Taking the plunge into Ham Radio

[randy]

Sounds like a plan.

I'm always cautious about portable antennas in a permanent base setting, as many are not designed to be in the elements 24/7 for months on end.

However this looks pretty sturdy, they mention it for base use, and it has 5 star reviews on E-ham going back 5 years.

The fact that DX Engineering seems to partner with them is, to me, another indicator of quality, as I have been impressed with DX Engineering's customer service.

[randy]

I got my 706MKIIG back this week. He could not replicate the issue.

So we called it good, he only charged me a 1/2 hour bench time (given he had it for a month with lots of fiddling with it to try to recreate the problem, do fair).

So it's my primary VHF/UHF digital radio and back up HF rig for the shack at this point. Plus being able to pull it easy for portable use if needed.

I now have enough HF rigs in the shack, where a patch panel is probably more useful than a collection of antenna switches. Probably cheaper in the long run as well.

[SoupOrMan]

I hope you can get that 706 back to functioning correctly again. They look like a radio that someone buys and never leaves their collection.

[randy]

Well, so far so good.

It seemed to be a heat related issue, and since I am now using the 7300 for HF digital (which has never got warm no matter how much I'm doing, the Temp meter has never budged) probably should not be an issue.

Voice does not work it as hard as digital, and if I use it portable it's likely to SSB or Winlink on HF for ARES, not FT-8.

And yes, this one is going to Darlin' Daughter along with the rest of my collection, of radios and guns.

[SoupOrMan]

I got the EmComm II up and it seems to work all right. I added a 20ft counterpoise since it's hanging from the eaves of my roof. Then after a few dozen tries, I got the antenna wire hung onto a tree branch with a throw line made of paracord fitted through two hockey pucks. I could not get it into the spot I wanted, but at least it's up. Technically, it slopes! It has a nice gentle curve to it. Pulling the antenna taut would bring the antenna wire into contact with the tree branch and I didn't want that. It's more an NVIS antenna, but I managed to hit Florida on 20m on my first go-round with it. Eventually I hope to re-position the antenna so it has both a better launch angle and doesn't have a lot of sag to it. For that I think I'll need a water balloon slingshot and a longer throw line.

I haven't picked up much on 6 or 10m yet, which is a shame. I think those bands are woefully underused. I'm still trying to hit one of those Ten-Ten nets.

Still, though, the reception is way better than the dipoles I have mounted inside my attic. I'm happy with it so far.

[Weetabix]

Okay, I have a cunning plan for an antenna.

You'll want a cunning hat to go with that plan.

[randy]

Cool.

10 has been really active the last couple of weeks overall. Some days lower than others, but overall on an up tick. Over the last month I've made it to 77 confirmed countries on FT8 Digital, with the more exotic recent ones being New Caledonia, Corsica, St. Helena and Fiji. I can pretty much work Australia or South Africa any time the bands is open. (All using my Hexbeam, so a comparison with a wire antenna isn't fair).

I only have 2 states for WAS, Wyoming and Delaware, but just being on the air the same time one them is hasn't happened yet.

6 has not been open and probably won't be until summer (June/July). Lots of tropospheric ducting in the summer time. When it is open, it is often for short periods that come and go. I have had one transmission from a station received at +10dB and the next one a few seconds later at -20db. And then back up. But when it's open it is OPEN.

Keep playing with it. Any wire in the air beats no wire.

[randy]

Oh, and it seems to me one possible use for one of those toy drones you can get would be to use it to place a guide line over the proper branch so you can pull the antenna where you want it.

I've seen guys use potato launchers, slingshots and small cross bows (not serious hunting gear) to shoot guide lines over tree branches.

One year at Field Day the guy using the crossbow got the line over the desired tree branch the first shot, and the line proceeded to loop around the branch using the bolt as a bola.

[randy]

If you want to get a good view of how your signal is propagating, check out this website and enter your call sign:

https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html?

[Cobar]

Last time I went back to visit, I helped my dad string up some wire all around his property for an antenna. We a golf ball on fishing rod and cast it up where he wanted it. The fishing line worked well to draw the wire up.