Pre-winter antennawork in progress

A day off the job gives me some extra time for the hobby. Although....I had some chores to finish first around the house. Besides that I had to go to a oculist with my daughter in the afternoon as well. So after all there was just about 2 hours left for the hobby.

I started the day early since I had to bring my daughter to school first. When at breakfast I already got HamAlert messages on my phone that several stations did spot XE1H on 60m. I have been chasing for Mexico on 60m already a few mornings but never succeeded. So, after breakfast I checked my station remotely through my android tablet if XE1H was received. Nothing seen unfortunately....but 15 minutes later I saw a weak report. A few minutes later I saw reports increasing and I decided to try. First his trace on the waterfall was gone again, some QSB? I almost gave up on it....then suddenly I received his report. I was surprised. Mexico is one of the most difficult parts of the world to reach for me. I only worked XE on 10m before in 2011 when propagation was a bit better.

Anyway, this was a good start of my day...back to antenna business. I have a 10m 4 element LFA on loan from our contestgroup PA6AA. It previously belonged to contestgroup PA6GR and bought by PA7NTH Nanne. However with the low 10m propagation we do not intend to use it for contest these days (years). What I want is to compare this beam with my 10m homemade HB9CV which is a excellent performer. Therefore I did some tests with PA4O with the HB9CV last week and noted everything down for later comparisation. It is my intention to mount the LFA in the mast this weekend so I already have it ready. The 6m beam and HB9CV will be in the garage this winter. Sounds crazy doesn't it. Why mounting a 10m beam in the mast at this time? Well, I know this isn't the best time but I like to experiment with antennas. Besides that I still have plans for a 5 band quad but haven't got time to construct the thing yet and certainly not before the winter. I would be a nice challenge for next year!!! If all goes well I will also replace the W2000 UHF/VHF vertical for my HF multiband vertical. I have been thinking how to do this and I think I found the ultimate solution....more on that in probabely the next post...