I finally gave in and purchased a PA for HF/6m.
I ended up with an Acom 1000, and it is mostly running 300W on 6m, mainly due to the power limit of my half wave vertical for 6m.
Now, for more power than that on 2m, what to do ?
I have seen some 50V 1kW modules for 2m on Ebay, as I do not intend to build from scratch.
The other option is a ready built PA, like the Gemini or the OM.
One takes some work, the other has a higher price.
Well, well, I might end up with the ready made one, after all.
2018-08-21
2018-08-18
Spending and planning.
Lately I have been spending on eBay for components for my winter projects.
I want to build some accessories for my radios, e.g. a distributor for my memory keyer. The problem was that connecting radios in parallel at the keyer output sometimes results in one transceiver keying when another is switched off, so separate outputs for the different radios are necessary.
Another project is a band splitter for my 5 band dipole antenna, so 10-15-20-40 and 80m can be worked simultaneously, at least with low power, maybe up to 10 or 20W. Toroids for band pass filters are on the way.
Some 300 and 450 ohm feeder is already here, so some antenna experiments will be made within a few weeks/months. Only trouble is that due to chemo therapy (that has been stopped recently) I have side effects affecting the precision of using the hands and feet, so much care is needed when working with antennas. (Apparently also with typing, as many typing errors had to be corrected when I made this post).
Many other small projects are in the way.
A somewhat bigger one is getting my decades old 2m linear working. The tube has to be regenerated, and maybe the electrolytic capacitors have to be changed, as they may have dried up.
I want to build some accessories for my radios, e.g. a distributor for my memory keyer. The problem was that connecting radios in parallel at the keyer output sometimes results in one transceiver keying when another is switched off, so separate outputs for the different radios are necessary.
Another project is a band splitter for my 5 band dipole antenna, so 10-15-20-40 and 80m can be worked simultaneously, at least with low power, maybe up to 10 or 20W. Toroids for band pass filters are on the way.
Some 300 and 450 ohm feeder is already here, so some antenna experiments will be made within a few weeks/months. Only trouble is that due to chemo therapy (that has been stopped recently) I have side effects affecting the precision of using the hands and feet, so much care is needed when working with antennas. (Apparently also with typing, as many typing errors had to be corrected when I made this post).
Many other small projects are in the way.
A somewhat bigger one is getting my decades old 2m linear working. The tube has to be regenerated, and maybe the electrolytic capacitors have to be changed, as they may have dried up.
New country on 4m
This afternoon I worked a new country on 70MHz. E76C, Bosnia Hercegovina.
This is country #20 on this band, not bad for a simple vertical half wave antenna.
Later Iceland was on 6m. TF3ML and TF3JB have been in here for a fair long time, at least 1 1/2 hours. Both worked in a few calls on FT8.
This is country #20 on this band, not bad for a simple vertical half wave antenna.
Later Iceland was on 6m. TF3ML and TF3JB have been in here for a fair long time, at least 1 1/2 hours. Both worked in a few calls on FT8.
2018-08-03
New continent on 6m
In the past 3 years I have been running on 6m with just a half wave vertical.
This afternoon I had a pleasant surprise. I detected KP4EIT (Puerto Rico) with FT8, not a massive signal, but S/N of -6dB I tried a call, and after two tries he came back with a report of -18dB. New continent for me.
Not bad for a vertical on 6m, even if I run about 200W into the antenna (350W at the PA).
I see nearby stations decoding and calling other stations in that area, but no decodes here. But I am happy with country #53 in a 3 year period of very low solar activity, and a simple antenna.
I have detected stations from North and South America, and Asia, as well as, o course, Europe and Africa on FT8.
This afternoon I had a pleasant surprise. I detected KP4EIT (Puerto Rico) with FT8, not a massive signal, but S/N of -6dB I tried a call, and after two tries he came back with a report of -18dB. New continent for me.
Not bad for a vertical on 6m, even if I run about 200W into the antenna (350W at the PA).
I see nearby stations decoding and calling other stations in that area, but no decodes here. But I am happy with country #53 in a 3 year period of very low solar activity, and a simple antenna.
I have detected stations from North and South America, and Asia, as well as, o course, Europe and Africa on FT8.
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