On March 15th 7 members of the Nashua Area Radio Society met at BOB to do an initial gear test and evaluation to begin our hands-on preparation for Field Day 2022. We were:
AC1LN Joe Luszcz
KB1RGB Rick Fulton
KC1FNF Peter Wolczko
KC1PEQ Hardy Hamilton
KC1PWB Alan Whitney
W1JDG John Ginsberg
AC1EV Jon Turner
Our goal for the day was to inspect the Tents, Beam antenna, and Tower components we will use in June for Field Day.
Layout of our tower
BOB is the name we have for our storage location for our gear. It stands for Big Orange Box. It is a retired UPS trailer that is parked on the grounds of a city public works facility, so is secure and secluded. Our first step is to remove the bins which are stacked on the floor of the trailer to give us access to the rest of the gear we want to evaluate.
We selected tower sections that were color-coded from previous years to layout and confirm they all fit together and that we had all the required fasteners, guy lines, straps, pulleys, cables, etc. When we are actually setting up Field Day it is done in a time-limited window, so chasing after missing parts is best done in advance, not on the day of the event. We are fortunate this year that all the components are stored in clearly labeled Bins and Ziplock bags and our dedicated Tower construction toolkit is complete.
Tower and Tents
Here is the tower with the segments press-fitted to confirm they all fit. This was done before we found the detailed instructions from previous years. You can see progress on the tents in the background.
First Tent
The first tent is assembled. There were no missing parts! Alan and Joe inspect their work. The first tent took longer to set up than the second and the third was even faster. Practice now will make the day of the event easier.
Second Tent
Peter and Hardy join in on the construction of the second tent and get a good lesson from Joe.
Tents and BOB
Our fourth tent is another brand, but not difficult to assemble. Tents will sit on tarps and have floors inside to support the tables and chairs that we’ll use during Field Day.
Tower Pre-Assembled
After we found and read the instructions, we re-assembled the tower parts in proper order and have the falling derrick installed along with the proper cabling and guys. We also confirmed we had the other required parts that are identified in the instructions. Given the shorter days and cooler temperatures in mid-March, we did not have time to evaluate the Beam antenna. We located the proper antenna and the dedicated toolkit for it, so we know where to begin when we return for more preparations. Sometime around 2:30, we decided it was time to pack everything up carefully and return it to the trailer. It took around an hour to tear down and pack up everything. I’m happy we had enough volunteers to make it easy.
Based on our experience this day we are scheduling another expedition to BOB on April 19th with a rain date of April 20th. This second trip is more ambitious. Our plan is to assemble the beam antenna and attach it to the tower and raise the whole assembly including additional dipoles and all coax and control wires required. Fred, AB1OC will guide us through the procedures so by the time we are going live on the day of Field Day we will have done this before. Some of us participated in past Field Days, and have experience with these tasks, but haven’t led the teams. In addition to confirming we aren’t missing any critical parts, and nothing is broken we will also have the experience of standing up this part of our station so can have experienced team leaders to manage our setup in June.
If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. It is also a lot of fun. Sharing this experience is a great way to build friendships along with complex radio stations. If you have any interest in joining us in this event, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. We will make sure you can be involved at whatever level you want and will share all our skills to make sure you can do it. We can turn “I don’t know how to do that” into “I didn’t know how to do that, but I do now”
This article is an adaptation of a presentation I gave for Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night on February 8, 2022.
Want to learn Ham Radio operating skills and technical skills? We hold a monthly Tech Night Session as part of our mission to help our members develop and expand their Ham Radio-related technical knowledge. NARS holds a Tech Night meeting every second Tuesday of each month. We record our Tech Night presentations, and they are available online for our Members and Internet Subscribers.
Membership Meetings and Tech Nights
Our Membership Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month. You can find out about our meetings here. We have a variety of speakers who share interesting presentations about Amateur Radio at our meetings. We invite you to attend one of our meetings. This is a great way to meet our members and learn more about what we are doing. Check out our recent presenters below. We’re looking forward to having Bob Heil present at our March 1, 2022, meeting coming up. Please join us.
Membership Meetings
Antenna Evolution
You got your license and want to get on the air. The next step is to get a radio and an antenna installed. I started with a very good radio, the IC-7300. My first antenna was a Chameleoncha-emcomm-ii end-fed antenna 60′ long installed as a sloper in a pine tree in the back yard. This setup worked but not very well. I was able to make QSOs in the eastern part of the US out to the Mississippi River or so. I was on the air but needed more and so I began my quest for bigger and better antennas. It is now five years later, and the quest continues.
First upgrade
I began my search for a better antenna by researching the alternatives. The budget was a consideration and my physical situation at home was another. I took note of where the trees were located on my property and quickly saw that an Off-Center-Fed-Dipole would fit the situation very well. I read that it is best to focus attention on improving antennas before spending resources on amplifiers and fancy radios and intended to follow that path. As a new ham, I decided to purchase a proven commercial solution rather than attempt to homebrew something on my own. I bought a Buckmaster 7 band low power OCFD. It is 135 feet long with one leg 45 feet long and the other 90 feet long. This matched the locations of two trees on the property with the feed point directly over my roof peak.
20 feet OCFD
What next?
This iteration of the Buckmaster was quite an improvement over the short sloper and I was now coast-to-coast! It was in the summer of 2018 at the bottom of solar cycle 24 so conditions were poor. This setup was OK, but weak in a pileup and I wanted to go to the next level. Fortunately, the next level did not require a new antenna. It only required that I raise the feed point of the current antenna to 1/2 wavelength on 20 meters to have it perform at its potential.
33 feet OCFD
Here is a picture of the Buckmaster optimized for my QTH. The feed point is up at 33 feet high ~1/2 wavelength for 20 meters. The ends of the antenna are 15 and 18 feet high, giving the antenna an inverted V configuration with the angle at the top around 120 degrees. Performance with this antenna and 100 watts from the IC-7300 was very good. At the bottom of the solar cycle, I worked all states and made my first 80 DXCC contacts. Still, I wanted a better station and my research informed me that the next step was a beam antenna.
Why choose a Wire Beam Antenna?
Wire Beam Pros
Lightweight
Low wind load
Possible to utilize light masts and rotators
Can be excellent choices for towers or masts which can telescope, retract, or tilt
The wire beam is a very high performance, but it cannot change direction. It is possible to rotate it 180 degrees electronically with stubs and relays. In this example NARS N1FD club station was located in NH, so we oriented the beam at 260 degrees and had coverage for all of the USA. Max Gain Systems has this picture on their website, they sell the 50-foot fiberglass masts used here.
Delta Loop
Delta Loop PU1JSV
I have a little more than 11,000 QSOs in my log so far. Only 3 or 4 people had pictures of Delta Loop beam antennas on their QRZ pages. This picture is an excellent example from PU1JSV. There are a few commercial options available in Europe, but I haven’t seen any in the USA for HF bands. For that reason, I would classify these as mostly DIY. There is a disadvantage with this design in that it has a more 3-D wind profile so may be more vulnerable to the elements.
Quad
4 Element Quad Antenna-LA4UOA
Similar to the Delta Loop style beam antennas the Quad or Cubical Quad antenna does not have much commercial availability in the USA. It is very popular, and I found many examples of it in my QRZ logs. This example from LA4UOA in Norway works great. I’ve had 7 QSOs with Tor on it. Like the Delta Loop Beams this antenna also has a 3-D wind profile so may be more vulnerable to the elements.
Moxon Beam
Wire Moxon M1DAZ
Here is an excellent example of a wire Moxon. They are usually 2 elements. This style is widely available in aluminum commercially and there are many parts suppliers and plans available for DIYers to construct one successfully. The design is simple, compact, and lightweight.
Broadband Hex Beam
Hexbeam AC1EV
There are many different commercial options for Hex beam antennas. Parts and supplies for DIY projects are also widely available. There are even websites with free detailed plans for constructing a hex beam. Typically, each band is 2 elements. Some have options for 40 meters, but those are usually only bent dipoles. Hex beams with a 20-meter band included are relatively compact, around 22 feet in diameter.
Spider Beam
Spiderbeam AC1EV
Spiderbeam was founded in the year 2000 by DF4SA. The company is from Germany, and they also have a US distributor and online shop here in the USA. The original spider beam was a full-size lightweight triband yagi for 20-15-10m, made from fiberglass and wire. Further development yielded a complete 5-band-beam (20-17-15-12-10m), a WARC version (30-17-12m), and several other configurations. Several full-size monoband beams are interlaced on one boom with negligible interaction. The HD 5 band version of the antenna is around 33 feet in diameter and weighs only 25 lbs. Spiderbeam offers a kit assembly service that delivers a pre-assembled antenna kit, with the wire elements, guy lines, and balun prepared to make assembly go much faster. They also provide complete instructions for a DIY’er to build the antenna at no charge.
Hex Beam Size vs Spider Beam Size
Hexbeam v Spiderbeam Size
The picture above shows the Hexbeam and Spiderbeam antennas on the ground during construction.
Hexbeam to RoofWalking the Spiderbeam
The two pictures above show part of the transition of the antennas from the construction on the ground to mounting on the roof or mast. You can see the relative size of the antennas. The Spiderbeam is around 850 square feet, which is definitely the largest thing I have ever picked up.
Get it in the air – Mast Selection
Chimney Mount
Chimney Mount
What about using the chimney to support a mast? If you want to consider this, be aware that even a brick chimney is not necessarily all that strong. The brick is a façade and unless you are confident of the structure behind the bricks, I would be cautious about mounting a hex beam mast against it. A TV antenna is fine, but a wire beam antenna is in a different category from a weight and wind load standpoint. My chimney on the left could hold the Spiderbeam but we get ice in winter regularly and it could cause substantial damage to the house if it failed. That said, on the right is an example of a chimney-mounted Hexbeam.
Roof Top Mast
Roof Top Mast
I used a Glen Martin 8-foot tower to mount my Hexbeam on the roof of my home in Massachusetts. W8IO is a manufacturer of similar towers and might be a good source for them if you are interested in mounting your antenna this way. These short towers are very sturdy and, on a roof, in combination with a proper mast can be a good solution for mounting your beam antenna at around 33 feet. It is important to pay attention to the manufacturer’s admonitions about properly bracing beneath the roof decking and sealing against leaks.
Push up mast
Push-up Mast
With a push-up mast, the best arrangement is to locate the rotator at the bottom and rotate the mast as well as the beam. This keeps the load on the mast at a minimum. Many push-up masts have floating guy rings that make this possible. My selection was a Spiderbeam Aluminum Telescopic Mast 14.5m HD (47ft). It is a robust mast for permanent installation and is specifically rated to extend the mast to a full height of 14.5m (47ft) with the 5 band HD version of the Spiderbeam antenna. The additional height may improve the performance, especially on 20 and 17m due to the lower take-off angle.
Conventional Tower
Conventional Tower
If you already have a tower or got one from a fellow ham and don’t mind the issue of digging the hole, the rebar and concrete, there is not a thing wrong with using a conventional tower. They probably are a better choice than the other choices above but usually cost a lot more. This may be beyond the skill set of many hams as a DIY project. Here is a beautiful example of a house bracketed tower with a Hexbeam.
My Wire Beam Antennas – Hex Beam
Reinforce Rafters
The first step prior to installing the Glen Martin tower was to reinforce the rafters under it to take any additional strain it would cause. I sistered the rafters with 2X8s and then braced them horizontally with additional 2X8s connected to 5 rafters.
Hexbeam with Tilt Plate Ready to Raise
I purchased the K4KIO model Hexbeam and ordered it on a Monday. It was delivered on Thursday. I assembled the antenna in my driveway, with the central hub mounted on a short section of chain link top rail stuck in an umbrella stand. Assembly was simple. I put the antenna on the old tripod from the dipole for temporary use until the parts were installed. The height from the ground to the peak of my roof was 15 feet. I ordered the 8-foot Glen Martin tower to mount on the roof. I also ordered a Hex Lock Tilt Plate, which adds a foot of height. The main mast extends 6 feet from the top of the tower and there is a small section from the tilt plate to the antenna. The antenna is close to 3 feet deep, which puts the 20-meter segment at 33 feet or ½ wavelength exactly.
How Does It Perform?
Hexbeam at 33 feet
The first day began with Frankie VP2MNI in Monserrat having a QSO with Masa JE1LET in Japan. When I heard that Frankie was with a Japan station I rotated there and was able to hear Masa at a 56. When they finished their QSO I called out and Masa replied first try!
The last contact I made was KH7XS. Normally this station generates big pileups, but for some reason, everyone had gone to 40-meters, and we were almost alone on 20-meters. We had an 18-minute QSO at 59 for most of it. Japan in the morning and Hawaii at night, I never had a day like that before the hex beam.
These results were not typical, and I haven’t had any QSOs with Japan since then but from Australia to Alaska, Europe to South Africa, and points in between it is always strong.
My Wire Beam Antennas – Spider Beam
Preparing the base for the mast
Prepare the Base
The Yaesu 800DXA Rotator that will rotate the mast and antenna is mounted to a steel pipe buried and cemented into the ground. While I waited for the concrete to cure properly, I constructed the antenna.
Beginning Antenna Assembly
Beginning Spiderbeam Assembly
The box contains 20 fiberglass tube segments along with all the other parts required to assemble the antenna. The right shows the Spiderbeam Center Joint. The wires are loaded on the spools in the order you need to have them which helps a lot. The wires are close to the lengths required but the driven elements do need to be tuned for each situation.
Completing Antenna Assembly
Mount Spiderbeam on Mast
The Spiderbeam is constructed on the topmost element of the telescopic mast. After carefully installing the wires and balun the top element needs to be joined to the rest of the mast. With each of the spreaders 16 feet long, it is an awkward object to maneuver. The spreaders are quite strong and with the use of a ladder, it was simple to connect it to the mast.
Stepping the Antenna and Mast on the Rotator
Mount Mast on Rotator
I connected the combined antenna and mast assembly to the rotator with the help of a ramp, two jack stands, and the ladder. Notice the ladder is securely strapped to the ground and does not move at all. By resting the mast on the top rung, I was able to guide it into the rotator. I needed to raise the mast adaptor to fit properly, and the chisel made that simple. I secured the whole thing to the ladder while I installed the bolts for the rotator.
Linear Actuator
Linear Actuator
I purchased a 12-volt linear actuator to use to raise the antenna. It has a 30-inch stroke and can lift 225 lbs. I attached it to a 10-foot 2X4 and attached it to the mast with a length of chain that I sprayed with liquid rubber. I powered it with a 12-volt jump-starter that had a cigarette lighter plug. This allowed me to extend the mast 18” to 24” per cycle. Each cycle included wrapping the chain, taking the mast under tension, loosening the clamps, raising the mast, tightening the clamps, releasing tension on the chain, moving the chain, and adjusting the 12 guy lines to give enough slack for the next move, while stabilizing the mast. It was a slow process, but safe to do on the ladder with my feet only about 5 feet above the ground.
Raising the Antenna
Raising the Spiderbeam
At various stages during the lift, I needed to manage the coax and attach it to the mast with enough slack so it would not tangle with the 12 guy lines. I also preset the rotator so it would be pointed north on its controller and kept the antenna aligned to the north as well.
How Does It Perform?
Score and QRZ
The Spiderbeam performs quite well and takes advantage of the favorable terrain at my NH QTH. I have generated numerous pileups during casual operating and had great results in contests and 13 Colonies. Below is my 2021 CQ WW DX SSB score. I made more QSOs on 10 meters than any band and I was able to run and hold the frequency on 10, 15, and 20 meters.
Spiderbeam vs Hexbeam
Spiderbeam v Hexbeam
Here is some additional detail from Spiderbeam.
Spiderbeam Detailed Specifications
Click here for even more details on Spiderbeam’s performance.
Click here for even more details on the K4KIO Hexbeam performance.
HFTA Comparison
HFTA Comparison
The above output graph from HFTA compares the Hexbeam and Spiderbeam at 33 feet The antennas are pointed at Europe ~50 degrees. This one is theoretical and does not take any terrain into account. It shows around 1.5dB advantage for the Spiderbeam on 20 meters. This is consistent with the previous chart.
Terrain Based Results
This chart shows the real-life analysis including terrain and shows a dramatic advantage of the Spiderbeam over the Hexbeam at my 2 QTHs.
Conclusions
There are many options for wire beam antennas.
Hexbeam has many competing commercial solutions and can be homebrewed
Spiderbeam is a commercial product and can also be homebrewed
Moxons, Delta Loops, and Quads have limited commercial availability and are often DIY.
Hexbeam and Spiderbeam may be the maximum gain antenna a single person without a crane or man lift can erect.
Several years ago, I wrote an article on the use of the rain gutter on my Colorado home as my HF antenna. This was the antenna I was relegated to use for my HF operating due to the oppressive rules of the local Home Owners Association regarding external antennas. Although I did remind them at the time that it was illegal to ban small outdoor satellite dishes and Yagi’s for TV reception per the FCC, so they amended that clause in the HOA covenants, but still continued their ban on any outside ham antennas. I’ll not complain, as I knew what the HOA rules were when I got this house and accepted them as a challenge to my ingenuity.
Rain Gutter Antenna
One day I was looking around to see what I could use to support a wire on the roof and got an idea to try to use the aluminum rain gutter on the east side of my house as my HF antenna instead. The gutter measured 25 feet vertically and then ran 35 feet horizontally for a total of 60 feet in overall length and resembled a ready-made inverted “L” or what is also known as a Marconi antenna configuration. That antenna needs a decent counterpoise to work correctly so I planted fifteen random length radials under the lawn. I then wired together the three aluminum window wells that were on that side of the house and added them to the planted radial wires. Additionally, I bolted together all of the aluminum lawn edging around my lawn and added a wire from that into the other counterpoise elements. According to the accepted theory, the more metal and wire you use in your radial system, the better. You might consider connecting to your radial system any nearby chain link fencing, metal lawn sprinkler piping, buried metal screening, water standpipes, underground water storage tanks, metal drainage culverts, railroad tracks, etc.
After the installation and in the initial trials, one of the drawbacks I noticed on the rain gutter antenna was that it was somewhat tricky to load on some of the bands using a conventional antenna trans-match. It was impossible to find a decent matching combination on 160 meters at all. Although, loading on the 80, 40, 30, 20, and 15 meters bands did not present as much of a problem and I could get an SWR match under 3:1 in a few small portions of those bands. Tuning on 10 meters was a bit tricky as well as finding any sort of decent match on 12 meters and 17 meters.
I looked at several possible solutions including one developed by my good ham friend, stealth antenna compatriot, DX’er, celebrated author, and renowned Physicist – Dr. Yardley Beers, WØJF (now SK) who volunteered to do all the complex mathematical calculations on my rain gutter antenna system. In a few days, he gave me a coil design that could be added to the feed point of the rain gutter in order for it to load on 160 meters. There was no doubt in my mind that his design would work.
Ultimately, though, I had decided on using a different approach. I had read a lot about the SGC-230 Smartuner™ Automatic Antenna Coupler in ham magazines and on the Internet. It seemed like a plausible solution to this problem IF it worked as advertised. The automatic antenna coupler is designed for use with end-fed unbalanced antennas such as whips and long wires. It can be configured to be used with dipoles and inverted vees as well. This automatically tunable antenna coupler is an ideal solution for this type of installation due to the fact that a rain gutter looks like a non-resonant end-fed unbalanced antenna.
What is the difference between an antenna coupler and an antenna tuner? According to the SGC manual, “antenna couplers” are placed at the antenna and match conditions of the antenna to the feed line in a very precise manner whereas, “antenna tuners” on the other hand, are generally located at the transmitter output at the transceiver end of the coaxial feed line. Furthermore, antenna tuners placed at the transmitter allow substantial losses in feed lines to be corrected at that point in order to “fool” a transmitter into working correctly. The losses are dissipated through heat or to ground. Conversely, a coupler installed at the antenna eliminates these losses by providing a proper match of the antenna at the feed point. The SGC-230 Smartuner™ is a true antenna “coupler”.
SGC-230 Smart Tuner
After purchasing the SGC-230 Smartuner™ from my local Denver HRO store I couldn’t wait to get it installed. Included within the formidable packaging of the box was an impressive and informative 81-page installation and operating manual that explained the coupler’s inner workings and it suggested various antenna applications for the SGC-230 with illustrations. Upon physical inspection of the unit, I was impressed by the ruggedness of the construction of the SGC-230. This hermetically-sealed antenna coupler was obviously meant to be installed outdoors and was even suitable for installation on shipboard. At a major military show,
I even saw one mounted on the side of an Army Humvee connected to their whip antenna! SGC builds other models of these types of antenna coupling devices but the SGC-230 Smartuner™ is rated at 200W input. I probably wouldn’t ever run more than 100 watts, but it is comforting to know that you are not running on the hairy edge of the limits of its power capabilities. I figured that the additional margin would translate into many extra years of trouble-free operation.
The feed to the rain gutter is barely visible in this photo as well as the braided connection to the radials.
The installation was a snap. SGC gives you an additional quick installation guide for those of us that don’t like to read the whole manual. First, I mounted the antenna coupler as close as possible to the feed point of the rain gutter per the specification in the installation guide. This is because any portion of the feed wire that is connected to the SGC-230 becomes part of the overall length of the antenna too. So, I mounted my unit on the inside wall of the foundation of the basement just above the wooden base plate and below the flooring. This location was just opposite the downspout of the rain gutter, which served as my antenna feed point on the outside. A short distance of 8 inches away. I drilled two holes just larger than the O.D. of the intended feed-thru wires through the 2×12 inch base above the concrete foundation and on through to the outer siding. Then I took apart a piece of RG-8X coax and separated the inner conductor from the braided shield. The inner conductor would serve nicely as the feed wire from the coupler to the downspout. You are cautioned in the instructions not to use coax to hook up these auto couplers on the antenna feed side. The now-separated braided shielding served as the hookup to the outside radial wires and was then connected to the ground lug provided on the SGC- 230. Now all that was left was to connect the RG-8X coax from my rig to the input of the cable harness provided with the SGC-230. There is a set of control wires and voltage wires included in this coaxial cable harness. The +12 VDC hot wire and ground went to my 12 VDC power supply. There are control signal leads that are also provided that are used for an indication of the coupler`s tuning. An LED “antenna tuned” indicator was connected between +12 VDC and the control signal wire. When the antenna coupler has found a match, the coupler drives the signal to ground on the control wire, which causes the LED to light. It provides a good visual indicator close to my operating position because I can’t hear the quiet auto coupler relays engaging from my operating position. The total time for installation, from getting the unit out of the box to starting the initial testing, was under an hour.
To me, the “proof is in the pudding” and my acceptance would be how well it performed in on the air tests. First, I tried to load up the antenna on all the bands from 10 through 80 meters. Wow! no problem whatsoever! All bands indicated a 1:1 SWR and the initial tuning time on each band was from 3 to 4 seconds for finding a match. The Smartuner™ automatically evaluates and switches 64 input and 32 output capacitance combinations plus 256 inductance combinations in a “pi” network which equals over a half-million matching combinations. Once it finds a match, the SGC-230 has 500 memories in which it stores the LC combination in its non-volatile computer memory so that the next time that you operate on that same frequency it tunes almost instantaneously, usually in less than 10 milliseconds. Now for the band that I hadn’t been able to get a match on before… 160 meters. I went down to the CW portion where I usually operate and it found a match within 4 seconds. Life is good again! I also did not notice any “hunting” by the SGC antenna coupler once it has been tuned to a frequency.
I decided I would wait until the evening to perform some on the air experiments with some people I knew. I checked into a WAS Net on 75 meters that I have been active on for over 20 years and knew most of the hams there. These unwitting participants in my on-air tests were giving me S7 to S9+ reports from New England to California and from British Columbia to Florida. I had not let on to anyone before the net that I had done anything to my antenna system and thought I’d gather a few willing souls after the net to give me some further signal reports.
I was getting reports of S6 in New England later on as the band seemed to be changing a little but I was still getting S9+ reports from the southern states and was still S7 into British Columbia and Washington State and S9 into California. Most of these good folks know that I am using a rain gutter for an antenna but some of them think I am kidding them about it and using something more formidable for an antenna and maybe even a linear! So, after telling everyone on the WAS net about my latest antenna configuration and new addition, I got a comment from a station in Arkansas who said, “If I could put a signal like that out from my rain gutter, I’d get rid of my dipole and my linear too!” He said that my signal had been over S9 all night at his QTH. The band conditions were decent this particular evening but the reports were consistently well above previously logged reports I’ve had with those very same stations in the past under similar band conditions without the coupler. The signal reports remained fairly constant, plus or minus band conditions over the years.
K5K Kingman Reef DXpedition QSL
Later that same week, I noticed on the DX-Cluster that the long-awaited K5K Kingman Reef DXpedition was up and running. This would be an ATNO (all-time new one) for me if I could get through the pileups. I knew that CW would be my best chance early on and I’d try for the SSB contacts later on during the DXpedition when the “big guns” had gotten their fill and their “feeding frenzy” was over. I caught K5K easily on 30 meters – no problem, as everyone on that band is fairly equal due to the power limitation. Later, I worked K5K on 15, 17, and 40 meters CW. I even got them on 40 meters SSB too! Finally, one evening I saw a spot for K5K on 160 meters. I hadn’t actually operated down here before with the rain gutter due to the problems I have previously noted. I heard him and set up split about 1.5 kHz up and slipped in my callsign fully preparing to be there for a while as his presence had attracted a fairly good pileup. He came back to me on my very first call! I was so shocked that I didn’t answer right away. I just kept staring at my radio – it was like having “buck fever” when you are out deer hunting. He sent my callsign again. I hurriedly snapped out of my trance and jumped onto my Vibroflex key and gave him the usual 5NN 5NN CO TU ES 73 DE WMØG. He acknowledged my reply and continued on to work the rest of the pileup. Not too bad! My very first 160 meters contact on the rain gutter was a rare DX station in a pileup. I was even more impressed now with my new antenna coupler. It had ‘played’ as advertised and had already justified its pricey self in my mind. I like to imagine that the other guys in that pileup thought that they had initially lost out to some “big gun” top band DX’er with his quarter wavelength high 160 meters 4-square vertical array and multi-KW amplifier — HI!
Since that time, I casually worked over 220 countries (all bands), and had enough confirmed QSO’s for WAS on 75 meters SSB. I even participated in the ARRL SSB Contest and managed to work 45 different countries in just 98 contacts, mostly on 20, 15, and 10 meters. These were accomplished in a little under three hours of actual operating time while being particular on who I called while “searching and pouncing”. While this is certainly not an impressive “run-rate” it is still is not a bad testimonial to the capabilities of the rain gutter antenna and SGC-230 automatic coupler combination. Even if one considers that most of the contest ops on the receiving end were using much more impressive antennas in order to hear me. Most stations I called were still coming back to me on my first or second call, except for a few of the rarer ones who had lots of QRM on their frequency.
I know now that when I install my next mobile HF radio installation, it too will have an SGC antenna coupler just ahead of the whip. Reports I’ve read on the resultant combination of the SGC series automatic antenna couplers used with plain steel whips have been very good from 160 meters on up. I also have read independent reviews that it works incredibly well with the equally pricey, but efficient, matching the SGC-303 9-foot tall mobile antenna. No, I don’t work for SGC, but I am a satisfied customer, and I don’t mind spreading the word about their quality products.
With regards to my experiences using a rain gutter for an antenna, I write this article in the fervent hope that some covenant-restricted or apartment dwelling ham, somewhere, will be inspired to replicate some form of stealthy antenna system as I, and many others, have done too. I would hope he or she would also then share their enjoyment of being on the HF bands with a respectable signal, despite the covenanted restrictions and physical obstacles around them.
This article is certainly not technical in its content, nor was it meant to be so. It is, however, testimony that one need not have ideal antenna conditions in order to operate effectively on the HF bands. Many books have been written on the subject of stealth amateur radio operation and all of them offer some very sound advice regarding the subject of stealth antennas. I suggest that if you have a desire to run a stealthy ham station you consult these books first. Also, go to the SGC web page and download one of their online manuals for their antenna auto couplers where you will find even more ideas and solutions. In the back of their manual under “Smartuner™ Installations & Applications,” you will see my rain gutter antenna article as well. Also, Steve Nichols, GØKYA published my article in the RSGB. I’m always interested in anyone who has been inspired to try this combination and hear about their success.
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