[Ares-races] Use of HF for local communications

[Gary Payne]

I originally sent this only to Joe, K1IKE who raised the original question. 
It appears that my comments might be valuable for the entire group. You do 
need a General class or higher ticket, though (maybe this is the reason to 
finish a contemplated upgrade) .....


75 meters would be a great band, although less good in the middle of the 
day under some solar (band) conditions, when 40 meters might be better. Use 
NVIS antennae for that coverage area. This means that everyone can operate 
on their own emergency power supplies and you are not dependant on the 
repeater's power supplies. No band is perfect, but this band would work 
well. You are not working ground wave which is only a few miles at best but 
skywave which has returned nearly vertically.

We use 75 meters in Wisconsin and I communicate reliably with stations 
ranging from 1/2 mile to 400 to 500 miles under a variety of band 
conditions. Some days the conditions are much harder to work than others 
but we have a net which meets 5:00 am to 7:15 am local time which has 
communicated successfully everyday for the past 40 plus years.

If you have a little bit of room on your property you can use an antenna 
similar to mine. In daily use on 75 meters (early morning, early evening, 
and some noontime nets) I hear better than most other stations and can be 
heard at least as well, at a given power level, as any of the other 
stations. I also have an amplifier when needed. This is a commercially made 
antenna which costs $30.00. It is a 135 dipole fed with 450 ohm ladder 
line. You do need a tuner, which does not appear to have affected 
performance much at all. I brought the ladder line inside the house all the 
way to the tuner. I twist the ladder line one turn every three feet. This 
helps keep the leads from acting as antennae by cancelling the phase on the 
leads. I do not have RF in the shack even when using my amp. The antenna is 
mounted in a V horizontally at 35 to 40 feet which is nearly optimal for a 
NVIS antenna. The center of my antenna is only 24 feet rather than a true 
horizontal, creating a V, but it works extremely well.

Gary, N9VE


At 07:05 AM 4/16/04, Joe wrote:
>Hello to All,
>
>There is a group that is trying to promote the use of HF in the State of 
>Connecticut for emergency communications WITHIN the state.  For those of 
>you who are not familiar with my state, it is approximately 100 miles East 
>to West, and 50 mile North to South.  The primary frequency for 
>communications has been selected as the 75 meter SSB band.  I myself do 
>not see the logic in this.  I am in favor of the use of 2 meter repeaters 
>to cover this area, being careful to select repeaters that are centralized 
>to the area and that have backup power sources. My opinion is the HF would 
>only be effective for communications from Connecticut to other areas 
>OUTSIDE the state. HF would only be my choice if the 2 meter network 
>failed to give adequate coverage in isolated areas.
>
>What have been your experiences?
>
>73, Joe, k1ike