HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Equipment => Topic started by: Josh on June 13, 2017, 1719 UTC
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What do you guys use for low band? Say 25 to 88MHz? Also apparently the eskip is rolling from the midwest to Montana to south of Mehico right now.
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A long time ago (before the antenna blew down) I had an 11 meter quad loop that worked real well on VHF low band. I heard guys talking in Louisanan, Cajun like accents talking about oil rigs, and other interesting transmissions between 30-33 MHz or so. And I'm in the PNW.
That, of course, was in 1990 or so and the sunspots were up.
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Heck, just use a 102" CB whip antenna. No baseload coils to attenuate higher FREQ's. Or, ya might be able to grab a Low Band VHF commercial 60", or so, whip for nothing. Many commercial dispatchers are leaving the VHF Low Band for UHF, or cell phones, so ya might just pick-up a freebie there.
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See that's kinda what I was thinking, use a cb whip and be done with it.
A beam as boombox mentions would be nice but more cost and work than I want, just have to find a cheap 1/4w. A beam would open and close the band but I want something simple and omni, the opposite of a beam. Used to have a Francis Antenna model Wheeler Dealer, a fibreglass 1/4w stick that had 3 quarter waves fed in phase bundled inside the fibreglass, same diameter as a standard cb whip, had grossly increased lower angle of radiation over a 1/4w stick in the same mounting point. We mounted the a standard stainless whip and set the fs meter to full scale a few wavelengths away, then mounted the wheeler, the wheeler resulted in a few times more low angle rf power at the same distance and rf power out, blew us away. Sadly they don't make it anymore.
http://www.cbtricks.com/ant_manuals/francis/cb_28/ad/index.htm
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FWIW, my 11 m quad antenna, which I mentioned, was a single quad loop. No second element. Fairly easy to build. It was on a wooden cross frame I nailed together, and I could turn it and aim the lobes NS or EW. But it had pretty good reception in most directions.
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Radio Shack/Archer three radial 5/8 Groundplane CB antenna shortened by three feet done the trick for me! ;D
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</me holds a skull>
Alas poor Radio Shack,
we knew Ye well...
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Ah Shakespeare, that rascal.
"My wit's diseased!"
Hamlet
The single loop sounds nice, and I know how well they work. Just before my HAM ticket came in the mail I'd thumbtack'd a wire loop for 6m on the bedroom wall, fed at a bottom corner with coax. The day the license came was a vhf contest and propagation was coast to coast. 3 watts from one of these; http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/930
On the lines of cb antennae, think I'll just get a decent mobile cb ant and mount it in place of the stinger on the disconey. Thanks for the input.
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I'm a UK ham, so can transmit on 70MHz
I use this-
http://www.mirfield-electronics.co.uk/products/me64270-quad-band-6m-4m-2m-70cm-colinear/
It's crap but gets me on the band.
When I hear 'OIRT FM' stations from East Europe I know the band is open...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Radio_and_Television_Organisation
Duffer
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Hey thanks for bringing that up on the HAM multiband verticals. You reminded me I've a few fibreglass comet multiband HAM base antennas in the garage, will have to see if any covers 6m, then I'm good to go.