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Re: Frustrated HF User, Advice Wanted Please

William Bauer
 

I don’t have an answer to your question, but as a new Ham the biggest area of “mystery” for me is also antennas. I have a new rig (Icom 7300) and this antenna <https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/CHA-EMCOMM-II>, but am experiencing many of the same issues you note - quite a bit of noise, not hearing much, and difficulty having others hear me. I would love to be pointed to some good resources on antennas that are clear and understandable by someone without much background in this area.

Bill


On Jan 30, 2020, at 7:53 PM, Paul <lovenhim@...> wrote:

I tried HF but I could not get it to work. I was given an old Kenwood TS120S, a 43 feet long end fed wire antenna, and a 9:1 balun. The end fed 43 feet long wire is 450 ohms and the 9:1 balun gives me 50 ohms. I bought an MFJ automatic tuner. One side of the balun is grounded to an outside pipe that is in the ground. My main issues are a lit of noise as in S3-S6 on the VU meter, I can not hear much, and those I do hear do not reply back. Here come the questions. How do I know if my problems are with the 1980 Kenwood or the odd antenna? Would I be better served with an M.fJ G5RV antenna? I am trying to get on HF as inexpensively as I can while using what I have. By the way, this is a 200 watt radio from the factory. Thanks for the advice.
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