Michael
S. Stewart
Amateur Radio Station in Bushey Heath, Herts.
(UK)
E-mail: michael.stewart5@ntlworld.com + g4rnw@yahoo.co.uk
Member of Edgware & District Amateur Radio Society
www.g3asr.thersgb.net
HP Lap-Top + Kenwood SP-31 + Icom 756 Pro 111 + Palstar AT1KM Etc.
5/8th.
Co-Linear + Doublet 120ft. End Fed Long Wire 4:1/1:1 Balun + HyGain
5 Band Ant +
300
Ohm Twin Feeder Hustler 80m Whip & Coil
Having been back in the amateur radio fold
for about two years now, after a break of some ten years, I can now appreciate
how much has
changed in the intervening years. Of course we are going
through the bottom of the sun spot cycle which doesn’t help, but also of course
the
level of both QRN and QRM has increased enormously. This being mainly due to
the high level of interference from the many
household gadgets and ‘Toys’ which are now in general use.
Accordingly,
in recent months I have updated much of the shack with a new ATU- Palstar
AT1KM, a new rig - Icom IC-756 Pro111and last
but not least,
an HP Laptop in which I have installed HamRadioDe-Luxe. I particularly
appreciate its log keeping menu which automatically
informs the
operator of stations previously worked, plus its QSO time marking facility, and
its quick link to QRZ.com. For someone like me
who has appalling handwriting, this is a real boon.
The doublet is now
at approx 30 feet above the lawn at its centre and accordingly now gives about
three ‘S’ points advantage over the vertical as
far as I can tell
- so far. I constructed the toroidal dual impedance balun, as described
recently in ‘RadCom’, which is fed through the wall of the
shack via coax to
the ATU. Accordingly, the antenna
(Approx 110ft. In total with about 25ft of 300 ohm twin feeder) can now be
described as a
‘Comudipole’ as
per the same ‘RadCom’ article. My
previous kit, comprising the TS830s plus, AT-230 and DFC 230, is now in the
loving care
of
Steve Cook G1MPW where I understand it is doing sterling service, this being
his first venture into HF.
All
we need now is for the new cycle to start so that consistent DX is finally
possible on the higher bands.
73s and good
hunting from
Mike Stewart - G4RNW