V55V's Rhombics - A Big Signal Out of Africa!

??? not sure what you mean?

There were QSL cards and log books etc but never bothered looking to see if it was listed on the internet. Remember this was pre internet radio days. Maybe in Dave Butler's VHF column or you could look through the Italian records as an Italian staton about 30KM north of John tail ended the QSO and worked V51E to set the new 2m TEP record at the time. It was either the 1990 or 1991 TEP season if I recall correctly but I may be a year or 2 out either way.

I remember John spent several years listening for the beacon through headphones whilst playing cards with his young daughter until he eventually heard V51E's 2m beacon. John telephoned directory enquiries in Namibia for V51E's telephone number and got him on the phone to ask him to go to 2m.

3A2LU was using 150W into a 15 ele yagi and I remember V51E was using his 160m antenna as that was the antenna he used to run his 2m beacon on if I recall correctly. The QSO took place in CW.

Paul N2EME

 

Lets also keep in mind that a DX/Africa callsign has at least 20dB of incremental "cool factor" gain, at least in the N.America direction. And a likely real advantage of 10dB as far as ambient noise figures due to the low population density of the huge farmland.

Wouldn't the antenna guru's like to op some day from an exotic location? Put the theories to the real test...

I seem to recall that doc Seymour W6 Charlie Charlie Papa (SK) ran some monster rhombics, no ? I could hear him "beaming the long path to Asia and the Indian Ocean" from my Asia locations most early mornnings on a literal wet noodle.

 

I have been three times in Namibia, it is a colourful great country.

 

Yes you are so right. The antenna works and that is what counts for him.

 

If you like HF rhombic's, check out the story of the Desert Voices Project.

http://www.mapability.com/ei8ic/rhombic/ncaec1.php

Quickly erected with leadership by Hams at an abandoned Nike missile base in Minnesota during the first Gulf War to provide a HF link to Middle Eastern MARS stations in the field. Besides the big rhombic on wooden power poles, they had a conventional Yagi on ~100 ft tower. I recall operators saying the fixed azimuth wire consistently out performed the rotatable beam by a lot except of course for long path propagation.

Also, rhombics have been utilized on VHF for decades, such the array set up by moonbounce pioneer VK3ATN (SK), who accomplished the first VK<>USA EME QSO in 1966.

"The aerial chosen for use in the Birchip efforts consists of four rhombics with 342 feet on each leg. The individual beams are stacked roughly one wavelength apart with a mean height of 24.4 feet. Apex angle for 144.090 Mc is 11 degrees 28 minutes. Calculated gain is approximately 34 dB with a main-lobe radiation angle of 4 degrees. This is approximately the performance one might expect from a 150 foot diameter parabolic reflector. The half-power beamwidth is 3.5 degrees which allows about 8 to 10 minutes of moon time at full gain. (Minus 1 dB points.)"

http://www.ok2kkw.com/eme1960/eme1965eng.htm

73, John, WØPV

 

Another station I hear regularly (including this evening) from Namibia is Andre, V51B.

So listen around on 40m during the late evening hours for his station from Namibia too.

 

I still want one

 

Vielen Dank für dieses sehr schöne Video! 73, Dieter

 

Thank you Dieter for this great Video on V55V. Special Thanks to Ursi und Martin for the wonderful
Time we had on there Guest Farm near Omaruru. We will miss all the huge pileups from around the Globe.
Shutting down this African Station is a big loss for HAM Radio.

vy 73 de Werner V5/DC8QT Georg V5/DD8ZX Klaus V5/DJ9KM

 

What a shame some young ham family cant take it over.

Carl

 

I used to stop by the FCC Monitoring Station in Ferndale, WA while working at nearby FAA facilities. They were out in the middle of nowhere and had a bunch of huge rhombics pointing in various directions. They had numerous receivers attached to them, and I would have loved to have connected an HF transceiver for a few hours (I'm guessing that they did!). Ferndale closed in the 90s, and it's now just a huge undeveloped field.

 

WOW!!! what a antenna farm ! the QTH looks a lot like the Mohave but the wildlife there is amazing !!! sure wish I could put up a rhombic here in Los Angeles Hi Hi the best I can do is my 40 meter sq. loop ! I did work V55V back in 2012 on 10meters C.W. one of my very best dx contacts ever ! It will be a great loss for all us DX ers to see them gone ! 73 KI6PMD ..

 

I think that is a type of birds nest common in Africa

 

I actually got to use some of the rhombus at the Greenville, NC VOA station. It was very interesting. I was able to work sine very short skip, but there was a lot of strange QSB.

Kent K9EZ

 

Shades of Don Wallace - W6AM.


More pics at this site - http://www.qsl.net/ne6i/w6am/antennas.html

Don was legend for a crushing signal.