simple setup with the Yaesu FT-857
|
 |
Just a quick one following an enjoyable 5 hours out in the sun working mostly 20m SSB portable from Barr Beacon. Myself (G0RIF), Richard (M0SNR) and Luke (M3VVB) took the usual assortment of wires, cables and poles to see what we could throw up & see how it worked.
As is often the case the Par End Fedz 20m dipole was pressed into service in a vertical orientation, suspended on a 10m pole - this also supported a quick & dirty 15m dipole hastily constructed from the remnants of the broadside doublet previously tested.
|
You may recall a previous post in which I’d had a less than fulfilling time with the doublet so for now it’s back to resonant antennas and coax feedlines. Todays results suggest that the 15m dipole works well, although the 15m band wasn’t particularly busy so only a few stations were worked.
On 20m the vertical performed as expected, which is to say, pretty well. Nothing particularly exotic but worked DX both east (RV9LM) and west (W1OP) with a good selection of European stations, many of which were participating in the Portugal Day contest. A contact of particular interest was with Geoff (G8BPN) working 20m mobile while on a driving holiday in France, logged as F/G8BPN/M.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, dipole, doublet, FT-857, G0RIF, portable, SSB, vertical, weather
…are blowing through amateur radio station G0RIF! I have made the decision to finally commit to getting a radio that I believe will be with me for a very long time, a Yaesu FT-950 (pictured). The reason? Digital IF filtering! For too long I have put up with adjacent channel interference, even with the 500Hz filter in the TS-480. With the FT-950 (with the PEP updates) this will be [mostly*] a thing of the past.
In addition I am now moving to a ’single radio setup’ with a single interface unit (MyDel SB-2000) for PSK31 and other soundcard data modes, FSK RTTY, CW keying and rig control.
Yaesu FT-950 HF/6m transceiver
|
|
To that end I have agreed a sale on my TS-480SAT that has been a faithful servant for the past few years, mainly used for RTTY and CW.
Other gear for sale includes my LDG AT-200Pro auto antenna tuner, my SignaLink USB radio interface, my Rigblaster Plug & Play radio interface and my Yaesu FT-857 radio, used primarily for portable operating.
|
The net result of this change will be that I have one radio (the FT-950) with one interface unit (the SB-2000) and one antenna tuner (the SEM Tranzmatch - see earlier posts for details). The FT-897D currently in use as the primary PSK31 set (and standby HF rig) will then be used for portable work (as and when required) and will retain it’s role as a spare HF set.
* I do accept that even modern digital IF filtering has its limitations and that there will still be occasional circumstances where signals are so close together (or when one is particularly strong) when interference may still occur. I believe that such occurences will be significantly fewer with the FT-950 than with the TS-480.
Dean Amateur Radio, Life..., Pictures FT-857, FT-950, G0RIF, PSK31, Rigblaster, RTTY, SB-2000, SEM TranZmatch, SignaLink, Yaesu
Following the recent post regarding countries worked since moving to Lichfield, I had a quick check last night to see what progress I’d made towards my DXCC objectives.
Just to recap - I aim to work at least 100 countries on SSB, CW and datamodes (RTTY and PSK31). I also want to work 100 countries on each of 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30 and 40m bands (basically all the bands where my antenna works).
In the first instance I’m concentrating on getting the 100 countries on each mode and the scores to date are:-
- 109 countries on SSB
- 116 countries on CW (morse code)
- 129 countries on datamodes (117 RTTY, 74 PSK31)
- 168 countries worked in total
Of the 168 countries worked I have 151 confirmed (QSL received) with 146 by paper card and 110 LOTW (Logbook of The World).
Dean Amateur Radio DXCC, G0RIF, morse code, PSK31, QSL, RTTY, SSB
My Kenwood TS-480SAT HF/6m transceiver is the primary radio in my ’shack’, used for all CW and RTTY operating. It also gets used for HF/6m SSB although this is shared with the Yaesu FT-897 (which also handles 2m & 70cm SSB/FM).
The TS-480 remote head unit
|
|
The TS-480 was purchased used about 2 years ago as a dedicated digital/data mode radio and is paired with a Rigblaster Plug & Play radio interface unit which provides FSK keying for RTTY as well as CW keying (used for sending contest exchanges). The Rigblaster also provides audio drive to the radio for other soundcard based digital modes like PSK31, PSK63, Olivia and many more.
I’ll explain why I chose the TS-480 when there are more capable radios out there.
|
To be perfectly honest, cost was a prime consideration - if I’d had the money I would have gone for an Icom 756 ProII or ProIII, widely considered to be the best RTTY radios ever made. But, even second hand, these radios cost between two and three times more than the TS-480. So, within my budget, I looked around for a radio that had three important properties - 1. good basic RF performance on the HF bands, 2. DSP noise reduction and audio bandwidth filtering and 3. was designed with digital modes in mind. The Kenwood TS-480 was an obvious candidate and following a period of researching the alternatives, the TS-480 was chosen.
I will be posting a more thorough review of this radio at a later date when I hope to expand this blog site by adding a number of additional pages detailing all of my amateur radio equipment and activities.
Dean Amateur Radio G0RIF, Kenwood, RTTY, TS-480
…as they say (for those of you who remember The Generation Game) are, since moving to the new QTH in Lichfield, 83 countries worked with 6 all time new ones (Anguilla, Desecheo Island, St.Eustatius, United Arab Emirates, Bermuda and Alaska) - not bad considering the pretty feeble excuse for an antenna I was using up until about a week ago.
I’ll be ticking them off now as I move towards getting the first 100 countries logged from this location. I look forward to reporting that little milestone here.
Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random G0RIF, Lichfield
Just a few words on todays operation from Barr Beacon (IO92BN) when I setup on 20m with the Par End Fedz 20m dipole suspended vertically on a 10m fibreglass pole.
Band conditions weren’t great and there was fast deep fading. Not as bad as 17m at the weekend but still pretty dramatic. Best DX was VE1ZA/m (Tony) followed by OH0/DL9GTI (Ralf). It seems Ralf wasn’t the only German out and about as I also worked Peter in Croatia as 9A/DL4KM/p and Charlie in Italy as I/DL3KHK. In keeping with this ‘operating abroad’ theme I also worked Dave in Menorca as EA6/M0DLL.
All in all it was an enjoyable few hours on 20m when even the weather was pretty good…until the battery was run down and I’d packed everything away, after which it poured it down. I think I timed that perfectly!
You can see my location on Barr Beacon for this operation on the Portable Amateur Radio gallery page.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures antenna, battery, G0RIF, portable, propagation, vertical, weather
 Buddistick mount |
|
Piggot’s Bottom, approximately 52° 42′ 56″ north, 1° 54′ 7″ west. Locator square IO92BR. This is where I setup the Buddistick for a bit of 17m operating. Just don’t ask me to find it again!
Let me explain. I set out to operate from a spot I’ve used before not far from home. The problem was that today those playing fields were in use and the small carpark was full. This meant I had to find another spot to operate from.
I set off with no particular destination in mind and after driving around for some 20 minutes I found myself at Piggot’s Bottom, a small wood about 6 or 7 miles northwest of Lichfield. I found the spot entirely by chance and will have to pore over a map in order to ever find it again. |
As you can see from the pictures of todays outing (see my Portable Amateur Radio gallery) the spot I chose is in a lovely little clearing set into a corner of the wood. Using the supplied Buddistick mount plus the vertical antenna clamp in my ‘Deluxe’ package I attached the antenna to the rear hatch on the car (see picture on this page and linked gallery page). This placed the feedpoint about 6ft above the ground. The elevated radial wire was taken away horizontally and tied-off to a convenient tree. This tuned up great on 17m with SWR < 1.2:1 across the SSB portion of the band.
Conditions weren’t great on 17m today but there was decent propagation down into the Mediterranean region with SV9CVY (Mike on the island of Crete) loud at 59+ runnning a good pile-up of mostly EU stations with a few US stations. I eventually got through the pile and got a good 59 report. I was pleased to make the contact because he did seem to have lots of loud stations calling him and it took a bit of persistence and some guile to get the contact.
I also got good reports from 9H1DE (Roly in Malta who was 59 with me) who gave me 58, 9A0CI (Fred on EU-090) who gave me 58, 1B1AB (Soyer in Turkish North Cyprus) who gave me 59 and Flavio & Marco (IW0HKH and IW0GEQ), both in Rome who gave me 55 and 57 respectively.
The catch of the day though was HV0A (Francesco) in the Vatican City. I was tuning across the band as he was calling CQ (59+) and I got him on the second call. It wasn’t too long before he was buried under a huge pile-up as more and more stations all tried for a contact, by which time I was smiling broadly with him already in my log. This was my second contact with HV0A having previously also working him on 20m SSB for what was at that time my 100th country. The QSL card for that contact is on the QSL Europe gallery page.
It was an enjoyable few hours on 17m and another good performance from the Buddistick antenna which continues to impress. I will certainly find my way back to Piggot’s Bottom to operate from there again.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures antenna, Buddistick, G0RIF, HV0A, portable, propagation, QSL, vertical
|
Barr Beacon is the highest point in the West Midlands and lies close to the suburbs of Walsall and Aldridge, with Great Barr and Pheasey to the south, and Streetly to the east. Barr Beacon rises to a height of 227 metres and is an important regional landmark offering excellent views over the surrounding area. It also has a great take-off in all directions for radio signals. It was for these reasons that we chose Barr Beacon for some portable amateur radio operations.
The benefits of operating portable from hilltops are the refreshing low-noise HF radio environment of more remote locations and a receiver powered by batteries. It really has to be experienced to be believed! Here, the portable HF operator enjoys a huge receive advantage over fixed stations and, if conditions are poor, it can make all the difference when it comes to completing the QSO.
|
|
G0RIF/P on 6m
|
This kind of portable operation can also allow the erection of larger and more exotic antennas than might be possible at home. It can also serve as a bit of a social gathering to meet some friends and enjoy getting on the air together. So it was that I (callsign G0RIF), Richard (M0SNR), Luke (M3VVB) and Bob (G6LPB) met up to try out some new antenna ideas atop Barr Beacon today.
Richard took along his recently built Moxon for the 6m band, together with his portable 2m SOTA beam. I took my recently built 6m half-square antenna and a 17m end fed dipole built in the USA by Par Electronics - this was used held vertically by a 10m fibreglass pole. Everything worked really well and contacts were had on all bands. It was a great day out and we will be doing it again in the future, no doubt to try a few more new antenna ideas.
You can view the pictures of this outing to Barr Beacon on the Portable Amateur Radio gallery page.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures antenna, G0RIF, Moxon, portable, vertical