[nrv-hams] Possible HF setup

[Joshua Ramsey]

Thanks for the info Cam! I do have my one wall that is the outside of the building. The crux is shape of the antenna. I get there is a preferred way, but that's outside strung up X feet off the ground in a particular direction. What shape is the best of what I can achieve in the space I have? An S pattern on the wall? Just leave it in coils on the wall? Spell my call sign with it?


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On Sunday, April 11, 2021, 20:49, Cam Coble <cam at doubleclickdata.com> wrote:

Josh, Sounds like a plan. I'm sure you can get some good advice from others, but here are a few of my comments:- Great solid radio- Power supply should be good to about 30 watts or so. If you don't have a meter on it, just keep a voltmeter on it to watch for big drops. Then you'll know when you're pushing it.- The MFJ antenna is really made for the yaesu ft-817 as a compromise antenna, and I've not heard much success. Also limits you to 25 watts, and you'll need some ground radials to make it half work.- I would recommend a manual tuner with dual indicators. Any antenna you run will require some kind of tuning although the MFJ listed is tuned by making the element longer or shorter. The tuner will be able to validate your watts out, and whether or not your antenna is matching well. A few models to check out would be the MFJ-971, and MFJ-941E.- If you have a wall not pointing at a neighbor, this may be something to look into (needs a tuner): http://www.k2zs.com/indoor-hf-antennas- I would try a dipole strung up on the walls first. 20 meters is a great band and you need 16’ 5” or 197” linear feet per side. You can wrap it around the wall near the ceiling and probably do just fine. You may even get away with not needing a tuner if you can cut to length the ends after install. Yes, it's one band, but it will be one band that works, and you can make it for under $20. Use some 18 gauge speaker wire and you only have to cut once, and rip apart!- Another good wire antenna for this application may be an end-fed-half-wave. You can build it yourself for cheap, but here is a nice kit for QRP: https://qrpguys.com/qrpguys-end-fed-wire-antenna

Hope that helps!73!--Cam - W4XXV




On Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 6:13 PM Joshua Ramsey via nrv-hams <nrv-hams at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

Been dwelling on this for a long time, I think I know what to get, but just making sure the combination is good.

Power supply - I have a Pyramid 10a constant & 12a surge, thanks to Roger!

Transceiver - I want an Icon IC-718. Yes, this is ancient and basic, but that’s what I like. I don’t want fancy, no waterfall display, not super menu driven, almost everything is a front panel operation, and it’s simple. Since I’d operate at a max of 15w, but more than likely 10w, the power supply should more than suffice?

Antenna - this is the part I’m still a bit confused on. With my apt I was thinking of putting a wire antenna in an S shape on my ceiling using command strip hooks, since no outside options available. Is that possible? If so, how tight of an S can it be?

        Otherwise I was thinking of a small multi band vertical telescopic tapped, MFJ 1899t https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-1899t <https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-1899t>

Any problems with this combo?

Josh Ramsey




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