Hi Barry,
It might be interesting to ask what antennas are going to be used as well.
So far the best I have heard on an S2S contact with a consistantly stonger signal than others running the same power from the same location, is Bob VK5FO when he goes out portable to work EU. He uses phased verticals which seem to work very well, giving the signal some directivity.
http://vk5fo.com/345/working-the-eu-long-path-on-20m
This gives more details:
http://vk5fo.com/331/brookfield-cp-vkff-822
73 Ed.
Thanks for the links Ed, Iām interested in this. If anyone else has operated with phased verticals, please share what you know.
Thanks,
Kevin AC2KL
Youāre welcome Kevin.
I intend using a new 15m J-pole for the event on the 19th and will be out this Tuesday (November 1st.) to test it so if any NA chasers are around between 1400 and 1500 UTC, Iād be very grateful of any reports. (Iāve posted an alert)
If this antenna works, itās relatively small and hence could be used with an identical one to form a phased array. First of all, I need to make sure the single antenna works though.
73 Ed.
I havenāt used one for SOTA work, but Iāve had very good luck with both 17 meter and 20 meter half-square antennas at home. They are easy to make, but need 2 supports and should be considered single band. That said, itās a phased vertical arrangement that works very well, even without a ground array. Hereās an article for guidance http://w6af.org/makerspace/build-your-own-ham-antennas/half-square-antenna-easy-wire-dx-antenna/ 50 Ohm feed makes this a very attractive antenna for summit work if you can find a way to get it hung in the air.
Interesting antenna Bruce, the only ācomplicatedā factor is that feedpoint at the top of the righthand 1/4 wavelength vertical that may not be fed vertically along side the right-hand 1/4 wave vertical - I supose the feed coax could come down a guy line if used, otherwise pulled off to the side.
Ed.
Ugh, Iāve already got plans for that day. Iāll go ahead and put the April 22nd date on the calendar.
Half squareā¦ 20m.
I made one of these a while backā¦ checked it on the antenna analyzer but never got it to the woods yetā¦ I put 3 1/2oz lead weights on the vertical 1/4wave elements and fed it with RG174ā¦ Used 26ga wire from Sotabeams. pretty huge antenna (for the woods) that would benefit from a known location set-upā¦
I also made a wire Moxon for 20Mā¦ also HUGE and fairly unwealdyā¦ The half square should be easier to useā¦ but they should have gain and be ideal for this eventā¦
RJ // N2GBR
One of the reasons Iām going with 15m for the event is the smaller size of antennas on that band. I hope propagation improves by the 19th, but if I can bag a chaser contact into North America tomorrow on 15m around 1400-1500 UTC from Buchberg DL/BE-093 Iāll be happy enough to go with 15m on the 19th. Perhaps with phased J-poles.
Iāll need to scout out a better location for the 19th. with support for two masts and hopefully a few more points than Buchberg.
Ed DD5LP.
If 21 MHz is above the MUF it wonāt matter what sort of antenna you have. I would take a back-up option!
Anyone work EU to NA over the weekend, and if so, what band and time?
Pete
WA7JTM
I chased a bunch of EU activators on 20M 1300-1700Z, using a full-size 3el yagi. But thatās obviously from the east coast.
73, Barry N1EU
Or just donāt go out ā¦
Of course propagation is likely to affect the event. Iām hoping it will improve. According to predictions - at this point - at least East Coast NA should be possible from Germany between 1400 and 1700 on 21MHz during November. Now whether it is possible on 21MHz, or possible at all on the 19th. weāll only know on the day.
MUF at the moment is over 23MHz, so weāll see how I do tomorrow afternoon.
73 Ed.
Tnxā¦I was able to make east coast contacts on 15 and 17 meters, but no EUā¦but the CW bands were pretty darn quiet. That could have been due to the SSB contest.
Pete
I worked Barry N1EU on 20m CW. Equipment my end: FT817 barefoot to a Buddistick clone from about 70miles SW Edinburgh. (GM/SS-147 a really rubbish summit!)
Which site are you using for that data Ed?
Hereās an idea you could try for a smaller directional vertical. Adding a Director to a Ā¼ wave HF vertical antenna This is for 40m so scale accordingly. If you roll your own balun or unun, ensure the loss is less than the gain of adding a director!
Pete -
Going the other direction, N7LKL worked ZL with 5W on 17m CW from Oregon last Friday.
N4EX has worked CU, EA, M, and ON the past few days. And W7RV has chased JA.
So some kind of worldwide propagation is possible these days.
But QRP to QRP? That will be a challenge.
Etienne-K7ATN
I have worked a few eu stayions from summits but they had big stationsā¦like u sayā¦qrp to qrp is much harder to doā¦especially at this point in the solar cycleā¦but it will still be fun to tryā¦
Pete
Wa7jtm
Off the āSolar/Terrestrial data predictionsā display shown on many sites this was from qrz.com - by your reaction, I suspect I have interpretted the reading wrong - it is listed as āMUF BDRā and while it displays 17MHz this morning, at the time I sent my previous post it was showing over 23MHz. I took āMug Bdrā as Maximum Usable Frequency border - is that incorrect?
In any case no matter what these sites say, Iām heading up to Buchberg this afternoon as the sun is out an the temperature is above freezing, so a nice Autumn day here!
Ed.
MUF BDR will be for Boulder, Colorado.
Proppy gives the following reliability figures for Southern Germany to North Carolina (N4EX has good ears)
and for somwhere in the mountains of Montana (for a juicy EU-NA S2S)
This is for 25W and SSB signal quality āmarginalā and both antennas having 0dBd gain. As usual these figures for the reliability of the circuit and you need to apply lashings of real-world vs prediction realism to these. But it suggests if you did that repeatedly and conditions stayed the same. you be likely to complete the QSO a bit more than half the time for a W7 contact.
Me, Iād want more than one band with me.
The activation today is to test the new 15m vertical, I have already tested the 20m version from Weichberg a couple of weeks ago. If the 15m antenna doesnāt work at all, I will have to re-assess what I take on the 19th.
The Advantage of the 15m antenna is size, so I can use my ever reliable, solid, cheap, lightweight 6 metre pole rather than having to take the expensive and heavier 10m Mini-Mast which has proved with me to be unreliable (it keeps dropping no matter how tight I make the junctions - even with the light vertical on it). I regret buying the 10m mast and although I hardly ever use it, it is now showing more wear and tear than the 4 years older (and far more often used) 6m one. As always with equipment YMMV.
Thanks for the graphs - lets see what reality brings - Iāll be running 20 watts of RF-clipped and compressed SSB.
Ed.