St. Louis Vertical Part 3, Conclusion

This is part three, the conclusion of the construction of the St. Louis vertical.

I terminated each end of the twin lead by melting a small hole in between each conductor, large enough to fit a zip tie through and pulled in nice and tight. Then I stripped off insulation from each conductor and soldered them together – did this at each end of the twin lead coil. The bottom shorted conductor is kept bare and I use a good quality alligator clip to attach my coax center conductor. The orange wire is attached to a 17 1/2 foot counterpoise as seen below.

Here you can see the bright orange stake that I use in the field, along with the bright orange counterpoise so nobody trips over any of this stuff while operating portable.

Using alligator clips allows the use of multiple sized counterpoises to increase the efficiency of the St. Louis vertical while in use.

I carry a second stake with a 40 foot counterpoise. In this configuration the antenna resonates around 6.5Mhz. In a future version of this antenna I’ll add fewer turns of twin lead so it resonates close to 20 meters. I use an LDG tuner, the QRP Z11 along with my FT-817 and the tuner handles this antenna quite nicely.

The photo above shows the upper terminated connection with a male/female connector to attach the radiating element that extends to the tip of the Wonderpole. It provides an easy disconnect point for the radiating element.

 

These male/female connectors are available at most hardware stores that carry electrical supplies. I use heat shrink tubing to give all the connections a professional look and I think it extends the life of the antenna components. It doesn’t take long to add that extra finishing touch.

 

 

 

 

The antenna is staked on a ground spike used for beach umbrellas. It is a discontinued item that was available at Lee Valley Tools here in Ottawa. I attach a one inch wooden dowel about 3 – 4 feet long and to that I attach the St. Louis Vertical with large plastic zip ties. At the end of my session I just snip the zip ties off. The zip ties get the Wonderpole nice and snug against the non-reactive wooden dowel and if need be I can hammer some of the extra length of the wooden dowel into the ground for greater stability during windy conditions. I sharpened the end of the dowel for ease of insertion.

 

 

 

Here’s the St. Louis Vertical fully extended at the edge of my patio. This antenna is a great portable addition to operating in the field and it sets up in less than five minutes. My first contact was on 15 meters using 2 watts on PSK31 to a station in Slovenia with a 599 signal report.

Please let me know if you have any questions of the construction details.

We Have Met The Enemy, And He Is Us

The first step is admitting you have a problem and then asking for help. Nothing wrong with this approach. The Radio Amateurs of Canada, Canada’s national amateur radio organization is in dire need of help. The organization wants change and it identifies itself as having ‘dinosaur disease’ as one fundamental problem amongst many.

Peter VE3HG, VP of Public Relations at RAC, has a plea on the RAC blog for members and non-members alike to look at 7 documents for ideas on transforming Radio Amateurs of Canada. Download them to read and please send your comments to Peter in the comments section of the RAC blog or write Peter directly at his RAC email address - ve3hg @ rac.ca . (remove the spaces)

Is RAC worth saving? Let’s hear from you, hams and non-hams alike. Tell it like it is.

About this entry’s heading – Earth Day 1971

Great Weekend With DX

Weather in the Ottawa area was superb this weekend. BBQs and relaxing outside were the order of the day. Temperatures moderated to the mid-20s (Celsius) on Sunday. This necessitated some outdoor relaxation and a good book.

After dinner I started listening around 17 meters. There were a few signals but not a lot of DX. A few minutes later I saw the S-meter on the FT-950 hitting S9. A digital station was very loud; and there was a pile-up starting on frequency. It was 2330Z and usually at that time of day the band is closed. With little solar activity I was surprised by the strong signals on 17 meters.

The station was Ramon PZ5RA in Suriname. I had worked Ramon in 2004 and again in 2007 on digital modes, using my FT-100 in those days. I finally worked Ramon after 30 minutes using BPSK125 – makes a QSO whip along quickly. I kicked in about 12dB of attenuation because he was so strong on my Cushcraft R6000. About 10 minutes after the QSO the band dropped out – silence – not a signal. I suspect Ramon will be hanging around 17 meters since the band was in good shape for north/south propagation. Maybe we’ll get a repeat tonight and more stations will be able to work Ramon in Suriname.

30 Years

It’s been 30 years since I was licensed. It was 1980 and I wrote the theory and did the code and got my license somewhere around this date, June 21st. My first transmission was on July 9th, 1980 at 0200 with KA1FIQ on 80 meters using CW. I was using another ham’s station, VE3LAE Serge Arpin who is now VE2BO. He let me borrow a Heathkit set, the Apache and Mohawk receiver and transmitter. I had to stay well away from the band edges as the transmitter and receiver were not well calibrated.

I worked CW for the first two years until I passed my Advanced license in 1982. I gained voice privileges on 10 meters  and 160 meters after the first 6 months – there’s a stamp in my log from the DOC inspector, Ken Duncan who perused my log for accuracy and number of contacts. A note in my log said that the Heathkit set put out 40 watts and I was using an end fed wire from a homebrewed tuner. These were the days before plasma TVs and all of the other noise pollution we have today – one could still hear signals in downtown Ottawa.

In August of 1980 I switched off the Heathkits and switched on a brand new Kenwood TS-520SE. For a couple of years or so I started and net controlled the Canadian Top Band Net (160 meters) and used that long end fed wire for most of the other HF bands too. The wire was about 150 feet or so and rested atop some 60 foot trees running 3 properties down from my location. In those days there were TVI complaints but I did get most of them sorted out. A new home a few doors down had a spiffy intercom system installed that broadcast my signals right through to every room – never did get that one fixed.

I worked a bit of VHF SSB from my location downtown. I had an 11 element 2 meter yagi up on the roof, on a tripod. I was using a Kenwood TR-9000 10 watt all mode transceiver. I picked up an 80 watt amplifier at the Rochester Hamfest and managed to work into South Carolina with that set up.

Digging out those old log books sure brings back memories – for some reason those old Heathkits were always “hot” with RF. My logs were filled with contacts from hams all over the world.

No doubt you’ve noticed the postings here have been few and far between. Spring and summer are very busy times out here in the country – there’s a large organic garden to sow and look after and 2 acres of lawn and flower beds to care for. We’re just wrapping up a pretty good asparagus season and other vegetables are soon to follow. The garden went in a full month ahead of last years’ schedule. A few frosty nights in May caused a bit of concern but we covered the seedlings with plastic and all seemed fine.

QRP DX

Operating QRP these last few days has been fun and a challenge. I can work lots of DX with 5 watts from my FT-817. Most stations don’t know I’m running 5 watts until my brag macro informs them. I run digital modes 100% here. The challenge is that many stations run excessive power; some run dirty signal that wipe out the psk segment of the bands I’m working on. Here’s a screen shot of a Cuban station with sidelobes so strong the band segment was wiped out up here in Ottawa. Setting up your station for proper operation using digital modes takes some effort. Excessive power into yagi, verticals or dipole antennas isn’t necessary; it’s important to monitor ALC (assure that the ALC setting of your S-meter shows no movement) when ones changes band and even moving within the passband where you’re operating. Proper adjustment and judicious use of RF output makes it a whole lot easier for everyone using the narrow psk segments of our shortwave bands. Of course the little FT-817 doesn’t play as nice as the Ft-950 – I have no filters installed and there are no DSP controls to make things easier on digital modes.

Working QRP is a challenge; I usually wait until a station signs off with another station and then I call them and usually that gets me the DX. When you’re working with 5 watts you want to make sure all of your power gets out to the antenna. That means no antenna tuners. Make your antenna resonant for the band you’re working. 99% of the DX stations I’ve been working give an honest 599 report with a few 569 reports so my setup is doing something right. I always make use of an antenna analyzer to check my antenna a few times a month to make sure all is working as it should.

Here are a few stations worked from my QTH in south Greely – FN25fe – F5FMO, PA3HDG, RA3FO, G0UAN, ES4MM, 2E0GHQ, SM0EJR and RA6AN. Some of these stations are well over 7,000Kms away yet with 5 watts most gave consistent 569 - 599 reports– there was the odd dropped character due to fading and interference from strong stations but the DX is out there – you don’t need a lot of power and it’s fun once the other QRO station finds out you’re only running 5 watts to a vertical antenna. I’m able to work both strong and weak stations – it doesn’t seem to matter too much.

I have plans to order a CW filter to install in the FT-817 to make things a bit easier. I also plan to do some portable operating like I did almost ten years ago when I first got the 817. I used Hamsticks in those days with a large magnetic mount. Hamsticks work very well when conditions a good but they did get the job done during Cycle 23.

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