Antenna repairs at the QTH

I recently finished some antenna repair work. One HF vertical was repaired and retuned to 10m and a 2m/70cm dual band yagi was also repaired and put into service. Temps were 33 degrees although it was nicer to make the repairs in that heat rather then the next day's forecast 36 degrees.

And we're on 20metres

After spending a week playing around with making a loaded vertical for 20m I finally admitted defeat when the best I could do was move resonance from 25Mhz down to 18Mhz but no further. At that stage I remembered the EFHW from BH7JYR I had purchased and forgotten about. I was happy to see it was a quad band with 7, 14, 21, and 28Mhz. Bit of messing around (and a lick of sunburn) and we're on the air on 20m and making the trip to France (F5MSE - Thierry) and New Zealand (ZL2ML - Caleb) and receiving 57/56 signal reports using 50watts. Happy Days.

More Antenaeeeeeeeesssss

A little bit of work on the second mast with my DIY UHF beam replaced with a VHF-UHF beam and the HF vertical was straightened. Still waiting on the EFHW to arrive.

Antenna Day - check my YAGI !!!

All day in Queensland’s humidity sucks but the outcome was worth it. First 11M vertical was disassembled, tuning coil replaced, connector replaced, and some of the PVC tubing replaced. I think I have the right length but will have to wait to see when I tune it.

Next was making a UHF CB yagi (477 MHz) from scratch. I had the dimensions for a 4 element yagi and just added some extra directors. I’m not sure how this will work but keen to see once I get it up in the air.

Second radio mast is up and ready for more antennaesssssssssss

The concrete pad was dry, welding was finished and today was the time to get the mast up into the air. Only a UHF vertical on there at the moment but working on reconditioning another HF vertical, building a VHF/UHF yagi, and setting up a 40m EFHW. When it's all ready to go I'll drop the other mast, do some maintenance and then rewire the shack.

Some changes to the station and a quick update.

Latest addition to the station is a new (to me) Alinco DX-70 which has just arrived from the states.

In great condition although I have not had many contacts on it as yet so still no decision on performance. I am 50:50 on whether I prefer the receive on the Kenwood TS-120V.....

To coincide with this my main 10M vertical threw a wobbly and jumped to a SWR of over 10:1 across the board.

I assumed this was the feed line and dropped the antenna for a quick look....not the feedline. Tried to retune, no go. Took a while to notice that the antenna was shorter than usual. One of the screws holding two sections together had sheared and the antenna had telescoped by one section. New screw, retuned and away we go. Well almost. I don't have the same magical tuning with great resonance on 7Mhz and 28Mhz. Such is life.

The EFHWV (http://earchi.org/proj_homebrew.html) is up and running and it is a cool antenna. All set up for portable operation as a sloper with my 7 metre squid pole. I'm thinking of running one of these at the shack as a permanent if I can work out how to string it up with the vertical height I have. Speaking of portable I have dismantled my Dragon SS485H manpack.

I'm looking to rebuild something a little smaller and more self contained. Lighter more efficient batteries are on the cards as well as SLA batteries are just too heavy. Get this one sorted and some SOTA activations could take place.

I'm also picking up a 10 metre mast on Saturday and chopping it down to be a 6-7 metre mast with 3 metre boom. 1 pole = more antennas on it. I'm not decided on what to put up there yet but the UHF CB dipole I'm running is giving me poor performance so a vertical may be the go....luckily the pole comes with a 6DB and a 9DB vertical, only snag is I have to dismantle it as well.....still, the price is right. Gold Coast Amateur Radio Society (http://www.gcars.com.au/)had their annual hamfest yesterday and despite my best intentions I couldn't make it. Have to be next year.

I've got GAS....

Gear Acquisition Syndrome continues unabated.... I have removed the 40 channel UHF CB in the car and replaced it with a new Uniden UH7740NB 80 channel narrow band one.





Works well, very happy with it...although I don't care much for UHF CB. The Uniden UH012SX is now in the radio shack.....which led me to a need for a UHF CB antenna for that one....time for some DIY. Following the instructions on http://www.aurfscan.com.au/ I tailored it for 477Mhz. Had problems, split the T-junction, bracket was wrong, drilled mounting holes 10 degrees off vertical.





But it's all done, up in the air pointing North West and hitting Ch2 and Ch7 repeaters. At the same time I took down the Station Master antenna and put up the new version from Shockwave Antennas. A bit of messing about tuning it to 10m and I've now got a SWR of 1.2:1 on 28.480Mhz and now getting all of my meager 10 watts up the stick.



Next items on the list are to chase another HF radio, keen to get onto the 40 metre band. Also starting to plan for the next antenna mast (possible another vertical and a G5RV Jr. dipole). Have to balance this with getting the RGV250 on the road....and upgrading to the Standard licence.