Ok I have decided I hate beams, sorry but I do Just as you think you are going to make the contact after all the high power stations have had their say… you hear your chance slipping away as you hear those words "Your a little weak ill just turn the beam to get a better sig…Hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss… Gone forever never to return. Oh well theres always another day.
BTW did i mention I hate beams
Chris 2E0CRZ
In reply to 2E0CRZ:
Hi Chris, I tend to use a dipole which has never let me down, sets up in about 10 seconds, I never need to turn to bring in a station and it isn’t affected by the wind. OK, I have a couple of beams that I use on occasion but the dipole is my favorite.
Roddy 2m0iob
In reply to 2E0CRZ:
LOL - Beams have their place, but my pet hate is stations who set up in the lee of the hill and beam completely the wrong way. When I can’t hear a station on NW-044 or 51 I know this is what has happened, beacause I work people with just rubber duck antennas all the time even on 23cm. Don’t people own a compass or look at a map. Beam towards civilisation not in to the next bunch of hills. Look at a map you plonkers. If you only get four contacts on a hill that overlooks Deeside, Chester, Cheshire, Merseyside, Manchester and Liverpool and from where I have worked someone walking down Blackpool prom on a handheld with 500mW you are beaming the wrong way.
Steve GW7AAV
In reply to 2E0CRZ:
It’s not what kit you have, it’s what you do with it!
IMHO it is only courteous when the frequency goes quiet to make a round of calls to all quarters to pick up anyone missed during the activation. It certainly works for me. Occasionally this is not practical - sudden deterioration in the weather, static rain, dead battery, etc. Sometimes the chaser cannot wait around, but hey, who said a contact was guaranteed?
A beam provides gain without the expenditure of battery power - and you get that gain on receive as well. From experience, carrying a larger antenna is considerably easier than having to carry a larger battery!
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to GW7AAV:
That’s a very noble view Steve. Given that you can raise the pile-up from hell on 70cms from NW-044 or NW-051 using a Pye PF1 or a Burndept BE470 (2 of the lamest radios ever made) then rather than assuming the activator is in the lee, my doubting Thomas nature would assume they weren’t even on the summit but in the car park at the bottom!
p.s. Thanks for the calls from you and Helen on Belling Hill SS-244. Just as Helen worked me the rain started. I worked Don G0RQL in rapid fire mode and pulled everything down double quick. The rain stopped almost at once but I wasn’t keen to setup again looking at the sky. Got down to the car (just over 5 mins!) and the heavens opened again but I stayed dry this time!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Hey Andy, don’t knock the Burndept BE470 I have two of them within two feet of me here with crystals for GB3CR, GB3LI and 433.800 and another half a dozen unmodified ones somewhere. I used to be able to work both repeaters on those rigs from anywhere in the house on the quarter wave rubber ducks I made for them. I can’t do that with either repeater any more even with 5w rather than 500mw. Not sure if that is all to do with where the antennas are now or more to do with the levels of interference on the amateur bands these days.
Always a pleasure to work you on a summit or off.
Steve GW7AAV
In reply to GW7AAV:
don’t knock the Burndept BE470 I have two of them within two feet of me here
Hi Steve!
I don’t suppose you have a Burndept BE525 going spare? A friend of mine who is restoring an ROC Post is looking for one in any condition to put on display!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
Sorry Walt only the 470s, a 24 battery charger and a none working car adapter. The solenoid that pushes the PTT when you key the fist mic does not work :0( but from what I can see the PA works. I just wish I could find those little three terminal yellow 9v batteries. Probably due to liberal use of the timed recycle charger/discharger the 2nd user batteries I got lasted over 20 years from the day I got them.
73 Steve GW7AAV
In reply to GW7AAV:
Give Brian G4ZRP a shout Steve. He may have some lurking somewhere.
Andy
MM0FMF