Antennas – NDØTS

Propagation Is Tough

I’m not sure what’s going on, exactly, but for the past few weeks, I have been having major trouble with propagation on HF. I know that there’s nothing wrong with my antenna, because I have made some good contacts, but they are very sporadic. QSB (the fading in and out of signals) has been really bad.

I’ve been trying to (at least) get involved in all of the QSO Parties that have come along, without a whole lot of luck. Even in the North Dakota QSO Party I only made two contacts. Part of that was because after I tried for 2 or 3 hours, I finally just gave up and went out to clean my garage. There wasn’t a whole lot of BIC time that Saturday.

As I write this, the Florida QSO Party is happening. It’s 2pm, and I have only been able to hear one station (N4K) on 20 meters. I still haven’t made the contact, but with the QSB the way it is, I’m just waiting until he pops up out of the noise, again.

… and just after I typed that, he popped up and I made the contact. Now, I can’t hear him at all, again. Urgh!

I am completely aware that nothing makes more of a difference in making contacts on HF than the conditions. As long as you have a decent antenna, you really can talk around the world with 5 watts. There are so many factors that go into having the right conditions, though, I really think that it’s more of an art than a science. Beyond that, depending on what the conditions are like on any given day (or hour, for that matter) I actually feel like it’s more of a gamble than anything.

The key (in my opinion) is persistence. Spinning the dial, rather than watching the spotting networks. Having a good set of headphones. Trying different bands at different times of day (sometimes, even when you don’t think it should work).

Another helpful thing that I have found is that when propagation really “is” bad at your location, is to just take a break from it. There is no good that can come from being frustrated. There’s always next time.

Dabbling In Digital

Recently, Jason (ND0JL) put up a UHF repeater in town. The repeater is on 443.900MHz with a +5MHz offset. It’s not located too far from me, and the whole system is actually still a work in progress. He would like to upgrade the antenna and raise it’s elevation, a bit.

The nice thing about it, is that a couple months ago, I bought a UHF 12 element yagi. It has been on the roof since a couple days after I got it, and right after he got the repeater going, I swung it around to point directly at it. I could probably get into the repeater with a half-a-watt, but my radio will only go down to 5 watts.

When he installed the repeater, he also connected it to Wires-X, which is a digital mode, proprietary to Yaesu. There is a room associated with the repeater, called “WHITE-CLOUD”. It is normally left in the room, unless somebody switches to another room for a net, or to make a contact, or something.

I’m very new to this digital mode, and I’ve been learning a lot, since he installed it.

Feel free to jump into the room, whenever you’d like. I am usually monitoring it when I’m not doing anything on HF (since the only radio I have that will connect to it is also my HF rig). Down the road, we hope to get more people in the area (and elsewhere) on there.

2019 November Sweepstakes

UPDATE: This year, I was able to get a total of 216 contacts for a total of 29,808 points. The log has been submitted, and I will be waiting for the results.

Once again, this year, I will be trying my luck on the SSB November Sweepstakes. Last year, I had a total score of 5,694. I hope to top that, this year. The contest begins on November 16th at 2100 UTC Saturday (3pm Central time) and runs through 0259 UTC Monday (9pm Sunday, Central time).

I will be mainly operating on 20m & 40m. I will also give 80m, 15m, and possibly 10m a try, depending on the conditions.

There is quite a long exchange for this particular contest, but once you get a rhythm, it’s not too much of a mouthful. It consists of a Serial, Precedence, Callsign, Check, and Section. All of that is explained on the ARRL website.

This year, I have also decided to set up a second antenna, which I will be using on 20 & 40 meters. The antenna is the one that I normally use for portable operations. It actually has a much lower noise floor than my OCFD. It is also set up “north/south”, whereas my OCFD is set up “east/west”. I will use an antenna switch that I borrowed from Jason (ND0JL) to alternate between the two.

I have never been very good at (or had much luck with) sitting on a frequency and calling CQ, but I will, once again, attempt it. I think that the main reason for this is that my normal set up at my QTH talks a lot better than it hears. Although I have become pretty good at listening to and being able to copy stations that are “in the noise”, doing that in a contest seems much more difficult.

I will be Single-Op Unlimited Low Power. Basically, this just means that I will be making all contacts, myself, with 100 watts or less, and I will be using spotting networks. I will have three of my four computer monitors up and running, while I’m operating. The more information that I can pull in during the contest, the better.

You can watch the Contest Online Scoreboard and see how many contacts are being made. I will be listed at the bottom of that page, in the “SO-ALL LP (A) PHONE” section. Although that page may list me with the club information (Jamestown Amateur Radio Club), I will be using my personal call in the contest, and not submitting any logs for the club.

If you’re reading this before or during the contest, I hope to make contact with you, somewhere. If we’ve already had a QSO during the contest, thank you very much!

First Visit To The Repeater Site

Today, Jason, I and my grandson drove out to the repeater site. It needed a little reprogramming on the controller, so since I actually got a day off that coincided with Jason, I thought I would take the opportunity to go and check it out.

As most things go… until you actually “see” something… there are some misconceptions that form in your mind, when things are just described to you. Whether reading or just listening to a description, the reality is always a little different.

This was the case for me. I always imagined that the “shack” that housed the repeater and other equipment was much smaller than it actually is. It is actually much more organized than I thought it would be, as well.

I know that there was probably nothing “super special” about the whole thing, but because it was my first visit, there, it’s something that will always stick in my mind, now.

One thing that I was really impressed by was the view from the repeater site. We were only on the ground, and I can’t imagine how much further the view was from the top of the tower. The view (even though it was a lot of flat land) was really impressive. I snapped a few pictures, while we were there.

Just a few…

My Thoughts on the ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal

If you haven’t heard, the FCC is considering expanding HF privileges for Technician License holders. More information can be found here and here. From what I have seen in various discussions, online, there are quite a few individuals that are very “vocal” in opposition to the changes.

The basic changes involve expanding phone (SSB, AM, etc.) privileges for current and future Tech license holders. They would be allowed to operate on 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz, and 21.350 to 21.450 MHz. They would also be given digital privileges (RTTY, FT8, etc.) on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. They are currently allowed to use those, but only for CW.

My initial thoughts on this were actually in opposition of the changes. I almost went as far as filing a comment with the FCC on the changes. After taking a few deep breaths and actually thinking through what effect the changes would have, I have changed my mind, and I now believe that the changes would have a positive effect on the future of ham radio.

My further explanation: I am currently an Extra Class license holder. I have access to all of the amateur bands and modes. With this ticket, I can do anything that an amateur radio operator can do. While I have done a lot of experimenting, there are still many things in this hobby that I haven’t even tried. The fact that I had to take three different tests in order to get to this level made the proposed changes seem like they were going to make the second two tests that I took seem worthless.

I had also read the various discussions, online, and many people are saying that this is a move by the ARRL to be able to collect more $49 annual dues. I completely disagree with that opinion. If this is about money, it is not about the ARRL wanting money… it would actually be about radio manufacturers wanting to make money.

We can all agree that the Chinese radio invasion has completely taken hold, and while I don’t have “any” numbers to support it, the majority of them are probably being purchased by new Technicians. I own a few, myself, so this is definitely not limited to new Techs, but I am quite sure that this has caused some “loss of sales” for the other radio manufacturers.

Because the Chinese radios can be used on amateur bands that Technicians can use, there is no real need for them to “upgrade” to another radio. This is where I think that the drive for the rule changes is actually coming from the radio manufacturers that make HF radios (and possibly makers of antennas and other HF equipment).

If Technicians are given a slice of 80 meters, 40 meters, and 15 meters, they will be more apt to buy radios and antennas that will operate on those frequencies. Essentially opening up a pretty hefty market for HF radio manufacturers.

Now that I’ve got my opinion about where I think the idea for these changes came from, I’ll explain why I think this will actually be a good thing, in the end.

This is actually quite a large chunk of spectrum that they would be giving to Techs. As I say that, though, there is much more spectrum that would be available, if they were to upgrade to General or Extra. In my mind, this is like giving them a small taste of HF while still giving them the upgrade option to get even more. Once they’ve already got the radio and antennas to do it, the “barrier to upgrade” will seem much lower. And “since” they’ve already got the radio and antennas, the drive to upgrade would be that much higher.

There are, of course, many options that individuals will take when putting up antennas for the new “HF Tech” frequencies. I can imagine that there will be a lot of them that will put up multi-band antennas that are made to work with other bands that they won’t be able to use until they upgrade. For example, an 80 meter OCFD will work on 8 different bands. Three of those bands, they would only be able to listen to, and the other five, they would only be able to transmit in a pretty small portion.

If I was stuck in that position, I would be trying to upgrade my license as quick as I could. Not being able to use 20 meters would be a “huge” drive. Also, not being able to transmit in the DX windows would be really frustrating.

Anyway… those are my thoughts. In the end (if this “passes”), I believe that the whole hobby will be better off. Once people get a good taste of HF, they will want to taste even more.

Winter Field Day Update

I added an update to the original post on November 27th that said “Just registered and added myself to the Winter Field Day map, this morning. At this time, I’m the northern-most (and probably coldest) spot on the map.” Well… The first part is still true. I’m still registered and on the map, but I am no longer the “northern-most” spot on there. I am, however, still the northern-most “outdoor” station on the map.

Since I posted the original post, I have come up with a “plan B”. I now have an 80 meter end-fed half wave antenna that I will be using. In fact, the EFHW will probably become the “plan A”, and I’ll let the Big Ear antenna be the plan B. I think that I have everything that I need to get it up into a tree and on the air. I may need to hit up a friend for a smaller piece of coax, though. Everything I have is much longer than I probably need, and if I don’t need to cut it up, I don’t want to.

The place where I’ll be running WFD from is all set up, and I’ve got the proper permission that I need. The only thing that I may have to worry about is if we get any kind of really bad weather during that time period. Getting in and out of there may be a little tricky if things get bad enough. I’ll hope for the best, but plan for the worst, though.

Speaking of planning, I was thinking that I would be using a small electric heater that I have, in order to keep the van warm. I pulled the space heater out, the other day and fired up the generator. I realized that the heater (on high) pulls 1500w. The generator that I have is capable of 2000w. This would leave me 500w (pushing it) for the radio and anything else that I connect. The radio pulls just under 200W at full power and the laptop that I use for logging would pull about 150w. That would leave me about 150 watts of wiggle room. I’m not comfortable with that, at all.

My solution is to put about a $130 initial investment into a propane tank and heater. It’s all locally available, so I don’t even need to order anything. This solution should work out much better, since I will be “saving” all of those watts, and the propane heater should do a much better job of heating the van. This really showed me that the planning is about 80% of this whole exercise.

The location that I chose is very ideal, since it is a relatively open area, but has a couple trees that I can get a wire antenna up about 40 feet in the air. When I looked at the distances that I needed, the location of the “station” set up puts the antenna(s) on one side of the van and the generator on the other side, behind a small brick building (which should do a good job at blocking any interference from it). Also, it should shield the generator from the weather and wind. I may need to come up with something to protect the “connection” side of the generator, so nothing gets wet, though.

I did purchase the full suite of N3FJP software, and have started using Amateur Contact Log as my main logging program. I plan to use his Winter Field Day Contest Log during WFD. My son (KE0MHY) also plans on helping me out, and he’s familiar with the N3FJP software, since he used it during last Field Day. This should make the logging the least of any of my worries about the whole event. There’s a lot of “extras” in his software that I wasn’t even aware of when I purchased it that I’m really happy about.

Since the last post, I have also talked to Shawn (AD0ND), and he told me that he does not plan on running an outdoor station, this year. In a way, I wish he would, but in another way, I’m kinda’ happy he isn’t, since this will give me a little better chance at getting higher in the results. Not that it will get me much more than bragging rights. but like he said, “it’s fun, but the bragging rights are even better”.

The only big thing that I have major concerns about is the BIG THING that will prevent me from getting even close to obtaining those bragging rights. The HF conditions, lately have been (to say the least) AWFUL. If you’ve been on HF over the past couple weeks, I’m sure you would agree. 100 watts and a wire can usually do a pretty good job, but if the propagation isn’t there, it makes things “really” difficult. I really hope that the conditions improve before the end of January. The only thing I have on my side, if they don’t improve, is that I am a member of OMISS and the 3905 net. Those two nets have done more for me to improve my radio “hearing” than anything else. Using headphones and training my ears to ignore the static has been essential for making a lot of contacts on those nets. I’m proud to say that I’ve become pretty good at it.

This may be the last update before WFD, but I will post an update after WFD, no matter what.

Let me know, in the comments, if you are also planning to participate in Winter Field Day, and what your plan is.

Doing Winter Field Day

UPDATE (Nov 27, 2018): Just registered and added myself to the Winter Field Day map, this morning. At this time, I’m the northern-most (and probably coldest) spot on the map.

Over the past couple days, I’ve been thinking about getting involved in Winter Field Day 2019. Obviously, it’s more comfortable sitting in a warm house with hot coffee (or cold beer) and not having to worry about everything that comes with setting up a portable HF station. The challenge of actually “doing it”, though is something I think I’d like to try.

Setting up a portable station is easy enough when the weather is nice. Finding the time to do it, last summer was my biggest obstacle. The hours that I was working just didn’t allow me to get out there as much as I had wanted to. I did manage to go portable three times (plus Field Day), last summer, but I would have loved to have traveled around a lot more.

My work schedule, in the cold months, is a lot less busy, but of course the downside of that is that it’s cold!!! If you’ve never been to North Dakota, but you’ve “heard” how bad the winters get up here, what you heard was probably true. Of course, some winters are better than others, but when it’s bad… it’s bad. It’s almost “always” warmer in Anchorage, AK than it is in North Dakota.

Temperatures of -20 to -30 are pretty normal in the dead of winter, then add the wind chill (which also blows A LOT in the winter) and also the snow and most people are content to remain indoors as much as possible. The thought of “camping” in the winter is something that most people don’t even think of. There are some people that go ice fishing, but even though I like to fish, the idea of sitting on a frozen lake in a little hut and sticking a line through a little hole always made me shake my head. Definitely not for me!

I suppose that means that I am a lot more interested in radio than fishing, since I am actually considering setting up a station on January 26th and getting on the air for 24 hours, straight.

I bought my current vehicle (a van) with the intention of converting it into something that would be comfortable to travel and sleep in. I still haven’t converted the electric system, added insulation, or anything else the way that I had planned, but it’s still a pretty comfortable van on the inside. I have a generator and a small electric heater which should do a good job at keeping the inside warm enough, even without any insulation. I’ll need to test that out before making the commitment for Winter Field Day, though. The generator is powerful enough to keep the heater, lights, and radio running. I just want to make sure it’s “enough” heat.

The antenna that I use when I’m portable is set up on a tripod, which I normally anchor straight down to the ground using a “dog tie-out” screw. That might not be possible, depending on how frozen the ground is. I’ll need to come up with a “plan B”, just in case, though. There’s bound to be a lot more wind at the end of January than there was last summer. I’m still working through the planning in my head, but overall, it’s something that I’m looking forward to.

The rules for Winter Field Day are almost the same as that other Field Day, with some slight changes and different exchanges. I plan on doing this as an individual (not with the club), so I will only be using one radio, off-grid. If I make at least one contact, I will (at least) be able to get 4,502 points.

Last year, Shawn (AD0ND) made 157 contacts from north of Valley City, and got 13,293 points. He had the highest score for a 1O station, and came in second for all of “zero-land” (the one in first was running 3 stations in MN). He was the ONLY one running and outdoor station in North Dakota. The only other ND station in the results was running a “home” station in Bismarck.

Shawn was running one of the stations are our club’s Field Day set up, last June. He did a great job, there, and we had a great time, but I think I want to give him a run for his money (there’s no money involved, by the way), and hopefully come close to his Winter Filed Day score or maybe even pass him. Honestly, I haven’t heard if he was going to do WFD again, this year, or not. Either way, I plan to be out there.

160 Meter Contacts

For a few months, now, I have been working, on and off, on 30 meters and I’m up to 46 states by using FT8. That’s not an exceptional thing, though, until you realize that the Buckmaster 7 band off center fed dipole (which is what I’m using) is not supposed to work on 30 meters. The power getting reflected back to the radio is a little high (3.1:1 SWR), but I keep the power turned down, and the effective radiated power out of the antenna is about 25 watts. With that, I have actually seen amazing results. Like I said, 46 states, so far, and the furthest DX contact on 30m has been southern Australia.

The only states that I need on 30 meters are AK, ME, ND, and SD. I have a feeling that AK may be the hardest to get, since I don’t recall ever hearing any stations from AK on 30m.

Tonight, I tried tuning over to 1.840 MHz, which is the 160 meter FT8 frequency. I heard a few stations, which is more than I think I had ever heard in the past, there. Partly due to interference, and probably mostly due to conditions and antenna. Even though my FT-991A will not tune to 160m using this Buckmaster 7 band OCFD, it will still allow me to transmit with an SWR of 3.1:1. I, of course, turned the power way down, and I am getting an effective radiated power of about 21 watts out of the antenna.

Amazingly, I got my first two contacts on 160 meters, tonight. One station in Texas and another in Wisconsin. Very surprisingly, I got an FT8 report of +12 from the Wisconsin station, even though I heard him at a -17.

After the two contacts were made, the band and all of the signals seemed to drop out. I made a few more CQ calls, but heard nothing more from anybody. It’s late, and I need to work, tomorrow, so I gave up.

I was so excited, though, that I needed to get this out there. I am not sure if I am more happy with the antenna or the radio (or the mode) at this point. Where I am located, there is absolutely no way for me to even think about putting up a legitimate 160 meter antenna, so the fact that I was able to even pull off those two contacts has me really excited.

Busy, Busy, Busy…

Apparently, somebody has noticed that I haven’t updated the posts on this page in a while. Well. I apologize. First of all, my full time job has been crazy. If you know me personally, you’ll understand. Between the yo-yo duties that I have as a general manager, I have also been covering actual shifts and doing the jobs of at least two or three other people. I’m not complaining, because I actually love my job, but sometimes it’s a “love-hate” relationship.

I also haven’t been monitoring the local repeater too much. Completely my fault, as I have the ability to listen to it, as well as do all of the HF stuff that I’ve been doing, lately. I plan to get better at having my other radio turned on, so I can jump in, if needed. It’s really not that hard… I just haven’t been doing it.

Quite a bit has happened since my last post. Field Day has come and gone. It was a huge success, in my opinion. I have also delved into the world of FT8, and became quite addicted, honestly. I now have over 1,000 contacts in my personal log, and 25 countries confirmed, according to LotW. I am one state away from having my Mixed WAS… that state being North Dakota, believe it or not.

As you can see from the following PDF file, I have been pretty active on FT8. This was just grabbed, a few minutes before posting, so some of them have not confirmed, yet. I’ve been working all of the bands, including 30 meters, which my antenna apparently isn’t supposed to be able to transmit or tune. I love this Buckmaster 7 band antenna. It’s actually a 9 band antenna, now.

My QRZ logbook as of this post

… Until next time…

Time For An Update

About a month ago, I finally put up the antenna for my HF radio. When I bought the FT-991A, I also purchased a Buckmaster 7-band off-center fed dipole (covers 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, & 6). I know that’s 8 bands, but even though it’s not supposed to work on 15 meters, the FT-991A tunes it. Since I bought it all in the middle of winter, I needed to wait for the snow to clear off the roof, before I could get up there. For some reason, my wife and kids didn’t want me to be up there when it was a little slick, or something.

The antenna seems to work great. I get pretty good reports from most of the people I talk to. I’ve only had about 80 contacts in the past month, but they have been from coast to coast in the US. Up until last night, I didn’t have any contacts into Canada, and I was a little confused about that. The antenna was working from MA to WA, and all over to the south, very well. Last night, however, I was able to get a couple different contacts into AB and BC… finally.

The OCFD is oriented east-west, with the short end toward the east. It doesn’t seem to be directional, at all, except for the minimal contacts to the north. I’m pretty sure that has more to do with my actual location and the way it’s set up, though.

The reason for the slow updates, here, have a lot to do with me actually being on the radio, rather than on the computer. That, along with my current work schedule, has kept me from having the urge to write anything on here.

Our local ARC is getting ready for Field Day 2018. We still have some details to hammer out, but no matter what, it should be a great couple days. Last year, we were a 1A station, and this year we’re actually planning to be a 2A. That’s actually a pretty big achievement for an area with such a limited amount of amateurs. It looks like we’ll also have a Cub Scout troop visiting us on Saturday, June 23rd.