Over the winter my radio activities are mostly confined to indoor activities, whether it be operating, equipment work or planning for the future. There is always a lull during the changeover as priorities reset and a human tendency to "hibernate". Soon enough the energy returns as the sun begins its long climb out of the winter solstice. This is an opportune time to look back and consider the path ahead as I do each year since starting this blog 7 years ago. Even so I have been active outdoors, as you'll discover.
This article is of the type that will interest few readers. I do it for myself, to honestly measure my progress and to plan for the future. What readers may get from it is the discipline of making a plan and being accountable, so unlike new year resolutions which are lightly made and soon forgotten. Anyone can check on how I'm doing by comparing my written plan at the start of the year and my year end review. Although I almost always fall short I still prefer to think big.
If this is not the type of article that is of interest to you, stop reading. For everyone else you are welcome to follow along. What's a little different this year is the combining of the 2019 review and 2020 plan in one article.If you do continue reading keep in mind my primary interests in ham radio determine the projects I take on. These are contests, DXing and playing with antennas. Even if these are not your cup of tea hopefully there are ideas and thoughts that will be of interest.
I called 2019 the year of the yagi for the major activity in my station building plan. It didn't go as fast as planned. The new 140' (40 meter) tower had to be raised and the details of large HF yagi home brew construction ate up the calendar. Even so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, it was just a little further away than estimated.
As matters stand 2020 will be the final year of the intensive phase of station building that began with my move to this QTH over 3 years ago. In 2021 I'll most likely be tying off loose ends and focussing on matters in the shack and operating. Things inevitably break so maintenance is always there to be done.
15 and 20 meters
The 15 meter and 20 meter stacked yagis are partially complete. The side mounted lower yagis are up and working. As of this writing only the 20 meter yagi is usable since the 15 meter yagi needs another 100' (30 m) of coax on the tower to reach the main run of Heliax to the shack. A future article will cover the side mount yagis, including some of the lifting and mounting details and initial performance insights.
All this work was done this month with the help of VE3DQN and VE3KAE who, like me, know that the best way to survive a Canadian winter is to go outside and do something!
The upper rotatable yagis are partly assembled and will wait for warmer weather to be lifted. You can see them in foreground. The nearly complete 15 meter yagi is on the left and the bare 20 meter yagi boom is on the right. The 20 meter upper yagi will be a monster weighing ~115 lb (52 kg) that requires careful thought to the lifting process. I redesigned the 20 meter boom to be more robust.
The prop pitch motor for the upper 15 and 20 meter yagis is partially disassembled in my workshop. I am performing preventive maintenance so that it is as reliable as possible. The mounting position for the motor will make it inconvenient to pull out for repair. More on this when the rotation system is complete and installed, hopefully this spring.
For the present the TH6 and TH7 on the other tower will remain as they are until I make progress on 40 meter yagis. The TH6 is fixed approximately south up 23 meters as a contest multiplier antenna to Caribbean, Central America and South America, at which it is very effective. It is also used to work the southeast and south-central US. The TH7 up 43 meters is used for long haul DX and the west coast. Eventually the TH7 will come down the tower to be stacked with the TH6.
When the stacks are complete I will have excellent instant compass coverage for DX contests. In everyday use I can pounce quickly on a DXpedition without having to rotate an antenna in the needed direction. Those prop pitch motors are powerful but can take up to 2 minutes to turn 360°.
Until the sunspots return I am content with the two tri-band yagis for 10 meters. I expect to design, build and install a 10 meter stack on the 43 meter tower as early as 2021. Along with the tri-band yagis this will position me well on 10 meters during the productive high sunspot years. That time is closer than you think!
40 meters
This band is a dilemma. My long term goal is to have a full size 3-element yagi on the 43 meter tower. I have been investigating electrical and mechanical designs and I've talked to a few hams with one of these monsters. A friend with a full size 3-element yagi sent me pictures of it under the weight of at least ¼" of ice. It looked awful yet it bounced right back when the ice melted. His antenna weighs substantially more than the one I'm planning.
No reasonably survivable element is less than 50 lb (23 kg). Add two more elements and a boom and the antenna is certainly going to weigh 250 lb (115 kg) or more and have a cylindrical wind surface of about 30 ft². I decided to proceed in steps. At some point I will decide I've gone far enough for my comfort with a smaller design or continue all the way. Later in the year I'll talk more about this subject.
Step one is to make a full size rotatable dipole and put it up 46 meters. I will see how it performs relative to my other 40 meter antennas and, importantly, how it survives at least one cycle of seasons. We get a lot of ice storms and that is the greatest danger. For most hams it is high winds.
Unfortunately I failed to get the dipole up this year. In preparation for it I lowered the XM240 from that 46 meter high perch and put it back on the Trylon tower where it is up 21 meters. I have no other 40 meter antenna. When the XM240 developed a problem during CQ WW CW my score suffered accordingly. That is the danger of getting only halfway through an annual plan.
I will get the dipole up sooner rather than later. Although I scavenged part of it to repair the ice storm damaged 80 meter vertical yagi it is readily replaced with aluminum on hand.
In addition to these two antennas I hope to put up a wire yagi on the same tower this fall. It will be at least 3 elements and pointed at Europe to boost my contest scores. Making it reversible remain a possibility but not a necessity with the XM240 for working the North American and further south.
80 meters
I am pretty well set up on this band so no major changes are on my priority list for 2020. Alternatives to improve the performance of the 80 meter vertical yagi were touched on in previous article and will be dealt with as time (and ticks) permit. Adding yagi operation for SSB is not a priority since my interest in SSB contests is not high. That may change.
The high inverted vee can remain for the present since it is low maintenance and gives me a fallback in case the yagi suffers a catastrophic failure. Other antenna ideas are shelved for reconsideration further into the future.
160 meters
My top priority is to add 160 meters to the 80 meter vertical yagi before haying season gets underway this spring. That will give me year round access to the band. It's a simple addition -- a coil -- since everything else is installed including a switch on the operating desk.
After haying is done and the time comes to reinstall the T-top vertical there will be changes. The first is to reconfigure the element to raise the radiation resistance and thereby improve efficiency. The set of 8 × 30 meter long radials will be at least doubled for added efficiency. Between these two changes I expect from 1 to 2 db of improvement.
Considering how marginal conditions usually are on top band the small improvement will pay dividends in contest scores and DXing. Gain and directionality with two or more elements is left to future years when I have more time to play with various designs.
Receiving antennas
This winter I have lower receive antenna capability on the low bands than last year. I did not reinstall the west Beverage so all I have is the northeast Beverage. It's a great antenna but not nearly enough. Especially now that I'm using the amplifier more often it would help me to work the weaker stations that call me.
I have admittedly given priority to transmit antenna. Since, as they say: you can't work 'em if they can't hear you. Okay, that's not really what they say but you get the idea. I can no longer defer work on receive antennas.
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| With some imagination I see Beverage antennas |
My tentative decision is to proceed with Beverages. Additional RDF is helpful for general DXing but not for contesting; in contests some leakage that will let me hear callers from other directions is a feature not a bug.
I want to install at least one reversible Beverage this winter pointing north/south or east/west. The second will go in next fall after the first killing frost. I also hope to make the northeast Beverage reversible northeast/southwest. That will give me 6 directions on all the low bands.
The switching system can be kept reasonably accessible (out of the thick bush). The cabling and switching requirements are modest. I have trenches to dig this spring and that is my opportunity to lay the infrastructure for the system.
Operating equipment
There will be changes inside the shack as well as outside. The major planned changes are to replace the FT950 with a modern high-end transceiver. That and a 160 to 6 meter amplifier will put me in good stead for SO2R and multi-op contests and provide a degree of redundancy should something fail. I do not want to be in the position again where an amplifier fails during a contest and there is no backup. I delayed replacing the FT950 in 2019 since my SO2R and multi-op progress has lagged.
The operating desk will be replaced. Although I love my hand built desk (made in 1985 with the help of a woodworking friend) it is unsuitable for multi-op contests. I have developed a design to meet my needs and most of the lumber is on hand. It'll be cheap but functional. With a bit of paint it can be made presentable as a piece of furniture.
With the addition of a second prop pitch rotator and just the one power supply and control unit I am planning to home brew a control panel to allow operation of both. Not being able to turn both motors at the same time should be acceptable although I can always build another or larger power supply later. A new position indicator is being designed, possibly with software for at least the display function. I have candidate designs that will lead to implementation later this year.
Station automation and contesting equipment
For a complete two position contest station I need the following:
- Band pass filters for 160 through 10 meters. These will be placed between the rigs and amplifiers. They must be automated so that the filter follows the rig. Outside of contests the filters will be bypassed. These will be commercial products. Additional harmonic filter stubs are not planned this year and will only be added in future as experience dictates.
- Antenna switching: The manual switching system will be automated. I am leaning toward a home brew software-controlled system. It must follow the rigs and support multiple antennas per band, multi-band antennas and non-contest band antennas. I will likely retire the existing 8 × 2 switch, which has insufficient ports and ongoing performance problems, and opt for a home brew system. It is probable this project will be delayed to next winter.
- SO2R control system: I recently purchased and built the SO2R Mini kit. It will replace the WinKeyer and my manual headphone splitter. It has microphone switching for SSB contests which my home brew SO2R starter system doesn't have. It's the box on the right.
- A second networked PC will be needed for multi-op logging software. I use N1MM Logger+ and I plan to stick with it. The SO2R Mini work with Logger+ software.
Future years will likely see more improvements to station automation and possibly remote operation capability.
VHF and other HF bands
I would like to return to more active VHF DXing. At present my only VHF antenna is the Cushcraft A50-6 for 6 meters. This antenna must come down for adjustment because the gamma match slipped when it was lifted two years ago. I want to correct the 1.7 SWR before I buy an amplifier. The rig's ATU is sufficient for the present. My immediate aim is to achieve 6 meter DXCC using FT8. My country count over the previous two sporadic E seasons is 71. It won't be easy!
Last year I replaced the old RG213 transmission line with LMR400. This is better but still not good enough. Now that I know I have enough Heliax to spare the LMR400 will be replaced with LDF5-50A. It will run directly into the shack instead of going through the 8 × 2 antenna switch where it is occupying a valuable port. Over the winter it is disconnected (except during the RAC Winter contest) to make room for new antennas on the antenna switch.
I have a 7-element 2 meter antenna in my junk pile that I may put underneath the 6 meter antenna. With a remote antenna switch to select between them I will have all the VHF antennas I want for now. Of course I will need a 2 meter rig since I sold my VHF and UHF equipment many years ago while I was out of the hobby.
I'll admit I've given little thought to other HF bands. The big gaps are 30 meters and 17 meters. The latter I can do reasonably well using the ATU into the XM240 40 meter yagi. For 30 meters all I have is the 80 meter inverted vee. It performs poorly since on the antenna's third harmonic there are many lobes and nulls in the azimuth pattern. On some stations it works well and on others it is awful.
Anything I do for 30 and 17 meters will be simple. It isn't worth the effort in 2020 considering the many important projects I have planned. The best I'll accomplish is software designs for antennas to be considered in 2021.
Wrap-up
With this annual ritual out of the way the blog with return to antenna and operating topics. I have quite a few projects in progress so there will be lots to write about. There are several draft articles in the pipeline which are begging for more of my time to finish them. Winter antenna work will continue, weather permitting.
You can comment on articles, but realize that because of all the spam I get these are moderated. Direct email is to my call sign at rac.ca. Readership is stable to rising and I often hear from hams on the air that they follow the blog. I hope you are enjoying it. Among the mix of topics there should be something for most everyone.
I am not an expert in any one technical or operating aspect of ham radio and I try to steer readers to reliable external resources where appropriate. I try my best to avoid the myths and guesswork that is all too common among hams.
Onward to a new decade. For my amateur radio pursuits it may be the best one yet. May your decade be the same. 73
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