S9 v31 vs. a dipole at 20 feet

I set up the S9 for a nighttime test comparison with one of my dipoles mounted about 20 feet up and touching my house. I was running my NorCal 40a on battery power. Skies were clear at about 65 degrees F. There was a fair amount of activity on 40 meters, conditions were good for a test.

The result? The vertical was, at least this time out, a superior performer. There was no comparison. The ground-mounted S9 v31 was significantly quieter and heard more signals as well. The other thing about the S9 is that signals are so strong I typically have to reduce my RF gain by 25-50% so my eardrums don't get blown out. It's amazing how much louder many signals are on the vertical vs. the dipole.

While comparing the two antennas,I worked Kevin, K7KHC, in Aberdeen, Washington using the vertical. Had a nice QSO but discovered that trying to use my key mounted on a clipboard was a bit awkward. Still need to optimize that set-up.

After that experiment I moved my NorCal 40, power supply and cables up to my second floor outside porch to enjoy the night sky and see if I could catch any DX. Right around 0500Z I chanced on ZL2AGY, Tony in New Zealand! He was in a QSO so I waited till they finished, but was unable to contact him. Not sure if my signal was not getting out strongly enough or whether he had gone QRT. Anyway it was great to hear propagation working so well into Moscow, Idaho for my S9.

I hope to receive my new radial plate this coming week and am interested to learn whether it will improve the strength of my transmissions. My current radial plate is nothing more than a plumbing fixture with some paint scraped off so the screws and wires all make good contact. Not optimal.

It was great sitting out under the stars, tuning around just by feel. The NorCal 40a has no display so I was able to sit in total darkness, watch up at the sky and tune quietly around the CW portion of 40m. Any time I needed to write, I just clicked on my Petzl headlamp with the red filter on to minimize getting blinded. Worked great.

Looking forward to many more evening sessions like this.

S9 v31 antenna report

Have used the S9 v31 for a few weeks now. Receive is excellent, seems much more quiet than my dipoles. But, although I have a good system of radials in place, still have trouble getting out. I believe it's caused by my radial plate. It's actually a piece of plumbing hardware using for sink for toilet mounting. My sense is that it's not all that conductive, plus its painted and I don't think I scraped off enough paint around the screw holes to make good contact with the screws connected to the ground wire from the unun and the ground wires themselves. Will replace it with a better plate shortly.

The antenna itself is quite easy to put together and get on the air. I painted numbers on the clips that hold the telescoping sections in place. Avoids the problem of putting them on in the wrong order. I swapped out the nuts that came with the unun for wing nuts, which minimizes the need for tools.

The only tool needed now is a hook to pull the wire out of the telescoping tube during assembly. The S9 came with a rug hook tool which has a dangerously sharp tip. I replaced it with a crochet hook which does a fine job, weighs less and has no sharp point.

The only other drawback to my current setup is the fact that the radials are in a 180 degree pattern because the antenna is just a few feet from the wide of the house. This distorts the signal pattern, but there is no room to spread radials a full 360 degrees.

Vertical Antenna Research

I have not been on the air much since my last post in February 2011. During that time I've been researching vertical antenna theory and practice and have decided to see how much better I might be able to do switching from my homebrew dipoles to a quarter-wave vertical. There is a lot of good material to read. I've spent time reading Jerry Sevick articles and his book on short vertical antennas. I've also been downloading articles from the QST archives, a fabulous source of theory and practice. Lastly, Rudy Severns, N6LF, has a great web site on antennas which has been a huge source of information.

I have laid in a 180 degree network of 20, 25-foot radials buried about an inch or so in the soil on the back side of my house. I've ordered an S9v31 vertical. Although I have learned from my reading and study that there is likely to be signal loss using a 180 degree radial pattern (vs. a 360 degree radial pattern) there is not much I can do about that since I have almost no yard and there are restrictions on what I can put up in terms of antennas. My plan is to only put the antenna up at night when it cannot be seen. As it is, the antenna will be mounted on the back side of the house and will likely be all but invisible from the front of the house since the roof peak should hide just about all its length.

There has been a delay in receiving the S9 antenna because S9 was recently sold to LDG Electronics. S9 is selling the antenna through Cheap Ham who appears to be having difficulty shipping S9 orders.

I'm very excited to see what kind of improvement I may get using the vertical over my current dipoles which are literally wrapped around my house about 20 feet up, a height which greatly reduces their effectiveness and radiation angle. I hope that with the S9 vertical, I will get good low angle radiation and a reduction in losses in radiation since the antenna is not touching the house as the dipoles are. Plus, the vertical will be facing northwest primarily, which, combined with its low angle radiation, should theoretically skip signals over northern latitudes in a way my dipoles cannot currently.

I hope to report back in the next week or so.

3-element 2 meter quad takes shape

A view of the partially assembled 2 meter quad. Construction is all hardwood which presented advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: light weight, inexpensive, easy to cut and drill.

Disadvantages: tendency to warp, need to weather-proof for outside use.

In future, I think I would opt for all-PVC construction.

Wood was purchased at a local hardware store for about USD $15.

This view shows detail of method used to join the end of the 12-gage stranded wire used for the elements. This is a simple male-female connector crimped on to the ends of the wire. It slides together and apart. One alternative: use crimp-on closed loops that can be joined with a soldered-on jumper, allowing for easier length adjustments.

This view shows the nearly-completed 3-element quad on the floor of my "shack." Look closely to see how the twist and bend of the boom has caused the elements to be out of alignment. Not sure yet how this will impact antenna performance.

This view shows how the elements are wired. Instructions called for making slits in the ends of the spreaders, adjusting the depth of the slit to accommodate the wire. I chose to drill a series of 3 holes instead.

Here is a view detailing how the spreaders mount through the boom. I drilled half-inch holes, slipped the dowels through, centered them, then used small wood screws to affix the spreaders to the boom to limit slipping. Note how the mounting holes for the spreaders are drilled on either side of the line which represents the center of the wire for that element. I chose to use screws instead of glue so I could take the antenna apart as necessary.

Next steps: attach mast and feedline, and devise a method to mount the antenna on my porch that will raise it above the roof line.

My next antenna project

A 2 meter 3 element direct coax-fed quad. Here are all the
pieces...now to build it.

Excellent 20m propagation today

Just a few days ago a new sunspot was announced and it already appears to be making its presence felt on 20m. Today from 2200-2300Z I heard strong CW signals from the following stations from my QTH in Moscow, ID:

• JH9FNB (Ishiwaka, Japan)
• JH8SLS (Sapporo, Japan)
• RW0CR (Khabarousk, Russia)
• K9KA (Tennessee)
• K2VV (Missouri)
• K3ZM (Virginia)

The antenna was a simple wire dipole lying mostly on the floor (not stretched straight) of my 2nd storey attic with the RG8X feedline center point at about 25 feet.

By 2300Z the band dropped out. Later, at about 0300Z November 1, propagation remained poor.

I plan to try again Nov 1 around 1200Z.

Going stealth

Decided to move antennas (well, at least HF antennas) up into the attic. Climbed up there this past weekend and started installing the thinwall 15m dipole as an inverted vee.

When I was outside on the porch testing the dipole install, my new neighbor was outside and thought I was about to install a privacy curtain between our houses! I guess he thought the dipole was the curtain mounting hardware. I assured him it was nothing like that, just an amateur radio antenna. He thought it was pretty cool.

So, the two legs are now mounted to the rafters. I've ordered some coax and a low-power balun. Once those arrive I'll be back on the air. There is room for other antennas, but it's tricky moving around since there are no floor boards.

If nothing else, the antenna is mounted 10 feet higher. Can't wait to see if this improves things.

Thinwall conduit dipole installation

Here's a view of my Lew McCoy 15m dipole installed just beneath the
overhang of the 2nd storey porch.

Still need to add strain relief for the PVC stand-offs.

Then it's time to connect the current balun and RG-8X feedline.

Then off to the aether!

15m antenna project

I've been looking for a suitable low-band antenna to mount outdoors in
limited space I decided to construct a modified version of Lew
McCoy's "one-element" 15m dipole. His antenna is intended to be
rotated, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.

So in the meantime I'm building a fixed version that will mount near
the roof-line of my second-storey porch.

This is a very low-cost project which will end up costing under $20
(not including a balun and RG-8X feedline).

The photo shows the main components:
- Thin-wall electrical conduit
- #12 solid copper wire
- 3/4 inch dia. PVC "T" connectors

The primary advantage with this antenna: its low profile. But I'm
adding a significant modification because I need to make the design
even more low-profile by making it possible to reduce the length of
each leg by half so it becomes almost invisible from the street.

The idea is to be able to remove 5' of each leg when not using the
antenna (for me that means daytime).

I'll add photos once I get it mounted. Still need coax and not sure if
I'll build or buy the balun.

New antenna material

Stopped in at Lowe's in Spokane on Sunday and picked up 4, 10 ft lengths of thin-wall electrical conduit for constructing new antennas. So cheap! I plan to make a 20m resonant dipole and a 2m beam or dipole. Need a few more tools to make it possible, like a vise to flatten the ends of the conduit so I can drill holes to connect the coax.

May need to add a small inductor to cancel capacitance created by connecting the feed-line to the conduit.

I may be able to mount these outdoors on the second floor porch. That would be a welcome change from the current indoor antennas. More later.

The move to 20 meters

After a day spent fine-tuning my 40m indoor dipole (plus an aborted attempt to mount it outside near the house) I got the SWR down to about 1.5/1, but realized that with the added length to improve SWR the antenna is just too unwieldy for indoor installation. I even tried running the extended length out the windows! That's when I knew I had taken it as far as I could. Time to step back and reconsider.

So, I went ahead and cut a quarter-wave 20m dipole (a bit over 16 feet long in total). SWR was perfect and mounting it up near the ceiling was simple. No bending!

Got on the IC 706-MKII running QRP at about 0200Z and immediately heard (but did not work) stations in Alaska, Texas and Indiana under clear, mild wx conditions. The antenna (14-gage insulated, stranded copper) is oriented roughly broadside to SW - NE.

I'm looking forward to operating later tonight to see if I can actually work some stations, especially now that there is actually some sunspot activity.

Operating mobile

One of the reasons I want to build a highly portable QRP rig is so I can operate mobile from a bicycle. The area where I live in North Idaho offers many biking trails, like the Palouse Trail, and the Hiawatha Trail, where it's easy to pull off, set up and operate mobile.

I still need to devise portable antennas for HF, 6m and 2m, but a lot of the antenna work I'm doing around the house is giving me ideas, since I'm pretty much forced to devise antennas that are lightweight, compact and easy to set-up and take down. I'm reading Lew McCoy's book on antennas which has good ideas on design and construction techniques.

The bike I ride now is actually my Dad's old Fuji which he bought in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It's old but rides well. The major drawback to using it to operate mobile is that it's a touring road bike with narrow tires, not good for riding on unpaved surfaces. At some point I'll have to get a good off-road bike. But for now the Fuji is fine.

I could probably operate mobile now with the IC 706MKII but I need to obtain gel cells for power. The motorcycle battery I'm using is not practical for mobile operation on a bike. Ideally, I'd like to obtain some kind of flexible, portable solar panel for power, but that technology is still a bit pricey for my budget.

Antenna down

Awoke this morning to the sound of my indoor dipole popping off the wall. The 3M Command strips I'd use to mount the antenna to the walls are obviously not up to the job. I was using them to avoid putting nails into the walls.

I guess that's more motivation to figure out how to grow an antenna farm in the attic. The first part of that solution is to figure out how to move around in an attic with 18 inches of blown-in insulation on the floor, which has no floor boards and no artificial or natural lighting.

Sounds like a weekend project.