I Made My First HF Contact Today
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Paul <lovenhim@...>
Hello everyone. I have been licensed for a little over three years now. I have only used Chinese handhelds and a two meter mobile radio as a base station. It took three years the gather all the gear to create a basic station. Today was the final piece of the puzzle. There is nothing fancy in my setup. The Kenwood TS120S is forty years old, the 45 amp power supply is used. The MFJ auto tuner was bought with saved money, and the G5RV antenna was homemade and donated. The antenna is about 25 feet in the air and is as high as I can get it without a fancy air cannon or something. Heck, I broke a fishing pole in half trying to use it to send a fishing weight over a tree. After three years, I am finally on HF. I have 10, 15, 20, 40, and 80 meters on my radio. I have a General class license to play with. I mainly listened trying to learn. I made two contacts today. One with a person calling CQ on twenty meters from something called Parks On The Air. The other contact was on forty meters with the ham that made the G5RV. What advice, insite, and wisdom would you offer me as a new HF ham?
Paul KN4CHK |
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Bernd - KB7AK
Well done Paul!
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You are doing everything right, listening is key and your best way of learning. I too have a G5RV and I operate from the State of Washington close to the Oregon border, it's amazing what you can do with such a simple antenna. And it will only get better since we reached the bottom of the solar cycle and conditions will improve. My best advice is to firstly and mostly enjoy the hobby. Get the Extra Class license and explore all the different modes that we use these days. 73, Bernd - KB7AK -----Original Message-----
From: ARRL-New-Hams@... <ARRL-New-Hams@...> On Behalf Of Paul Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2020 7:24 PM To: ARRL-New-Hams@... Subject: [New-Hams] I Made My First HF Contact Today Hello everyone. I have been licensed for a little over three years now. I have only used Chinese handhelds and a two meter mobile radio as a base station. It took three years the gather all the gear to create a basic station. Today was the final piece of the puzzle. There is nothing fancy in my setup. The Kenwood TS120S is forty years old, the 45 amp power supply is used. The MFJ auto tuner was bought with saved money, and the G5RV antenna was homemade and donated. The antenna is about 25 feet in the air and is as high as I can get it without a fancy air cannon or something. Heck, I broke a fishing pole in half trying to use it to send a fishing weight over a tree. After three years, I am finally on HF. I have 10, 15, 20, 40, and 80 meters on my radio. I have a General class license to play with. I mainly listened trying to learn. I made two contacts today. One with a person calling CQ on twenty meters from something called Parks On The Air. The other contact was on forty meters with the ham that made the G5RV. What advice, insite, and wisdom would you offer me as a new HF ham? Paul KN4CHK |
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Dave AA6YQ
+ AA6YQ comments below
Hello everyone. I have been licensed for a little over three years now. I have only used Chinese handhelds and a two meter mobile radio as a base station. It took three years the gather all the gear to create a basic station. Today was the final piece of the puzzle. There is nothing fancy in my setup. The Kenwood TS120S is forty years old, the 45 amp power supply is used. The MFJ auto tuner was bought with saved money, and the G5RV antenna was homemade and donated. The antenna is about 25 feet in the air and is as high as I can get it without a fancy air cannon or something. Heck, I broke a fishing pole in half trying to use it to send a fishing weight over a tree. After three years, I am finally on HF. I have 10, 15, 20, 40, and 80 meters on my radio. I have a General class license to play with. I mainly listened trying to learn. I made two contacts today. One with a person calling CQ on twenty meters from something called Parks On The Air. The other contact was on forty meters with the ham that made the G5RV. What advice, insite, and wisdom would you offer me as a new HF ham? + Congratulations, Paul! + My advice is "make lots of QSOs". Use all the bands. Try all the modes. Try participating in a contest. Try working DX. Ask questions over the air. + If you have specific questions, don't hesitate to post them here. 73, Dave, AA6YQ |
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John Nicholas <stnick@...>
Hey Paul,
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I am slightly newer at this Amateur thing. I got my Tech and General on March 14. We went into lockdown on March 16. I have a 2M / 70cm HT and participating in several local nets. Accumulating equipment and trying to figure out the antenna. I wish I had room or a G5RV. My goal was to finish setting up everything today. I missed. The biggest challenge is getting proper power to the shack. The 60 YO house has no green grounded 110V. Also 15 amp circuits that are close to being overloaded with 2020 loads. So resolving that has been a priority. I am almost finished with running the Romex. Then the antenna is left. With the help of 2 Elmers, KB0KFH and N5GUI I took the idea of the Alpha Delta EE, a parallel dipole design; removed the traps and went with a full 40 Meter 1/2 wave design. I am adding 6 meters. So 40, 20, 15, 10 and 6 Meters. I think another week and I’ll be up and running. Congratulations, on your first two QSOs. OTA is “ On The Air” So POTA or Parks on the Air is some ham running portable from a park; probably National or State. (We had a NET Check-in tonight from a State Park. About 60 miles away. They have a 38 foot vertical for the RV, getting them into a linked Repeater) . SOTA is Summits (Hill or Mountain). BYOTA is Back Yard. IOTA is Islands. Perhaps we will meet on the air. 73 ZEoZUW John On May 31, 2020, at 9:24 PM, Paul <lovenhim@...> wrote: |
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Paul, Having your first HF QSO from the station You built is a fantastic milestone. While your young at HF you have been around the block a little bit Such as Dave AA6YQ, that has already joined in to congratulate and welcome you to the world of HF. One more helpful guy that you will work on HF Ward is a founder of the World Radiosport Team Championships (WRTC) which began in 1990. He was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2013 he was elected President of the Yasme Foundation which supports amateur radio activities around the world. He is the Lead Editor of the ARRL Handbook, Antenna Book, ARRL License Manuals, and is the author of Ham Radio for Dummies. He received the Bill Orr Technical Writing Award from the ARRL twice - once in 2003 and again in 2017. He is a dedicated Contest Operator a Board member of the YASME foundation and so much more, |
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Paul <lovenhim@...>
Thank you all for the replies. I am a visually impaired ham. I am not black blind but do not see well. My ham shack is simple and basic. It is inside a 12x12 do it all room. My family and I live on a small farm. That room hold the toolbox I use to keep the farm equipment and two trucks going. It is my parents house. The ham gear includes:
1980 era Kenwood TS120S MFJ 45 amp switching power supply MFJ 939 auto tuner Homemade G5RV That is it. No computer, no touch screens, monitors, or waterfall displays. It is not that I do not want it but rather money and space. Question, it was mentioned that I should try different modes. With a radio from 1980 that covers 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters, what “modes” do I have available to me? As I see it I have SSB voice and CW. Now, I own an iPhone and an iPad which all run iOS. No Windows or Linux here. How could I incorporate my iPad into the ham shack? What apps can be used on the iPad to aid in ham radio? |
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Dave AA6YQ
+ AA6YQ comments below
Thank you all for the replies. I am a visually impaired ham. I am not black blind but do not see well. My ham shack is simple and basic. It is inside a 12x12 do it all room. My family and I live on a small farm. That room hold the toolbox I use to keep the farm equipment and two trucks going. It is my parents house. The ham gear includes: 1980 era Kenwood TS120S MFJ 45 amp switching power supply MFJ 939 auto tuner Homemade G5RV That is it. No computer, no touch screens, monitors, or waterfall displays. It is not that I do not want it but rather money and space. Question, it was mentioned that I should try different modes. With a radio from 1980 that covers 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters, what �modes� do I have available to me? As I see it I have SSB voice and CW. + With that transceiver and without a computer, you are correct. Now, I own an iPhone and an iPad which all run iOS. No Windows or Linux here. How could I incorporate my iPad into the ham shack? What apps can be used on the iPad to aid in ham radio? + I have not use Apple computers for amateur radio, but I'm sure that someone with that experience will respond. 73, Dave, AA6YQ |
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Paul <lovenhim@...>
I made a contact today that was a lot of fun. It was 914 miles away from me. They were in Canada and were using the same radio that I have, the Kenwood TS120S. It is rather neat that a homemade G5RV would allow a contact like that. It was on 20 meters. Now, I need to figure out some sort of logging system. There is no computer in the shack. How do I start and use a paper log? What free apps could I use for the iPad? What about the ARRL Logbook Of The World?
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Dave AA6YQ
+ AA6YQ comments below
I made a contact today that was a lot of fun. It was 914 miles away from me. They were in Canada and were using the same radio that I have, the Kenwood TS120S. It is rather neat that a homemade G5RV would allow a contact like that. It was on 20 meters. Now, I need to figure out some sort of logging system. There is no computer in the shack. How do I start and use a paper log? What free apps could I use for the iPad? What about the ARRL Logbook Of The World? + Despite its name, the ARRL's "Logbook of the World" does not log QSOs; it provides an electronic confirmation service that is faster than QSL cards, and costs nothing. + Google revealed these logging applications for the iPad: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hamlog/id308437400 http://www.mircules.com/ham-logging-on-the-ipad-with-quicklog/ + (I Googled "ham radio logging ipad") + 12 reviews of HamLog are available here: https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=10667 73, Dave, AA6YQ |
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