HF for Dummies Primer Needed

[AD0DQ]

Is the dipole fed with coax? How high is it?

Could have been LY5A. That would be from Lithuania. It's listed in the QRZ database.

If the dipole is fed with coax, don't expect to get much of a response on any band expect 60m. On every other HF band, the mismatch of such a configuration would make it pretty useless for transmitting on anything other than 60m.

I have a 60 m dipole at about 30 feet, with about a 30 degree slope from the center. It is paired with an LDG tuner and I can tune pretty much anything between 60 and 6 meters on it and get a satisfactory SWR. Not sure how good the output is on the other bands, of course. A tuner fixes the impedance but won't do anything for a sucky antenna, or so I've heard.

It might well be the LY5A; I will have to check and see if he is identified as "John"

The Dipole is fed with coax, but I am hopeful that the antenna tuner will still let me get something out. But I ordered a Comet CHA vertical today and I'm going to have it professionally mounted for me by an electrician (to calm the wife's lightning phobia). I am hopeful I will get out on that even if I can't get out on this.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[KC9UDX]

Step 1: Listen, listen, listen.
Step 2: Listen, listen, listen.
Step 3: Listen, listen, listen.

I haven't got past step 1 yet.

[N7SMI]

It was almost certainly LY5A. He goes by John. He was my very first DX contact a year ago when I was licensed and I worked him again night before last.

If you hear a pileup and can't quite make out the call, check a spotting network and the call will very often be posted already. The best way to work DX is to listen and catch them before the pileup and spots even happen.

While it sounds like a contest, when a popular DX station is getting a lot of calls, they will often respond very quickly. Just clearly give your call sign using proper phonetics. The response will sometimes just be "KD0SLC, you are 59 Lithuania" (or similar) and you respond with "QSL. You are 59 in Missouri. 73." or something similar so he can quickly move on to the next station and get lots of people the contact they are looking for. It sometimes takes quite a few calls to get through, but most any station will eventually make it through. At the same time, you can easily get frustrated calling for an hour to get one station when there are several others on the bands calling CQ to no response. Don't ever give a signal report until he has your call correct.

You want to match the pace and style of the operator running the show. If he's shooting the bull with each contact, feel free to do the same. But if he's working 20 stations per minute, don't take 3 minutes to share your station details, the weather, and your recent health issues (as you'll often hear some OM do in big pileups).

[W4PG]

The Dipole is fed with coax, but I am hopeful that the antenna tuner will still let me get something out. But I ordered a Comet CHA vertical today and I'm going to have it professionally mounted for me by an electrician (to calm the wife's lightning phobia). I am hopeful I will get out on that even if I can't get out on this.

I've never used the Comet but one can't change physics - anyone who thinks a vertical with no ground radials will work well is wrong. You have to have some type of counterpoise/radial/ground system to get a vertical working well. Nothing wrong with experimenting, though!!

If you can physically do it, switch out the coax for your dipole for 300 or 450 ohm twin-lead. You need to keep the twin-lead away from metal and other potential thinks it might interact with, which is one disadvantage that coax does not have. However, trying to use your 60 meter dipole fed with coax on other bands even with a tuner is going to lead to a lot of frustration as the coax will cause HUGE losses in your signal such that very little of your transmitted power will reach the dipole. Twin-lead does not have this problem as much and will work much better for you. You will still need the tuner.

BTW, there are no contests on 60 meters. Contests are limited to 160, 80, 40, 20 15 and 10 (HF contests, that is!). 12 meters, 17 and 30 are contest free, as is 60.

..............Bob

[KJ3N]

I have a 60 m dipole at about 30 feet, with about a 30 degree slope from the center. It is paired with an LDG tuner and I can tune pretty much anything between 60 and 6 meters on it and get a satisfactory SWR. Not sure how good the output is on the other bands, of course. A tuner fixes the impedance but won't do anything for a sucky antenna, or so I've heard.

A tuner makes the radio happy. It doesn't magically make a bad antenna system work any better. You have a bad antenna system for any band other than 60m. SWR at the feed point is anywhere from 25:1 to as high as 85:1 on the other bands. Quite frankly, all the tuner is probably doing is loading the coax.

The Dipole is fed with coax, but I am hopeful that the antenna tuner will still let me get something out.

If you're getting more than 5 watts to the antenna, I'd be surprised.

But I ordered a Comet CHA vertical today and I'm going to have it professionally mounted for me by an electrician (to calm the wife's lightning phobia). I am hopeful I will get out on that even if I can't get out on this.

The Comet CHA-250 isn't the antenna I would pick (if I was picking a multi-band vertical), but at least it will load a lot better than the 60m dipole.

If you can physically do it, switch out the coax for your dipole for 300 or 450 ohm twin-lead. You need to keep the twin-lead away from metal and other potential thinks it might interact with, which is one disadvantage that coax does not have. However, trying to use your 60 meter dipole fed with coax on other bands even with a tuner is going to lead to a lot of frustration as the coax will cause HUGE losses in your signal such that very little of your transmitted power will reach the dipole. Twin-lead does not have this problem as much and will work much better for you. You will still need the tuner.

What Bob said.

[N7SMI]

The Comet is not a terrible antenna, but it is definitely a compromise antenna. It's very nice that it doesn't require radials (so long as it's in the air 20 feet or so) and no tuner, but it's rather noisy (2-5 S-units on average noisier than my new hexbeam) and not very efficient. With that said, I've had mine for a year and have worked 80+ countries and every state multiple times on it. But "work" is a good description of my efforts - it takes a bit patience and perseverance to bust pileups with an antenna that is only putting out a portion of your power output.

[F6GWP]

I am somewhat of an old-timer, and back then new amateurs were often ex SWLs, I was, to learn to be an amateur you listened to other more experienced amateurs. This still works despite all the percentage of idiots on the bands today!! Listen a few hours a week at least, SSB and CW and you will learn, 73, Phil F6GWP

[K7JBQ]

Phil,

Me too, along with a lot of those here. I bought a (really crappy) receiver, threw out some wire, and listened. A lot.

Of course, I was 13 when I got the receiver, and 14 when I got my Novice. Simpler times.

It's more trouble than a lot want to deal with nowadays, alas.

73,
Bill

I am somewhat of an old-timer, and back then new amateurs were often ex SWLs, I was, to learn to be an amateur you listened to other more experienced amateurs. This still works despite all the percentage of idiots on the bands today!! Listen a few hours a week at least, SSB and CW and you will learn, 73, Phil F6GWP