Finally HF Capable!

[ae2ny]

OK So it took me 7 hours with a friend's help, but I am finally HF Capable in my 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and have already made one contact this evening by checking into the 40M Net on 7332.50.

Anyone up for a QSO tonight?


Anthony - KI4VPR

[KC9ECI]

Let me know when and where.

[ae2ny]

Give me about 10 minutes and meet up on 14.300. 20M is really jumping tonight.


Anthony - KI4VPR With no more /AG!) http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[KC9ECI]

Roger Roger, I'm there.

[KC9ECI]

20 is pretty dead here. We might have better luck down the band a bit.

[ae2ny]

What do you think, 40?

[KC9ECI]

7.260

[ae2ny]

I'm there in 2

[KC9ECI]

nada

[KC9ECI]

How about we try 20 again tomorrow afternoon around 4PM Central?

[ae2ny]

Well, there may be a problem with that.

I tried scanning all the bands and attempted to get into several QSO's and they all say I'm barely readable. I think what's going on is that the AH-4 Autotuner is lying to the 706 in saying that my SWR is a 1:1. I think what's REALLY going on is that my SWR is much higher but I have no way to test that.

I'm thinking the problem is on my end, not anyone else's. Even though I can hit all 2M, 70CM, and 6M repeaters easily. Then again, I have a separate dualband antenna for 2/440. Other than that I won't be sure until I get it hooked up to an SWR meter and a dummy load.


Anthony - KI4VPR

[KC9ECI]

Mic gain?

[ae2ny]

Mic Gain is set to 10 on HF and 5 on VHF/UHF

[n5tjd]

Sometimes conditions aren't too nice to mobile installations or those limited to 100w out. I am limited to a max of 50w out, but I have a decent antenna at 45ft, still, sometimes I just ain't that strong in someone's receive. Just remember, someone may have a strong signal, but that may be because they are running an amplifier and using a yagi, quad, or other rotatable directional antenna.

I'll be happy to listen for you on 20m or 40m. Just name a frequency and time and we can give it a try.

[ka5s]

Quote[/b] (KI4VPR @ Dec. 19 2004,18:00)]have already made one contact this evening by checking into the 40M Net on 7332.50.
7332.5? You're in MARS?

Cortland
AAR9UT

[ka5s]

Quote[/b] (KI4VPR @ Dec. 19 2004,20:40)]think what's going on is that the AH-4 Autotuner is lying to the 706 in saying that my SWR is a 1:1. #I think what's REALLY going on is that my SWR is much higher but I have no way to test that.
Anthony,

I have an AH-2; similar to the AH-4. One can't expect a good mobile signal on 40 (even worse on 80, with the AH2 and that whip); there is just too much loss in the tuner and too little radiation from the whip. I used to mount two HF antennas on my car; the Icom whip and a Bug Catcher for the lower band. Oh, and put your HF antennas on the fender or roof, NOT close to the ground.

And drive safely!

Cortland
KA5S

[K3UD]

Anthony,

Welcome back to the forums and congratulations on the upgrade!

Mobile operation is sometimes a crapshoot. The typical mobile antenna is not a lot more than a leaky dummy load. I use #the Hustler with the 3 resonator system and it works out well for me, especially on 40 and up. I once calculated that I was only getting a bit more than 5 watts ERP on 75 meters but was able to easily make contacts.

Threre may be a problem with the AH4 Tuner/whip combo, possibly in the chassis ground. In the past I have tried the the typical 108 inch whip with a manual tuner at the feed point and the results on 40 were much worse than with my standard Hustler set up. It did work ok on 10, 15 and 20 though.

Happy Holidays

73
George
K3UD

[WF7I]

I've operated mobile quite a bit with Hamstick whip antennas. At 20m and below, you really don't put out much of a signal. What some of the guys "in the know" about mobile operations have told me, is that you need to have a capacitive "top hat" type of arrangement for your mobile antenna to get out much of a signal. I haven't researched the theory behind it, but I've seen enough results of antenna "shoot-outs" that seem to back up that statement.

Now on the higher bands like 15m and up, even 20m, you can do a great job from the mobile. I've worked plenty of DX while ripping along at 75 MPH. Good luck.

[WA3KYY]

Quote[/b] (KI4VPR @ Dec. 19 2004,18:00)]OK So it took me 7 hours with a friend's help, but I am finally HF Capable in my 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and have already made one contact this evening by checking into the 40M Net on 7332.50.

Anyone up for a QSO tonight?


Anthony - KI4VPR
I sure hope you meant 7233.5 (3905 Century Club Net), 7332.5 is outside the US allocation.

73,
Mike WA3KYY

[W5HTW]

Maybe I missed it. Where is your antenna mounted?

I have the not-so-grand Cherokee. The rear hatch is plastic. No way to mount a standard antenna, though I tried! Wound up with a useless hole for a ball mount, so now I am leaving the ball mount in the hole but no antenna! I may experiment someday with trying to make that work, but it doesn't seem like a likely choice.

Rear bumper is not grounded to the frame very well. I suppose a screwdriver type rig would work, but would have to fold out of the way for the hatch to open.

Finally settled on a front fender-mounted Outbacker. It works surprisingly well for a compromise type antenna, even on 40 meters. I've even made contacts on 75 meters with it, but I wouldn't want to have to try to hit Upper Beangolia with it. On 40 and up it is OK, and on 17 it's not bad at all.

Darned plastic cars! But the front end is metal.

My truck uses a Hustler, which works pretty well, and does a good job on 6 meters, too. I had planned to put one of the rear of the Jeep, but it might work better on my lawn tractor.


Ed

[ae2ny]

Actually I did mean 7233.5, I just got my numbers screwy.

And as far as anything else goes...

I did an SWR test tonight using AM mode with the tuner and without.

Without the tuner, the 75M Hamstick on the 75M band was throwing an SWR reading of Infinity:1. WITH the tuner, it was throwing a 1:1 on 75M. Same with all the other bands.

And as far as where I have the tuner grounded, in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, right behind where the spare tire is mounted, there's a plastic cover to the rear taillights. Open that up and there's a solid metal frame inside. The tuner is grounded there.


Anthony - KI4VPR

[K3UD]

Anthony,

The Hamstick is very touchy on 75 meters. If the "stinger" is not adjusted properly the SWR will go off the scale. Just a few inches off will take the resonance out of the band segment you want to use. When you do get it resonant, you might only have 5-8 kHz either side of center frequency before your radio shuts down because of high SWR. This is one area where an antenna analyzer might come in handy. Tuning a hamstick which is out of resonance with an external tuner can lead to many dB of loss.

73 & Good Luck

George
K3UD

[WF7I]

If your SWR without the tuner is infinity, there is something seriously wrong! You'll want to adjust the whip in and out until that comes down.

On my '96 Toyota T100 pickup, with a roof-mount (top of cab), I can easily get it near 1:1 with proper adjustment. You generally want to put the whip as high up and in the clear as you can. Good grounding helps too.

On 40 and especially 80, it is very narrow banded and seems to be highly lossy (low ERP). I've had QSOs with it, but pretty weak reports.

If it were me, I wouldn't bother with the tuner unless you can run an amp and boost your power a little bit. It, and associated mismatches, are just adding to the losses and making an already weak signal that much weaker. It's a pain, but you'd be better off re-adjusting the hamstick for different freqs, or just purchase several that are tuned for various parts of the band. Just my 2 cents.

[kj5t]

I work the 3905ccn net from time to time.. so i will listen for you next time I am on it.. I hope you become a regular mobile (those are always nice)

Also I would love to get you on 20.. Listen for me on HF, and I will listen for you..

Hope you get things the way you need them.. have fun!