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Mauser3006

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Are there any other Ham Radio Operators out there on UKV? I am newly licenced. Just spent today planning how to attach a discrete 40 m HF Antenna to the house! I think I am nearly there...

 

It was pretty easy to get the Foundation Licence, I'm now going for my Intermediate. I'd be interested to see if there are other operators out there!

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Me too but far away..... Was ZS6KP and made DXCC QRP CW on 28 Mhz when the sunspot count was at an all time high. Also had the pleasure of organizing a DXpedition and filling out 1000s of QSL cards after one week of intensive nattering. Now DJ0BM but not active. Regarding 40m, you could consider building a directional quad or first try a simple vertical. 73s es gd DX OM.

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Regarding 40m, you could consider building a directional quad or first try a simple vertical.

 

Going to use a 20 metre dipole in the guttering of the house with the coax under a loose tile and then out of loft hatch into spare bedroom! It will not be pretty or optimally placed but should give me a start. Plus it's almost totally hidden which amuses me.

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Sounds good I always thought the use of hidden wires made the hobby more mysterious. You could also consider an end fed (looks like a phone line).

 

Thought about end fed but then I believe you need to earth it into the ground and that sounded too complicated!

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One of the most discrete antennas is the G5RV if you google it you will find it is of a very simple design and very effective. I used one for many years on a number of bands and it would tune up well up to 400 whiskers. You might be able to still buy them ready assembled.

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Still have a Yaesu "box" lying around from the FT-901 series to compensate for overly short pieces of .5 Lamda dipoles and get the SWR where it belongs. Great piece of kit.

 

40m isn't ideal for DX though and I would rather try 14 or 21 Mhz. Furthermore, the dipole would be shorter. Would also be wary about placing a dipole in a (metal) gutter due to attenuation and it may be better to install the dipole on the roof tiles or even in the loft. Are you planning to use CW or SSB?

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If you have the space and want a discrete antenna put up a flagpole, most are some form of plastic, then inside run a wire to the top, tuned with a SC-230 (or the like) against some slightly buried radials..

The SC-230 will allow you to use more than one band, check the spec online..

http://www.sgcworld.com/230ProductPage.html

 

 

73

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been QRT for a few years now,

 

had a few masts up and a mahoosive 5 band qubical quad at 75 feet,

 

had a end fed long wire with a AT 230 auto tuner that would tune the wire on all bands even 6 meters,

 

ft1000 mp and a quadra amp

FT920

ic7400

ic 706 mkiig at180 in the car.

ic746

 

but to mention some of the gear in the shack.

 

Bob.

 

G0WYD.

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Sounds like a plan. There is a lot of useful info on /P operation on the SOTA website. Much of the wire dipole stuff could be pressed into service at your QTH. Be careful that you don't overpower the thinner wire, not an issue until you upgrade to intermediate power levels so you might want to consider using copper flex weave for the elements. 73 de M0WMD

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i used to do a lot of swl'g years back but life and things changed ,anyway a few months back i thought id clear out some boxes of bits and the receivers via ebay and donated some boxes of books to the nearest radio club "rather than bunging them into a charity shop " ,long story short i sold a few bits but not the receivers ,when i was arranging the disposal of the books the chaiman said about doing the foundation and its started it all off again ,trying to find some weekend courses close ish to brush up on things ,i had a listen on 40 and it seems quite active with novices "or what ever they are called now " it was always a winter pastime for me but definitely going to do it soon! anyone got a cheap vhf rotator they want to move on for a couple of small 144/432 beams ?(always liked a dabble with satellites ) and cant get the tv ones now

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There are a couple of books to have a look at, the foundation manual and the revision exam secrets..

https://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Training_19.html there is also a distance learning course run by Steve Hartley, GØFUW, if you should need it..

If you have been a keen SWL in the past you'll have no problems..

Don't worry at all about the practical tests, including the Morse appreciation test, you can't fail it..

If you want a chat please drop me a PM and I will give you my phone number.

73

GW7... exam secretary in Wales

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If anyone is looking for foundation / intermediate exams re this on Wirral / Cheshire then PM me and I can sort you out with the contacts for sitting them at a very unique location on the Wirral with our club. I am a registered tutor if needed, but I can totally recommend the distance learning course mentioned by Radd @ post Nr 15 as I did my advanced with Steve H and his network of excellent tutors. Offer goes out to all PM me and I will pass you onto the exam sec....

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I'm glad this topic sparked so much interest! I have this evening got my Yaseu 857D up and running and had some chats on 2 metres. I'm hoping to get my HF Antenna up this weekend and start from long Range DXs.

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If there are enough of 'us' out there see if we can organise a sked on HF one weekend when we have finished shooting!?

I am sure there must be a way of combining the shooting and the radio somehow! de M0WMD

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If there are enough of 'us' out there see if we can organise a sked on HF one weekend when we have finished shooting!?

I am sure there must be a way of combining the shooting and the radio somehow! de M0WMD

 

Great idea!
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40 metre antenna installed in my gutter. Totally hidden which I wanted. Tuned to 1.3 SWR so I'm pretty happy. My problem is trying to get a QSO with anyone with my measly 10 watts when everyone in Italy is smashing 500 watts out! Had a good chat with someone in Norway so it's working anyway.

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  • 7 months later...

If there are enough of 'us' out there see if we can organise a sked on HF one weekend when we have finished shooting!?

I am sure there must be a way of combining the shooting and the radio somehow! de M0WMD

Rig up a temporary transcever in the butts and see if you get more volunteers :ph34r:

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  • 3 months later...

just back on the air now.

 

icom 7300 with a 40 meter long wire for hf.

icom 7000 for the vhf/uhf and 6 meters, into a tri-band vertical.

ft100D hf/vhf/uhf in the car with the asat120a for hf and 6. and a duel bander on the other side for v/uhf

 

great fun even when the sunspot have gone I still worked vk and zl on 20 meters not great signals but I made it.

 

bob

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Apolagies for hijacking the thread a little, but you're the guys who will know. ...A mate of mine has a good working AR88 receiver he wants to sell. Any idea how much it might be worth and where would be the best place to sell it... Bearing in mind this thing weight a ton so would need to be collected.

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have a look st ham radio deals web site, HRD

 

search for the AR88.

 

and go from there

 

the last one i seen for sale was sold for £95.

 

bob

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