Monday, November 21, 2016

End-Fed Wire

I have had successful contacts on 80, 40, 20, 17, 15 and 12 meters. 10 meters just will not tune for me. I will have to do some more research. I also need to look into grounding and reducing my noise floor.


73!


Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Current Antenna setup

Hello:

  I am currently using a 5KW 9:1 UNUN with a 58 foot radiator and a 27 foot counterpoise. I do not have a ground. Lots of static during the days.
Have worked 40 meter SSB, 80 meter Winmor, 40 meter Winmor, and 20 meter PSK31 so far.
Need to eliminate noise. Would grounding the antenna help, or would it just blow fuses???


73!


Monday, November 14, 2016

Antenna I want to buy in the Spring time

MFJ-2389

VERTICAL, COMPACT, 8-BAND, 80-2M + UHF, 200W PEP

MFJ-2389

One antenna to do it all...


73!

Got a new 9:1 UNUN

Got a new 9:1 UNUN that can handle 5KW USB. added 58 feet of wire and a 27 foot counterpoise.
Need to hang it better in the tree, but for now it seems to tune all bands but 10 Meters. 80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 15 tune well. 15 is touchy, but tunes. I will try to hang it higher and better in the tree tomorrow.
Made 2 contacts today so far. France and Florida on 20M PSK31.
model-9135-9-1-unun-1-5-54mhz-5kw

73!

Monday, July 4, 2016

Back on for the day

Well, 4th of July weekend was good, and roommate was out of the house, so I tried a little PSK. Mostly Europe and the states today, but felt good to be back in action...

73!

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Still Alive!

I am still active, just not on HF so much lately. I really need a better HF antenna. Even my 2M/440/6M vertical is starting to show signs of aging. I actually suspect water on the coax. It has been up now for over 5 years without being touched.... I need to tune the 6M side, and replace the coax with some good stuff... SWR is starting to rise on the lower end of 2M... Still acceptable, but up to about 1.8:1 or more. I think the coax has been rubbing against the concrete chimney and wearing through the jacket, allowing water to enter.

No one has complained about my signal on the local repeaters though, so it cannot be to bad I hope.

73 //


Sunday, March 20, 2016

Gave JT65-HF a try...

Tried a bit of JT65-HF on 20M for about an hour.  I was running only 25 watts into the End-Fed. The antenna still needs a little more length, but it seems to be putting out OK.  I was heard and responded to by Hams in Minnesota, Iowa, and Florida. I received an Italian Station, but he did not respond to my calls. The mode is a lot of fun, but contacts can take up to 8 minutes to complete, The mode is very reliable, and the signals sometimes are unheard by your ears, but the computer decodes them just fine...Give the mode a shot if you are able...


73,

Bob
W2RWL

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

End Fed is back up again

I put the End Fed back up in the tree, but I need to do some tuning on it. I think it is too short at the moment. I need to add a bit of wire to it. Will let ya all know how it goes.


73,

W2RWL - Bob

Monday, January 25, 2016

Antenna is down again

Well, the high winds a few weeks back brought the end-fed down again. I need a warm day to put it back up. Will keep you informed. I really need a better antenna system...

73,


Monday, January 4, 2016

Alpha EZ-Millitary antenna

I have been thinking about getting this antenna. It gets a 4.9/5 on eham.com.

Alpha EZ-Millitary Antenna

 Whenever I can save up the money...

73,


Hopefully Back in Bidness!!!

  I ordered a fully assembled  uBitx V6.1  last month from  India . When it arrived, the encoder shaft was busted, and the screen was cracke...