144 MHz Subregional tests July 2010

We had lots of work to prepare the site for contest activity, as Marcin SP2QBQ was taking part on 432 MHz while I covered 144 MHz - 4 antenna systems for 2 bands in total. Unfortunately I could only use 2x5 instead of 4x5 for my fixed system this time.

The contest beginning coincided with the football match Germany-Argentina. As a result, mainly contest stations from DL were heard while most casual ops seemed to enjoy beer in front of their TVs.

The evening provided nice tropo ducts over the Baltic Sea, but overall activity from Scandinavia was rather low. Many OZ stations were worked, but the highlight was OH1ND at 732 km, who spotted me on the cluster while I worked in the opposite direction. There were quite many stations from LY and YL. EW6FS complemented that sector.
The activity of SP stations was truly disappointing. The map shows very clearly where one should point his antennas during VHF contests from JO94.



The ODX was, as usual, DR9A at 913 km, audible throughout the entire 24-hour period.
Overall 237 QSOs were completed.

IARU 50 MHz Contest

I've taken some time to build a "Moxon" antenna, which definitely outperforms the dipole. I couldn't spend all 24 hours for the IARU contest, but 160 QSOs in 11 hours seems like not a bad result.

First QSOs on 50 MHz

13 May 2010 - the day of my first QSOs on 50 MHz band! While the aluminium tubing, rotor and other antenna hardware is still to arrive, I decided to build a dipole so that I could at least enjoy some QSOs.

It started with a short Es opening to central and northern Sweden, with SM5CZQ first in the log. The afternoon produced a good Es opening to the west, with several contacts from G, GU and F. In the evening I managed a troposcatter QSO with OH0JFP at 640 km.

Even an ordinary dipole can give you much pleasure :)

3rd Subregional Tests/Field Day 2009

That has been a fantastic contest for me!

April Fool's Tuesday

The spring has not really come here yet, but I felt it was the time to work a couple of English stations across the North Sea again.



The conditions were average and the five stations worked are well known, regular participants.

October VHF Tuesday

I've been too busy with other things recently to do any work on antennas, radio or the blog. Today was a good oportunity to dust off the VHF yagi and try some QSOs across the North Sea.

I had 8 contacts into 5 squares during the first hour, ODX being G4DBL (389 km):


The conditions were good in the beginning, then quite unstable. In the second hour of the contest I didn't hear much and there was little point in extending the time spent at the radio. 8 QSOs is a definitive improvement over my previous results.

September VHF Activity Tuesday

Another VHF activity Tuesday.
My impression was that the propagation conditions were rather bad and the level of activity quite low. Maybe some "big guns" have not yet recovered after the IARU contest last weekend?

Despite the weak signals I managed 4 QSOs with:

G4IRC/p (210 km)
G4DHF (321 km)
G0AFH (282 km)
G4DEZ (311 km)



I also copied M0BRA and G3MEH, but didn't succeed in being heard.

IARU VHF Contest 144 MHz

The IARU VHF Contest is probably the most important regular event on 144 MHz in Europe. I thought it would be a good opportunity to test the new 5-element yagi and to have some QSOs, since the level of activity during this contest is usually hard to beat at any other time.

I operated one hour on Saturday evening and one hour on Sunday afternoon (the last hour of the contest). I managed to contact 13 stations overall (3 from Germany, 3 from the Netherlands and 7 from England).

The propagation conditions to Britain seemed very good - some stations were even peaking S9 on the S-meter! (on my indoor antenna). I had no difficulty being heard on the other side of the North Sea.
Working with Dutch and German stations was a bit more difficult, even though the distances did not exceed 300 km in that direction.

Having seen reports on dx-cluster I realized there was a tropo to France and Spain during the contest. However, this direction is completely closed for me from my fist-floor appartment.

In summary, I'm happy with the results of these two hours spent at the radio. They confirmed that the antenna works good and that it is possible to take part in a VHF conetst from a space-limited, indoors location. At the same time one can't expect miracles from such a setup.

New VHF antenna (5-element yagi)

I decided to use the full available length of the 2-metre wooden boom to build a 5-element yagi. Having played a bit with 4nec2 I ended up with the following design:

	Distance from Reflector [mm]	Length [mm]
Reflector	0	1020
Folded dipole	326	990 (adjust to match)
Director 1	628	940
Director 2	1143	910
Director 3	1909	880

This time the fed element is a folded dipole with 0.5λ transmission line balun (68.5 cm of RG-58 coax). The length of the arms of the folded dipole can be adjusted so that optimum matching is achieved. As you can see on the picture below, the antenna impedance measurement results are rewarding:



The antenna has a relatively flat resonance around 144.250 MHz, with SWR not exceeding 1.1 at 0.5 MHz bandwidth. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to measure the radiation pattern inside the appartment. However, the received beacon signal strength is at least as good as on the previous 4-element antenna. Actual performance will be estimated later, during QSOs on 144 MHz.

First 144 MHz QSOs

Tonight I spent two hours on 144 MHz and participated in UK VHF Activity Contest (every first Tuesday of a month). My 4-element yagi was placed next to the balcony windows, inside the appartment, resting on two wooden chairs. Yes, a very professional setup. I regret not having taken a picture :-)

The yagi was beaming 270 degrees, which I thought should cover the bearings range to England given the antenna beamwidth of about 60 degrees.

I heard some stations on 144 MHz eventually, and that was already fun. But to my amazement, I also managed to log three QSOs:

G4DEZ JO03AE SSB (310 km)
G7RAU IO90IR CW (416 km)
M0BRA IO91PK SSB (351 km)



I also heard a few stations from the Netherlands (PD2KMD, PA0ADG, PA4PS), one from France (JO10GK - maybe F2YT?) and several other stations from England - G0VJG/p, G3SDC/A, G3CWI/p. Propagation conditions were interesting, with QSB and sometimes a very fast fading. Signals were usually at or below sensitivity threshold and I could really make good use of the DSP receiver features. The QSO with G7RAU was very enjoyable and I felt as if I was just having a contact with my first DX like 15 years ago.

I realize I could probably work more stations from the roof of my building with just a dipole, but having 3 QSOs from an indoor antenna on the first floor was a thrill!