Looks Like It Works

I have been working on my Hi-Q 3/80 antenna the last few weeks, since it came in. Since this is not a $20 hamstick, I want the install to be right so I can get the advantages a big screwdriver-ish antenna can provide.

I am waiting on some ferrites from Hi-Q to come in so I can think about running power to the tuning motor. I have two different length whips to top it with, which I am hoping will give me some flexibility in band coverage.

One of the whips is a 72" stainless steel from MFJ - when it is on the tip is 12' 5" off the ground! Watch out trees!

Anyways, while I am obsessing over getting this install right, I haven't been operating HF, until today when I decided to tune it to 20M and see if anyone can hear me, so I'll know I'm in the ballpark at least. I use a little 12V power supply to move the coil around, and I got it on 20 without too much cursing.

I was able to work K1TG, Roger in Connecticutt and W7GVE, Ed in Arizona in short order, with decent signal reports even though the A factor today is 7 with zero sunspots (that means 20 is in bad shape, for those who don't follow the solar tables), so apparently the 3/80 will throw some stuff into the sky.

Now I just need to run the control wiring, work on stiffening the mount, mount the UNUN I bought for it, work up a control box for the motor switch, look into getting a cross-needle power meter so I know when it's tuned ...

Be back later. Stay tuned (tuned - get it? Ha!)

Results Are In

I placed 9th overall in Low-power CW Single-op in the Colorado QSO party (my first attempt): 2007 Colorado QSO Party

And this was all done from my driveway, naturally.

Working on the Antenna

First here's a picture of the (almost) finished product:

Looks good, doesn't it?

And here's a closeup of the mount:

As you may be able to see, I still haven't done the motor control wiring.

Making it Better One Step at a Time

I drove the hamshack truck to work today with the antenna on. My route gets a little rough in one stretch and the antenna gets thrashed around a bit.

Now this is a temporary mount, made from an existing 3/8-24 whip mount from Radio Shack, so the stud holding the antenna is only about 1 inch long, and the insulator is kind of tiny, meant to hold a 12-ounce hamstick, not a big screwdriver, so obviously I was taking a chance with this arrangement.

Driving home I stopped at a light and noticed the antenna was wobbling. I pulled over and discovered that the motion was unscrewing the Hi-Q from its mount. Now my chief nightmare these days is that antenna falling off the back while I'm driving, so I was a little jarred by this discovery.

I took the antenna off and put it inside for the rest of the trip home. At home I finished mounting the antenna with the big washers and loooong steel bolt, which is about 3 inches long overall. This should hold it.

Worked CE3/VE7SV on CW and 6I2GAG on SSB just to make sure everything was working okay, looks like I didn't break anything.

Problems Here, Problems There

I have been doing a little SSB here and there, mostly to get DX stations. But it gets into one of the speakers on the AM/FM/CD in the truck and causes a lot of feedback in the radio. Probably some RF sneaking in through the coax, or a ground loop I haven't beaten yet.

And tonight when I removed the whip from the top of the Hi-Q, the steel whip fell out of the mount adapter. One of the set screws had backed out and is now lost. I'm going to give MFJ a call tomorrow to see if they have extras they might sell me.

[Update: 9/20/07 I called MFJ and they are mailing me a pair of replacement set screws. I have always had great service from the guys at MFJ and I highly recommend them.]

I watched K7AGE's AO-51 video on youtube, and wouldn't you know it, now I really want one of those cross-polarized 2-band yagis the satellite guys use.

That low budget thing looks like a permanent condition around here.

I could hear 3B7C on 14.175 working pileups today, just at the edge of the noise. They were working 10-12 stations every minute and I listened for around an hour. That's some serious operating.

Live and Learn - RF Output Lesson

I have been suspecting for a while that my output power isn't quite up to specs on the IC-7000. The output power meter seems to hover around the 50% mark even when output is set to 100%, although the antenna match is quite good.

Today my MFJ cross-needle power meter arrived in the mail so I am able to check it for the first time. Sure enough, 100% output yields about 60 watts or so, with very low reflected power.

In a flash of inspiration, I started the engine in the truck and tried again.

105 watts output.

I think I have figured it out.

I am participating in the Texas QSO Party this weekend. I am running the N1MM Logger program to log and score contacts. This program will interact with many types of radio computer controls, but not the IC-7000, unfortunately. It seems as though the 7K is not going to listen to the logger no matter what combination of settings I use. But it will send frequency data to the logger, which is mostly what I am looking for. Just ignore the "Lost Communications" alert; slide it off screen and go on as if it was not there and everything is peachy.