Well, well, well, …
- Posted by David at 16:20:00 // Read 84 times //
- Ham Radio, Transmitters, Receivers, QRP, About
You probably assumed that you could see more pictures of me and a nice story here but found only a picture of an ugly antenna instead, right?
I think that this picture are more appropriate here as it somehow shows both a fundamental piece of radio equipment and the willingness of a ham radio enthusiast to experiment and try different technical solutions.
As a matter of fact, this not-so-elegant antenna is one of my first experiments with the 2m band.
Constructed from some pieces of electrical wire and a BNC-chassie contact it all become a quick-and-easy-up listening antenna.
I just welded the things together
As all things do, this also learned me something: It’s not a good thing to place the antenna under the roof as rain and snow on the roof shields the signal quite a lot more than one might think!
So, there I was. Now mounting a new (surely home built and maybe even worse?) antenna on the house… This time on the outside as experiences had told me.
But listening wasn’t just enough for me, and encouraged by friends I studied regulations, Q-codes and all the other things I needed to know to be able to get my own license. The antenna on the above picture was constructed from an angle iron, some pieces of M-5 steel rod for the ground plane part, a plain 3 mm steel rod for the center piece and a regular SO-239 connector. As simple as possible, but quite ok… Built from mathematic formulas it later measured SWR no more than 1.5:1 inside the 2m band being built and cut without any instruments to check the SWR!
Then, I moved on to a 10 element X-yagi for 2m QSO and the duobander described below.
Perhaps a little “easy” going, but the experimental part of the antenna construction aimed at the SW-bands, since I got my license for that in november 2001.
As a replacement for the homebuilt 2m GP, I choosed a duobander with a stronger construction. The idea of beeing able to transmit at 70cm was one thing, but weather was the main thing. The homebuilt GP didn’t like strong winds…
A non-directive antenna like this is practical for local qso’s via repeaters nearby, and for other short-distance activity like DX-cluster monitoring and things like that. And look what nice weather it has been since I switched antenna
The next thing is the SW-antenna at the end of the coax running from the house…
After some experiments with the FD-4 style offcenterfeed shortwave antenna, the choice was a trapdipole.
Yes, it is in there, abt. 6-7 m above ground. It works fine, and if you wonder what happened to the FD-4, it was given away. The premade 1:6 balun did not isolate HF-radiation from the coax shield, and that’s sure one way to get some nice TVI
At the moment I still don’t have any WARC-band antenna installed, but there will be another antenna for that sometime. And maybe one for 160m too. Sometime…
Back at home there has been some changes again. A folded dipole for 2m is mounted right below the duobander. I use it for a spare tranciever next to my computer so that I can be QRV on the local repeater while typing etc…
And still no good photo on that one…
The 10-element X-yagi is a memory since mid 2003 because of problems with the gamma matches. It has been replaced by to two different yagis. One 3-element vertical yagi and a 6-element horizontal yagi with a SSB-preamp attached. They are made by Vårgårda Radio.
Yes, they are a little too tight together, but it works…
I have added a small vertical 6 elements yagi for 70cm, but I can’t relly say that I am QRV a lot on that band though.
I got a wild idea by looking at some old ex-commercial equipment in an old friends workshop and guess what, in the end four stations was converted for ham-radio use.
We are talking about old danish stations called “AP2000” here, probably built somewhere in the late 70’s and early 80’s. But nice to work with and constructed in modules.
The latest news is going QRP on HF, something that is really fun!
I have run QRP for a while with a Icom IC-720 and now a Icom IC-703, but wanted to try to build some equipment myself. The result? QROlle, a kit designed by SM6DJH - Olle. 10W PEP on 80 and 20m SSB
But what is QRP without a good SWR-meter made for low RF? With the solder iron standing by the Oak Hills Research WM-2 was built during an afternoon.
As you can see I have become addicted to QRP
I will write more about that in a while…
/73 DE SM6XIN AR SK