I was happy, something different, I was slow and not used to the Macros but hey, everyone has to learn.

There is a massive amount of FT8 traffic which is disappointing for me who likes some form of Human contact but still a decent amount of activity compared to PSK31.

I'm using the Xiegu G90 which is a very good little 20 Watt SDR transceiver. I have used the IC-7300 but just want to keeps things separate for digital and 20 watts is enough.

I am getting a RC LiFeP04 battery 8.4 ah 4 S which should give me a good few hrs use, at full throttle the little 20 watt SDR radio consumes a little above 4 amps , that would be 2 hrs continuous use which doesn't happen so I am betting for 3-4 hrs use the same for 100 watt SSB, I can use this with my FT-891 100 watt rig also.

I was using a car battery and have a watt meter hooked up and 8 amp hrs can get me a good few hrs @100 watts so the little 1 Kg battery should keep me going for the same time.

I will use digital more in the sitting room for when I don't want to go up to the shack and I won't be disturbing the XYL and in my Mothers where the QRM can be bad from all the electrical noise.

For PSK31 I am using FLdigi and an old dell laptop, I got it installed on my chromebook which I intend to try out sometime next week, Chrome OS now allows you install linux apps which is dead handy.

SlowBlowin · 14-11-2019 11:32pm

Shyboy wrote: »

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

I will keep my fingers crossed for you, do let the thread know, its an annoying wait.

I remember sitting mine, we lived in the South of the UK at the time and my mum drove me to Matlock in Derby to take the test (it was the last minute venue for the UK). I was 14 at the time (in the 70s) and the results took months and like you I was positive I failed, by the time they came through (I passed) I had discovered girls, and it was 30 years later before I applied for my licence.

orm0nd · 14-11-2019 11:38pm

Shyboy wrote: »

So, I sat the exam this afternoon. It was the first exam of any description I have sat in about 25 years, so I was so bloody nervous over the last few days leading up to it.

I found the first section much easier than the second. I thought I would not remember the band plans, but surprisingly I answered any questions fairly confidently on them. Also, regulations, safety, etc. I found not too difficult. I thought they would be worse...

But....Section two was a different story for me. I am no way as confident with how I did here? I drew a blank at a fair few questions and had them narrowed down to a 50/50 choice between two answers, but there was certainly guesswork for about 50% of the questions. Even on the long drive home to Galway and recapping it all in my head, I realised that I picked wrong answers to a few...I could kick myself!! :mad:

So, all in all...I feel I may have scraped the 60% pass in the first section...but will be shocked if I have in the second one...:(

you done your best, hopefully you'll get through ok, fingers xx

Deleted User wrote: »

I had my first PSK31 contact a few days ago, I was happy, something different, I was slow and not used to the Macros but hey, everyone has to learn.

There is a massive amount of FT8 traffic which is disappointing for me who likes some form of Human contact but still a decent amount of activity compared to PSK31.

I'm using the Xiegu G90 which is a very good little 20 Watt SDR transceiver. I have used the IC-7300 but just want to keeps things separate for digital and 20 watts is enough.

I am getting a RC LiFeP04 battery 8.4 ah 4 S which should give me a good few hrs use, at full throttle the little 20 watt SDR radio consumes a little above 4 amps , that would be 2 hrs continuous use which doesn't happen so I am betting for 3-4 hrs use the same for 100 watt SSB, I can use this with my FT-891 100 watt rig also.

I was using a car battery and have a watt meter hooked up and 8 amp hrs can get me a good few hrs @100 watts so the little 1 Kg battery should keep me going for the same time.

I will use digital more in the sitting room for when I don't want to go up to the shack and I won't be disturbing the XYL and in my Mothers where the QRM can be bad from all the electrical noise.

For PSK31 I am using FLdigi and an old dell laptop, I got it installed on my chromebook which I intend to try out sometime next week, Chrome OS now allows you install linux apps which is dead handy.

a lot of activity on ft8 alright, I done a lot of psk years ago when the kids were young and either studying or gone to bed as the shack is indoors.

have a problem here I can't get to the root of,
the waterfall screen on Flidgi or MMVARI is almost completely dark with only a slight flicker from the strongest signals, on all modes, yet wsjt-x seems to work ok with the same hookup/settings , decoding signals fine but to find them is the problem

using a microham usb2 interface , all levels are up the max, and tried 2 different laptops , swapped leads, sound cards etc, all radio settings double checked , and reinstalled the interface router

I run the MMVARI engine with N1MM logger and the issue arose during the rsgb data contest, a few evenings back ,

any how we'll sort it eventually (hopefully) though not much help on google etc,

15-11-2019 12:39am

orm0nd wrote: »

a lot of activity on ft8 alright, I done a lot of psk years ago when the kids were young and either studying or gone to bed as the shack is indoors.

have a problem here I can't get to the root of,
the waterfall screen on Flidgi or MMVARI is almost completely dark with only a slight flicker from the strongest signals, on all modes, yet wsjt-x seems to work ok with the same hookup/settings , decoding signals fine but to find them is the problem

using a microham usb2 interface , all levels are up the max, and tried 2 different laptops , swapped leads, sound cards etc, all radio settings double checked , and reinstalled the interface router

I run the MMVARI engine with N1MM logger and the issue arose during the rsgb data contest, a few evenings back ,

any how we'll sort it eventually (hopefully) though not much help on google etc,

Sounds like audio levels , strange if it was working.

You didn't by any chance turn the sensitivity of the waterfall down ? try turn it up. Maybe your interface is bust ?

Shyboy · 15-11-2019 9:35am

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't let it torment you the next 2- 2.5 weeks, I felt the same , you did your best and that's all you can do.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Thanks Mad_Lad. I am a bit of a perfectionist at heart, so I do beat myself up a bit when I feel that I have slipped up on things I should have known?

Anyway, the worst that can happen is that I take it again next May. At least, I know the format and know the topics that I need to concentrate a little more on.

I will keep you posted.

Shyboy · 15-11-2019 9:38am

SlowBlowin wrote: »

I will keep my fingers crossed for you, do let the thread know, its an annoying wait.

I remember sitting mine, we lived in the South of the UK at the time and my mum drove me to Matlock in Derby to take the test (it was the last minute venue for the UK). I was 14 at the time (in the 70s) and the results took months and like you I was positive I failed, by the time they came through (I passed) I had discovered girls, and it was 30 years later before I applied for my licence.

Thanks SlowBlowin. I can only imagine how hard the full test in the UK was back then? And you were only 14?? :eek:

Girls v Radio...there was only going to be one winner back then...:P

SlowBlowin · 15-11-2019 12:41pm

Shyboy wrote: »

I can only imagine how hard the full test in the UK was back then? And you were only 14?? :eek:

The exam was 3 hours long in the this big hall at the main post office, no multi choice, heres the paper I sat (the power of the internet):

http://www.g4dmp.co.uk/rae/rae1976m.pdf

It was a City and Guilds qualification. Then there was morse code too, but that was another place and another day.

Edit: No calculators, only pen and paper.

Shyboy · 15-11-2019 7:54pm

SlowBlowin wrote: »

The exam was 3 hours long in the this big hall at the main post office, no multi choice, heres the paper I sat (the power of the internet):

http://www.g4dmp.co.uk/rae/rae1976m.pdf

It was a City and Guilds qualification. Then there was morse code too, but that was another place and another day.

Edit: No calculators, only pen and paper.

Thank God that wasn't the test I did yesterday. I think I would have given up..:eek:

Shyboy · 20-11-2019 1:59pm

I received the Comreg Elicencing email this morning to say that an account has been set up for me. I believe this is the first step from Comreg.

Are you informed by Comreg of the results by separate email or are you informed via the Elicencing account?

I know it is less than a week since the test, so was not expecting to hear a thing at all this week?

20-11-2019 2:12pm

Shyboy wrote: »

I received the Comreg Elicencing email this morning to say that an account has been set up for me. I believe this is the first step from Comreg.

Are you informed by Comreg of the results by separate email or are you informed via the Elicencing account?

I know it is less than a week since the test, so was not expecting to hear a thing at all this week?

You have to keep check in your Comreg account, this is where you will see the information.

Will be any day now. That's actually fast. If I remember correctly once my account was set up I had my license that night.

Once I applied for the EI I got it 30 mins later.

Best of luck !

Shyboy · 20-11-2019 2:25pm

Deleted User wrote: »

You have to keep check in your Comreg account, this is where you will see the information.

Will be any day now. That's actually fast. If I remember correctly once my account was set up I had my license that night.

Once I applied for the EI I got it 30 mins later.

Best of luck !

Thanks Mad_Lad. Yes, I was thinking it is fast to have the elicencing account already.

I did log in and look under qualifications, and it says none as yet, so will keep an eye on it over the next few days. I am really not confident that I have passed, but at least knowing one way or another will be great.

20-11-2019 3:23pm

Shyboy wrote: »

Thanks Mad_Lad. Yes, I was thinking it is fast to have the elicencing account already.

I did log in and look under qualifications, and it says none as yet, so will keep an eye on it over the next few days. I am really not confident that I have passed, but at least knowing one way or another will be great.

I was doubtful too but I passed so stay positive

Once the account is set up it it shouldn't be long. So look again tonight, it was evening when I got the results.

Shyboy · 20-11-2019 10:11pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I was doubtful too but I passed so stay positive

Once the account is set up it it shouldn't be long. So look again tonight, it was evening when I got the results.

Well...after checking a number of times this evening, I received my results...

And I am SHOCKED and DELIGHTED in equal measures...

Section A: 80%
Section B: 60%

I have Passed!!! :eek::D

Cannot believe I scraped Section B literally on the line...got 18/30...

I am stunned but over the moon!!

I applied for my licence via the online account and got my EI 30 mins later.

I was so convinced that I had not passed, I did not go out and buy any gear as yet, apart from a 2m handheld that won't pick up too much here in Co. Galway. We did have a local repeater, but it was switched from Analogue to DMR a few months ago.

Can't wait until I get some proper kit and make some contacts.

SlowBlowin · 20-11-2019 10:22pm

Fan, fecking, tastic !!!!

Congrats.....

Still going to get first QSO nerves tough.....

Shyboy · 20-11-2019 10:28pm

SlowBlowin wrote: »

Fan, fecking, tastic !!!!

Congrats.....

Still going to get first QSO nerves tough.....

Thanks SlowBlowin, still in shock to be honest. I really thought I had failed section B and had estimated a result of about 50% if I was lucky.

The first QSO nerves have already kicked in a bit, but mixed with lots of excitement too.

21-11-2019 9:35am

Shyboy wrote: »

Well...after checking a number of times this evening, I received my results...

And I am SHOCKED and DELIGHTED in equal measures...

Section A: 80%
Section B: 60%

I have Passed!!! :eek::D

Cannot believe I scraped Section B literally on the line...got 18/30...

I am stunned but over the moon!!

I applied for my licence via the online account and got my EI 30 mins later.

I was so convinced that I had not passed, I did not go out and buy any gear as yet, apart from a 2m handheld that won't pick up too much here in Co. Galway. We did have a local repeater, but it was switched from Analogue to DMR a few months ago.

Can't wait until I get some proper kit and make some contacts.

Well done, delighted !

yes the whole process is quick once you get the registration email and I also had the EI 30 mins later.

Have you got in mind what kit you want to get ? I spent way too much this year already.

If you have the space I highly recommend the myantennas.com EFHW-8010, it's 40 meters long but I get great results with it, doesn't need radials and is not inefficient like a normal end fed with 9:1.

Definitely a great antenna to get started with.

Radio ? Anything really, If you have the money the IC-7300 is a good radio you could have for many years.

The Yaesu FT-450 is another good one.

The 20 watt Xiegu G90 is a great little SDR Radio you can get for 450 Euro's from Sinotel.co.uk

The Yaesu FT-891 is a great little Portable 100 Watt radio with great noise reduction better than the IC-7300, can get it cheap enough 2nd hand.

So many options can spend large or not.

I felt like an idiot making my first QSO and most People are just fine once you tell them you just got your license, they're be happy to hear a new ham for sure.

Oh , I forgot, if your garden is tight, you can get a 5 band EFHW from hyendcompany.nl it's 20 meters long, covers 80,40,20,15 and 10 Meters but with tuner I got it to work 160 m and 17 M and I was surprised how well it works on 160m ( it's 20 meters long lol ), was talking to guy the other day in Canada with 20 watts.

So many options, be interested to hear what you are interested in getting.

orm0nd · 21-11-2019 6:13pm

Shyboy wrote: »

Well...after checking a number of times this evening, I received my results...

And I am SHOCKED and DELIGHTED in equal measures...

Section A: 80%
Section B: 60%

I have Passed!!! :eek::D

Cannot believe I scraped Section B literally on the line...got 18/30...

I am stunned but over the moon!!

I applied for my licence via the online account and got my EI 30 mins later.

I was so convinced that I had not passed, I did not go out and buy any gear as yet, apart from a 2m handheld that won't pick up too much here in Co. Galway. We did have a local repeater, but it was switched from Analogue to DMR a few months ago.

Can't wait until I get some proper kit and make some contacts.

Deleted User wrote: »

Well done, delighted !

yes the whole process is quick once you get the registration email and I also had the EI 30 mins later.

Have you got in mind what kit you want to get ? I spent way too much this year already.

If you have the space I highly recommend the myantennas.com EFHW-8010, it's 40 meters long but I get great results with it, doesn't need radials and is not inefficient like a normal end fed with 9:1.

Definitely a great antenna to get started with.

Radio ? Anything really, If you have the money the IC-7300 is a good radio you could have for many years.

The Yaesu FT-450 is another good one.

The 20 watt Xiegu G90 is a great little SDR Radio you can get for 450 Euro's from Sinotel.co.uk

The Yaesu FT-891 is a great little Portable 100 Watt radio with great noise reduction better than the IC-7300, can get it cheap enough 2nd hand.

So many options can spend large or not.

I felt like an idiot making my first QSO and most People are just fine once you tell them you just got your license, they're be happy to hear a new ham for sure.

Oh , I forgot, if your garden is tight, you can get a 5 band EFHW from hyendcompany.nl it's 20 meters long, covers 80,40,20,15 and 10 Meters but with tuner I got it to work 160 m and 17 M and I was surprised how well it works on 160m ( it's 20 meters long lol ), was talking to guy the other day in Canada with 20 watts.

So many options, be interested to hear what you are interested in getting.

Congrats Shyboy & welcome to the mad world community of ham radio ,

some good advise ^ , & I'm sure you know about https://www.eham.net/reviews/ if you want to check out before buying,

https://ukantennas.co.uk/?v=d60f753e9835 are another good source for aerials but maybe you consider the home brew route ,

Enjoy the hobby and well done once again , 73

21-11-2019 7:50pm

orm0nd wrote: »

Congrats Shyboy & welcome to the mad world community of ham radio ,

some good advise ^ , & I'm sure you know about https://www.eham.net/reviews/ if you want to check out before buying,

https://ukantennas.co.uk/?v=d60f753e9835 are another good source for aerials but maybe you consider the home brew route ,

Enjoy the hobby and well done once again , 73

They look like the same as the myantennas.com and hyendcompany antennas, they use the 49:1 Unun that seems to be the magic with these antennas and of course the core materials of the ferrites.

Thanks for the link to ukantennas, definitely extremely attractive prices for sure ! I'll bookmark that.

https://ukantennas.co.uk/product/multi-band-end-fed-antenna-with-mounting-bracket-80-40-20-17-15-12-10m/?v=79cba1185463#reviews

IF shyboy has the space, 40 meters, then I'd highly recommend the antenna in the link above. These end feds with 49:1 just work very well indeed, the my antennas.com reviews, the reviews on hyendcompany site and of corse eham itself are all extremely positive and of course my own reviews

Homebrew is always good if the time is available.

If space is a limiting factor then I highly recommend the hyendcompany MK III 5 band 80-40-20-15-10 M Antenna, 20 meters long but adds 80 Meters and I got it to work 160m and 17.

https://www.hyendcompany.nl/antenna/multiband_8040201510m/product/detail/3/HyEndFed_5_Band_Black_Clamp_MK3/ready#form

So much fun haha

Shyboy · 21-11-2019 9:37pm

Deleted User wrote: »

They look like the same as the myantennas.com and hyendcompany antennas, they use the 49:1 Unun that seems to be the magic with these antennas and of course the core materials of the ferrites.

Thanks for the link to ukantennas, definitely extremely attractive prices for sure ! I'll bookmark that.

https://ukantennas.co.uk/product/multi-band-end-fed-antenna-with-mounting-bracket-80-40-20-17-15-12-10m/?v=79cba1185463#reviews

IF shyboy has the space, 40 meters, then I'd highly recommend the antenna in the link above. These end feds with 49:1 just work very well indeed, the my antennas.com reviews, the reviews on hyendcompany site and of corse eham itself are all extremely positive and of course my own reviews

Homebrew is always good if the time is available.

If space is a limiting factor then I highly recommend the hyendcompany MK III 5 band 80-40-20-15-10 M Antenna, 20 meters long but adds 80 Meters and I got it to work 160m and 17.

https://www.hyendcompany.nl/antenna/multiband_8040201510m/product/detail/3/HyEndFed_5_Band_Black_Clamp_MK3/ready#form

So much fun haha

Thanks Mad_Lad & orm0nd. As I was genuinely not expecting to pass this time, apart from a Yaesu FT-65E 2m/70cm handheld I picked up a few months back, I haven't got any proper kit as yet?

Unfortunately, here in Co. Galway, there isn't too much going on 2m or 70cm analogue. We did have a local repeater, but it was converted to DMR only a few months back, so can't use that. There is anther repeater in Galway City, so I will either have to put up a vhf base antenna or bring the handheld into the city to see if I can do a first QSO?

But my plan is definitely to get a HF rig. As Xmas is coming up, being allowed by "her indoors" to spend big money will not go down very well, so might have to wait until early Jan to sweeten the deal.

Thanks so much, guys for the info on rigs and antennas. I will certainly have a look through all this stuff over the next few days and let you know how I get on. Maybe even have a QSO with you both at some point in the near future when I am up and running properly

21-11-2019 10:04pm

Yeah have to keep the XYL happy and yes, it's coming close to Christmas, not hard to forget considering how fast the time goes....

There's so many options and you don't have to start out with expensive kit.

I just had a PSK31 QSo with a chap in Serbia, "YT1DL" 20 watts with the Xiegu G90 and the hyendfed 20 meter long EFHW in the sitting room while watching the news , digital is great sometimes when you're in the sitting room with the XYL.

Shyboy, when you get sorted create a new thread, it will be interesting to see your thread and shack evolve.

Hope to hear you on the bands soon.

15-03-2020 3:40pm

Shyboy, hows it going with the Radio ? are you on much, antenna, your setup ? Curious lol, most of all are you having fun ?

I was expecting an update by now lol

Shyboy · 16-03-2020 4:55pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Shyboy, hows it going with the Radio ? are you on much, antenna, your setup ? Curious lol, most of all are you having fun ?

I was expecting an update by now lol

Hi Mad_Lad,

Apologies that I have not posted for so long. To be honest, the last few months have flown and between one thing and another, I kept on saying "I'll do it next week" (story of my life!!)

Since I last posted back in November, I have been busy, on and off, setting up my shack. I only had my Yaesu FT65E 2m/70cm handheld back then, which was fairly useless as I was too far from the nearest analogue repeater here in Galway.

So, I knew I needed something more powerful. I bought a Yaesu FT8800E 2m/70cm rig, a power supply and a Diamond X-50 antenna and mounted it a few feet above the roof, and wow, I got my first QSO 50 miles away. I also could not only hit the repeater in Galway, but also Mayo and Tipperary. These repeaters are very quiet though, especially Galway which seems dead most of the time.

After Christmas, I decided to dip my toe into DMR, as I am only a few miles from an ex-analogue repeater which has recently been converted to DMR, so I bought an Anytone UV868 handheld. I have only had a couple of QSO's on DMR, but must sit down and play with it more.

My ultimate goal was always the HF set-up, so last month I bought a Yaesu FT450D, and a UK Antennas End Fed Antenna for 40/20/15/10M. I did want the 40m length version for more bands, but did not have the space. I mounted this antenna, with the help of my brother, a few feet above the house, end to end.

I love HF and have had lots of QSO's on 20m and 40m over the past few weeks, Finland being the furthest. I cannot seem to make any contacts further afield at the moment, maybe I will when propagation improves?

Also, this antenna is not supposed to work on 80m, but with the internal tuner on the FT450D, I have got it to work fine.

One thing I have noticed is that I am getting quite a bit of noise on the 40m band, probably interference from something either within my house, or locally but it does not affect any other bands? I am currently trying to source where the noise is coming from...

With the current situation which seems to be escalating daily, we may be using our radios more than we anticipated, especially in the event of a full-on lockdown.

17-03-2020 2:35am

Shyboy wrote: »

Hi Mad_Lad,

Apologies that I have not posted for so long. To be honest, the last few months have flown and between one thing and another, I kept on saying "I'll do it next week" (story of my life!!)

Since I last posted back in November, I have been busy, on and off, setting up my shack. I only had my Yaesu FT65E 2m/70cm handheld back then, which was fairly useless as I was too far from the nearest analogue repeater here in Galway.

So, I knew I needed something more powerful. I bought a Yaesu FT8800E 2m/70cm rig, a power supply and a Diamond X-50 antenna and mounted it a few feet above the roof, and wow, I got my first QSO 50 miles away. I also could not only hit the repeater in Galway, but also Mayo and Tipperary. These repeaters are very quiet though, especially Galway which seems dead most of the time.

After Christmas, I decided to dip my toe into DMR, as I am only a few miles from an ex-analogue repeater which has recently been converted to DMR, so I bought an Anytone UV868 handheld. I have only had a couple of QSO's on DMR, but must sit down and play with it more.

My ultimate goal was always the HF set-up, so last month I bought a Yaesu FT450D, and a UK Antennas End Fed Antenna for 40/20/15/10M. I did want the 40m length version for more bands, but did not have the space. I mounted this antenna, with the help of my brother, a few feet above the house, end to end.

I love HF and have had lots of QSO's on 20m and 40m over the past few weeks, Finland being the furthest. I cannot seem to make any contacts further afield at the moment, maybe I will when propagation improves?

Also, this antenna is not supposed to work on 80m, but with the internal tuner on the FT450D, I have got it to work fine.

One thing I have noticed is that I am getting quite a bit of noise on the 40m band, probably interference from something either within my house, or locally but it does not affect any other bands? I am currently trying to source where the noise is coming from...

With the current situation which seems to be escalating daily, we may be using our radios more than we anticipated, especially in the event of a full-on lockdown.

Well at least you're making contacts that's the main thing.

The U.K antennas antennas are good they get good reports, get it up high as you can.

My 2nd antenna is the hyendfed.nl 5 band MK III I got from another HAM who didn't want it and I swapped my SDR Play. it's 20 meters long but has a coil for 80M and I need a tuner above 3650 Khz, I could shorten it to be more resonant at around 3700 Khz but I'm not bothered, the radio tuner sorts that out. But the coil would work better than using a tuner on a band that is not resonant. I use the hyendfed antenna for Shortwave Listening and transmitting, I have it hooked up in the sitting room.

Make sure you got a good ground on the coax or at the UNUN.

With this antenna and tuner of the Xiegu G90 I can even work 160M I was astonished, a 20 meter long antenna working on a band that you need a 80 meter antenna, granted not as efficient by a long shot but I got decent reports on it all the same in the U.K.

I like the 450D it's a nice looking radio. You should get years of use from it.

You should be able to make contacts to North America with that antenna with ease.

With my EFHW from hyendcompany.nl I can make contacts to the US and Canada with 20 watts using the Xiegu G90.

I haven't any radios capable of VHF/UHF/DRM I haven't used any repeaters yet.

We should arrange a QSO some night.

Shyboy · 17-03-2020 10:46pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Well at least you're making contacts that's the main thing.

The U.K antennas antennas are good they get good reports, get it up high as you can.

My 2nd antenna is the hyendfed.nl 5 band MK III I got from another HAM who didn't want it and I swapped my SDR Play. it's 20 meters long but has a coil for 80M and I need a tuner above 3650 Khz, I could shorten it to be more resonant at around 3700 Khz but I'm not bothered, the radio tuner sorts that out. But the coil would work better than using a tuner on a band that is not resonant. I use the hyendfed antenna for Shortwave Listening and transmitting, I have it hooked up in the sitting room.

Make sure you got a good ground on the coax or at the UNUN.

With this antenna and tuner of the Xiegu G90 I can even work 160M I was astonished, a 20 meter long antenna working on a band that you need a 80 meter antenna, granted not as efficient by a long shot but I got decent reports on it all the same in the U.K.

I like the 450D it's a nice looking radio. You should get years of use from it.

You should be able to make contacts to North America with that antenna with ease.

With my EFHW from hyendcompany.nl I can make contacts to the US and Canada with 20 watts using the Xiegu G90.

I haven't any radios capable of VHF/UHF/DRM I haven't used any repeaters yet.

We should arrange a QSO some night.

Hmm, that might be my problem with noise?....I don't have any earth attached to the antenna. To be honest, I didn't realise that it was essential? That shows you how little I still know? Is it easy enough to earth?

Yeah, it would be great to have a QSO one evening that suits you. Just give me a time and frequency?...maybe Friday evening if that suits?

18-03-2020 12:08am

Shyboy wrote: »

Hmm, that might be my problem with noise?....I don't have any earth attached to the antenna. To be honest, I didn't realise that it was essential? That shows you how little I still know? Is it easy enough to earth?

Yes grounding the Coax is essential, this reduces static on the antenna and helps prevent it getting to your radio which could also damage it.

Usually there is a ground point at the UNUN ( the transformer box your coax connects to ) but this needs to be pretty close to the ground, the Ground wire should be as short as possible. In my case my hyendfed EFHW is up around 40-50 feet at the high point down to about 30 foot on a pole on the chimney then I have the coax grounded before it enters the sitting room.

My other antenna is the myantennas.com EFHW 8010, 134 feet long or 40 meters. This is going to the shack, The UNUN box is about 3 feet off the ground and I have it grounded there and not the coax but it would be no harm to also ground the coax.

The myantennas.com EFHW 8010 starts about 3 feet off the ground, UNUN box there, then around 90 degree angle to a height of about 40 feet in a North/South direction then it turns East to the highest point of about 50-60 feet. Height helps a lot particularly at lower frequencies and the antenna should be around 1 quarter wavelength above ground which is impractical for most on say 160 and 80 meters. So on 80 meters the antenna should be around 20 meters high and on 160 meters it should be 40 meters high.

I get good DX to Central and South America on the myantennas.com antenna, I'm usually on at the right times for there and U.S/Canada is no issue mostly.

So definitely ground that antenna, ground the UNUN or Coax before it enters the shack.

What way is your antenna mounted? and how high is the UNUN off the ground ? and the highest point ?

I'm a big fan of those multiband EFHW with 49@1 UNUN they work great.

Shyboy wrote: »

Yeah, it would be great to have a QSO one evening that suits you. Just give me a time and frequency?...maybe Friday evening if that suits?

For now Friday works but PM me before, around 21:00 should work for me, it would have to be 80 meters.

Shyboy · 20-03-2020 3:15pm

Sorry Mad_Lad, no more than everyone else, it is a bit crazy at the moment, workwise and family-wise, so I have not been able to reply as quickly as usual.

I have the antenna mounted above the house running end to end, with two metal poles/brackets holding it a few feet above the roof, but it is horizontally level so the transformer/unun is very high up, will this make it more difficult to ground?

I have attached a few photos to give you an idea. You can also see the Diamond X-50 and a small airband antenna mounted side by side on another pole.

There is really is not very much on 2m analogue at the moment and I am kinda finding DMR a little hard to get used to...it is just "different" although I should play around with it a bit more.

I know I took ages to get back to you here, so you might be too busy for the QSO this evening, but any other time you are available should be fine for me. I have managed to get 80m working, but not sure how efficiently? Maybe this would be a good test...

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes grounding the Coax is essential, this reduces static on the antenna and helps prevent it getting to your radio which could also damage it.

Usually there is a ground point at the UNUN ( the transformer box your coax connects to ) but this needs to be pretty close to the ground, the Ground wire should be as short as possible. In my case my hyendfed EFHW is up around 40-50 feet at the high point down to about 30 foot on a pole on the chimney then I have the coax grounded before it enters the sitting room.

My other antenna is the myantennas.com EFHW 8010, 134 feet long or 40 meters. This is going to the shack, The UNUN box is about 3 feet off the ground and I have it grounded there and not the coax but it would be no harm to also ground the coax.

The myantennas.com EFHW 8010 starts about 3 feet off the ground, UNUN box there, then around 90 degree angle to a height of about 40 feet in a North/South direction then it turns East to the highest point of about 50-60 feet. Height helps a lot particularly at lower frequencies and the antenna should be around 1 quarter wavelength above ground which is impractical for most on say 160 and 80 meters. So on 80 meters the antenna should be around 20 meters high and on 160 meters it should be 40 meters high.

I get good DX to Central and South America on the myantennas.com antenna, I'm usually on at the right times for there and U.S/Canada is no issue mostly.

So definitely ground that antenna, ground the UNUN or Coax before it enters the shack.

What way is your antenna mounted? and how high is the UNUN off the ground ? and the highest point ?

I'm a big fan of those multiband EFHW with 49@1 UNUN they work great.

For now Friday works but PM me before, around 21:00 should work for me, it would have to be 80 meters.

20-03-2020 6:25pm

Shyboy wrote: »

Sorry Mad_Lad, no more than everyone else, it is a bit crazy at the moment, workwise and family-wise, so I have not been able to reply as quickly as usual.

I have the antenna mounted above the house running end to end, with two metal poles/brackets holding it a few feet above the roof, but it is horizontally level so the transformer/unun is very high up, will this make it more difficult to ground?

I have attached a few photos to give you an idea. You can also see the Diamond X-50 and a small airband antenna mounted side by side on another pole.

There is really is not very much on 2m analogue at the moment and I am kinda finding DMR a little hard to get used to...it is just "different" although I should play around with it a bit more.

I know I took ages to get back to you here, so you might be too busy for the QSO this evening, but any other time you are available should be fine for me. I have managed to get 80m working, but not sure how efficiently? Maybe this would be a good test...

Install looks good, no you won't be able to ground the UNUN, it's too high, Ground should be as short as possible.

You really need a good ground and in the pics below is a good way of doing it, they show lightning protectors, you can install these too if you wish.

Did you say earlier that you hadn't more space for a longer antenna ?

If that's the case you can try at some point the hyendfed.nl 5 band MK III, it has a coil for 80m still not perfect but at least it's resonant on 80m and it would be more efficient than trying to use an antenna not resonant nor near resonant on 80m. It's 20 meters long too so getting on 80 m with a 20 meter long "resonant" antenna is really great. I have used it on other non resonant bands too with a tuner.

What tuner are you using for your antenna on 80m ?

This is the one I have, it was given to me as part of a swap with another ham.

https://www.hyendcompany.nl/antenna/multiband_8040201510m/product/detail/3/HyEndFed_5_Band_Black_Clamp_MK3#prod

It works very well and I have this wired to the sitting room, bandwidth is narrow on 80m but the radio tuner sorts that out, mine has a low SWR up to about 3650 Khz above this I need a tuner, I could take it down to shorten it for lower SWR above 3650 or somewhere in between but it works fine for now, maybe if one of the ropes break up the tree I will shorten it then.

Yes we can try QSO tonight or tomorrow, 80m will be packed but we can give it a go. And if your tuner is an external one we can even try 160m.

I can get my 20 meter long hyendfed antenna to work 80m with my 20 watt Xiegu G90 and got good reports into the U.K. I was very surprised actually, when I said "break" and they said "the break station go ahead please" I wasn't expecting a reply at all on 160 Meters. It's a good band if 80 is crowded.

PM me , I can get on around 9pm+ we can find a freq and pm here and try out 160 m too. I can get on 160 no problem with my 40 meter long EFHW from myantennas.com, I need an external tuner but it works. See if you can tune up on 1980 Khz. 160M would actually be better, less competition for space than on 80m

Shyboy · 21-03-2020 11:46am

Hi Mad_Lad,

Sorry again, didn't get near anything last night as my wife is now in bed with flu-like symptoms, so for obvious reasons, I am keeping an eye on her, plus kids, etc.

No, I didn't have any room for anything longer than the 20m length antenna that I bought. It would have made it difficult to mount it at that length and there was no way I was going to be allowed to run it into the garden

I only use the built-in tuner in the FT450D, which does tune it to 80m, but I have tried 160m, and it gives the message of High-SWR so I'm afraid that it is a step too far...

I do like those lightning arresters/mounts in the photos that you sent. I am a little confused? So, it earthing it for lightning separate to earthing it for noise, etc?

As long as my wife is ok here, I still maybe able to get online after 9.00pm this evening. I will PM you and if that suits you too, we will pick a frequency.

Thanks so much for the help and advice. I still have so much to learn about the hobby.

Deleted User wrote: »

Install looks good, no you won't be able to ground the UNUN, it's too high, Ground should be as short as possible.

You really need a good ground and in the pics below is a good way of doing it, they show lightning protectors, you can install these too if you wish.

Did you say earlier that you hadn't more space for a longer antenna ?

If that's the case you can try at some point the hyendfed.nl 5 band MK III, it has a coil for 80m still not perfect but at least it's resonant on 80m and it would be more efficient than trying to use an antenna not resonant nor near resonant on 80m. It's 20 meters long too so getting on 80 m with a 20 meter long "resonant" antenna is really great. I have used it on other non resonant bands too with a tuner.

What tuner are you using for your antenna on 80m ?

This is the one I have, it was given to me as part of a swap with another ham.

https://www.hyendcompany.nl/antenna/multiband_8040201510m/product/detail/3/HyEndFed_5_Band_Black_Clamp_MK3#prod

It works very well and I have this wired to the sitting room, bandwidth is narrow on 80m but the radio tuner sorts that out, mine has a low SWR up to about 3650 Khz above this I need a tuner, I could take it down to shorten it for lower SWR above 3650 or somewhere in between but it works fine for now, maybe if one of the ropes break up the tree I will shorten it then.

Yes we can try QSO tonight or tomorrow, 80m will be packed but we can give it a go. And if your tuner is an external one we can even try 160m.

I can get my 20 meter long hyendfed antenna to work 80m with my 20 watt Xiegu G90 and got good reports into the U.K. I was very surprised actually, when I said "break" and they said "the break station go ahead please" I wasn't expecting a reply at all on 160 Meters. It's a good band if 80 is crowded.

PM me , I can get on around 9pm+ we can find a freq and pm here and try out 160 m too. I can get on 160 no problem with my 40 meter long EFHW from myantennas.com, I need an external tuner but it works. See if you can tune up on 1980 Khz. 160M would actually be better, less competition for space than on 80m

21-03-2020 1:14pm

Shyboy wrote: »

Hi Mad_Lad,

Sorry again, didn't get near anything last night as my wife is now in bed with flu-like symptoms, so for obvious reasons, I am keeping an eye on her, plus kids, etc.

No, I didn't have any room for anything longer than the 20m length antenna that I bought. It would have made it difficult to mount it at that length and there was no way I was going to be allowed to run it into the garden

I only use the built-in tuner in the FT450D, which does tune it to 80m, but I have tried 160m, and it gives the message of High-SWR so I'm afraid that it is a step too far...

I do like those lightning arresters/mounts in the photos that you sent. I am a little confused? So, it earthing it for lightning separate to earthing it for noise, etc?

As long as my wife is ok here, I still maybe able to get online after 9.00pm this evening. I will PM you and if that suits you too, we will pick a frequency.

Thanks so much for the help and advice. I still have so much to learn about the hobby.

No bother, I will have my licence a year in May so I have more to learn.

Grounding protects against static which can damage your radio and cause a lot more noise. It also helps to minimise the amount of RF that gets into the shack, though, with a proper resonant antenna this shouldn't happen. With the EFHW and 49:1 UNUN, they work very well on the resonant bands they were designed to work on and don't allow any measurable RF back in the shack however, when you use them on non resonant bands, for instance, 80m on your antenna then the UNUN does not work very well and is more inefficient and can allow the coax to radiate, causing RF in the shack, solution to this would be to add a radial or two 20 meters long at the ground point but, you would need to eliminate the UNUN and this would be a pain in the ass every time you want to work 80m more efficiently so if using the tuner works well then I would just go with that for now, later on you could try the hyendfed.nl 5 Band MK III with the could for 80m, more expensive but would work better on 80m and is 23 meters long around the same size as yours now or a tad longer Or you could make your own antenna for 80m, A Dipole or Double Bazooka works good too, the Double Bazooka is a single band antenna. You could get one here, it's a long antenna and due to the thickness of the wire it won't be so stealthy looking and use your existing antenna for the other bands. Or get one of the hyendfed.nl 8 band antennas which you can select to be resonant on the CW or Phone portion of 80M which would be convenient and all one antenna.

https://wireantennas.co.uk/double_bazooka.html

Symptoms of RF in the shack would be computer speakers buzzing or hearing yourself in the speakers, it can cause touch lamps to turn up and down, on and off, cause televisions to switch on and off, change channels, this happened to me to an old Samsung LCD tv that had one of those poxy touch panels, no physical buttons and this was not RF shielded so I gave it to my Mother and bought an LG without these touch panels. I have air filters in 2 of the bedrooms that have touch panels and when I work 160M it drives them nuts so I plug them out. But once I work on the resonant bands all is good, now if I could have a better ground in the shack this might eliminate this but because it's in the attic I can not have a better station ground or any ground apart from Electric at the socket but this would only be masking the issues of a poorly designed antenna anyway and as I said, I only have some RF when I work 160m on the myantennas.com EFHW 8010.

Grounding helps protect against lightning too and the Lightning protectors are an extra level of protection. If you do use a grounding system like above make sure and seal the coax connectors with self amalgamating tape, water will get in.

I am impressed the tuner in the 450D tunes that antenna on 80m, although it's incorrect to say it "tunes" the antenna, an antenna with poor swr for the band you're trying to work won't work any better with a tuner, it won't make it resonant nor lower the swr from the tuner to the antenna, the only thing the tuner does is make the radio see a 50 Ohm load ( or as close as possible ) to protect the output transistors or valves depending on the radio. Ideally the antenna should be resonant but a tuner allows you to work a band you otherwise couldn't. You can get an external tuner and practice tuning up on 160m and see if it works, I prefer manual tuners, less to go wrong.

There are a lot of HAMS using Dipoles, G5RV etc as a multiband antenna with a tuner but this is not very efficient but it does work and HAMS have been using this setup for decades. An EFHW with 49:1 is a much better setup because it's resonant on multiple bands with no tuner and unlike a normal end fed with 9:1 UNUN ( which is by far the most popular EFHW ) it doesn't need radials or tuner for resonant bands, the End Fed with 9:1 isn't resonant on any band but yet a lot of people never heard of the EFHW with 49:1 UNUN and a lot of People who have can't believe it works without radials or ( the other half of the antenna ) but it does work and works very well. There have been bitter disputes on the QRZ forum with self appointed experts swearing this EFHW is snake oil and is very inefficient and they still refuse to believe they are wrong despite 99% 5 star reviews of the myantennas.com and hyendfed.nl EFHW antennas on eham.net and on their websites.

Anyway, one key point is to get your antenna high as possible. Perhaps taller poles, it doesn't really matter if one end is higher than the other.

Use that garden, if you think you can get a 40 meter long antenna up then do, the XYL won't even notice it. Get it high as possible, this makes a big difference particularly for 40,80 and 160 meters as the potential for DX is much higher with height, when the antenna is lower down the radiation goes more upright and this is good for NVIS communications for up to 1000 Kms, higher up gives better low angle radiation.

You could also look at a vertical Antenna for 40 meters, this is a good band day and night, you will need radials but the lawn will hide these after a year. Get a tilt base, something like this https://www.dxengineering.com/search/department/antennas/product-line/dx-engineering-tilt-base-antenna-mounting-systems?autoview=SKU&N=department%3Aantennas&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending

and you can lower it easily by unscrewing a few bolts.

The vertical will greatly help your chances getting DX contacts.

I can get good DX with my setup but it's up high, starts off 3 feet above ground and ends up 50+ North South/East West config, due to trees not being where make it practical for a straight line install this was the best I could do.

Anyway, that was a long post, I hope your Wife gets better soon. If you can get on later PM me if not we can arrange for another time. I haven't been on the last few nights but hope to get on tonight.

Shyboy · 22-03-2020 11:10am

Hi Mad_Lad,

Thanks again for the information, I have learned so much in that last post alone. Very interesting that you mention the symptoms of RF in the shack as my daughter was telling me last week that she could hear a voice coming through the speakers on the PC. I did have the radio on at the time, but she says it was not my voice, but a "foreign" one?

I actually contacted Ian at UK Antennas yesterday, as I had heard that he was very helpful with support/advice for his antennas. I also wanted to discuss why the SWR was high for me out of the box. He asked me to send him a few photos of the install and he noticed two major flaws.

The first one being that we have the unun positioned so the beginning of the wire is wrapping around it, not coming directly away from it. This was done totally without realising. He says this is the main cause of my high SWR. An easy enough fix as all I have to do is loosen a few bolts and swivel it.

The second flaw will be more difficult to rectify. He says that I have the end of the wire too close to the bracket, it has to be at least a metre away from it using paracord or nylon rope. He says that he is surprised that it even worked at all?

I don't know how I am going to do this as it will mean that I will have to move the end bracket to allow for the extra metre of rope or the wire will sag down too much?

Until I can rectify it, I am not going to use the HF rig to be safe.

I will keep you posted and we will finally have a QSO once I get this sorted...

Deleted User wrote: »

No bother, I will have my licence a year in May so I have more to learn.

Grounding protects against static which can damage your radio and cause a lot more noise. It also helps to minimise the amount of RF that gets into the shack, though, with a proper resonant antenna this shouldn't happen. With the EFHW and 49:1 UNUN, they work very well on the resonant bands they were designed to work on and don't allow any measurable RF back in the shack however, when you use them on non resonant bands, for instance, 80m on your antenna then the UNUN does not work very well and is more inefficient and can allow the coax to radiate, causing RF in the shack, solution to this would be to add a radial or two 20 meters long at the ground point but, you would need to eliminate the UNUN and this would be a pain in the ass every time you want to work 80m more efficiently so if using the tuner works well then I would just go with that for now, later on you could try the hyendfed.nl 5 Band MK III with the could for 80m, more expensive but would work better on 80m and is 23 meters long around the same size as yours now or a tad longer Or you could make your own antenna for 80m, A Dipole or Double Bazooka works good too, the Double Bazooka is a single band antenna. You could get one here, it's a long antenna and due to the thickness of the wire it won't be so stealthy looking and use your existing antenna for the other bands. Or get one of the hyendfed.nl 8 band antennas which you can select to be resonant on the CW or Phone portion of 80M which would be convenient and all one antenna.

https://wireantennas.co.uk/double_bazooka.html

Symptoms of RF in the shack would be computer speakers buzzing or hearing yourself in the speakers, it can cause touch lamps to turn up and down, on and off, cause televisions to switch on and off, change channels, this happened to me to an old Samsung LCD tv that had one of those poxy touch panels, no physical buttons and this was not RF shielded so I gave it to my Mother and bought an LG without these touch panels. I have air filters in 2 of the bedrooms that have touch panels and when I work 160M it drives them nuts so I plug them out. But once I work on the resonant bands all is good, now if I could have a better ground in the shack this might eliminate this but because it's in the attic I can not have a better station ground or any ground apart from Electric at the socket but this would only be masking the issues of a poorly designed antenna anyway and as I said, I only have some RF when I work 160m on the myantennas.com EFHW 8010.

Grounding helps protect against lightning too and the Lightning protectors are an extra level of protection. If you do use a grounding system like above make sure and seal the coax connectors with self amalgamating tape, water will get in.

I am impressed the tuner in the 450D tunes that antenna on 80m, although it's incorrect to say it "tunes" the antenna, an antenna with poor swr for the band you're trying to work won't work any better with a tuner, it won't make it resonant nor lower the swr from the tuner to the antenna, the only thing the tuner does is make the radio see a 50 Ohm load ( or as close as possible ) to protect the output transistors or valves depending on the radio. Ideally the antenna should be resonant but a tuner allows you to work a band you otherwise couldn't. You can get an external tuner and practice tuning up on 160m and see if it works, I prefer manual tuners, less to go wrong.

There are a lot of HAMS using Dipoles, G5RV etc as a multiband antenna with a tuner but this is not very efficient but it does work and HAMS have been using this setup for decades. An EFHW with 49:1 is a much better setup because it's resonant on multiple bands with no tuner and unlike a normal end fed with 9:1 UNUN ( which is by far the most popular EFHW ) it doesn't need radials or tuner for resonant bands, the End Fed with 9:1 isn't resonant on any band but yet a lot of people never heard of the EFHW with 49:1 UNUN and a lot of People who have can't believe it works without radials or ( the other half of the antenna ) but it does work and works very well. There have been bitter disputes on the QRZ forum with self appointed experts swearing this EFHW is snake oil and is very inefficient and they still refuse to believe they are wrong despite 99% 5 star reviews of the myantennas.com and hyendfed.nl EFHW antennas on eham.net and on their websites.

Anyway, one key point is to get your antenna high as possible. Perhaps taller poles, it doesn't really matter if one end is higher than the other.

Use that garden, if you think you can get a 40 meter long antenna up then do, the XYL won't even notice it. Get it high as possible, this makes a big difference particularly for 40,80 and 160 meters as the potential for DX is much higher with height, when the antenna is lower down the radiation goes more upright and this is good for NVIS communications for up to 1000 Kms, higher up gives better low angle radiation.

You could also look at a vertical Antenna for 40 meters, this is a good band day and night, you will need radials but the lawn will hide these after a year. Get a tilt base, something like this https://www.dxengineering.com/search/department/antennas/product-line/dx-engineering-tilt-base-antenna-mounting-systems?autoview=SKU&N=department%3Aantennas&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending

and you can lower it easily by unscrewing a few bolts.

The vertical will greatly help your chances getting DX contacts.

I can get good DX with my setup but it's up high, starts off 3 feet above ground and ends up 50+ North South/East West config, due to trees not being where make it practical for a straight line install this was the best I could do.

Anyway, that was a long post, I hope your Wife gets better soon. If you can get on later PM me if not we can arrange for another time. I haven't been on the last few nights but hope to get on tonight.

22-03-2020 12:21pm

Shyboy wrote: »

Hi Mad_Lad,

Thanks again for the information, I have learned so much in that last post alone. Very interesting that you mention the symptoms of RF in the shack as my daughter was telling me last week that she could hear a voice coming through the speakers on the PC. I did have the radio on at the time, but she says it was not my voice, but a "foreign" one?

I actually contacted Ian at UK Antennas yesterday, as I had heard that he was very helpful with support/advice for his antennas. I also wanted to discuss why the SWR was high for me out of the box. He asked me to send him a few photos of the install and he noticed two major flaws.

The first one being that we have the unun positioned so the beginning of the wire is wrapping around it, not coming directly away from it. This was done totally without realising. He says this is the main cause of my high SWR. An easy enough fix as all I have to do is loosen a few bolts and swivel it.

The second flaw will be more difficult to rectify. He says that I have the end of the wire too close to the bracket, it has to be at least a metre away from it using paracord or nylon rope. He says that he is surprised that it even worked at all?

I don't know how I am going to do this as it will mean that I will have to move the end bracket to allow for the extra metre of rope or the wire will sag down too much?

Until I can rectify it, I am not going to use the HF rig to be safe.

I will keep you posted and we will finally have a QSO once I get this sorted...

Yes the pole can cause issues if the end of the wire is too close and depends how you have it tied off, you need to use an insulator at the end of the wire and then tie the other end to the rope that goes to the pole. if it sags down a bit it won't matter.

High SWR can cause your issues with RF, when you get that sorted get a good ground and connect the coax to that like in the pics above and that should sort any small bit of RF.

The "foreign voice" your Daughter described is definitely RF if it was at the same time you were talking on the radio.

Grounding can also reduce your SWR, these antennas are designed with good grounding in mind.

Best of luck.

orm0nd · 26-03-2020 11:36am

Shyboy wrote: »

Hi Mad_Lad,

Thanks again for the information, I have learned so much in that last post alone. Very interesting that you mention the symptoms of RF in the shack as my daughter was telling me last week that she could hear a voice coming through the speakers on the PC. I did have the radio on at the time, but she says it was not my voice, but a "foreign" one?

I actually contacted Ian at UK Antennas yesterday, as I had heard that he was very helpful with support/advice for his antennas. I also wanted to discuss why the SWR was high for me out of the box. He asked me to send him a few photos of the install and he noticed two major flaws.

The first one being that we have the unun positioned so the beginning of the wire is wrapping around it, not coming directly away from it. This was done totally without realising. He says this is the main cause of my high SWR. An easy enough fix as all I have to do is loosen a few bolts and swivel it.

The second flaw will be more difficult to rectify. He says that I have the end of the wire too close to the bracket, it has to be at least a metre away from it using paracord or nylon rope. He says that he is surprised that it even worked at all?

I don't know how I am going to do this as it will mean that I will have to move the end bracket to allow for the extra metre of rope or the wire will sag down too much?

Until I can rectify it, I am not going to use the HF rig to be safe.

I will keep you posted and we will finally have a QSO once I get this sorted...

sorry for jumping in here , I'm speed reading the posts and most likely missing something but could you move the end insulator back along the antenna and let the last metre of the aerial hang loose vertically?

Re the Bazooka , they're a good quiet broadband aerial but not worth the price quoted

make 1 up for a few euro with some rg58, a bit of twin lead or 300 ohm ribbon and steal the o/h's breadboard for the centre piece

26-03-2020 12:41pm

That's a good idea, with the insulator provided it wouldn't be hanging down too close to the pole.

I'm not sure Shyboy has the space for the Double Bazooka and to be honest, If he has the space for the double bazooka for 80 meters than I would rather one of the EFHW multiband antennas with 49:1 UNUN such as the myantennas.com EFHW 8010 or hyendfed.nl 8 band EFHW which can have the 80m SWR set lower for the lower end or higher end of 80m without adjusting the length of the antenna which can effect other bands on these EFHW with 49:1 UNUN.

They can be made, of course but they are quite tricky to get the SWR in range on all the bands and they perform very well. No tuner, no radials needed and but the core materials of the ferrites is very important with these antennas.

I have the myantennas.com EFHW 8010 and it performs great and I get good DX with it too.

Failing that then the 23 meter long 5 band MK III from hyendfed.nl will get him on 80m more efficiently than trying to use a tuner on his existing antenna without the 80m coil.

I wouldn't be too worried about spending a few quid on a good antenna, plenty of time then after to experiment. Most People spend money on a very expensive radio and don't think much about the antenna.

SlowBlowin · 28-03-2020 1:37am

Hi Madlad,

Thanks for the advice on the long wire.

I dragged my heals, and with all thats going on ended up going with a 132ft Windom in the end (the only one I could guarantee get in time before shipping was difficult).

Same as the one I used to have that got destroyed in the storms. I was going to go with the long wire to make things simpler, I just need to make a better job of the center mast on the windom. I was happy with the results last time.

I am hoping to have it operational next weekend, so if you do get a QSO arranged I might hop in as well if thats OK.

28-03-2020 12:26pm

SlowBlowin wrote: »

Hi Madlad,

Thanks for the advice on the long wire.

I dragged my heals, and with all thats going on ended up going with a 132ft Windom in the end (the only one I could guarantee get in time before shipping was difficult).

Same as the one I used to have that got destroyed in the storms. I was going to go with the long wire to make things simpler, I just need to make a better job of the center mast on the windom. I was happy with the results last time.

I am hoping to have it operational next weekend, so if you do get a QSO arranged I might hop in as well if thats OK.

Cool best of luck with it, try get it as high as you can.

Yeah I should be around next weekend.

Shyboy · 03-04-2020 4:51pm

Hi Mad_Lad

Sorry for going silent again for the past week or so, but my wife had a rough week especially last weekend, but thankfully she is well on the road to recovery now. She was actually tested for Covid-19 on Monday but there is up to a 2 week backlog for results at the moment, but thankfully, she is nearly back to herself.

In the meantime, I managed to get up to the antenna and turn the unun box so the wire is not wrapped around it. Immediately the SWR dropped right down to 1.2

I also managed to add a hard plastic pipe 1 metre long to the metal pole at the end and mounted the end of the antenna to it.

I will have to eventually look at other options, maybe the 40 metre length version of what I have or a dipole for 80m as you suggested...a project for the summer, I think...

I did speak to Ian at UK Antennas again (I cannot recommend this guy highly enough - pure gent) and informed him that his suggestions worked. I also asked him about using it on 80m with a tuner. He said if you can get it tuned, great, but obviously it will not be as efficient as an antenna built for 80m.

So, if you are maybe going on 80m this evening or tomorrow evening, I will be available to give it a try.

03-04-2020 7:25pm

Shyboy wrote: »

Hi Mad_Lad

Sorry for going silent again for the past week or so, but my wife had a rough week especially last weekend, but thankfully she is well on the road to recovery now. She was actually tested for Covid-19 on Monday but there is up to a 2 week backlog for results at the moment, but thankfully, she is nearly back to herself.

In the meantime, I managed to get up to the antenna and turn the unun box so the wire is not wrapped around it. Immediately the SWR dropped right down to 1.2

I also managed to add a hard plastic pipe 1 metre long to the metal pole at the end and mounted the end of the antenna to it.

I will have to eventually look at other options, maybe the 40 metre length version of what I have or a dipole for 80m as you suggested...a project for the summer, I think...

I did speak to Ian at UK Antennas again (I cannot recommend this guy highly enough - pure gent) and informed him that his suggestions worked. I also asked him about using it on 80m with a tuner. He said if you can get it tuned, great, but obviously it will not be as efficient as an antenna built for 80m.

So, if you are maybe going on 80m this evening or tomorrow evening, I will be available to give it a try.

Delighted your Wife is doing good.

Well done for getting your antenna sorted. Yeah, the antenna won't be very good on 80m but it should still get out, my 40 meter long EFHW works on 160m with external tuner. MY other 23 meter long EFHW, the hyendfed 5 band MK III works on 160m and gets out too, I was actually astonished.

There's usually these stupid contests taking up every bit of the bands at the weekends with their high power amplifiers so there might not be much space on 80m.

If you get an external tuner you should be able to get your antenna working on 160m and it should work at our distances, that's usually a lot quieter band. Just remember to tune up on AM at about 10 watts to protect the radio and put the radios tuner in bypass mode.

I can get on around 10pm tonight or tomorrow night empty slots get taken fast so keep yourself glued to PM here and I will update you at 9:30 pm if that's not a good time let me know.

Pm me your Call sign if you haven't already I can't remember.

I would like to try build a doublet at some stage, it uses ladder line instead of coax , coax has much higher loss with this antenna design compared to our EFHW. A tuner is needed for the majority of bands.

Here's some good reading on the EFHW 49:1 and shows how to build one. I suggest saving the PDF should the site ever go offline.

http://gnarc.org/wp-content/uploads/The-End-Fed-Half-Wave-Antenna.pdf

I'll PM you at 9:30 Pm tonight and see if I can find a free frequency.

04-04-2020 12:30pm

That was a great QSO after Shyboy, thanks.

The antenna did the job on 80 shame about the qrm from other stations it was busy last night. Get that ground sorted sooner rather than later.

You could try at some point add another 20 meters of wire to the existing antenna, you would be surprised the difference it would make on 80m you might need to fine tune the length to have it more resonant where you want it. You should get 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m.

Worth giving it a shot, if you add 60 meters of wire you'd get 160/80/60 and 40m if you could add some king of relay system you could switch out 40 m to give you 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m and then switch back in the other 40 m for 160/80/60 and 40m that would be pretty sweet.

As I said I can tune my 40m long EFHw on 160m and it works ok.

But it would be really really cheap to get you 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m using your existing UNUN by adding only 20 odd meters of wire, start with maybe 22 meters and you need a antenna analyser such as the ones by Rig expert. I have the AA-35 as my main interest is HF. Then you can shorten the antenna as needed to get the SWR lowest where you want it. It's very difficult to tune an antenna without analyser.

What you could try is make a kind of inverted L, put your Unun near the Ground, ground it there, bring the wire up to the pole where you have the Unun now and over to another point, high as you can, height is everything especially for 160 and 80m.

The EFHW isn't as fussy about installation, you can make inverted V inverted L, start near the ground with the UNUN and work your way from there. Ground the UNUN close to ground then Ground the coax before it enters the shack.

Shyboy · 05-04-2020 12:02am

Likewise Mad_Lad, a pleasure to have the QSO with you last night.

Sorry, didn't get near the radio this evening as I promised a family night in front of the telly. Hopefully tomorrow evening, but if all fails, definitely another night in the week or next weekend, if that is suitable for you?

Yeah, I was quite surprised that the antenna did fairly well, even with the bad QRM on the band. But I know it is only a temporary situation for 80m and I will have either extend the wire to 40m length somehow or look at another option?

Definitely the earth is coming hopefully in the next week or two, as soon as I can...

Thanks as always for the brilliant advice, Mad_Lad. I will catch up with you another evening on the radio and let you know how I get on...:)

Deleted User wrote: »

That was a great QSO after Shyboy, thanks.

The antenna did the job on 80 shame about the qrm from other stations it was busy last night. Get that ground sorted sooner rather than later.

You could try at some point add another 20 meters of wire to the existing antenna, you would be surprised the difference it would make on 80m you might need to fine tune the length to have it more resonant where you want it. You should get 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m.

Worth giving it a shot, if you add 60 meters of wire you'd get 160/80/60 and 40m if you could add some king of relay system you could switch out 40 m to give you 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m and then switch back in the other 40 m for 160/80/60 and 40m that would be pretty sweet.

As I said I can tune my 40m long EFHw on 160m and it works ok.

But it would be really really cheap to get you 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10m using your existing UNUN by adding only 20 odd meters of wire, start with maybe 22 meters and you need a antenna analyser such as the ones by Rig expert. I have the AA-35 as my main interest is HF. Then you can shorten the antenna as needed to get the SWR lowest where you want it. It's very difficult to tune an antenna without analyser.

What you could try is make a kind of inverted L, put your Unun near the Ground, ground it there, bring the wire up to the pole where you have the Unun now and over to another point, high as you can, height is everything especially for 160 and 80m.

The EFHW isn't as fussy about installation, you can make inverted V inverted L, start near the ground with the UNUN and work your way from there. Ground the UNUN close to ground then Ground the coax before it enters the shack.

05-04-2020 10:37am

Shyboy wrote: »

Likewise Mad_Lad, a pleasure to have the QSO with you last night.

Sorry, didn't get near the radio this evening as I promised a family night in front of the telly. Hopefully tomorrow evening, but if all fails, definitely another night in the week or next weekend, if that is suitable for you?

Yeah, I was quite surprised that the antenna did fairly well, even with the bad QRM on the band. But I know it is only a temporary situation for 80m and I will have either extend the wire to 40m length somehow or look at another option?

Definitely the earth is coming hopefully in the next week or two, as soon as I can...

Thanks as always for the brilliant advice, Mad_Lad. I will catch up with you another evening on the radio and let you know how I get on...:)

No bother, during the week might be better.

Without doubt, the cheapest option will be to extend the cable 40 odd meters and then you can relocate the UNUN, get it off the pole at the shed I think it was, then move it further away put it near the ground and ground it there and reroute the cable. So you can go up and across with it keeping as much of it as high as possible.

An antenna analyser will be dead handy to get it resonant where you want on 80m but I'm not sure how it will effect the rest of the bands.

Chat soon.

07-04-2020 4:45pm

SlowBlowin wrote: »

I am hoping to have it operational next weekend, so if you do get a QSO arranged I might hop in as well if thats OK.

I actually forgot about having qso with you haha sorry. It's only when I read back the thread I saw this and said, oops. You should have said, "hey, what about me"

We should arrange it at the weekend and perhaps shyboy will join us ? and anyone else is welcome.

How's the antenna working out ?

What tuner are you using ?

SlowBlowin · 07-04-2020 9:17pm

Hi ML

Yes I am up for a QSO at the weekend.

I have not transmitted on the new antenna, its on the ground as I have been repairing the mast, but should be done tomorrow. One mast is on the mountainside, its amazing how much damage the sheep can do to a mast.

I have an old school tuner...... the antenna has a low swr on all bands but the tuner will be in line as I like cranking the handle..

palstar.jpg

Shyboy · 08-04-2020 1:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I actually forgot about having qso with you haha sorry. It's only when I read back the thread I saw this and said, oops. You should have said, "hey, what about me"

We should arrange it at the weekend and perhaps shyboy will join us ? and anyone else is welcome.

How's the antenna working out ?

What tuner are you using ?

Absolutely guys, just let me know the time and frequency.

08-04-2020 5:28pm

Grand, we'll go with Saturday evening then ?

Frequency will be posted here around 9:00 PM ? I'll find a spot and keep it warm, anyone can join of course so feel free if anyone hears us on.

08-04-2020 5:44pm

SlowBlowin wrote: »

Hi ML

Yes I am up for a QSO at the weekend.

I have not transmitted on the new antenna, its on the ground as I have been repairing the mast, but should be done tomorrow. One mast is on the mountainside, its amazing how much damage the sheep can do to a mast.

I have an old school tuner...... the antenna has a low swr on all bands but the tuner will be in line as I like cranking the handle..

palstar.jpg

Sheep can damage a mast ? that's a good one.

I like the tuner, that should get you on 160m, I'd say that windom will get you out on 160. 160 can be a nice band because there aren't too many people on it.

New HAM First QSO

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