Sunday, October 7, 2018

Animals

The day started early this morning on 60m trying for 3D2AG from Fiji again. Yes I did receive him again (-14dB) and no he didn't see me at all. Who thinks that DX is easy....even with FT8 it can be a struggle. However, I had the impression my signal is a bit stronger now I have the ladderline hanging free in the air. I noticed a couple of reports from NP2Q (US Virgin Isl.) this morning just after the greyline and signals were reasonable. Just when I wanted to go QRT a fellow blogger was calling. My first QSO with MW1CFN John from Wales (tnx John). In the mean time I was in whatsapp contact with PG0DX who worked a K7 (Alaska) this morning, unfortunately I could not see the K7.

But now, the titel of this post....no it's not the Pink Floyd album I'm talking about. It's about real animals. Not that I have any problems with them. But the afternoon was planned to test my butterfly beam since again the weather was excellent today. Then just when I wanted to assemble the antenna my wife called me she saw a stone-marten in our garage, and since those little animals are notorious for eating car cables we wanted the animal out of there. So it was a one and a half hour clear out of the garage to find the little creature and drive it out. After that I finally assembled the beam and just when I connected the MFJ259 to analyze it I saw something from a corner of my eye. Was it the marten again? No it was a big frog....



Finally have the HF5B butterfly beam up in my test mast. I already did read on the internet that it is a pain to tune the thing. And indeed, no good SWR and on 24Mhz even no dip at all. Unfortunately I had not much time to tune it at all since it was already starting to get dark. Time is always a issue...the sun is always disappearing too early...


6 comments:

Paul Stam PAØK said...

Hallo Bas, ik denk dat FT8 nogal wordt overschat. Het is niet de gevoeligheid van deze mode die DX mogelijk maakt maar de hoeveelheid gebruikers van FT8. De HF5B is mij niet bekend. Ik zal eens op Google gaan kijken. 73 Paul PAØK

Photon said...

Yes, nice surprise to have you as my first call of the day! I think I have to wait until the weekend for my own better, interesting DX on 60m!

I will be interested to see if and how you get the butterfly beam to match up. Its physical size does seem to indicate a frustrating time ahead!

Hans said...

Hallo Bas, Fijn dat de lintkabel nu beter werkt nu hij vrij hangt. De lijn fungeert ook als antenne dus dat moet ook vrijhangen. Jammmer dat het met 3D 2AG niet lukte. Maar de aanhouder wint dus lekker doorgaan hi.
Ik hoop dat het met de Butterfly lukt als staat hij bekent als een moeilijke antenne. Succes! 73 Hans, PE1BVQ

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hallo Paul, FT8 is niet de weak signal mode bij uitstek. JT9 gaat vele malen beter. Met JT9 was het contact zeker gelukt! Die HF5B is een leuke antenne maar moeilijk af te stellen. Daar ben ik nu mee bezig...daarna kan hij pas in de mast. Gelukkig blijft het eerst nog mooi weer. 73, Bas

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hello John, you were a little late. Best DX was already gone and most of it was NVIS at that time. You are absolutely right about the antenna. I measured the SWR and it is not good at all. It will take time to get everything right. 73, Bas

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hallo Hans, ja ondanks dat men zegt dat de ladderlijn niet straalt weet ik het zo nog niet. Zal er eens langs lopen met een veldsterkte meter. Heb de indruk dat mijn signaal iets beter is nu. En ontvangst ook....maar 3D2AG werken lukte nog niet. Dan is 15W net niet genoeg of de condities gewoon te slecht. Overigens denk ik dat Tony nogal wat QRN heeft van het aggregaat. Ik heb de indruk dat je minimaal -10dB moet hebben om er overheen te komen daar. En dat is een behoorlijk signaal. 73, Bas