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
Since getting my Icom IC-705 I’ve had a constant issue with interference on the HF bands from the USB connection on the radio when the AH-705 remote auto ATU is connected.
If I use the radio without the AH-705 inline there is no issue at all but, as soon as the AH-705 is connected to the radio there is some 9 S points of computer data noise across all the HF bands rendering them unusable.
Reading online this appears to be a common issue and so I set about trying to find a resolution.
The noise is most likely being induced onto the outer braid of the screen on the cables and so I decided to look into making a common mode choke.
Visiting the HAM Goodies website I ordered a couple of FT240-31 Ferrite Toroids as I’d read this particular mix is ideal for making common mode chokes.
USB Cable wrapped around a FT240-31 Ferrite Toroid to create a choke
I wrapped a long USB cable around the toroid and used some tape to hold the cable in place, it’s surprising how much length is lost by simply wrapping around what looks like a very small toroid.
Firing up the radio the noise was reduced considerably but, it was still there and so I decided to do the same to the coaxial cable between the AH-705 and the IC-705.
Coaxial cable between AH-705 and IC-705 wrapped around a FT240-31 Ferrite Toroid
Once I’d wrapped the coax around the toroid and reconnected the coax between the radio and ATU I was pleased to see that the computer data noise was now gone on all bands except for the 10m band. For some reason the 10m band interference is still as strong as it was without the toroids in place.
I’m not too sure why this is. I tried more and less turns on the toroid to no avail and so eventually I decided to just live with it for the time being.
At least now I can use 160m -> 12m without any interference whatsoever, a massive improvement on what I had before.
I need to do some more research on the different mixes of the ferrite toroids and perhaps trying a different mix will resolve the problem on the 10m band too.
Since purchasing my Begali Pearl twin paddle morse key I’ve been looking to get another Begali for my IC-705 portable setup. Going portable means I need a key that isn’t super shiny like the Pearl, something a little more hardy would be ideal.
I was looking to buy the Begali Simplex Basic directly from Begali as it would be ideal for portable operations however, my lovely wife spotted another Begali key for sale on Ebay and pinged the details over to me to take a look at.
Begali Traveler Light
To my surprise the key for sale on Ebay was a Begali Traveler Light, the perfect key for portable use and at a much lower price than new.
I contacted the seller immediately asking a couple of questions about the key and got an immediate response, always a good sign!
It turned out that the key was being sold by Wallace, MM0AMV up in Scotland. Looking at his QRZ page it’s clear he’s an avid CW fan as he has two Begali keys. This was backed up by the conversation we had via Ebay messaging.
In no time at all I had paid the £170.00 including postage and was the owner of my second Begali morse key.
My Begali Traveler Light Morse Key #904
The key was in as new condition as described by Wallace, clearly it had been looked after well.
It didn’t take long for me to get it hooked up to my IC-705 and on air. After a little adjustment of the gap and return tension I had the key setup comfortably for my weird left-handed use.
The key isn’t anywhere as near as heavy as my Begali Pearl key but, it’s plenty heavy enough to stop it moving around when in use. This is of course is helped by the two fold out legs that stabilise the key firmly during use but, protect the paddles solidly when in transit. It’s a great design and a very unique approach to making a fairly light but, solid twin paddle for portable usage.
In the garden with my Begali Traveler Light and IC-705 connected to my EFHW Vertical for 20m
Once folded the key takes very little space in the IC-705 portable case and completes the setup nicely. IC-705 radio, AH-705 remote auto ATU, Begali Traveler Light, tripod and a few interconnect cables, the perfect portable station.
IC-705 Portable station case with plenty of space for future additions
Since purchasing the IC-705 I’ve found that I’ve hardly used my Yaesu FTDX10, which is strange considering the receiver, filtering, DSP and APF combination is considerably better on the FTDX10 than it is on the IC-705. The IC-705 has a much nicer, easier to use user interface and it’s just a lot of fun to use even though it’s only a QRP rig. I can see me having many happy hours on air with this QRP station.
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 spent some time this morning in the garden with the Icom IC-705/AH-705 combo connected to my End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) vertical for the 30m band. This is a great antenna that works superbly on the 30m band. Being a resonant half wave fed via a 49:1 Unun it doesn’t require any ATU inline normally and so it’s quick and easy to use with any radio.
Today I decided to disconnect and remove the 49:1 Unun and hook up the Icom AH-705 instead. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how well it handled the EFHW vertical on both 30m and the other bands.
Icom AH-705 connected to the 30m Band EFHW Vertical Antenna
I purchased a couple of 5m leads for the AH-705 so that I could setup the radio on the picnic table in the garden and be a comfortable distance from the antenna. They worked great and allow me to use the radio in the spring/summer sun with ease.
Icom IC-705 setup on the picnic table in the garden
The little AH-705 remote auto ATU really does work well with the IC-705. Each time you change bands all you have to do is give a quick press of the PTT on the mic and it automagically goes into tune mode and matches the antenna to the 50 Ohm radio in seconds.
I was was really pleased to see that the AH-705 ATU matched the EFHW Vertical for 30m on the 80m, 60m, 40m, 30m and 20m bands with a perfect 1:1 SWR. With the antenna consisting of 14.81m of wire this makes it somewhat short of a 1/4 wave on the 80m band and I’m not too sure how well it will work. On the 40m band it is a 3/8 wave antenna so should work well. It’s a 1/4 wave on the 60m band and of course a half wave on 30m band as per it’s original design. On the 20m band it is just under 3/4 wavelength long so hopefully should work reasonably well. Of course it won’t be as good as my 20m band EFHW Vertical that has a much lower angle of radiation but, will make an interesting comparison.
The antenna also tunes up nicely on all the other higher bands including the WARC bands. On 17m it is getting close to a full wave length and on 15m it is just over a full wavelength and so should work fairly well on these two bands albeit with a higher than optimal angle of maximum radiation.
On the 12m band it is 1.25 wavelengths long and of course on the 10m band it is almost 1.5 wavelengths long. I’m not sure how well it is going to work on these two higher bands but, for a 14.81m long piece of wire it certainly gives me a good chance on a wide spectrum of frequencies.
30m Band EFHW Vertical Antenna in the breeze
The bands weren’t in particularly good shape this morning but, I found some SSB signals on the 20m band and so decided to see if I could make some contacts.
First contact was with S51DX in Slovenia. He was using 1kw into a 5 element beam pointed pretty much directly at me. The little IC-705 S meter took a pounding with him peaking +30db over S9 most of the time. I was really pleased to get a 5/9 report from him using just 5w from the IC-705 on the standard 7v battery. Of course his station was doing all the work but, it’s good to take advantage of these big stations when running QRP power levels.
Next I had a QSO with John, EA7JUR in Almeria Spain. But this time the battery on the IC-705 was pretty much exhausted and so I hooked it up to the 12v supply to get it charging whilst I was on air. This of course gave me the ability to increase my O/P power by 100% to a massive 10w!
I wasn’t so strong at John’s end, only getting 5/5 report at best whilst he was 5/5-5/9 with me with some QSB. John was using a mini beam antenna again pointed towards me so once again all the work was being done at his end. We had a good chat for a number of minutes until it was time for lunch.
Listening on the 40m band I did hear a very interesting station, KN6IPA/Aeronautical-Mobile. Justin, KN6IPA is part of the crew on a USAF KC135 air-to-air refuelling tanker that flies out of RAF Lakenheath in the U.K. He was transmitting from the aircraft whilst in flight over Germany. His signal was between 5/9 and 5/9+20dB on my vertical antenna and had a massive pileup of people calling him from all over Europe.
I did try calling him with my punchy 10w of power but, couldn’t compete with the huge pileup of very loud, powerful stations all incessantly calling. It was really interesting to just sit back and listen to Justin’s information. He was using 300w into a wire antenna that runs from the fuselage to the vertical stabiliser. Of course being so high up he had a massive advantage and could be heard for hundreds of miles with ease, hence every one and their dog was calling him.
Photo of the KC135 tanker that KN6IPA was transmitting from courtesy of his QRZ.COM page
If you look closely at the photo above of the KC135 that Justin is a crew member on you can just make out the wire antenna on the vertical stabiliser.
I have to admit that I would love to spend a few hours on the radio aboard the KC135 whilst it was flying around, just imagine the DX you could work!
Since purchasing the Yaesu FTDX10 and getting some wire into the air I’ve been working DX all over the world with ease. So far I’ve not exceeded 25w total output and yet I’ve worked as far as Australia, South America and West Coast USA and Canada. I’m often found to be using far less than 25w, even 5w on the 60m band is a huge amount of fun!
The FTDX10 has an incredible receiver, the best I have ever owned, for the money it really is an amazing bit of kit. The only thing about it that doesn’t work for me is the size when trying to go portable. It’s just a tad too big and requires a huge battery to power it. I love everything else about the FTDX10 apart from this one thing.
So, with the FTDX10 now being the prime shack radio I decided to look into a solution for portable operations. There are many options available today from the cheap Chinese made radios to the old reliable FT817/818 (which I used to own and had a lot of fun with) through to a multitude of newer, more modern full functionality radios. We are truly spoilt for choice these days!
One radio I have read a lot about is the Icom IC-705, it’s an incredibly feature packed little radio with a max output of 10w that covers 160m all the way up to 70cms. With its large super clear colour touch screen and easy swap battery solution it ticks all the boxes.
Icom IC-705 Portable HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver
One thing many people complain about is the fact that the IC-705 doesn’t have a built in ATU. This has never bothered me as I am a firm believer that the ATU should be at the antenna and not in the radio at the end of a long coax run. Running various antenna models on my EzNEC software has shown that keeping the ATU at the antenna is by far the best solution.
Of course Icom have this covered with their AH-705 remote auto ATU that’s specifically designed to compliment the IC-705. Powered by just two AA batteries and utilising latching relays the unit is both very quick to tune and uses next to no power at all, ideal for those Parks on the Air (POTA) or in my case, Beaches on the Air (BOTA) activations.
Being a quality Icom product the AH-705 isn’t cheap, at £299.99 it’s actually one of the most expensive auto ATUs available for the IC-705.
Icom AH-705 Remote Auto ATU
The other thing I wanted was some kind of stand for the IC-705 that would allow me to angle the radio such that the display and controls are always easily useable. On the ML&S site I found a nifty little tripod that will do the job nicely and so, that had to be included in the bundle.
Icom IC-705 Tripod stand
Fortunately for me the AH-705 was on special offer over the Easter Bank Holiday with 40% off making it the same price as the cheaper MAT tuner from china.
So I have now ordered an IC-705, matching AH-705 and the tripod all for the bundle price of £1504.87 including VAT, I even got free shipping thrown in too!
So that leaves just one more thing that I need to complete my radio solution, a morse key!
Having sold my Schurr Profi II Twin Paddle key (Been kicking myself ever since!!) a few years ago when I decided to take a break from radio I’m now in the position of not owning a morse key.
I did order a Vine Antenna RST-TP1 key from ML&S but, that had to go back (There’ll be an article about it coming very soon!) and so, I decided to spend a bit more and get a much better quality key.
Talking to many people online and Tony at ML&S it’s apparent that the Begali Morse keys are some of the best available these days. Looking on the Begali website they certainly have a great selection of high quality keys available, some for much more than I want to spend.
Begali Pearl Twin Paddle Morse Key
So after much consideration I decided to purchase a Begali Pearl Twin Paddle Morse key in Palladium and Gold with red paddles. It’s a super looking key and gets great write ups. It’s also their biggest seller, that says a lot.
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.
More soon …
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