I’ve been wanting to tidy up the cabling to the 12v DC PSU for some time in the radio shack as like many HAMs I have a number of radios/devices that all need a 12v feed but, only two connectors on the front of the PSU. The net result was a birds nest of wires all connected to the PSU making it impossible to disconnect one device without others getting disconnected at the same time.
Looking online I found that many of the HAM outlets stores sell nice little 12v DC distribution boxes that would be ideal however, they’re all priced somewhat high for what they are so, I decided to purchase the parts and make one myself.
Searching on Amazon I found all the necessary parts for less than a quarter of the cost of commercially made units. A couple of days later the parts arrived and sat on my desk in the shack for a few weeks. Yesterday I finally found the time to make a start on the project.
M0AWS home-brew 12v DC Distribution Box
After much drilling and filing I had the necessary holes/slots cut in the plastic box for the 4mm connectors and fuse holders and started wiring them up. Part way through my 30 year old soldering iron decided to die and so I had to stop and wait for a replacement to arrive.
M0AWS completed 12v DC Distribution Box
With the new soldering iron in hand it only took 30mins or so to complete all the joints and I soon had the box together ready to test with my multimeter to ensure I didn’t have any shorts or crossed wires.
With testing complete and fuses in place I connected it up to the PSU and then connected all the devices one by one checking for voltage drops as I went.
M0AWS 12v DC Distribution Box
I now have my CG3000 remote auto ATU, GPSDO, QO-100 ground station and IC-705 all nicely connected in a much tidier fashion than before, all for considerably less than the commercially available alternatives.
Following on from the article I wrote about the performance of my multi band vertical antenna I’ve now put together a table showing it’s performance on each band as experienced over a period of 18 months.
It’s interesting to note the antenna wavelength measurements on each band as 13m (43FT) seems to be an almost perfect length for a simple multi band vertical HF antenna with excellent DX capabilities.
M0AWS 13m (43FT) Multiband Vertical HF Antenna Info (Click to Enlarge)
Looking at the information you can see that performance on the 160m band is poor. This is to be expected as the antenna is far too short for a band with such a long wavelength. I knew this would be the case from the outset and never planned to use this antenna on the 160m band. I’ve included the data here just for completeness. If you’re looking for a reasonable 160m band antenna that can fit into an average UK garden then take a look at my Inverted-L antenna article.
Performance on the 80m band is surprisingly good considering the antenna is only 1/6th of a wavelength long. With contacts into Indonesia achieved using relatively low power levels this antenna surprised me with its performance on the 80m band. A 1/4 wavelength antenna would of course perform better but, like all multi band vertical antennas for the HF bands there is always a compromise.
On the 60m band the antenna is pretty much a 1/4 wave vertical, it works great on this band and I’ve had a lot of fun chasing DX in the winter months. With the longest contact being into Brazil at 6144 miles this antenna performs extremely well for such a simple design.
On the 40m band performance is better still. With the antenna being just over a 1/4 wavelength long the point of max current is above ground level making this a very good DX antenna. With multiple contacts into Australia at distances over 10,000 miles this antenna is the ideal 40m band DX chaser for small gardens.
Moving up onto the 30m band this antenna now begins to really shine. Being a half wave long on 30m the point of max current is half way up the wire lowering the angle of radiation considerably. This results in excellent global coverage with contacts into Australia being a breeze. With the longest distance achieved being 11,776 miles into New Zealand this really is the goto antenna for fans of the 30m band with small gardens. This antenna easily out performs my 30m band Delta Loop design whilst giving better global coverage.
On the 20m band this antenna performs very well indeed. Considering it’s 3/5th of a wavelength long which is a strange length to have, it’s no slouch. Global coverage is excellent and working into Australia is relatively easy. I’ve yet to work into New Zealand on the 20m band using this antenna but, that’s mainly due to me not being on air at the right times. Best distance worked so far on this band is 10,656 miles.
On the 17m band the antenna is 3/4 wavelength long. This is a very useful length and easy to tune as it presents pretty much 50 ohm impedance at the feed point. Performance is simply stunning on 17m, if you can hear the DX you can work them. I am amazed at how well this antenna works on this band. It seems to have a low angle of max radiation making it excellent for chasing DX stations. Giving me my first contacts into Alaska and New Zealand this is my goto antenna for the 17m band.
On the 15m band this antenna is 7/8th of a wavelength long. Performance doesn’t feel as good as it does on 17m but, with the longest distance achieved being 8023 miles there’s really no reason to doubt it. With only 87 contacts being made on this band due to the fact that I always get trapped chasing DX on the 17m band and never make it any further up the bands, I’m sure this antenna will perform extremely well long term on 21Mhz. I just need to make more effort to get on this band.
The 12m band is one of the bands I didn’t expect this antenna to perform well on. Being 1 and 1/8th wavelengths long it’s not a length that you would normally consider using for an antenna however, performance is excellent. This is most likely due to the point of max current being a fair way up the wire resulting in a low angle of maximum radiation. DXing is great fun with this antenna on the 12m band and it’s surprised me time and time again at how easily I’ve been able to work DX stations. With the best distance worked so far being into the Falkland Islands at 7973 miles, this antenna has huge potential on this band. Like the 15m band, I need to make an effort to spend more time on the 12m band and see how far I can push this antenna.
Finally we reach the dizzy heights of 28Mhz on the 10m band where the antenna is 1 and 1/4 wavelengths long. Again this is a useful length as it presents almost 50 ohm impedance at the feed point. DX performance on the 10m band is good. It’s probably very good however, like the 15m and 12m bands, I rarely make it up onto the 10m band and so I’ve not really given the antenna the time to prove itself at 28Mhz. My best distance worked so far on this band is 4872 Miles into the USA but, I’m sure I could easily do better if I committed more time to it.
I’ve pretty much covered all the good points of this simple multi band antenna so, now let’s look at the not so good points.
If you’re in the UK and are looking to work other UK stations then this antenna isn’t for you. Like all vertical antennas there isn’t much in the way of NVIS radiation and so you’ll find UK stations just won’t hear you. You’ll also often find you won’t hear UK stations at all due to the null at the top of the antenna that attenuates signals arriving from high/very high angles. For me this is fine as I wanted an antenna that was focused on DXing as much as possible.
From 10Mhz upwards the antenna also isn’t that good for working stations in nearby Europe. Most of the time you will only hear European stations that are more than 1000 – 1500 miles away, anything closer just doesn’t appear in the receiver. On the 15m and 12m bands often you will never hear European stations at all, only DX stations. This does of course reduce the QRM from UK/EU stations considerably making it easier to work those weak/QRP DX stations.
So as you can see, 13m (43FT) of vertical wire is probably one of the best lengths you can possibly use for a multi band vertical HF antenna especially if like me, you have a small garden to squeeze your antennas into. I don’t like to say it but, this could be the magical length we’re all looking for when making a multi band HF vertical antenna.
Tuning of the 13m (43FT) vertical antenna is achieved using my CG3000 remote auto ATU. I initially started off using my home-brew Pi-Network ATU but, changed over to the CG3000 so that in the winter months I don’t have to run out into the rain and wind to change bands. It’s important to note that the ATU must be at the base of the wire and not in the radio shack. It’s also important to note that I have 4 x 20m long radials connected to the CG3000 along with an earth spike at the base of the wire. This combination of ground and tuner works incredibly well with the ATU tuning on each band with ease in less than 3 seconds. I’ve also not had any issues with the CG3000 attempting to retune whilst in the middle of a QSO, once it’s initially tuned it doesn’t retune again until I either change band or make a large change in frequency.
The achieved SWR on all bands is <1.5:1 except for 160m where it is 1.8:1.
The bi-directional slot fed HF antenna isn’t mentioned very often these days for some strange reason. It’s a real shame as it is an excellent antenna that gives high gain through the loop between the frequencies of 14Mhz and 29Mhz.
M0AWS 20m – 10m Slot Fed HF Antenna
Construction of the antenna is relatively simple, 3 x 3m long horizontal wires and 2 x 9.2m long vertical wires. I’ve modelled the antenna using 20mm diameter copper tubing for the horizontal conductors and 2.5mm wire for the two vertical conductors. Using the 20mm copper tubing provides a rigid platform for the mounting of the antenna on a non-conductive mast whilst reducing weight by using 2.5mm wire for the vertical conductors. You could of course use 20mm copper tubing for all the conductors if you have a non-conductive mast that can handle the weight.
An alternative option is to hang the antenna from a high tree and secure it in position with non-conductive nylon cord. This works very well and makes it extremely easy to manually rotate.
The antenna is fed at the centre of the middle horizontal tube (conductor 2 in the image above) using one of the following methods:
Method 1 – Use a 4:1 Balun and ATU either in the radio/Radio Shack or connected directly to the Balun. Connecting a remote auto ATU to the balun directly at the feed point is the best option as you will then have a perfect 50 Ohm impedance match to the coax cable going back to the radio. (I’ve used my AH-705 and a 4:1 Balun at the feed point in the past with excellent results).
Method 2 – Connect a remote auto ATU directly to the feed point of the antenna and then 50 Ohm coax back to the radio shack. This will provide a perfect SWR match on all bands and works extremely well. (I’ve used my AH-705 remote auto ATU in this configuration as well in the past, again with excellent results and no discernible difference to method 1).
Method 3 – Feed the antenna with 450 Ohm open ladder line and use a 4:1 Balun and ATU in the radio shack to match the antenna to 50 Ohm radios. It’s important to bring the 450 Ohm ladder line away from the feed point horizontally and not vertically downwards. This will then help to protect the radiation pattern.
Looking at the 2D Far Field Plots this antenna provides excellent gain at relatively low radiation angles on all bands 20m – 10m making it an ideal antenna for chasing DX.
20m Band 2D Far Field Plot 17m Band 2D Far Field Plot 15m Band 2D Far Field Plot 12m Band 2D Far Field Plot 10m Band 2D Far Field Plot
The gain on each band is as follows:
20m Band – 7.83dBi at 24 Degrees 17m Band – 9.07dBi at 20 Degrees 15m Band – 9.63dBi at 16 Degrees 12m Band – 10.36dBi at 14 Degrees 10m Band – 10.99dBi at 12 Degrees
10m Band 3D Far Field Plot
The 10m Band 3D Far Field Plot above shows the typical radiation pattern for the antenna. Maximum radiation is through the loop with very little high angle radiation making it ideal for chasing DX stations. Gain increases as frequency increases however, angle of maximum radiation decreases as frequency increases improving DX capability of the antenna on the higher bands. It’s worth ensuring that the antenna is rotatable as this will then enable you to point the antenna at the DX station to maximise signal strength at the DX end. Pointing this antenna North/South makes it great for working VK/ZL over the North Pole whilst at the same time being able to work South Africa from the UK.
Summary:
Horizontal Wire Lengths: 3m @ 20mm Diameter Vertical Wire Lengths: 9.2m @ 2.5mm Diameter Modelled Height above ground at Centre (Conductor 2): 10.6m Feed Type: 4:1 Balun + ATU / Remote Auto ATU / 450 Ohm Ladder line with 4:1 Balun & ATU
Over the years I’ve built many multi band vertical HF antennas including multi-element quarter wave verticals like the DXCommander configuration, multiple end fed vertical dipoles all on the same pole and a host of other configurations. As with all multi band antennas there’s always a compromise, on some bands it performs well and on others it doesn’t, it’s the nature of the beast.
For some time now I’ve been using a multi band vertical antenna that has over the last year performed incredibly well on all bands from 80m to 10m. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect however, it has out performed every other multi band HF vertical I’ve tried to date even though it’s by far the simplest antenna design and according to the antenna modelling software I have it shouldn’t be as good as it is.
So what is this magical multi band HF vertical I speak of? Well it’s nothing more than a piece of wire 13.4m long taped up a 12.4m vertical Spiderpole with 1m of wire tucked down into the top of the Spiderpole.
Obviously this is not going to be resonant on any band without some sort of impedance matching circuit at the bottom of the wire. Originally this antenna was my end fed half wave vertical antenna for the 30m band that was fed via a 49:1 Unun. This antenna worked incredibly well on the 30m band allowing me to work DX globally with ease but, it was a single band antenna and I wanted a multi band solution.
I decided to remove the 49:1 Unun and replace it with a home brew LC circuit made up of a coil made from 5mm copper tubing and a large air spaced variable capacitor I had laying around from an old ATU project I built many moons ago.
This simple LC arrangement at the bottom of the wire worked incredibly well and tuned the wire from 80m to 10m with a perfect SWR on each band using nothing more than a ground rod and 4 x 12m radials. Performance was surprisingly good on all bands 80-10m giving me the ability to get some DX stations that I’ve never been able to hit before. The only drawback to this solution was the fact that I had to go out and manually tune the antenna every time I wanted to change band. Not so much of a problem in the summer but, in the winter in the pouring rain and howling wind it’s no fun at all. (I resolve this issue further down in the article!)
Multi Band Vertical HF Antenna using a 12.4m Heavy duty Spiderpole at the end of the garden
Performance on the HF bands is incredibly impressive with this antenna. Modelling it on EzNEC software it shouldn’t be that great on bands above 20m however, it seems to defy the modelling software as it performs amazingly well on 17m, 15m and 12m, better than any other vertical antenna I’ve made for those bands. How this can be I do not know, normally my antenna builds match closely what the modelling software shows but, in this instance it doesn’t and I’ve really no idea why.
Multi Band Vertical HF Antenna showing loop at top and wire tucked down into pole
Always wanting to put things into perspective here’s some details of the contacts I’ve made on each band showing how well this antenna has performed over the last year or so.
Firstly the 80m band, I’ve not used this band much over the winter months as I’ve got into the higher bands however, the map below shows all the stations worked on 80m using this antenna.
Stations worked on the 80m band from the M0AWS QTH
There are 51 contacts in total, not a big number by any means however, there are some good distances made with contacts into North America, South America and Indonesia. I’m sure I could had done better if I’d spent more time on this band, something to aim for next winter perhaps.
Next is the 60m band, a band I really like and have enjoyed over the winter months. The antenna performs incredibly well on this band even though we have very limited access to 60m here in the UK. With 288 contacts in the log with a good spread of distances I’m really pleased with how this antenna performs on this band.
Stations worked on the 60m band from the M0AWS QTH
Moving up in frequency the 40m band is the next one on the list, this is a great band and one that I’ve loved for many years. I’ve spent countless hours on CW on this band in the past and worked some great DX. The performance of this antenna on the 40m band is excellent, if I can hear the DX normally I can work them regardless of where in the world they are located. With 226 contacts in the log spread globally over the winter here in the northern hemisphere I have no complaints about performance of this antenna on the 40m band.
Stations worked on the 40m band from the M0AWS QTH
Moving up onto the 30m band I have to admit this is probably my favourite band of all. I’ve spent so many hours on CW working some of the best fists I have ever heard on the air I’ve grown to love this band not just for the DX available but, for the quality of operator found on this narrow piece of the RF spectrum. Needless to say since the antenna is a half wave on the 30m band performance is stunning, out performing any other 30m band antenna I have ever made. It’s even better than the 30m Delta Loop antenna that I built and used when I lived in France.
With 467 contacts in the log on the 30m band you can tell this is my goto band and one that offers access to some of the best DX in the world.
Stations worked on the 30m band from the M0AWS QTH
The 20m band is a band that I never really used until I moved back to the UK from France. Living in France I had acres of land and so I was very much into the low bands, 160m to 30m and never ventured above this part of the spectrum. Now living back in the U.K. with a typical U.K. sized garden the low bands are much more difficult to get onto and so my interests have moved up in frequency somewhat.
Getting onto the 20m band I was amazed at how easy it is to work DX stations compared to the low bands, it’s simply a case of if you can hear them you can work them, there’s no real challenge to be honest. Because of this the band is always super busy with people shouting over the top of each other to get the DX. Not to be put off, I’ve made a surprising 412 contacts on 20m covering the globe. This antenna works incredibly well on this band and you really don’t need anything else to work DX on 20m.
Stations worked on the 20m band from the M0AWS QTH
Next is the 17m band, one of the WARC bands that I’ve never really ventured onto until now. I have to admit I really like this band, when it’s open it’s normally open to the world all at the same time. With an almost undetectable background noise level you can hear the faintest of signal on this band. This is one of the bands that according to the EzNEC modelling software this antenna shouldn’t be any good on but, I have to say that it’s performance is beyond anything I ever imagined. I’ve worked my longest distance yet on this band and with this antenna, ZL4AS at 11776 miles, a distance I haven’t achieved yet on any other band. The 17m band really is a great band, I’d actually say it’s better than the 20m band even though there is considerably less spectrum available. With 220 contacts in the log it’s been a fun band to use.
Stations worked on the 17m band from the M0AWS QTH
Continuing the theme of the WARC bands, the 15m band is another one that I’ve only discovered in the last 12 months. It’s only now that I realise what I’ve missed out on due to my addiction to the low bands for so many years.
I’ve only made 76 contacts on the 15m band, not a lot at all really. This is mainly due to the fact that I get easily side tracked by the 17m and 30m bands most of the time and the radio VFO never gets as far as 21Mhz. Performance of the antenna is good on 15m, I would say not as good as on the 17m band but, it’s no slouch by any means.
As you can see on the map below, I may of only made 76 contacts on the 15m band but, they are spread right across the world proving that this antenna’s DX-ability on 21Mhz really is rather good.
Stations worked on the 15m band from the M0AWS QTH
Finally we arrive at the top of the WARC bands, the little 12m band. Once again this band is very much like the 17m band, super low background noise level, when it’s open you can work huge distances with very little power but, often there is quite deep QSB that can make getting that elusive DX a bit more challenging.
With only 66 contacts in the log once again I’ve not spent a huge amount of time on this band but, it hasn’t disappointed. With global coverage from this antenna on 12m once again I am astounded at how well it works. With software modelling saying it should be terrible on 24.9Mhz with nothing but super high angle radiation, it really shouldn’t be a good antenna for DXing on this upper WARC band but, it is and I have no idea as to why!
Stations worked on the 12m band from the M0AWS QTH
Finally we arrive at the 10m band, another band that I have never got into even though many refer to it as the magic band. This is the band that I’ve made the fewest contacts on, not because the antenna doesn’t work at the dizzy heights of 28Mhz but, because I hardly ever get the VFO dial past the lower bands due to the level of DX available. I really should make more effort to get the best out of the 10m band, especially now the summer is coming.
With a measly 19 contacts in the log I should be ashamed of myself for not doing more on this band as it is very often open and busy with traffic. Since I’ve not really used the antenna that much on the 10m band it’s hard to say how well it performs however, I have had contacts into North and South America and so it shows potential.
Stations worked on the 10m band from the M0AWS QTH
As you can see, the performance of this antenna is self evident from the log entries, it works superbly even though the modelling software says it shouldn’t above 14Mhz. This is now my main antenna here in the U.K. and I’ve only made one change to the initial setup and that is to add a CG3000 remote auto ATU to replace the home-brew LC tuning circuit.
CG3000 Remote Auto ATU housed in a plastic box
With the CG3000 auto ATU in place I no longer have to venture out into the cold, wet garden in the winter months to change band, it’s just a case of sending a continuous 10w signal into it and leaving it to tune in less than 2 seconds. The CG3000 is a Pi Network ATU so it handles both high and low impedance loads with ease. A Pi Network ATU is one of the best you can have, I’ve made my own in the past and had excellent results.
So in summary, 13.4m of wire vertically up a 12.4m pole with 4 x 12m radials, a ground rod and a CG3000 Auto ATU will give any HAM station the ability to work DX on all bands from 80m to 10m without ever having to leave the shack to tune it.
Since I got the CG3000 off of Ebay for a bargain £170 and the 12m heavy duty Spiderpole for under £100 the total cost of the antenna is considerably less than many commercial offerings available and yet performs as well if not better.
If you want to get this antenna onto the 160m band then you just need to add a small coil into the mix at the bottom of the wire to increase the inductance in circuit. The CG3000 will then happily tune the entire 160m band. It’s best to remove this coil though for all the other bands otherwise performance is reduced.
Please be aware that the performance of this antenna will not be anywhere near as good if you use the ATU in your radio at the end of a coax run. This is because the coax becomes part of the antenna and the radiation pattern is all but destroyed. You will be extremely disappointed if you use the antenna in this fashion. The ATU must be at the end of the wire and connected directly to ground and the radials to get the performance that I have experienced.
Finally, if you have an Icom IC-705 and AH-705 remote auto ATU you can use the AH-705 ATU in place of the CG3000, you will get the same results as I have with the CG3000.
I have used my AH-705/IC-705 combo quite a few times with this antenna with excellent results although, the big antenna can sometimes result in the receiver of the IC-705 getting overloaded especially on the lower bands. This is easily resolved by reducing the RF Gain on the radio.
Having just completed building my new radio shack I thought what better way to break it in than to do an all night radio session chasing the DX.
All nighters aren’t anything new for me, I did many an all night session low band DXing when we lived in France (F5VKM). Back then I had a massive cellar, part of which was a very well fitted out radio shack. With some very large antennas in our field out back I was truly spoilt with some great times on the 160m band in the dark winter months.
Now back in the UK and only just getting back into the hobby after a long break things are somewhat different. I now only have a typical small UK garden and only vertical antennas. Better than no antennas though!
The new radio shack is small compared to my super spacious setup in France but, it’s perfectly formed with all facilities.
For my over night radio session I decided to use my trusty Yaesu FTDX10, it has the best receiver I’ve ever used and is built to withstand the long haul operation.
Antenna wise I decided to use my 30m band EFHW vertical that can be tuned on most bands from 80m and upwards. I use a CG3000 remote auto tuner to match this antenna to the 50 ohm coax feed and it does a great job.
Being comfortably setup in the shack I tuned up on the 30m band and had a listen to see what shape the band was in.
Stations heard on 30m 10/11-07-22
Using FT8 I worked a bunch of European, Russian/Asiatic Russian stations with ease, the band was in fairly good shape albeit localised around Europe and Russia. Wanting to work stations a little further afield I decided to move up on to the higher bands. 12m is a band I really like but, always seem to miss when it’s open.
Tuning up on the 12m band using the same vertical that I was just using on the 30m band the FT8 section was packed with signals. At last, I’ve tuned up on the band when it’s open!
I suddenly noticed Bobby, VP8ADR down in the Falkland Islands in the WSJTX waterfall and gave him a call. He had a fair few people calling him and so I joined the list. In no time at all Bobby answered my call and we exchange SNR reports of -8dB both ways. This was surprising as later on one of the FT8 Facebook groups Bobby stated he was using 200w into a Hexbeam during our QSO, I was only using a measly 18w into my Vertical, I would had expected a much lower SNR report. Clearly Bobby’s setup was doing all the work!
Right after the QSO with Bobby I immediately went on to work PY7ZC, LU8YD, PY2ATI, LW6EQC, PY2EBD and PY2THO all in quick succession. With the Falklands, Brazil and Argentina in the log so soon it was looking like it was going to be a fun packed night.
Next up on the waterfall was 9Y4DG in Trinidad and Tobago and 8P6ET in Barbados, two really nice locations to get into the log and new ones on 12m for me.
Having worked all the DX I could hear on 12m and not wanting to just spend hours working endless European stations I tuned down onto the 17m band using the same vertical antenna. This antenna really does work well on bands it’s not designed for.
First 3 stations in the log on 17m were all from Japan, JR3NZC, JQ6RUP and JA5BDZ. With all 3 stations being well on the way to 6000 miles away this was a good start. The propagation strangely swung to the west and I got YV5DRN from Venezuela in the log.
Not seeing any other stations that I wanted to work I retuned back onto 30m again and found it was open to South America and the Caribbean.
In no time at all I had YV4CLF in Venezuela, HK2AQ in Colombia, NP4TX and NP3XF in Puerto Rico and PY7ZC in Brazil all in the log.
Being in complete darkness I decided to tune down on to the 60m band, one of my favourites, to see if there was much going on. Sure enough there were a few stations active on the limited space available.
First station worked was a new one for me FP/KV1J on St. Pierre and Miquelon Island just off the coast of New Foundland. I have to admit I had no idea where this little island was and confess to having to look it up on google maps.
I then went on to work a few East Coast USA stations all with good SNR reports for this time of year.
Stations heard on the 60m band 11-07-22
Having worked all the notable DX on 60m I tuned back onto the 17m which was now wide open to the world.
I stayed on this band for the rest of the night well into the morning grey line and beyond working some great DX including some new ones for me.
I worked many East Coast USA stations but, stations of note were 6Y5HN in Jamaica and AK6R, K6EU and K6EI in California on the West Coast USA. It’s rare for me to get into the West Coast USA for some reason.
UA0SDX in Irkutsk Siberia was also a nice one to get in the log. This is a town I was going to be riding my motorcycle through on my Mongolian trip before COVID19 and the war in Ukraine broke out and stopped the trip from happening. More information about my motorcycle adventures can be found on my Feralmoto website.
It was good to get an Ozzy call in the log too, VK6EI on the West Coast of Australia came in at a strong -15dB SNR giving me a surprising -14dB SNR report, incredible considering I was using just 22w into my vertical antenna.
Well after sunrise the DX was still pouring in and I worked KL7TC in Fairbanks Alaska, a new one for me that made me very happy as I’d been trying to get into Alaska for some time but, never seemed to time it right. Today was my day!
Another station I was really pleased to get into the log was V31MA. I’ve tried to get a QSO with this station many times but, have never succeeded until today. I called for about 20mins and eventually got a reply putting a huge smile on my face. -16dB SNR sent and -19dB SNR received, I was happy that I finally have Belize in the log.
The last station worked was RA0FF way over on the far East Coast of Russia, the complete opposite direction to Belize. Located in Yu-Sakhalinsk right on the Russian coast opposite Japan and at 5270 miles, this is my longest distance Russian station worked so far and one I was very happy to have in the log. I always get good take off towards Russia whether it be directly east or over the North Pole to the far eastern parts of the Siberian wilderness.
I had a great night chasing the DX on the HF bands and being retired didn’t have to worry about going to work after such a long night. I highly recommend that you try an all nighter at least once in your HAM radio career, you get the opportunity to work stations that you’d normally not hear during the day time hours.
You can see the full list of stations worked on the over nighter on my WSJTX Log page.
I spent the evening/early morning trying some FT8 on the 40m band taking advantage of the grey line and night time propagation. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed up late to catch some DX on 40m and it brought back memories of the all nighters I used to do when I was on air as F5VKM in France.
The 40m band has always been one of my favourites, there’s always great DX to be had when the band is open and on the grey line the world really is your oyster.
I’ve always been a huge fan of CW on 40m, there are some great seasoned op’s on the band and it’s always a real pleasure to QSO with them on the key. This time I decided to see what could be achieved with FT8 and 22w of power from my Yaesu FTDX10, a combination that should give me global reach.
Setting up at just past 6pm on May 9th 2022 the band was already busy with European stations, lots of them! There was no room to squeeze in and call CQ, the FT8 section of the band was packed with signals filling the allocation completely with many calling over the top of each other.
I decided to take my normal stance of search and pounce to get the stations I want to work rather than just working the masses endlessly.
I initially worked a bunch of Russian stations ranging from 1200 to 2200 miles out, good distances were easily achievable even though we were still in full daylight.
My home-brew multi-band vertical antenna worked well on 40m
In amongst the throng of FT8 stations I spotted UN3P, Vladimir in Karaganda Kazakhstan, not a country I have worked a lot since getting back on air and at 3013 miles it’s a good distance to achieve on 40m whilst still in broad daylight.
I gave a call to his CQ and he came straight back with an SNR report of -20dB, I sent him a report of -12dB so there was some 8dB difference between us. Considering I was only using 22w of power in broad daylight I was happy with the report. Of course I’ve no idea how much power he was using but, my signal was 6.63mW/Mile, not the lowest I ever had but, not the biggest either.
I worked a bunch more RA9/UB9 stations in the 2000-3000 mile range and then started hearing the Australian stations on the early grey line. Initially their signals were suffering some deep QSB but, it wasn’t long until their signals were constant and stable.
All the stations that heard M0AWS 09/05/22 – 10/05/22 on 40m
Ian, VK3VDX in Victoria was the first station from Oz in the log at -19dB/-20dB, pretty even SNR reports. At 10451 miles it equates to 2.10mW/Mile.
Closely following was John, VK5PO in Mallala South Australia, much stronger signals this time at -10dB/-14dB, 2.19mW/mile over a total distance of 10028 miles.
VK5PO Mallala South Australia
As darkness replaced light the propagation swung west with east coast USA and Canadian stations dropping in to the East coast of the U.K.
John, VO1BE was the first north American station in the log with -1dB/+1dB SNR reports. To be +1dB in Canada with just 22w really is quite impressive. I’m guessing he has a very low background noise level.
I worked a bunch of East Coast USA stations and then PY2GZ popped up on the waterfall. From my QTH I have a clear view South East to South West across flat ground for miles and so it’s normally pretty easy to work stations in that zone and this evening was no different. First call was answered and -10dB/-17dB SNR reports were exchanged, 3.68mW/mile over 5965 miles.
My 14.81m tall home brew vertical works superbly on the 40m band with tuning handled by my CG3000 Remote Auto Tuner. This is actually my 30m band EFHW vertical antenna but, removing the 49:1 Unun and replacing it with the CG3000 has made this antenna much more versatile.
CG3000 Remote Auto Tuner connected to the 14.81m vertical antenna and ground system
The next station in the log was BG0BBB in Xinjiang China with -9dB/-18dB SNR reports exchanged. China is always a hard location for me to get into for some reason so, I was glad to get another Chinese HAM into the log.
BG0BBB Xinjiang China
As the propagation started to swing westerly I got 8P4JP in Bridgetown Barbados into the log. It took a few calls to get the exchange completed due to very deep QSB between us but, with some perseverance the contact was completed successfully and I had a new one in the log!
I continued to work a flurry of East Coast USA, Brazilian and Puerto Ricon stations one after the other until suddenly stations from the east started coming in again.
First from the east was Igor, 4L1FL from Tbilisi Georgia, another new one for me that somehow seems to escape me every time I come across Georgian stations on the bands.
4L1FL Tbilisi Georgia
UN7JO in Ust-Kamenogorsk Kazakhstan was loud with me at -5dB SNR although I only got -21dB SNR back, some 16dB difference across the path of 3386 Miles.
One station of particular interest was VY0MEL, Julien in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Northern Canada. This is the most northern Canadian station I’ve worked in a long time and it was great to get him in the log. His QRZ page is worth a read, he works at a mine in Nunavut on a 14 day rotation and so has a fair bit of time for HAM radio. Using just a dipole that is strung between two shipping containers and only 60cm above the snow in the centre he was a good signal at -19dB here in the U.K, especially considering he was still in broad daylight.
VY0MEL Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Northern Canada
Needless to say I had a fun filled evening/early morning on the 40m band, once again it didn’t disappoint and I got a couple of new countries in the log. I think the next late night will have to be a CW evening on 40m to see how well I do in comparison.
The full list of stations worked over 9th-10th May 2022 using FT8 on the 40m band can be viewed in my WSJT-X log in glorious technicolour with distances and mW/mile figures for every contact.
Map showing all FT4/FT8 stations worked up to 10/05/22 all bands
I recently acquired a CG3000 Automatic Remote antenna tuner from Ebay that was advertised as being new, still in the box unused. I’m always very wary about purchasing stuff from Ebay as the site is full of scams and cheap Chinese rubbish these days.
I decided it would be handy to have an auto remote ATU to enable me to band hop quickly and easily without having to go outside and tinker so, I thought I’d put in a silly offer and see what happens.
Putting in an incredibly low offer I didn’t expect to hear anything however, the following day the offer was accepted! At this point I thought well it’s either a scam or someone just wants rid of it for one reason or another.
4 days after paying for the unit it arrived and sure enough, it was new still in it’s box and original wrapping, bargain!
Initially I used the CG3000 to make an NVIS antenna for inter-G contacts on the low bands. It worked extremely well and I’ve kept the 30m long end fed wire in place so that I can chat with other UK stations throughout the summer months.
Wanting to experiment further with the CG3000 I thought I’d look into getting onto the WARC bands as summer is coming and the higher bands normally come alive during the warmer months. Having the CG3000 remote tuner in the garden already I decided to see if I could make a vertical that would work on the higher frequencies. I started to look into what length of wire I should use with the tuner to get the best results across the bands and finally decided to go with 8.3m.
8.3m might seem a strange length to go with but, there is method to my madness!
8.3m is a half wave on the 17m band, this should be great for DXing as it will have a very low angle of radiation, around 5 degrees.
On the 15m band it will be roughly a meter longer than a half wave but, modelling shows it will still be good for working the DX.
On the 12m band it will be just under a 3/4 wave length, it will have a higher angle of radiation than on 17m and 15m but, it should still work well.
On the 30m band it will be just over a 1/4 wave length, this will also be good for DXing and will give me another band to play with.
Finally, on the 40m band it will be a little shorter than a quarter wave but, should still work fairly well and give me the ability to switch between the 5 bands in seconds.
I’m not worried about using it on the 20m or 10m band as these two are covered by my 20m EFHW vertical antenna that has already proven to be a superb DX antenna.
In the back of the shed I had a new 8.5m long telescopic fibreglass pole that would be ideal for getting the wire into the air. The CG3000 needs a relatively good ground connection and radials to tune against, fortunately I’d already sorted the ground out when I set the tuner up for the 30m long end fed NVIS antenna.
CG3000 Automatic Remote ATU connected to ground and antenna wire
Powering it up it tuned on all the bands I wanted and as a bonus it tuned the 80m band too. I doubt it will be particularly good on 80m as 8.3m of wire is rather short for such a low frequency but, could be OK for local ground-wave chatter.
So it was time to get on the air and see how it performed.
First up was 17m, the band was active which was good to hear and I set about working a few stations.
Stations worked on the 17m band using the CG3000 ATU and vertical antenna
Working into Japan was a breeze on 17m, I couldn’t believe it when I got through to JA4FKX first call. I also got into Thailand HS6OKJ first call too. I worked a few European and Russian stations and then started hunting for stations further afield. It wasn’t long before I’d worked PY7ZC and PY2IQ in Brazil, YV4GLF in Venezuala and a bunch of East Coast USA stations. As the sun headed west I worked VE7SA and VA7QI on the West Coast of Canada.
Tuning up on the 15m band I found the it was pretty dead however, I did manage to work VE1JBC which proved the antenna worked on 21Mhz but, needed more testing when the conditions are better.
Tuning up onto 12m was the same story, completely dead apart from one station calling CQ, LU8EX in Argentina! I gave a call back and got an immediate reply. We exchanged signal reports and then he was gone. More testing is also needed on this band but, getting into Argentina more than proves it’s a DX worthy antenna for the 12m band.
Tuning onto the 30m band I found a hive of activity and so set about working stations to see how the CG3000 and antenna combo worked on the lower frequencies. To my surprise it was extremely effective.
Stations worked on the 30m band using the CG3000 ATU and vertical antenna
As you can see on the map above, the slightly long 1/4 wave length antenna worked very well on the 30m band and I’ve been able to get contacts in Japan, Russia, most of Europe and into the East Coast USA and Caribbean. 8.3m of vertical wire makes an extremely good 30m band antenna!
I didn’t have a lot of time to check out the 40m band however, I did manage to work a few stations before I had to disappear. The CG3000 ATU tuned the 8.3m of wire up beautifully and I was surprised how many stations I could hear during the daylight hours.
Stations worked on the 40m band using the CG3000 ATU and vertical antenna
I worked a few stations on 40m before closing down and heading off to do other, more important things. Considering it was still daylight I was impressed to get UI4P at just under 2000 miles. I clearly need to spend more time on the 40m band late into the night to see how well the antenna performs but, it looks promising!
So overall, the CG3000 remote auto tuner and 8.3m of wire give me exactly what I wanted, 17, 15m and 12m with the added bonus of 30m and 40m. DXing over the summer months will be a lot of fun for sure!
UPDATE: It works incredibly well on the 60m band too! I’ve just had to manage my first ever FT8 pileup on 60m including contacts into Canada, USA and Puerto Rico.
More soon …
Multi-band vertical tuned with CG3000 Remote Auto Tuner
To recap, the NVIS antenna is a 30m long end-fed wire that is between 3 and 4m above the ground over it’s entire length. This is the longest wire I could get into my tiny U.K. garden and so I wanted to see what was really possible with such a low short wire on the low bands. My goal was to get good Inter-G signals so that I could chat with other U.K. and close European stations during the summer months. The tuning is done automatically by the CG3000 remote ATU I picked up very cheaply on Ebay.
Having very anti-antenna neighbours I have to tread carefully not to upset them as I have already rattled some cages having the 20m EFHW Vertical on an extending fibre glass pole at the end of the garden overlooking the farmers field.
The CG3000 remote ATU matches the 30m wire nicely on the 160m band with an SWR of less than 1.2:1 across the entire band with multiple retunes. It’s certainly very convenient to have such a setup.
Setting the power output on the radio to 25w which is the maximum I use for FT4/FT8 on the Yaesu FTDX10 I started WSJT-X and waited to see what I could hear. With the background noise swinging between S7-9 most of the time I was surprised at how many stations were being decoded. Some of the stations were barely visible on the waterfall but, I got consistent reliable decodes.
Stations heard during a 1 hour period on 160m NVIS Antenna Experiment
As you can see on the map above I was hearing stations from all over Europe and well into Russia. There certainly isn’t the proliferation of stations on the 160m band that there are on the 40m band but, there were enough for me to get some good results.
It was nice to reliably copy some U.K. stations on 160m FT8 even though I didn’t hear a single SSB station on the band.
Map showing stations that heard M0AWS on 160m during the NVIS Antenna Experiment
Over a period of about 3.5 hours I was heard by a good number of European stations but, wasn’t able to work all that I heard as I was struggling to compete with the much more powerful stations. Limiting my transmit power to 25w to protect the PA on the radio does tend to limit my success at getting through to stations at times but, I am a firm believer in being able to hear better than I can shout, especially on the low bands.
Map showing all stations worked during the 160m NVIS Antenna Experiment
Over the test period I didn’t work a huge number of stations but, I did manage to work stations over a large area of Europe with the best distance being 1004 Miles into Finland, much further than I ever thought would be possible with such a simple setup.
I’m sure that when the band is in better shape with lower noise levels and better propagation the antenna will post probably perform better but, it’s certainly proved it can do the short hop NVIS comms that I was looking for.
I have designed a new NVIS antenna for the garden which manages to incorporate considerably more wire into the same space that is resonant on the 80m band. With the CG3000 remote ATU it should tune up well on 40m-160m and give much better results. This design does require a 10m fibre glass expending pole which I need to purchase before I can erect it in the garden. I’ll get all the information for the design onto the Antenna section of the website soon.
So to summarise, a 30m end-fed wire at between 3 and 4m above the ground will give good NVIS results on 40m-160m with a very low visual impact. For those like me that have a small garden, a simple antenna like this is much better than no antenna at all.
Following on from my 40m band NVIS antenna experiment I ran the same series of tests on the 80m band to see how well the NVIS antenna works.
Being only 30m long the antenna isn’t very well suited to the low bands but, with the tiny garden we have here in the U.K. and the anti-antenna neighbours it’s the best I can do.
I started off looking for SSB contacts only to find no one on the band. I eventually found G8MNY calling CQ from Croydon south of London. He was a huge 5/9+20db with me so I was hopeful that he’d hear me.
Tuning up the antenna on 3.710Mhz and setting the O/P to 40w I gave him a call and got an immediate response. We ended up chatting for around 30mins with ease, the band wasn’t too noisy and Jon was running 400w so he was a solid signal with me. My 40w got me a 5/8 report which I was very happy with.
Once we cleared I tuned around the band and even called CQ a few times, but there was nothing to be heard.
I went and had something to eat and then returned to the shack before the greyline, the band was a little more lively and so I switched over to FT8 mode and started working stations.
Stations initially heard on FT8 whilst still in daylight
I was really quite surprised how many stations I could hear and make contact with even though I was still in daylight. The effect of the greyline really is quite pronounced.
Stations that heard me on FT8 whilst still in daylight
I was being heard by a good number of continental stations even though I was still in daylight. Signal strengths were good and I was soon working stations one after another with ease.
As the night drew closer and the U.K. moved into darkness stations further east started appearing on the WSJT-X window and I was surprised how many I was able to work considering how low and short the antenna is for this band.
German stations were always the strongest throughout the test which is to be expected with an NVIS antenna as they are just across the north sea as the crow flies.
Map showing all stations heard on FT8 during 80m NVIS antenna experiment
By the end of the evening I’d heard a good number of stations with the most distant being north of the Kazakhstan/Mongolian border as shown on the map above.
All stations that heard M0AWS on FT8 throughout the NVIS antenna experiment
I was pleasantly surprised at how many stations were hearing me throughout the test, getting as far south as the islands off the coast of north Africa and well into Russia was amazing for a horizontal antenna that is only 4m-5m above the ground.
Map of all stations worked during the 80m NVIS antenna experiment
The number of contacts was nowhere near as prolific as during the 40m experiment mainly due to the fact that the band wasn’t as busy however, the contact pattern was very similar to that on 40m with the most distant station being R2EA/P just south east of Moscow at 1544 miles.
European coverage was very good but, sadly I didn’t hear many U.K. stations and so I’m not sure how well my Inter-G coverage will be. Perhaps another test during the day when conditions are better will shed some more light on this.
Overall I’m very happy with the antenna performance on the 80m band, it’ll certainly be ideal for European chat during the summer months and hopefully inter-G will be good too.
Next will be a test on 160m, this could be interesting!
Since setting up the new station at my U.K. QTH I’ve not had any Inter-G contacts. This has mainly been due to the fact that the antennas I’ve currently got in place are all designed for chasing DX and so have far too low a radiation angle to be able to talk to other U.K. stations.
One of the things I do like about radio is the local chatter on the low bands. In the summer months working Inter-G on the low bands is most enjoyable so, I decided to put up a simple Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS) antenna ready for the summer.
Unlike my French QTH, here in Suffolk we only have a tiny garden and so it’s a challenge to get any length of wire up that is anywhere near long enough for the low bands.
A quick measuring of the garden I worked out I could get 30m of wire approximately 3-4m off the ground at best. I’m very aware of my anti-antenna neighbours and so it needs to be as stealthy as possible.
I decided to use some 1.5mm wire that I had in the workshop and utilise the high washing line poles that are already in place to get the wire along the max length of the garden.
With the wire in place and connected to the CG3000 auto remote tuner that I got off of Ebay for a song, ground post and radials connected I found that the antenna tunes up fine on all 3 low bands, perfect!
Tuning up on the 40m band I had an SWR 1:1 anywhere on the band. I could hear a number of strong U.K. stations and a few Dutch and German stations too. Since I’m on the East Coast of the U.K. The Netherlands and Germany aren’t that far away as the crow flies.
Setting the radio onto 40w SSB (First time on SSB in a very long time!) I put out a call. First station to come back was G8VVY, Robin in Malmesbury Wiltshire. Signals weren’t particularly strong and I gave him a 4/4 report and got a 5/5 in return.
Next station was PA3GLK, Dave in The Netherlands. Again signal reports were 5/5 and 5/6 but, perfectly readable.
Next up was G0SXC, Kevin in Lancashire. Signal reports were 5/9 both ways this time, very strong and fully quietening, the high angle radiation was doing its thing!
Last call was ON3PAT, Pat in Belgium. Very strong signals both ways, 5/9++ at a distance of 153 miles. NVIS propagation is working very well. I turned the output down to just 25w and Pat still gave me a 5/9 report.
Later in the day I decided to run some FT8 QSOs on 40m to see how far I could get reliably with no more than 25w. I was hoping that I may just be able to get 1000 miles as an absolute maximum but, be able to work stations at 100 Miles or less with ease.
Map showing NVIS FT8 contacts on the 40m band
As you can see on the map above, 1534 miles was the best achieved, RX3ASQ just east of Moscow. The thing that pleased me most was the number of U.K. stations I could hear with the closest being just 43 miles away. Most European stations were easily worked even with reduced levels of power (10w) and so I’m hoping that this simple end fed NVIS antenna will become my goto antenna for local chatter on the 40m band.
What was very interesting was what I could hear on the antenna, I didn’t expect to hear any DX stations at all however, I was surprised to see stations from Mongolia, Japan and the USA popping up in the WSJT-X window.
Obviously I couldn’t get back to them as my angle of radiation was far too high to get a signal out over those distances but, it just goes to show what can be a heard on a very low long wire.
Map showing stations heard on 40m using NVIS antenna
By the end of the evening to my surprise I had been heard in the USA, I was amazed to see where I’d managed to get into with such a low antenna. The main cluster of stations were in the U.K. and Europe of course which is exactly what I wanted from this antenna.
Stations that heard M0AWS on 40m FT8 using NVIS antenna
So the next test will be on the 80m band, I’m hoping to get similar results on SSB with inter-G stations being easy to work. I doubt I will be able to get anywhere near the 1500 miles I achieved on the 40m band but, I’ll be more than happy with U.K. and EU stations.
More soon …
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