A Tale of Two Hamsticks...

Over the past year I have mainly, for convenience, used Hamsticks for my portable activations, and I have been very happy with them.  The problem I have is switching between the various bands....especially in the winter!  That means getting out of the warm van and changing whips, it's a real pain and takes time, especially when it's -25C.

My hope was that I could set up Hamsticks for two different bands, and just use a coax switch to change bands, it would also speed things up in the long run.

So with this in mind, last week I decided to conduct an experiment with two 20m Hamsticks.  One would be mounted on the roof of my van with a 6" single mag-mount.  The other would be mounted on a camera tripod, and would have five 17 foot ground radials set out.

I set up my KX3 and went searching for a very loud 20m CW signal, and there were lots to chose from that day.

The coax for both antennas was connected to a two-position switch, with a RF isolator placed in line between the switch and the radio.  

Wow, what a difference!!  The hamstick mounted on the van roof was 4 db louder than the one mounted on the tripod.  I knew there would be a difference, but not that much.  Obviously this is not going to work for me.

Hopefully I'll come up with another idea before the snow flies again this year.

The set-up in the back of the van.

Come on Canada!!...

Coming up next month, 0001 UTC August 20 to 2359 UTC August 21, is the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.   This year, 2022, is the 25th Anniversary of this event.  The International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend is an annual 48 hour amateur radio event held on the third full weekend in August.

Over the past few years the event has seen very few Canadian Lighthouses on the air.  We have lights on our three coasts and the Great Lakes, surely we can get a few more lights on the air this year?

The website with the Rules and Registration page is HERE.

Let's see if we Canadians can support this event better!

Solar Storm...

This doesn't look too good!!   This is the forecast for Monday to Wednesday.  Wednesday does not look to be a good day for chasing DX or POTA stations.

Updated 1550 UTC 5 July:

2022 IARU HF Championship...

Coming up next weekend, is what should be one of the best DX contests of the year, the IARU HF Championships.  

Hopefully the propagation will improve from the garbage we have been having, the bands will work as they are supposed to, and we will actually make some contacts.  

The idea of the contest is to contact as many other amateurs, especially IARU member society HQ stations, around the world as possible using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands......I doubt 10m will have much action over the weekend, but you never know, stranger things have happened.

Dates for the event are from 1200 UTC 9th July to 1200 UTC on 10th July.

Rules for the event can be found HERE.

Good luck to everyone taking part!!

Antenna Comparisons...

On June 19th I wrote on this blog that I would like to see what the QSO pattern difference was between my operating using 10w and hamsticks versus my using 5w and a 40m EFHW up at 33 feet.

The EFHW was set up as a sloper along the East to West axis.

One difference in this experiment is that I changed operating locations by 115 km (71 miles) to the west of my home QTH. Another difference is that I dropped the power from 10w to 5w so I was legal under the Field Day rules.

So was there a difference?  Well, not really.  If you look at the QSO maps I have published over the past few months in the articles below this one, and then have a look at my Field Day contact map shown below, you will see virtually no difference in the area my contacts are made in.

Here's my stations Field Day map:

To me this shows that the difference between a 40m EFHW and a properly tuned and set-up 40m hamstick is negligible.  

Stay Safe Out There!

Field Day - the aftermath...

What a weekend!!   After the last two years worth of Field Days with the hundreds of high power 1D stations taking part, this year was very different.

It was a 90 minute drive to our field day location and the weather was just perfect.  It took us no time to set up the two screen tents we would operate from, and the rest. of the camp.  I managed to get one antenna up by late Friday afternoon, which allowed me to chase some POTA stations that evening.  it was a good test of the system.

In the end I ended up with two antennas in the air, a 40m EFHW, which was set up as a Sloper, pointing west, and a 20m vertical (shown to the left).  Both worked very well, especially the sloper.

The propagation on Saturday was: SFI=115, SN=60, A Index=8, and the K Index=3.  Not the best, but better than we were advertised to get.  It was as 28C and we had a good breeze blowing on Saturday to keep the bugs away as they were just horrendous.

At 1800 UTC the bands exploded as Field Day kicked off, and it was only seconds before I had my first contact in the log.  I found that going after the very loud signals to start with really increased my QSO count, I saved the weak stations for Sunday morning when they were getting desperate for contacts and were listening for any new one they could hear.  40m was my go-to band, and I worked the majority of my contacts there.  However, early Saturday evening the propagation went to hell and as a result 40m dried up.

I decided to try 15m, which was a good idea as I made a dozen contacts there, including a solid contact to the southern part of Argentina.  Not too shabby for 5w!!

The propagation numbers for Saturday evening into Sunday were:  SFI=108, SN=60, A Index=16, and the K Index=5.  Not too good at all.

Over the course of Field Day I logged 77 contacts, all 5w SSB QRP.  The interesting part is that after my complaints about the huge number of 1D stations over the past two years, I only worked three 1D stations all weekend, I just didn't hear them.  I did manage to work a large number of club stations with multiple operators...just like the pre-covid days!  And that's a good thing. Maybe we've turned a corner and are slowly getting back to normal?

All-in-all it was great weekend, and all of us there had no problems at all operating at QRP levels.  

I'm hoping it will improve some more before next Field Day!

My station, with the KX3

Don, VE3MNE, not believing the
propagation numbers Saturday evening!

Field Day Preparations Continue...

The preparations continue for Field Day.  This year we are travelling 90 minutes west to Grafton, Ontario, to a site we have used before, when our normal site was underwater a few years ago.

The back of my van currently looks like a cross between a Radio Shack Warehouse and a Camping Store.  There is gear everywhere!!  I didn't realize that I owned so much equipment.  

The weather forecast so far is calling for no rain, and hopefully the propagation Gods smile upon us both days, although it looks like we may have a rough start on Saturday according to Space Weather. 

Don VE3MNE, and I are heading out Friday afternoon to get the camp set up and to try and figure out where we can site and hang our antennas.  This year we plan on operating as a 3A station, made up of a SSB station, a CW, and a digital Station.

The antenna line-up, so far, is a 20m/40m linked dipole dipole, and several EFHW verticals for different bands.  Friday evening and Saturday morning will be spent getting these antennas in the air and checked out....and perhaps making a few POTA contacts.  

Stay Safe Out There!!

The Weekend in Radio...

It certainly has been a lousy weekend for doing portable radio.  The weather was fine, the band conditions not so much!

On Saturday the propagation numbers were: SFI=149, SN=152, A Index=13, and the K Index=2.  The QSB on both 20m and 40m was very bad on both days, with S9 stations disappearing in seconds and coming back as S1 or S2 before fading away completely.  

The map below shows my contacts on both 20m and 40m.  The majority were on 40m, which is opposite to what was forecasted for that day.  20m should have been the "go-to" band, but it was nearly dead.

Then we come to today.  We have pretty much the same propagation numbers: SFI=140, SN=146, A Index=14, and the K Index=2.  The QSB was still there, but not nearly as bad.  And, as you can see from the map below, my contacts were in and around the same areas.  

Both park activations were done with the KX3 at 10w, and as usual the 20m or 40m hamstick on the roof of my van.  

It will be interesting next weekend, Field Day, to see what my contact plot looks like.  I will be operating about 115 km west of my home QTH, so we will see if a location change, and using wire antennas makes a difference.  My bet is that it will......let's be honest, using wire antennas instead of the hamsticks must make a difference.

Stay Safe Out There !!