[AK-VHF] AK-VHF Net: 29 Jan - 146.52 FM

Tue Feb 1 14:01:42 EST 2022

Hi Ed,

The funny part is that I can't even use the "I didn't have a compass" excuse. I always bring one, but I didn't use it in locating my preferred campsite since I knew I was at the right lake, so had a good picture of things in my head . . . or so I thought, lol.

The kind of linked dipole you mention (with the alligator clips) work great. One of those cut for 40 M and 20 M used to be my go-to antenna for summits on the air back in Ca. With a telescoping fiberglass mast from MFJ as a support it worked great.

The j pole that I built (which had the problem) was one of the "DBJ-2" designs that are really popular. It is made from twin lead line with a small shorting section of RG-174 in the radiator, allowing it to perform with a good pattern on the 70 cm band. (The shorting RG-174 is inductive on the 2 M band and so just shortens the radiator a bit.) I've built one or two before, and have always found them to be tricky to build, and, frankly, a bit delicate.

Electrically they are a great design. The DBJ-1 was intended to be mounted inside a PVC tube and used as a base station antenna, for which it works great. The DBJ-2 forgoes the PVC tube and is intended for portable and emergency use as a roll-up antenna. They always just seem really delicate though, and I suspect something broke on mine when exposed to the cold.

I have in mind a new design for a portable multi-band fan dipole VHF antenna that I'll be building soon. Super simple, cheap, a roll-up design, and it will even include the 6 meter band. I'm hoping to get it built this week, so I'll send out info when I get it working.
73,
Brandon Clark, KL7BSC
https://brandonclarklabs.com/

Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com/) Secure Email.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

On Monday, January 31st, 2022 at 15:30, Ed Cole kl7uw at acsalaska.net wrote:

> Brandon,
>
> Aww yes - experience the teacher! My eight years volunteering as a ham
>
> on the Iditarod as a ham (1982-1988) did that. After a few times I
>
> developed workable antennas and a good check-list for packing up what I
>
> needed (flown 3-times into the Alaska Range staying in a one-room cabin).
>
> A compass is handy. If you have cell coverage some cell phones will
>
> work as a compass. Then there is the old backwoods use of the position
>
> of the sun (if sky is clear). In my old backpacking years I took along
>
> USFS maps which one could identify mountains or lakes, etc. Of course
>
> there were usually well defined trails in the seasons I hiked. I did
>
> only day trips on xcountry skiis (nice warm condo at night).
>
> How long is your vertical? A 30-foot telescoping pole is useful (but
>
> not to pack in with). Those stackable 5-foot fiberglass poles might be
>
> the solution (but would require six).
>
> I used a wire dipole cut for the lowest band and often only 10-12 foot
>
> off ground. I cut the wires at the point to make shorter dipoles and
>
> used a short piece of 1/8-inch nylon cord as insulator with alligator
>
> clip on the short jumper to connect for lower band. I can see a
>
> 80/40/20m/6m dipole made this way. Of course you need trees or poles to
>
> string it, No radials needed and only path under the dipole to stomp
>
> out with snowshoes. Tuner might be useful (or not); I never had one.
>
> I did take 2m-SSB/FM with yagi on some of my trips where 2m would reach
>
> another checkpoint (over 70-miles in some cases, but I had 150w amp).
>
> Of course a ski plane flew me in so I could pack more than one can carry
>
> on their back (2-3 boxes), 600w gen & gas, sleeping bag and pad.
>
> I was almost late for our psk31 sked and so no trace of any signals.
>
> Didn't operate 0n HF as I shoveled snow in the afternoon. FT8 sure
>
> works weak signals well! :-)
>
> I got WL7PM (Homer) on 3940 at S9+30 (he gave me S5) for the swap net at
>
> 11am. My inverted-V is 40-feet at the feed point and about 15-foot on
>
> the ends. Kind of hard to do that on a hike-in scenario.
>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>
> On 1/31/2022 1:30 PM, Brandon Clark via ak-vhf wrote:
>
>> Hello group,
>>
>> The trip went pretty well, although I ran into more issues than I expected. To start, when I got to Shem Pete Lake I got North and East mixed up (lazy routefinding on my part, and fatigue), so I set up camp with a sizeable hill to the south-east. That blocked a lot of lower-48 signals that I needed for the contest, and prevented good VHF/UHF reception to Wasilla.
>>
>> Also, right before the event I put together a 2m/70cm j pole and didn't have time to test it. When I hooked it up for the Saturday net there was a high SWR issue, so I had to switch to a backup 5/8 wave that didn't give me nearly good enough reception. I could hit the repeaters well enough, and chatted up a few people on there, but repeater contacts don't count.
>>
>> My HF antenna was a new one that I built, based around an LDG 4:1 unun. Electrically it is a non-resonant vertical antenna, utilizing a tuner to work multiple bands. The 4:1 unun brings the impedance down to within range of my autotuner. It worked well, but I needed a taller support for it than the fiberglass fishing pole that I brought along. The radiating element was strung out at about 45 degrees, instead of vertical. I also should have spread out the ground wires a little more, but I got lazy and didn't want to trudge out a whole lawn worth of snow to set up the ground wires. (I have a plan to address that next year.)
>>
>> Also (and very surprisingly) the tuner couldn't match that antenna on the 6 meter band. I couldn't get in on there to try PSK31 with the group. Goes to show: always be sure your gear is adequately tested before going afield.
>>
>> Anyway, WDF contacts were pretty light with the bad location, minimal VHF capability, and hill to the south-east. Nonetheless, I managed to wrangle a few contacts on 20 meters using PSK31. With my compromised antenna setup and the tree-covered hill in the way I decided to fall back on a strictly-POTA activation, and ran FT8 most of the day. I ended up with about 50 contacts in total, covering the US, Canada, Japan, and Asiatic Russia. Not bad for compromised antennas, portable gear, and a campsite in the middle of nowhere.
>>
>> Photos of the activation can be viewed at:
>>
>> https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZRP1cXZmjCIS6JWRP4K2O9hRuvzFbGRc4qV
>>
>> The link above also has a map of the grids I worked. In a few weeks I'll be putting together a full write-up of the activation on my website. I also got a ton of videos from camp and the trail, so I'm looking into getting those available on Vimeo around the same time. Stay tuned.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Brandon Clark, KL7BSC
>>
>> https://brandonclarklabs.com/
>>
>> Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.
>>
>> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>>
>> On Saturday, January 29th, 2022 at 21:13, Ed Cole kl7uw at acsalaska.net wrote:
>>
>>> Net Report:
>>>
>>> 146.52 FM (noise was S4/5 which is unusually high):
>>>
>>> KL7XJ - S5 on yagi, S7 on vertical
>>>
>>> KL7HJ - S9 on yagi*, S5 on vertical
>>>
>>> KL6M - S7 on yagi, S5 on vertical
>>>
>>> off back of the beam
>>>
>>> 223.50 FM
>>>
>>> KL7XJ - 2bars
>>>
>>> KL6M - 2bars
>>>
>>> Never activated 6m SSB because talked too long on 223.50
>>>
>>> attempts to reach KL7BSC/Nancy Lake area unsuccessful at 10:45
>>>
>>> decided to shovel snow in afternoon (knee deep) so did no more ham radio.
>>>
>>> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>>>
>>> On 1/28/2022 8:40 PM, Ed Cole wrote:
>>>
>>>> Being the last Saturday of January the net will be held on 146.52 FM
>>>>
>>>> starting at 9:30 am. I will also monitor 223.50 FM.
>>>>
>>>> We have a new member (93) to the Group, Craig-KL7HG from Sterling that
>>>>
>>>> is a new ham with a dual-band HT (no external antenna, yet). I met
>>>>
>>>> Craig for lunch on Thursday to give him some info on our club & net and
>>>>
>>>> some general info for getting started in ham radio. He may try to check
>>>>
>>>> in on 2m, tomorrow. KL7GRM or KL7RHJ may hear him.
>>>>
>>>> We will dove-tail 6m-SSB on 50.125 after the net at 10:30 and at 10:45 I
>>>>
>>>> will be attempting to work KL7BSC/KL7 on 50.250/psk31 in the Nancy Lake
>>>>
>>>> area who is working the WinterFieldDay (WFD). He will be using an HF
>>>>
>>>> vertical on 6m with 100w. Brandon has posted his plans to the list a
>>>>
>>>> few days ago.
>>>>
>>>> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>>>>
>>>> ak-vhf mailing list
>>>>
>>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ak-vhf
>>>>
>>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>>>
>>>> Post: mailto:ak-vhf at mailman.qth.net
>>>>
>>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>>>
>>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>>
>>> ak-vhf mailing list
>>>
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ak-vhf
>>>
>>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>>
>>> Post: mailto:ak-vhf at mailman.qth.net
>>>
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>>
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>
>> ak-vhf mailing list
>>
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ak-vhf
>>
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>>
>> Post: mailto:ak-vhf at mailman.qth.net
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
> ak-vhf mailing list
>
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ak-vhf
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>
> Post: mailto:ak-vhf at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html