Not for me!!

This array of G0KSC antennas was seen earlier. It is not for me!! An impressive array nonetheless.

10m antennas

 One of the advantages of 10m is the antennas are small. For years I have had a Par end-fed antenna for 10m,20m and 40m up. At present I have one up, but just the 10m wire. I guess it is about 3m above the ground only.

CB half wave verticals work well. My Homebase-10 wire halo works well.

Are they joking?

On the back of the latest RadCom is an advert by a UK dealer for a certain brand of antennas. Now I have no doubt these will be good.  

Then I saw the prices!!! 

Someone is making loads of money out of stuckers. Probably the dealer and manufacturer are both making handsome profits. I shall not embarrass them by adding names, but remind all this is just a hobby. 

I am all for dealers and manufacturers charging fair prices and making fair profits, but do not exploit your customers please.

Are we being ripped off? I stand to be corrected. Perhaps the dealers and manufacturer would care to let us know the profits? Perhaps they would rather not. 

This same dealer recently announced it was the sole UK dealer of a German radio that retails at over £12k!! Again, big fat profits come to mind. I would be surprised if the components cost more than £200. OK, they have to recover development and selling costs, but that still leaves a huge profit for the dealer and manufacturer. Once again, if I am wrong I shall happily retract how I "sense".

They sell at high prices as people are prepared to buy at these high prices.  Now, each to their own and spend your money as you want. 

Antennas mended

Thanks to the efforts of Richard G3TFX, my antennas have been mended.

I now have my V2000 and endfed halfwave for 10m re-erected at full height again with new coax cables. In the past I could have managed to do this, but I feel so giddy that ladder work is all but impossible.  

Richard has worked tirelessly in the true spirit of amateur radio.

Antenna issues

It is like busses, with all issues happening at once! 

Now my big-wheel omni (2m) has developed a high SWR. It probably just wants a good clean as some of the joints may have oxidised. Sadly, I need help these days. I think the coax is still fine. Well I hope so!

Earlier, my V2000 developed issues. Despite trying hard, G3TFX was unable to get the bottom part off. I think a new antenna and coax are called for before the poorer weather sets in. The V2000 must be very old. It was up at the old QTH before going up here for nearly 8 years, so I have had my money's worth.

With some luck, all my antennas will be in good shape again before autumn.

G0KSC website update

As you may know, I like simple and small antennas that do not need towers and rotators. These have the advantage of being neighbour friendly.

Luckily we are all different which is one of the joys of our hobby. To many, big antennas help with DXing or EME. Each to their own.

The G0KSC website has been updated and this has a lot about antennas.

See www.g0ksc.co.uk

Short loft antennas

At the old QTH I had a problem with 160m antennas. At one time, we were going to try a local 160m AM net. Somewhere I have some crystals. My solution was this small loft vertical that worked really well. It can easily be adapted for your situation. I was surprised how good it was.

Although my antenna was on 160m, the same idea (helical windings and a top hat) could be used on other bands like 80m, 60m, 40m, or even 630m.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/160m_loft_ant. 

Par End Fed antenna

Someone suggested I either build a homemade version or replace the broken EF-10-20-40 Par end fed antenna. Par antennas were made by LnR Precision many years ago and I have no idea if these antennas are still in production. Anyone know? 

My original one gave good performance at this and the old QTH. It stopped working last year.

See http://www.parelectronics.com/end-fedz.php

Thanks to Keith, I am a little closer. Apparently Vibroplex now sell these.
See http://www.vibroplex.com/contents/en-us/d9176.html

Nevada sells a 30W MFJ version covering 10-40m.
See https://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/product/mfj-1984lp/

My antennas

For 6m, 2m and 70cm vertical I use a "white stick" vertical omni called the V2000. I have probably has this for at least 15 years! It is fed with low cost, CB, 50 ohm coax. On 70cm I could gain several dB if I replaced this with half decent coax. On 2m and 70cm SSB and FT8 I normally use the 2m big-wheel omni.

On the photo, the V2000 is on the left. The big-wheel is above my head and slightly right.

Not shown are the 10m loop (in the shack) and the earth-electrode "antenna" which gives me very good results on 630m WSPR. Norway is reached most nights despite the 10mW ERP on 630m.

Antenna ideas

With lockdowns and sunny weather, many people are thinking about outdoor work and antennas. There are several books on this, some of which are online I think. You may get some ideas from my web pages.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas

Antennas

Homebase-10 10m antenna

As I speak it is raining here for the first time in about a month!

What was going to say was as the better weather is now with us (at least in the UK) thoughts may turn to antennas, especially outside antennas.

You may like to look at the antenna page on my main website. Dig deeper and there are lots of ideas.

The Homebase-10 antenna for 10m is simple to make and, with the Es season just starting, now is a good time to make and erect one.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas

Waters and Stanton on YouTube

Waters and Stanton, who seem to have teamed up with Nevada these days, have a YouTube channel with some interesting videos including this one.

Amateur radio antennas

When abroad on holidays I do a very sad thing. I count the number of HF and VHF beams I spot. In the USA and South Africa I spotted quite a few. So far in Portugal I have seen none. Well, I did say "sad"!

Ferrite loaded antennas

15m antenna

Giorgio I2GSI has been experimenting with ferrite loaded and compressed antennas for 20 years and has some good success with 20W CW or less. He sent me a few photos and has written some articles. The true spirit of amateur radio!

6m antenna

20m antenna

Antenna replacement?

I'm considering replacements for a couple of my antennas.

For years, I have used a Par EF10/20/40 end fed wire on these 3 bands. It works even though very low, but I am sure I could get out better.

Also, my big-wheel on 2m has done me well for a couple of years.

In the garage I have a little used SRC X80 vertical. This is essentially a Rybakov vertical fed via a UNUN so it can be matched on most HF bands with an auto ATU. I have heard mixed results with this antenna. As a vertical it is likely to be noisy on HF and it could be worse than my horizontal Par. It is also in need of grounding as lightning protection, mainly from static. It flexes quite a bit, so might be damaged by high winds.

I could replace my big-wheel with a Homebase-10 10m halo. As an omni antenna it would give me all round coverage and I know this works. With strapped feeders, I might be able to use the coax as an antenna on other HF  bands too.

It would also be good to get a better 630m antenna up.

Sadly, I probably need help these days as I get wobbly on ladders.

Garden - NOT amateur radio

Another view of the back garden

Not visible are my earth-electrode "antenna" for 630m (are you surprised?) and my end fed wire Par antenna covering 10m, 20m and 40m. This antenna works on other bands with an ATU.  Also out of sight are my 6m, 2m and 70cm vertical V2000 and my 2m horizontal big-wheel omni and 2m halo.

As you can tell, I do not like big, ugly antennas! The garden would fit a 66 foot long wire - maybe next winter?

Antennas

At the moment, I can cover 6m, 2m and 70cm vertical with the V2000, 2m omni-horizontal with the 2m halo, 2m and 70cms SSB/CW/digital with the small, hand rotated beam (3el/5ele) and 10m, 20m and 40m with the end-fed PAR wire antenna strung up to a tree. I can get on 630m by loading up the coax cables to various antennas or using the earth electrodes in the ground. I can get on other bands too by tuning various coax feeders.

V2000, 2m halo, and 2m/70cm beam (hand-rotated).
PAR end-fed is not visible but goes to a tree.

I will probably take down the V2000 and 2m halo later and replace them with a 10m halo (Homebase-10) for the months until next spring. I think the 10m halo will be a more effective antenna for 10m than the PAR. It will certainly be higher. Main problem at present is my mobility: climbing ladders is not a good idea in my present state, so antenna work is all but impossible.

Despite the low  power (5W or less) and lowish elevation, I am able to work out to around 200km on 2m and 70cm SSB in contests.

UPDATE WEDS: 449km best DX (Scotland) on 2m in the UKAC last evening with 5W and 3el.

Concentrating on one or two bands?

With limited space for antennas, it seems sensible to concentrate efforts on just a couple of bands only. As my favorite band is 10m, I am tempted to erect a more efficient antenna for this band and maybe put up the 6m V2000 only during the Es season. My problems are (a) a lack of mobility because of my stroke and (b) choice of compact, efficient antennas. At present I can cover 40, 20, 10, 6, 2 and 70cms, plus 630m rather inefficiently with my earth electrode antenna. Perhaps, whilst my health is not too good, I am better sticking with what I've got? I know that on 10m my antenna could be better but the Par end-fed covers 3 bands (10, 20 and 40m) and my 2W QRP has reached VK on WSPR on all these bands and doesn't do a bad job.The Par is is almost impossible to see in the air.

New QTH work

New QTH rear garden - with the "roof tile feature"!

The work on our new (to us) QTH in Burwell is progressing steadily and if things go to plan we should be in later this summer. Today I was at the new location sorting out the garden - as much as I could - in the beautiful sunshine. There is still a great deal of builders rubbish and mess around and it will be some months before the garden can be properly worked on: for example, we have a row of roof tiles neatly stacked down the middle of the rear lawn and the front of the house has a pile or 2 of sand and bricks! The drive has a skip in it which is rapidly filling with neighbours rubbish too.

I am still thinking about ideas for antennas. At least in the new QTH I will have a dedicated shack where I can both build and operate: in 37 years at the current QTH this has not been possible. Currently I have called off the plans for VHF/UHF SSB/CW/data operation as I don't think there will be enough activity.  So, an effective, neighbour friendly stealth antenna for the higher HF bands and 6m will be the immediate priority.  

Antenna folklore

From the LF-reflector and very true.

Antenna engineers use to say about design goal limits of antennas:

    Small
    Efficient
    Wideband

Pick any two (meaning you can't have all three...).

73   Clemens   DL4RAJ