September HF Net Report

This morning, we had our monthly HF Net.  I can report that it was a success.  We  had successful voice contact between W6AGO (El Segundo), AE0RO (Colorado Springs) and KK4GEG (Chantilly).  The band was busy on 14.275 MHz, so we moved up to 14.287 MHz.  At AGO, COS signal was between S7 and S8.  Chantilly signal was around S6.   It is noted that Chantilly does not have an amplifier and was only putting out 100 watts.

After the main net, W6AGO and Chantilly tried PSK31 digital communications on 14.075 MHz.  Chantilly was able to easily read W6AGO at 50 watts, but W6AGO was NOT able to read anything from Chantilly.   We will work on this new mode for next month.

73,

Kirk Crawford
President AEA Amateur Radio Club (W6AGO)
KK6KC

 

A3 Antenna Report

On Tuesday August 30, 11:30 AM, Kirk Crawford (KK6KC), Thomas Essenpreis (KB9ENS), and Bob Lanahan (KK6YWY) investigated the antenna situation for the A3 Shack.  We disconnected All the antenna cables in the room and then Bob and I (KK6KC) went to the roof while Tom stayed in the shack to test.  We found that the HF Antenna is broken.  It had been obviously cut off.  This most likely happened when the roof was recoated.  The other antennas all seem to be present.  They are all monoband-verticals. See the picture below for a diagram:

A3 Roof Antennas
A3 Roof Antennas

We used a shorted SO239 connector to figure out which antenna is which and analyzed the antennas that we could.

The Antenna Cables that go to the shack are:

  1.  #38 70cm (440MHz)
  2. ATV
  3. #45 23cm (1.2 GHz)
  4. #43 2m (144 MHz) SWR=1.25 @ 144 MHz
  5. #39 1.25m (220 MHz) SWR  = 1.04 @ 219 MHz
  6. #41 HF (Antenna is broken)
  7. 23cm (1.2 GHz)
  8. #42 2m (144 MHz) SWR = 1.04 @ 145 Mhz

We connected antenna 8 to the 2m radio used for the morning nets, and the other 2m to the packet setup.

Conclusions:

We need a new HF antenna on A3 to replace the missing one. I recommend a multi-band vertical type due to the limited space on the penthouse.   Your recommendations are welcome.

The club should also invest in a multi frequency antenna tester that can cover all the antennas we have. The AA-1400 Antenna Analyzer by RigExpert was recommended by Tom. It is capable of measuring from .1-1400 MHz and costs about $1079 (on Amazon).

73,

Kirk Crawford

EDIT:

Some Pictures of the HF Antenna Mounting point:

HF Mount Viewed from below
HF Mount Viewed from below
HF Antenna Mount
HF Antenna Mount