46 and counting…

‘The wet string chronicles…’ is the former title of this blog, so called because of my less than optimal amateur radio antenna. Over the years I’ve always used simple wire antennas, some of which have worked better than others. Some of the less performant antennas are what we in England would say are ‘about as much use as a bit of wet string’! In antenna terms it’s colloquial for ‘not very good’.

I’m sure I’ll still write about how my antennas are a bit of a compromise (to put it mildly) but I’ll be adopting a less amateur radio focused view of the world going forward. I want to diversify and write about other things that interest me, especially photography and music. That is why today, I’ve changed the title of my blog to something more generic - ‘45 and counting…’.

And as for my antennas, well, they’re still there and they’re still about as compromise as they ever were, but they’re the best I can do given my current location and situation. I still make plenty of contacts and while times at’s a bit of a challenge working weaker and more remote stations, I accept that it won’t always be easy and in a way that only adds to the enjoyment and the sense of satisfaction when I do manage to log a new country.

Dean Amateur Radio, Blog, Life... antenna

The title says it all really - it’s been a bit quiet this past 6 months or so at amateur radio station G0RIF. No particular reason but contributory factors do include a diminished passion for the hobby.

Don’t get me wrong, I do still retain the fascination for radio communications and I do still enjoy chasing DX and making DX contacts. Where I struggle is with day-to-day operating. I seem to have so many other things that I want to do these days.

I’ll see how it goes over the next few months before deciding what to do. For now I’ll just say ‘Happy Christmas one and all!’ and wish everyone all the very best for 2011.

Dean Amateur Radio, Life... G0RIF

DXpeditions are funded in many different ways.

• Sometimes the operators will fund themselves entirely bearing all personal travel and equipment transportation costs.
• Sometimes a DXpedition will be funded by a group or organisation who’s members have an interest in that DXCC entity being activated.
• Some DXpeditions might be sponsored by equipment manufacturers.
• Some DXpeditions may be sponsored by the individual donations of many hams around the world in support of a rare entity being activated (often one that they personally need).
• DXpeditions can also be funded by any combination of the above methods and of course other methods not listed here.

The crux of all of this is that there is often a degree of ‘obligation’ to make sure that those sponsoring the DXpedition get a fair chance at working them. This is where it can get a bit tricky.
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life... 3C0C, ARRL, DXCC, dxpedition

We live in a connected world where many people have permanent broadband access to the internet and to spotting clusters. Many hams use these DX clusters to assist in locating and working DX on the bands. I am one such ham and I would certainly not have worked all the DX I have done over the past few years without an ocassional helping hand from DX clusters. I do wonder though to what extend they can be considered a hams friend…or foe.

The reason I pose the question is this - for an amateur radio operator with a compromise antenna (such as I have) it is unlikely you will hear all of the stations spotted, even if others in your part of the world are reporting them as “loud here” or “59+20dB here”.
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life... DX, DX cluster

No disputing it, it’s a fact. With my compromise antenna, in marginal situations, it is very likely I’ll hear him better than he hears me (working on the basis he probably has a better antenna than mine). So, if I want to work him, I need to radiate enough of a signal for him (or her) to hear me. No antenna means I radiate no signal.

I hear and read a lot of comments from hams in antenna limited situations similar to my own lamenting the fact that they can’t put up the kind of antennas many other hams are using. To all of them I say “do not despair and just put up something…anything!” It will radiate a signal and you will work people. Granted not as many as those other hams with the big fancy antennas but you will make contacts.

Case in point, my current antenna which is (as previous posts have mentioned) a compromise multi-band wire that seems to work quite well (despite the losses recently identified in the previous blog entry) on 20m, 30m and 40m and that will additionally tune and work on 80m, 17m, 15m and 12m. I suppose 7 band coverage on 12 metres of sloping end fed wire isn’t too bad and with this antenna I have worked some nice DX in the past 18 months (116 countries) including:

Alaska, Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire (Curacao), British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Desecheo Island, Dodecanese, Faroe Islands, Grenada, Hawaii, Iceland, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Martinique, Mauritius, Montserrat, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela and Western Sahara.

This includes 15 all time new ones taking my DXCC total from 162 to 177. Not bad for a pretty simple compromise antenna!

I hope that this blog entry will illustrate to many of the newer hams out there, who are similarly limited in what antennas they can erect, that simple compromise wire antennas can work. I know that there are better antennas and I know that many will always say that “more…higher is better” but the simple truth is that not everyone can get “more…higher”. In those circumstances always remember that something is better than nothing so put up what you can and work some DX!

Dean Amateur Radio, Life... antenna, DX, DXCC

I fired up the rig on 40m last night, around 9:40pm local time, just to see what was around. I tuned slowly up the band and eventually found a bit of a pile-up between 2 and 3 kHz up from 7.008MHz where I heard 3B8MM (on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean).

I listened for a while and 3B8MM was peaking about S5 with me and dipping down to S0 so not the best of chances of a QSO. Undeterred I decided to send my call a few times whenever his signal peaked. He was moving around a bit in terms of where he was listening, variously stating either 2 or 3 up as one or the other became too crowded.

Around 10:30pm I though I had him when he came back (in what felt like a response to my call in terms of timing) with a G0? to which I replied with my call again, hoping to hear him come back with G0RIF 599…but no, nothing. I listened but heard nothing. I sent my call again but I reckon he’d moved on because he was soon calling CQ again and working another station. I stayed on frequency for another 10 or 15 minutes but he was fading so I decided it was a fight best left for another day.

Close (or so it felt), but no cigar. Some you win, some you lose. C’est la vie!

Dean Amateur Radio, Life... 3B8MM, CW

Sorry folks but this is yet another YI9PSE post. But, unless I work them before they leave Iraq, this will be the last YI9PSE post. Honest.

I’m writing this blog entry in response to a number of discussion threads I’m seeing, DX cluster comments, and my own experiences around the YI9PSE DXpedition, still active from Iraq and scheduled to be on the bands from Kurdistan in the north of the country until the 12th of April.

I think many people are surprised by how difficult it’s proving to be getting a QSO with YI9PSE. Their website may have led many (me included) to assume that they’d be loud on many bands to most parts of the amateur radio world (the website says that they have ‘amplifiers’ and ‘gain antennas’). This isn’t the case (based on my own experience and that of many others). It seems that they have been subjected to circumstances in Iraq they weren’t expecting and poor band conditions (partly due to the recent solar storm we’ve all been subjected to). This has led to widespread frustration with many bemoaning the lack of those anticipated big signals from YI9PSE.
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life..., Totally random dxpedition, Journey (The band), K5M, VP6DX, YI9PSE

A tip for you. Planning late is the same as not planning at all. It you want to do anything properly make sure all he planning is done well ahead of the event. Case in point, WPX SSB 2010 when I’d ‘planned’ to get out and operate G0RIF/p from Piggot’s Bottom.

I say ‘planned’. It’s probably more accurate to say I’d ‘intended’ getting out and stringing up a few temporary antennas amongst the trees at Piggot’s Bottom - there had been precious little actual planning. It was a busy weekend one way and another so time was limited but come Sunday afternoon I had a chance of 3 or 4 hours on the bands. Time to get out and work a few!
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life... antenna, portable, SSB, WPX

…don’t fix it - just don’t! A simple rule but one we should all observe, always.

Case in point - I had a perfectly functional radio interface box for soundcard digimodes, RTTY (FSK) and rig control. Despite this doing a perfectly good job and not being broken in any way I decided to “fix it”.

The result of this is that having spent 4 days trying to get “a better” interface to work with my radio I am now back where I started.

The “better” box was returned and I still have my original, perfectly functional, radio interface box for soundcard digimodes, RTTY (FSK) and rig control - it isn’t broken and this time I won’t be trying to fix it!

Dean Life..., Totally random fact

Well that’s it - January 2010 is no more. Over, done, finished! Blink and you would have missed it. It’s now February the 1st and before you know it winter will recede and give way to spring.

So, what did January 2010 give us? Not a lot to be fair. I was QRT for the whole of the month and my only forays onto the bands were occasional listens to 20m and 40m where I heard little of interest. I really do need something to re-enthuse me. I keep thinking I should get back to working more PSK31 on 20m but so far I haven’t even got round to doing that. I’ll hope to address that during February.

January 2010 will likely be most remembered for the cold snap and the accompanying snow and ice that brought the UK to a near standstill. That is now thankfully passed and not to be repeated anytime soon with a bit of luck. Roll on warmer weather, longer days and improving HF conditions as cycle 24 starts to gather momentum.

Dean Amateur Radio, Blog, Life..., Totally random 2010, antenna, January, QRT, Solar Cycle 24