Hygain Vertical Performance

The Hygain Vertical I purchased has been working well. I hope to run it thru more on-the-air tests over the next few weeks. But during the ARRL /140 contest, it performed well and I made contacts on 10M, 20M, and 40M with it. I have learned a lot about short vertical antennas and I hope to try some other things with it.

For a quick review, the antenna is the Hygain 18VS model. Total cost is $100. It is 18 feet tall and has a loading coil at the base. This is just about as simple as an antenna gets.

I have mine put in an umbrella stand so I can move it to the patio when we mow the lawn. I have a number of radials (minimum of 4) that I attach to the base of the antenna and one ground wire from the antenna base to a 12 inch stake driven into the ground.

This week, I have 10 radials attached to the antenna. Four of the radials are 17 feet and 6 are 13 feet. They are just laid on the grass.

The loading coil tap can be set to make the antenna resonant on just about any frequency from 10M to 80M. I set the tap so the antenna is resonant on 10M. So when I switch to 10M, I do not need my antenna tuner. When I am on 20M, 30M, or 40M I have to use my antenna tuner to get the SWR down under 2.

One of the ideas I have been thinking about is purchasing an antenna tuner to fit at the base of the antenna. These are a little pricy at about $260. That would make the antenna an all-band for sure. But, if I did that, the total cost of the antenna and tuner would be about what a screwdriver-type antenna would cost.

So, the addition of an automatic tuner and more radials are in the plans. I will install the antenna permanently after mowing season is gone. I'll drive a post in the ground to mount the antenna on. I think this will give a much better ground and perhaps improve the way the radials work. The antenna will really be ground mounted instead of 10 inches off the ground.

...AR

Digital Dilemma - EMAIL Packages

Thanks to Mac, KE5QDA, I have had to reconsider the Digital Dilemma! He asked if I considered Winlink2K to be a digital mode. WELL, I had not even considered that question and I had to do some research on the topic. What I found out (after some soul searching) caused me to re-do my original Digital Dilemma post ... here's my thinking...

From the Winlink2K website:

"Winlink 2000 (WL2K) is a worldwide system of volunteer resources supporting e-mail by radio, with non-commercial links to internet e-mail. "

After reading this, I view WL2K as a pipeline rather than a digital mode of communication.

And I am sure there is LOTS of room for argument and discussion. Feel free to discuss because there's plenty of room for other opinions.

Any way, if this is my feeling on WL2K, then what about PSKMail? I reviewed the features list and came to the same conclusion. PSKMail is also PRIMARILY a pipeline to support email. It has some other features that kind of cloud the picture (mainly texting via APRS) but the main function is pipeline rather than allowing station to station communication.

There is WAY MORE information at each of these websites. WL2K is the "official" choice of just about everyone who is any kind of official.

Consider the following a VERY BRIEF introducton to these two programs ....

WinLink 2000 - Provides Email - WL2K Website
1. Windows (obviously)
2. Uses PACTOR 1,2, and 3 and requires pactor modem which is pricey.
3. Some proprietary features? ("The Winlink 2000 system, and Winlink user software is built, maintained and supported by the Winlink Development Team (WDT), your membership in the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, and your tax deductible contributions.")
4. Recently introduced a sound card mode called WINMOR
5. APRS text messaging is possible as well as some packet usage for "last mile" coverage.
6. Lots of email servers world-wide. If you happen onto one of these frequencies, you'll probably have to move your QSO.

PSKMail - Provides Email - PSKMail Website
1. Linux BUT available in Windows emulator (puppy_linux)
2. Uses Fldigi
3. Modes - PSK250 with ARQ
4. GUI easy to use and provides email, APRS and Chat mode.
5. Upload/download email from internet and works with Linux email program called EVOLUTION.
6. While most email servers are in Europe, there appears to be a couple of email servers in the U.S. (one in San Antonio.)

... AR

Digital Dilemma Summary

In looking over the several different digital packages available for EmCom type communication, here is a brief summary of the packages I know about. Basically, all of these are sound card based. I'm sure there are others available as well.

I have discussed several of these programs in earlier posts. I will be updating this summary as I find out more information. Anyway, here goes ...

NBEMS - Narrow Band Emergency Message System - is detailed in an earlier post. In summary, though, here are the essentials:
1. Has a Windows and Linux Version.
2. Uses Fldigi and Flarq (ARQ provides error-checking)
3. Modes - RTTY, PSK31, PSK63, PSK125, PSK250, MFSK
4. GUI is easy to use. Can send small files.

OUTPOST - Uses BBS System
1. Windows
2. Uses own program
3. Modes - PACKET
4. Excellent GUI includes a message form maker to pre-format messages. Includes NTS, Bulletins, and Private Message form.

EcomScs - Uses BBS System but provision for email
1. Windows
2. Uses own program
3. Modes - PACKET
4. GUI allows creation of message forms. BBS connection and Keyboard to keyboard messages.
5. Extended product called GateWayScs provides a temporary mail box if BBS not available and CAN BE connected to the internet for email.

(PSKMail and WinLink2K covered under another post ... see Comments)

...AR

1010 Summer Phone Contest (Aug 1,2)

The 1010 Organization held their Summer Phone contest this past weekend. It gave me a chance to check out my "small vertical" and I was pleased with the antenna over all. I ended with 31 QSOs and 14 states distributed across the U.S.

My antenna is a Hygain 18 foot vertical with a loading coil at the base. It is ground mounted with 4 radials of 13 feet each and one ground rod. The loading coil is not needed on 20 meters, but I did have to use a couple of turns for 10 meters. I was able to work just about everyone I could hear.

On Saturday, contacts were few and far between. I only made about 5 the whole day. Sunday, however, things opened up and I made the rest of the contacts from about 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. IF I had started earlier, I'm sure I could have doubled my count.

Anyway, it was fun. Click here for the 1010 website.

...AR

Extreme NVIS Antenna

(You can click on the pics to enlarge.)

There's more than one way to get on the air ... some good, some bad, and some just get by and there is something to be said for "Makin' do" with what you have.

I knew my neighborhood had antenna restrictions when we bought the house. We liked the house, so we took the bad with the good. I like it that there are restrictions to protect home values and no junk cars in the driveways. So you have to realize that those restrictions cut both ways but hopefully with a common good in mind.

Here is my HF antenna I have used successfully to work 80M and 40M. I am able to check in with the Sooner Traffic Net (3845 khz) on a regular basis as well as the weekly ARES Net (3900 khz). On 40M, I am able to check in with the 7290 Traffic Net on a daily basis.

During the Route 66 Special Event, I was able to make over 200 contacts on 80M to support the club's effort to participate in this fun special event.

Anyway, if you need an antenna for 80M or 40M, a G5RV is a good choice. While the G5RV is designed for 20M, it will work 80M and 40M with a tuner. The full-size G5RV is 102 feet long and fits nicely along my backyard wood fence. I do have a "wrap" on each end of about 10 feet, but the rest of the antenna is pretty much horizontal at about 5 1/2 feet off the ground.

The G5RV has a twin lead section that (ideally) should be vertical when the antenna is mounted 25 to 30 feet high. In my Extreme NVIS Antenna, I have the twin lead vertical for about 5 feet but then curved along the wood fence about a foot off the ground.

All I can say is that it works most of the time and I'm very glad for that!

... AR

Ham Club Meeting?

IOTA Contest - July 24, 25

This weekend was the IOTA contest and it was fun. A little aggravating at times with pile-ups on some of the more "exotic" calls, but still a good time.

I only made 15 contacts, but these included two Hawaii stations, one New Zealand, and two Australia stations plus several states ranging from TX to MT, MA, NY, and OH. There were also a couple of Canadian stations included.

Most were on 20 meters but I had one HI, MA, and OH on 40 meters. The antenna I used was my G5RV JR mounted about 20 feet high on the roof. I used my Yaesu FT-840 most of the time running about 75 watts.

I should have made more contacts, but time was limited ... come on Sunspot Cycle 24!

...AR

Vertical Antenna Ground System

When I come across really useful information, I just have to pass it along. Rudy Severns, N6LF, did an incredible amount of work during the spring of 2008 to evaluate the effect of radials on the effectiveness of 1/4 wave vertical antennas.

For the whole set of articles, click here:

N6LF Antenna Study

In his Vertical Antenna Ground System Experiment No. 4, he makes the following observations:

1. If you are limited to 4 radials for whatever reason, you can SHORTEN the radials (from a 1/4 wave) by up to 40 percent and improve your gain by 2.9 dB. Or you can add a ground rod (4 ft.) and improve your signal gain by almost 3 dB. But doing both does not seem to improve things any more than doing either one. I know, read it for yourself.

2. If at all possible, use at least 8 radials. With the 8 radials you improve your signal gain by about 2.5 dB over the 4 radials and the gain can be improved to 3.9 dB by shortening your radials by about 40%.

3. If you can get to 16 radials, then you have overcome most of the ground losses and shortening the radials is no longer a major factor. He says, "I would think that with 32 or more radials, you wouldn't worry about resonances in the radial screen. The problem is only important when fewer than 16 radials are deployed over average or better soil."

There is a lot more information at his web site and I have not made it through all of it yet. Very good stuff!

... AR

NTS Message Example #2

Mike, KE5YOO, submitted this example of message handling. He copied special Field Day Message #4 that I sent on the June 25 Tulsa Amateur Radio Club Thursday Night Net.

This message was sent to "Your Station" as a traffic-handling practice exercise. My goal here was to involve everyone listening to the net.

Mike used an on-line form and sent it to me. This form has some great information right on the radiogram message form itself.

Click Here for ARRL Version of Radiogram Form .

You can find on-line information and training at the ARRL website or click on the following link: The National Traffic System .

Thanks Mike and very nicely done!

... AR

NTS Message Example #1

This example is from Gerry, KC5JKU. He copied the special Field Day message I sent on the June 11 Tulsa Amateur Radio Club Thursday Night Net.

This message was sent to "Your Station" as a traffic-handling practice exercise. My goal here was to involve everyone listening to the net.

Gerry used an ARRL Message Pad to record the message as sent. You don't have to have a radiogram form, but it is handy: Radiogram

You can find on-line information and training at the ARRL website or click on the following link: The National Traffic System

Anyway, Thanks to Gerry for sending this in. Click on the form to enlarge it.

...AR

Healthy Hams Smoothie

Of course we are supposed to eat fruits and veggies. Most of us don't get enough of either of these in our diet and we know it. So if there's an easy way to improve our diets, maybe that will be something we can do to make a change we already know we should make - right?

One 12 ounce glass is about 3 1/2 servings of fruit. So, here's a way to get your fruit for the day and it is almost painless!

The Fruit Smoothie (and, yes, my wife gets the credit here):

This recipe makes about two 12 ounce servings (or you can drink the whole thing if you want.)

Make ahead and freeze these ingredients...
1. A medium-sized banana sliced into fairly thin slices (don't go crazy). Put into a ziploc bag or just wrap in saran wrap and place in freezer overnight.

2. 1 cup of strawberries. Use fresh or frozen. Either way, slice into smallish pieces. Again, ziploc bag or saran wrap one cup portions and freeze.

3. 1/2 cup of blueberries. We buy frozen and that works great. If you want to try fresh, then see the strawberry prep but you should not have to slice a blueberry.

You can do the prep and make enough ahead for several smoothies. That makes the actual smoothie preparation go pretty easy. It goes something like this:

1. Get out your blender and put in 2 cups of orange juice (not frozen)
2. Add the packets you've made using the frozen banana, frozen strawberries, and frozen blueberries to the blender.
3. Let set for a few minutes before blending. Sometimes the fruit is hard to blend.
4. Start blender on slow, then increase the speed until the sound is smooth (get it?) and everything is blended.
5. Pour into glasses and enjoy a very refreshing drink.

You can get as creative as you want with this recipe, but this is as basic as you can get. If you want to make it thicker, you can add some yogurt. OR, you can freeze 1/2 cup of pineapple and add that in the mix.

Anyway, this is an easy way to get your daily servings of fruit. I guess the cleanup is the hardest part, but even that goes fairly smooth.

Although I haven't tried it, you could buy one of the frozen fruit packages at the store and measure out equivalent amounts for the berries. You'll still need the bananas, tho.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

...AR

Something You Already Knew - Maybe?

"My Feed Line Tunes My Antenna"... This article was written in the March 1956 issue of QST by Byron Goodman, W1DX. It has been reprinted twice since then - once in 1977 and once in 1991 so it has some good insight that has lasted with time.

Here are my excerpts from this ... basically, main points for me to remember. I hope these bits are useful reminders. I have to read this about once a day to keep it fresh in my mind ...

When we say 50 ohm coax or 300 ohm twin-lead, we are talking about the characteristic impedance of the line. "Characteristic impedance of a transmission line is the value of resistance that when used as a termination for the line, makes the input impedance of the line independant of the electrical length of the line."

The simple view of this: A 50 ohm load (antenna or other resistance) on one end of your 50 ohm coax feed line will measure as a 50 ohm load at the other end of the line regardless of the actual length of the line. No tuner needed here because the load matches the characteristic impedance.

SO: The system is resonant and the whole load is resistance only.

But what if your antenna is measured as a 100 ohm load and you are using a 50 ohm feedline? You no longer match the characteristic impedance of the line. The impedance you measure at the end of the line will vary depending on the electrical length of the line.

The electrical length of the feedline is measured in wavelengths. To calculate the electrical length of the feed line, you must know the frequency, the actual length (in feet) and the velocity factor. So your physical feed line might be 75 feet but the electrical length changes as you change frequencies.

When the antenna load is different from the feed line characteristic impedance then the impedance we measure changes as we move down the line.

The Half Wave Rule to remember:
Every 1/2 wavelength down the line, the impedance we measure equals the antenna load and, obviously, this changes with frequency. And this load is resistance only.

The Quarter Wave Rule to remeber:
Every quarter wavelength, the impedance we measure is resistance only but the value is not equal to the antenna load.

Who Cares? Well, I guess I do. The reminder here is that the antenna load is really a reactive load. The antenna load is a combination of resistance plus capacitance (capacitor) OR resistance plus inductance (coil). The tuners we use help to bring the reactance of the load to pure resistance.

Email is Essential to Deliver NTS Messages

Delivery of National Traffic System messages is difficult in today's world. The low participation of amateurs in traffic handling makes the sending of messages, and, especially the delivery of messages, very spotty. The problem is, in a word - COVERAGE.

Looking at Oklahoma, we have hams in every community. Few, if any, of these hams are interested in handling the NTS traffic. This means the few hams who do enjoy passing and delivering message have to cover much more of the state.

This makes email essential to provide the COVERAGE that is needed.

I can make every net that is available within the state and still not find anyone willing to take and deliver a message to an amateur in a given town. Given the choice between a long distance call and an email, I think the choice is obvious.

Unless we can develop more interest in NTS message-handling and attract amateurs to support the NTS network, we will have to rely more on email to deliver our messages.

So what should be the guidelines for email delivery? An op-ed piece in QST recommended message delivery by email once the message was received by an amateur in the same ARRL Section as the recipient.

This seems like a good recommendation since our coverage is lacking at this level.

And why bother? It is the NETWORK and the TRAINING that are important! The network of the NTS message nets has been long established for efficiency in communication. It is important to keep these nets functional in case the need arises on a local or even a national level. Maybe there is something better, but until we develop it to the point we can depend on it, let's keeep the traffic nets operational.

The TRAINING is important as well. Learning the net procedures facilitates good habits. Practice in sending and receiving of formatted text helps develop accuracy and operator confidence.

But until message handling becomes all the rage within our ranks and people are fighting over sending and receiving messages, we will need to supplement our coverage with email.

... AR

NTS Rule Number One: Deliver The Message!

If I have received a National Traffic System message from any source (usually an NTS net) then I am obligated to deliver that message to the recipient by whatever means at my disposal. This seems to me to be the "Golden Rule" of handling NTS traffic.

Recently, I had a Field Day message to be delivered to my Section Manager. I tried to send the message on three different nets but, due to band conditions, I was not successful. As a last resort, I sent the message by email.

Wow, did I get slammed! One of the more experienced message-handlers listening on the net complained to the Section Manager that I was cheating! Evidently, he was listening to my attempt to send the message but made no effort to help with a relay. He did complain strenuously enough that I was asked to send the message via another net when possible.

Fortunately, conditions were better the day after Field Day and I was able to successfully send the message to the Section Manager. So, there was no harm done other than to my reputation and my ego.

Needless to say, I gave this some thought and went back and forth over some of the issues. Does it really matter HOW I deliver an NTS message? The "purist" might say that it does matter, but let's talk about this a little bit.

Delivery Methods:

The accepted practice is to PHONE the recipient via the phone number included in the message and read the message text (translating the ARRL Codes if needed).

If the received message has a bad phone number, then what do I do?

If the recipient is not a ham, then I research the phone number in the phone book (or online) to see if there is a new number listed. Then I call and deliver the message after making sure I'm talking to the intended recipient. If there is no phone number, I return the message as undeliverable (ARL FORTY SEVEN).

If the recipient is a ham and there is no new listing in the phone book, I look the recipient up on QRZ to verify the street address and see if there is an email listed. If there is, then I email the recipient the message; if not, then I return the message as not deliverable.

And, at times, I have even MAILed a message via postcard to the recipient's address on the message.

But I get the message delivered to the best of my ability!

Just so you'll know (especially if you're a Monday Morning Quarterback}, I'll use email delivery when I have to.

PS - Get off the sidelines and into the game - its FUN!

...AR

IRLP and WX4NHC

The National Hurricane Center conducted a communications test on Saturday, May 30. Their primary frequency was 14.325. Stations were instructed to check in and give their local weather. I imagine they had tons of check-ins.

They also were taking check-ins on IRLP Node 9219. I linked in to the NHC net using Kevin's (KD5RHF) repeater (Node 3487) on 146.535 simplex. This was about 2 pm Saturday afternoon.

The net control was DU2EX in Germany. When he called for check-ins, I answered with my call sign and he acknowledged me. I was not familiar with the process and gave my wx report too soon. DU2EX then accepted and acknowledged other check-ins.

At the end of the check-in list, he passed control to WX4NHC at the Hurricane Center. The station accepting WX reports then called me for my report. I gave my location and the temperature. He asked for my name and I responded that information. Then he thanked me and went on to the next station.

Very interesting support for the NHC when the next hurricane heads to the U.S.

I just want to thank Kevin (KD5RHF) for making this mode of communication available ... AR

Radio Reference Web Page

Just re-reading some articles in my April CQ magazine and saw this article that I missed.

Check out this web site: RadioReference.com

And I quote: "For those obsessed with monitoring almost any type of radio communication, the frequency listings on the site are a great resource. Just to give you an idea of the tremendous scope of listings, here are some of those available: AM/FM/TV broadcasters, police, fire and safety, airports, railroads, military, sports and marine."

I've just started looking around in this site and clicked on the Data Base line, Oklahoma, then Wagoner county ... the site listed frequencies used by the towns in the county and those used by the county as well.

You do need to join (free) but this looks to be an excellent resource!

... AR

Versatile Yaesu Microphone - MD100A8X

I've used the MD100A8X for the last 6 or so years on my FT840 HF rig. The FT840 is no longer offered by Yaesu.

I've made tons of contacts using it and I have always received good signal and audio reports.

The same mic is available for the FT857 and FT897 as well. Yaesu made the mic cord reversable to fit multiple radios.

From the pic at the top you can see the dual connectors on the base of the mic. On the mic cable, the 8 pin modular connector is on the left (top pic) and the 8 pin round connector is on the right (bottom pic). Also shown in the bottom pic is the HEIL AD100 cable. More on this one later.

For my FT840, the 8 pin modular connector is plugged into the mic and the 8 pin round connector is plugged into the radio. This also works for the FT1000, FT920, FT950, FT990, FT2000 and the FTdx9000 radios.

If the mic cord is reversed and the 8 pin round connector is plugged into the microphone, then the modular connector end is plugged into the radio. This works on the FT450, FT817, FT857 or FT897.

Very clever design. But, wait, there's more to the story.

For the last year or so I have been running a local 2M net on Thursdays using my FT1500 mobile unit. I use it as a base unit with a RS 3 amp power supply for power with a MFJ Ultralight antenna on the guttering outside my window. While this works fine, the mobile mic gets to me after a while because you have to hold the mic ptt down while talking ... my hand cramps.

I have often looked over at my nice base station microphone and wished I could use it with my FT1500 - they're both Yaesu, right? I have finally found an answer!

The HEIL company sells an interface cable for use with their microphones and headsets. They have a cable (the AD100) that connects a 8 pin round connector to a 6 pin modular connector.

Guess what? Yep, the FT1500 has a 6 pin modular connector! I ordered the cable and it works great! I can now connect my MD100 microphone to my FT1500 mobile for the nets.

I have an excellent quality microphone with a PTT that I don't have to hold down all the time. I should have a much better sound on the nets now and I son't have hand cramps to contend with -- a long search but well worth it!

This will also work with the FT8800, FT8900, FT2800M, the FT7800 radios. The HEIL conversion chart shows these radios also have the 6 pin modular connector as well.

Yes, there is a down-side ... my mobile mic has function keys that I use for DTMF tones, so I will lose that ability with the new mic. My workaround, however, is I can use my ICOM T7H hand-held for sending DTMF codes if needed.

... AR

Healthy Hams

A 12-year battle with cancer that started as colon cancer makes one a veteran in the eating wars. My wife does make sure we eat healthy .. lots of fish, chicken, limited amounts of red meat, veggies, salads, fruits. I've learned a lot from her about what to eat and what to avoid. It has paid off for both of us, but we did get a dietary shock this week!

We monitored the trans-fats, the fat grams, and the sodium in our foods. But we had not really paid much attention to the sugar. So even though we were diligent, we were still surprised.

One of our favorite cereals (that we thought was a healthy choice) came up in a magazine article as high in sugar. It turns out that this popular and well-regarded cereal (KASHI brand) had the equivalent of 3.25 teaspoons of sugar in a 1-cup serving! Well, that is a lot of sugar to take in at one sitting, so we started checking out other things in our daily diet.

One of our other favorite cereals is Raisin Bran. Seems safe enough, right? Well the box in the cupboard showed 24 grams of sugar in one-half cup - YIKES! Just to compare, we did a little math and came up with 4 grams of sugar equals 1 teaspoon. So a 1-cup bowl of this cereal was a whopping 12 teaspoons of sugar.

We decided we would go back to our winter staple of oatmeal for breakfast and try to save the sugar for desserts!

So for Healthy Hams all around, check out the sugar in your daily diet - may not be earth-shaking, but this is something we can control!

...AR

Military Communications Test on May 9, 10

Had a good time trying to work the MARS stations on the air Saturday. I worked two of the Army stations (40M) and one Navy station (80M).

This event is always challenging since the MARS stations are transmitting on their allotted frequencies and listening on the legal Amateur frequencies. You have to listen to the MARS station and find out where they are listening. Then you call them on that frequency. Good practice!

I was not able to copy the message from the Secretary of Defense. This message is sent via RTTY, AMTOR, MT63 by various stations. If you copy it and send it in for verification, then you will receive a letter from the Secretary of Defense. I have qualified the past two years, but not able to copy this year.

Good event for practicing split operation as well as digital modes.

...AR

Short Antennas & Automatic Tuners

Or, when do automatic tuners make sense over a manual tuner?

I just found a fascinating article in the May 2008 QST ... actually, it was a short response under Technical Correspondence to an article on automatic tuners. But it answered a question I've had for a long time.

One quote that caught my attention: "...typically, the [automatic] tuners have a tough time when coupling to 'short' antennas whose RR (feedline impedance, if you will) is lower than the prescribed 50 ohms."

The author continues, "...you'll note that in the general instance of the longer -- lower frequency -- antennas, where the feed point (Load) Z is below 50 ohms, the automatic tuners are reticent to couple efficiently, whereas if the feed line Z is above 50 ohms, the tuner is efficient."

A couple of things come to mind ... first, in dealing with short vertical antennas, the antenna Z can be very low, hence the need for radials and/or baluns to match closer to 50 ohms.

Second, if your antenna is "short", whether a shortened 160M dipole or a short vertical, with an impedance of less than 50 ohms, you might want to consider using a manual tuner for better matching range.

If your antenna sports a Z close to or even higher than 50 ohms, the automatic tuners can handle the match easier. The antenna design impedance is affected by a combination of antenna length and height above ground.

This does explain why my auto tuner in my KW TS-440 cranks and cranks to match my NVIS antenna (G5RV at 6 feet high) but quickly tunes on my 40 meter doublet at 20 feet high.

One of these days, I'll have to measure what the impedance is on each of these two antennas.

Something to consider ... AR