Question for you hams on line

Tadpole · Jun 24, 2016

I put together a station after a few years off (about 16) Ha Ha. Nice little Kenwood rig like I had before, bought an end fed Windom on EBay put in a good ground. Supposed to cover 80-10 meters. Now, it's kinda low...fed end about 20 ft other end about 30ft. Last night I turned it on for the magic moment, and heard one weak signal from a guy down south on 40 meters, running a 3 element Yagi (on 40!) not another QSO on any other band.

The rig loads good thru a tuner, SWR almost flat. Duh........are the bands really that dead. 30db noise level is all I heard?

I used to be pretty active, never had a problem like this. Just tell me if you can hear anything. Then I will know where to start...or stop :rofl:

Buddy
KB5QA

Tadpole · Jun 24, 2016

I changed my ground system tonight, and I 'm hearing more, good signal on 3680 Maybe I'm on the right track ??? Strange

Just found a QSO on 7218 also. I think my ground system had and may still have some problems.
Thanks for looking. Any help will be welcome
Buddy

tallwalker · Jun 24, 2016

Propagation has been really lousy for a while now. Past few days it has been extra bad with lots of atmospheric noise.You could also be hearing elec noise from sources nearby the you may want to track down some (i.e. Power lines etc.) a coax choke may help some with that. 40m is mainly active at night, but during the day you should hear activity on 20m even when conditions are bad. Try tuning 14.200 - 14.320 or so during the day. There are a good many nets there you should be able to copy. Herb also does his high seas weather forecasts for cruisers on 14.300 and is usually easy to hear. Check WWV on 15.000 AM for an indication of how well you are hearing. I copy that regularly at 20 over.

SE La Amatuer Radio club (SELARC.ORG) in Hammond is participating in the ARRL field day this weekend. You should hear lots of activity on 10m and 6m as well.

You could always make and string a simple wire dipole as a receive antenna as comparison too. Good exercise and can tell you a lot about how you may need to be oriented for least noise

charlie12 · Jun 24, 2016

Do you talk any 2 meter? We have a good repeater on 146.835 with a 114.8 tone

tallwalker · Jun 25, 2016

I monitor 2m and the marine frequencies, but don't to much talking these days. The repeaters around here are pretty active. On HF I have been using mainly CW and digital modes. Takes almost no power or bandwidth and the reach is SO much better when the bands are lousy.

Tadpole · Jun 25, 2016

Thanks guys! Just what I needed. I have some marks to tune to now. I was lost for awhile. Nice to know the bands are wobbly like I remember. Heard some big guns on 75 and 40 last nigh late. Didn't try to contact, I remember those guys. They start with a KW for an oscillator and go up from there.
I did some research last night, seems this ant (Windom) is ground sensitive so I have some work to do. The 8ft ground rod made a big difference. So now I will probably go backwards from the rod around the house with an equal length of wire buried for a counterpoise and hope for the best.
I still have a 2 meter rig I found in the closet, no antenna. I grabbed a mobile whip and put it on a step ladder..Nothing ha ha. I'll have to put up something to hit the repeaters. And learn how to use them also. I didn't last time I was on. Just chased DX mostly.
Thanks again, I was going to try for James and breakfast but I slept til 6:30. Maybe next week.
Thanks again guys, I know quite a few hams, I can never remember a name but I always forget a face.
You will be hearing from me.
Buddy
KB5QA

tallwalker · Jun 25, 2016

Make a simple J-pole and get it as high as you can for 2m and you will do great. Good luck!

charlie12 · Jun 26, 2016

Tadpole said:
Thanks guys! Just what I needed. I have some marks to tune to now. I was lost for awhile. Nice to know the bands are wobbly like I remember. Heard some big guns on 75 and 40 last nigh late. Didn't try to contact, I remember those guys. They start with a KW for an oscillator and go up from there.
I did some research last night, seems this ant (Windom) is ground sensitive so I have some work to do. The 8ft ground rod made a big difference. So now I will probably go backwards from the rod around the house with an equal length of wire buried for a counterpoise and hope for the best.
I still have a 2 meter rig I found in the closet, no antenna. I grabbed a mobile whip and put it on a step ladder..Nothing ha ha. I'll have to put up something to hit the repeaters. And learn how to use them also. I didn't last time I was on. Just chased DX mostly.
Thanks again, I was going to try for James and breakfast but I slept til 6:30. Maybe next week.
Thanks again guys, I know quite a few hams, I can never remember a name but I always forget a face.
You will be hearing from me.
Buddy
KB5QA

You won't need much from your house for our 146.835 repeater. I've talked from Denham with a handheld. Also we have a net at 8pm every Wed. everybody is welcome.

Tadpole · Jun 26, 2016

It will take me awhile to get the J pole up. Right now I'm throwing rope at a tree limb..not as good as I used to be..not as young as I used to be either. I'll get there.

tallwalker · Jun 26, 2016

Hey, I can relate completely. No need to get fancy. In fact, simple and cheap almost always works best with this stuff I have found. I have an old fishing pole with a sinker on the end of some transformer wire. Works on CW anywhere anytime.

Tadpole · Jun 30, 2016

Thanks guys. Made it, I'm on. Some rig problems, but not bad

tallwalker · Jul 1, 2016

Great job. See if you can pop the 147.000 repeater in Hammond. Someone is always monitoring there.

Tadpole · Jul 1, 2016

I will, when I get the Kenwood fixed. No tones. I ordered a tone board last night, couple days here and I will put it in. I hope. ha ha I think I can program that one. Tommy had to come get my BaoFeng and put some repeaters in it with the keybord. I tried it, but I kept geting mad and falling out of my chair. Got cables, won't work for me, he took it home, won't work for him either so he had to manually enter them. I ordered another one because it is only a matter of time before I stomp this one.
Got 52, 94, 730, 835 is real good.
73

Question for you hams on line

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