On 30 Meters

Built a 1/4 wave ground mounted vertical antenna for 30 Meters.   There are 4 radials 23.2 feet and the vertical element started off the same but it ended up a foot or  two two shorter when I tuned it.    At 10.1 MHz I ended up with a VSWR of 1.1 : 1  and the TS690s antenna tuner liked it rewarding me with 80 Watts of CW power.  

 30 Meters was quite appealing to me...

- Great propagation throughout the solar cycle
- Its CW and narrow band digital from 10.100 MHz all the way to 10.150 MHz .... all 50 kHz of it!
-1/4 Wave is 23.2 feet ... small antennas.  

Made 2 contacts ...

 So the new to me TS690s is a real gem.  Best receiver I have ever had.   It goes all the way down to a few hundred KHz and has continuous coverage!     I have to beef up the power supply a bit.  The radio requires 20 am / 12V and I have a supply that is providing that but it gets quite warm.   I have a home brew supply that I think is big enough but I want to burn it in for a bit before using it.     I am still in the process up reorganizing the shack ... lots of stuff goes ,  it will be really cool when I am done.

Future purchase - remote sw

New Toy

Its been a couple of decades since I purchased a HF Radio ...let the games begin!

Unexpected QSO

I don't use the 2m rig in the car much but its always on and am listening.  On Saturday driving to Owen Sound I heard a fellow come on the OSR repeater with a UK call sign.  Had a real nice QSO whilst following a Snow Plow from Chastworth to Owen Sound.  

You never know

Once a Ham always a Ham.  So I am working the night shift so I log onto a Radio in the Netherlands and was nosing around on 20 meters.  I decided to pull up some info on the QRZ page and then record this fellow in Australia using a radio in Europe  then post it to YouTube and then email it to him.   How cool is that!  






John emailed me back....

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the YouTube clip - it's very interesting and I agree, it's an amazing time to be alive. 

Conditions today were outstanding on 20m and I was kept busy for over an hour. I then went up to 17m and 15m, which were also firing well into the early evening here. I hate working the wall of noise which goes with pile ups, but every now and again I do it to keep my nerve! Actually, you captured a rare moment - 99% of my operating is QRP CW - I'm hardly ever on SSB. I'd forgotten how much fun it can be if the band is wide open.  Today I was working with 60W and a portable vertical wire, supported by a fishing pole. It's amazing how far you can throw a signal with a hunk of wire. 

Thanks again Ron and I hope that one day I can meet you on air to say hello in person. 

Hope your night shift went well. 

73 from Hobart,

John

VK7JB

A little 10

Fired up the old FT101 yesterday and worked a couple of  CW contacts on 10 meters.  QRZ listed propagation as "fair" but I was hearing lots so I heated up the tubes.   My 14AVQ usually loads with a 2.5 / 1 VSWR around 28.00 MHz but on Friday it was closer to 3.5 / 1.  The antenna still loaded OK so I wasn't overly concerned.     The reason for the change in VSWR was probably the fact the the lower 3-4 feet of the antenna is socked in with wet snow!!!!!


Station log ...

ZL2AIM QSO