[K3PZN-List] FD Antennas

Wed Jun 13 11:59:55 EDT 2012

I had briefly thought about one or more 'hybrid' stations that can change modes - so do hold onto that idea as it might make sense for some bands.    

Downside of a 80/10m all-mode station is that it might not get used at all in daytime as 10m isn't susually open then!  

I am also thinking that headsets for SSB might be scarce to fit our various rigs, particularly if folk 'insist' on one from Mr. Heil (I used a PC headset at home for SSB).  

So far we have one tri-band beam if we decide to use it (mine) -- it works the best on 15/10m - but it does support 20m.  Dilemna is being a small beam we would have to adjust it for either CW or SSB on 20/15 m..  

Some CW ops may 'insist' on a manual sending device (even though it isn't necessary).  At the moment I was considering using these two rigs for CW -- Pete's K3 and my K2.  My K2 is wired for a 'Kenwood' microphone, I don't know what K3 requires.  

I do wonder if digital should be merged with either a CW or SSB station.  (?)

Daytime CONOPS might be something like: 20 or 15 m SSB, 40m SSB, 20 or 15m CW (can be opposite band) and 40m CW.  we can widely separate the two 40m antennas.  

Night-time CONOPS will have us all on 40 and 80m.  Which means we drop from 4 to 3 transmitters, or add a second 80m antenna, or 'plan' for 10m E-skip being nicely open.  

Traditionally we don't make many Q's on digital modes, so not a bad case to merge it with a CW or phone transmitter.  Also we do not do well when digital and CW are on the same band, so perhaps using one of the CW rigs for digital would be best.  

Current Rig Count (4A or 5A) - subject to change:

SSB#1 - Ray/Kerri's rig  -- 40m  ?
SSB#2 - TS-870 or TBD from club  -- 20/15/10m ?   -- captain TBD
CW#1 - K3   - 80/20 m  captain Pete
CW#2 - K2   - 40/15 m   captain Curt   (could be set up for digital running ~ 40w)
VHF - FT-897 from Mike
(Digital from Mike -- but I wonder if this would be better as 80/10m SSB if we support 5 HF rigs)

CW#2 is subject to recruiting a few more operators, in progress.  or if it also does digital, we would be set.  

Curt

From: "wo3l at comcast.net" <wo3l at comcast.net>
To: Carroll County Amateur Radio Club <k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: [K3PZN-List] FD Antennas

I can offer my vertical dipole for 10-15-20, fairly low performance but in the case of 10 if the band is open it will work fairly well. This one sets up in 10 minutes no support required sits on the ground in a 5 gal bucket of concrete I made a few years ago.

I'd also suggest that at 4 transmitters we think if breaking up by mode is the right way to go, or do we go by band - have a station each for: 80/10, 40, 20, 15. The mode is up to the operator sitting in the chair. This way we limit interference with only 1 TX per band and eliminate almost all antenna switching. Of course this requires each station to have appropriate software setup for digital modes (everyone already has this working right?).

Andy 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Curt Milton" <wb8yyy at yahoo.com> 
To: "Carroll County Amateur Radio Club" <k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 8:37:27 AM 
Subject: Re: [K3PZN-List] FD Antennas 

Mike and the FD gang: 

SSB - Ray and Kerri wish to captain one of our stations. Band(s) TBD but I may suggest 40m since they plan to camp out at the site. Let's presume they will provide or use a 40m dipole. 

They also offered their Rocket launcher, so if it is available we will put a beam (such as my small two element tribander) on it. This would be SSB #2. We could plug one of the club's rigs into this position. 

CW - I can provide a 40m dipole. I will work with Pete to pull this together as CW#1. 

80m - we'll use Pete's antenna and share it -- I am imagining SSB#2 will need it when 20m dies. Perhaps do some CW with it earlier than this. 

Does anyone have experience sharing antenna supports when BPF's are used? in erecting nice supports it is so tempting to use them for more than one antenna if they are separate bands. I suspect we are limited to one set of filters the club owns - which should be sufficient for 4-5 stations. 

Things are coming together. 73 

Curt 

From: Curt Milton <wb8yyy at yahoo.com> 
To: Carroll County Amateur Radio Club <k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 10:14 AM 
Subject: [K3PZN-List] FD Antennas 

In support of Mike our FD chair, let's brainstorm and work together on antennas. 

Here are my thoughts: (yours are also appreciated) 

80m - ONE wire antenna, deploy so it can be used for SSB or CW. rationale - this is the noisiest band. we could use the Carolina windom that Pete has offered. 

40m - wire antennas, ONE EACH for SSB and CW. could be simple homemade inverted vees. I can supply one of these. 

20/15/10m - one 'tribander' could be considered for SSB. if nothing better emerges, I have a two element beam MA5B (just the 20/15/10, portion) that could be used. the rocket launcher offered is an overkill for this, but it would be something we could easily raise up. 

that leaves supporting 20/15/10m for CW. last year we used the 40m inverted V on 15m, and it made it to KH6. so need to consider 20 and 10m: 

a two element wire beam for 20m would be rather cool - if it could be lofted in-between other masts. for 10m we could use just about anything. 

Mike likely has something in mind for HF digital? Coordinating its operations with CW is vital to avoid QRM. If rigs were scarce, it might also cover one of the phone bands perhaps. 

I am thinking of something like 2 SSB rigs and 1-2 CW rigs (depending upon operator count). N3DRA is offering to bring the portable antenna mast he brought last year - I just queried him on height. 

Thoughts appreciated. Next round will be assigning masts and antennas to be brought and deployed. 

73 Curt 
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