Getting Discouraged

[druid]

I got my Basic with Honours licence back in June, bought my transceiver at a swap meet in Sept, spend a month or two confirming the transmitter was OK before actually using it, but I've now been "on the air" for a couple of months, and I'm getting a bit discouraged.

For one thing, the only time the bands seem active at all is RIGHT at sunset: about 4pm-6pm local time. During that time, I can usually hear California, Alaska, Washington, often Eastern US and Hawaii, and occasionally Russia or other DX. And at least 1/2 dozen CW calls on each band (I mainly do 40M, sometimes 20M and sometimes 80M, although my antenna doesn't work well on 80). By 8pm: NOTHING. No activity on 20, 40, or 80M. It can't be JUST a propagation thing because when it's sunset where I am, it's late at night on the East coast, and still daylight in Hawaii.

The second thing is I'm having problems making contacts. I almost NEVER hear a CQ, and nobody ever answers mine. I'm getting out, because I can contact the Nets like BC Net (3716) or AuroraNet (7055), and I pin my FS meter 40ft away from the antenna on 40M. The stations I do hear are usually involved in LONG rag-chews and I usually give up trying to tailend them after 20 mins or so.

Any hints on getting more QSOs? I'm not looking for DX necessarily (although I'd LOVE to hear from the Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada!), just get some contacts to build up some confidence in myself and my gear.

Lloyd
VA7LAS

[5B4AJB]

Try to operate when other operators are likely to be on, during the best local times, for example, Friday evening / weekend morning.

Check a MUF calculator to check if the country you want is actually possible on that band.

Third and best way, email your mate, or a club and arrange a sked! (Echolink is exellent for this too).

I used to chat every night on packet to someone in Nova Scotia, this lasted for months, I heard him repeatedly on H.F. but could not make the trip back...

[KM3F]

What radio do you have, how much power and what is the antenna?
75 and 40 should be quite alive in your evening.
On the east coast, we begin to retire at about 11 pm EST, so the number of stations gets less and less as the night goes no.
On 75 what you hear is often small groups that ignor breakers unless they know you.
It's just the way it is on that band.
20M often closes by mid to late evening with 15 and 10 closeing even earlier so you have to pay attention to times.

Good luck.

[druid]

I am beginning to question my radio. I have a Icom IC-730 I got at a flea market - it has pretty good specs and is supposed to be putting out 200W PEP on SSB (My calculations make it more like 100 at max modulation). One thing I have noticed: my pre-amped mike doesn't give me 100% modulation unless I shout into it (as seen on a scope). The antenna is a 40M vertical (10M long) about 30ft in the air, with grounded evestroughs as a groundplane, using a MFJ Ant tuner. I also have a 20M dipole, but the vertical actually puts out MORE on 20M than the dipole (according to the FS meter).
But as I say: it pretty much pins the FS meter on 40M, so I must be putting out SOMETHING. And I have contacted Russia, Calgary, Eastern Oregon and Hawaii.

I'm not trying for the Ultimate DX - in fact, I'd love to talk to some semi-local folks: VE7/VA7, W7/K7, etc. I sometimes hear BC people on the nets on 80M (and 40M when I'm around at local noon!), and when I join in they say I have a fine signal. But I haven't been able to contact any apart from on the nets.

So - keep on trying, I guess.
druid
VA7LAS

[G6NHU]

A vertical is more of a DX aerial than say, a loop or a dipole. If you want to work stations on 40m out up to around 600 miles or so then consider a delta loop mounted horizontally or a simple dipole, both no more than 15-20ft above the ground. During the daytime you'll cover the local area with a big signal and you will be able to work a bit further at night.

A horizontal wire aerial this sort of height above the ground is a good antenna for NVIS and with a couple of hundred watts it should work well. Cut the aerials to length and you won't need a tuner. As a bonus, a delta loop cut as a full wavelength for 40m will work on 10m, 15m and 20m as well.

You could take a quick look at my thread here for more details of the loop I used to use. It gave me a whopping big signal on 40m throughout the whole of the UK and western Europe.

[KM3F]

I get the feeling the antennas are part of the problem as well as the radio setup.
First go with a regular dipole for 40M at about 66 feet long +/-. The vertical is not very efficient as you discribed it.
Get the match down to under 2 to 1.
Use a power meter to measure power in CW mode.
Next, SSB power will only be about 1/3 scale for an 'average' when talking. You will not see peak power when talking.
Use the ALC scales to see what the drive actually is.
Above all you need to learn about all this and not be dissapointed right away when things don't work as expected. It's a hobby you should be in over the long haul.
Good luck.

[druid]

Thanks for the replies, guys! Unfortunately I don't have room for a 40M dipole or a loop. The vertical is about 2:1 SWR on 40M without the tuner, and close to 1:1 with. I started out using a scope to measure my power, but I now have confidence that my tuner's meter is pretty close. To be honest, I don't have a lot of faith in the meter on the Icom - it sometimes gives reasonable readings, other times way off compared to the actual reading on the scope or the tuner. I'd LOVE to have the room for a real 40M dipole, or even a G5RV-JR.

One thing I find, especially on 80M is the vertical has WAY more QRN than the dipole on receive. I'm guessing it's better at picking up man-made noise.

As for power on SSB: I used a constant tone at the mike to measure modulation and PEP on the scope. I understand normal speech varies a lot, with max modulation (and therefore power on SSB) only occasionally.

I did have two successes today: I talked to a guy in Southern California (although there was a LOT of QRN and fading), and got a nice, clean 1W from my homebrew CW transmitter. A week or so more of practice and I should be on the air CW/QRP!

Lloyd
VA7LAS

[Lafayette]

I got my Basic with Honors license back in June, bought my transceiver at a swap meet in Sept, spend a month or two confirming the transmitter was OK before actually using it, but I've now been "on the air" for a couple of months, and I'm getting a bit discouraged.

For one thing, the only time the bands seem active at all is RIGHT at sunset: about 4pm-6pm local time. During that time, I can usually hear California, Alaska, Washington, often Eastern US and Hawaii, and occasionally Russia or other DX. And at least 1/2 dozen CW calls on each band (I mainly do 40M, sometimes 20M and sometimes 80M, although my antenna doesn't work well on 80). By 8pm: NOTHING.
My guess would be that you have a poor antenna situation and unless the signals coming into your location are booming - you get nothing.
Unfortunately - not everyone in this world is guaranteed reception where they live.
There has to be something in your neighborhood that is making a lot of RF noise - power lines, transformer, broken insulator etc. Electric fence, some type of RF device making a lot of noise. The best way to get away from the noise is either to move or to use a NVIS antenna.

The golden rule is - you don't get something for nothing.
Either you put up the right sized antenna, or else you get nothing!
You don't seem to understand this and you don't seem to have a Elmer to help you out there.
That is the problem with Amateur Radio today, they encourage a lot of people to get their license and once a person gets their license the clubs and older hams hangs them out to dry.


No activity on 20, 40, or 80M. It can't be JUST a propagation thing because when it's sunset where I am, it's late at night on the East coast, and still daylight in Hawaii.

It's because you don't have a good antenna and probably have someone else's old piece of crap radio -did you ever think that maybe your radio isn't working properly?

The second thing is I'm having problems making contacts. I almost NEVER hear a CQ, and nobody ever answers mine. I'm getting out, because I can contact the Nets like BC Net (3716) or AuroraNet (7055), and I pin my FS meter 40ft away from the antenna on 40M. The stations I do hear are usually involved in LONG rag-chews and I usually give up trying to tailend them after 20 mins or so. It's because your signal is not radiating properly. You hear all these so called hams who thinks that you can just put up any old antenna and use some type of antenna tuner and it will magically tune up - where all 100 watts is radiated just the same as if the antenna was 280' long - when in fact as you shorten the antenna, it does not radiate or receive the same way.
If you take a piece of bologna and you put it on a plate and you magnify it with a magnification glass - it will look big to the person looking in the glass, but it will not feed a family of 4 - just because it looks large under the glass doesn't mean that it is large to the unaided eye or to the other persons stomach. Amplifiers wouldn't help your situation either - because it does no good to be able to talk, but not able to hear the person you are talking to and most amplifiers are not truly linear.

Any hints on getting more QSOs? I'm not looking for DX necessarily (although I'd LOVE to hear from the Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada!), just get some contacts to build up some confidence in myself and my gear.

Lloyd
VA7LAS

Rule of thumb in communications - point your antenna where it does the most good and get your antenna up as high as you can get it and use the largest antenna you can buy or build.

A G5RV is only resonant on 20 meters. THAT IS IT!
Even a MFJ 949E tuner - according to the manual - says do not try to tune up a G5RV on 40 meters because you will damage the Transmatch.

Furthermore - a G5RV will causing arcing problems inside of a 949E if you try to use it on 10 meters. Especially if you try to use the internal balun.

On 40 meters, even if you can get it to tune up, the resistance at 40 meters will be about 300 ohms at the radio, and all radios are built for a 50 ohm load, hence you would need to use a 6:1 Balun to match the antenna to the load.

A G5RV jr - is a piece of junk. A total waste of good money that could be spent elsewhere to improve your situation.

The bottom line is if you do not have enough room on your property for a antenna farm, you need to look into getting some property where you can play amateur radio.
You could set up a remote station with a good radio and a Rig Blaster type set up and a computer. Then you could operate your station from anywhere in the world, as long as you had access to a computer.

I know this advice is not what you are looking for, but sometimes it is better for someone to speak the plain truth then to try to sugar coat it to make it more digestible.
Join a club and find yourself a good Elmer and learn about amateur radio from someone more experienced then yourself.

Subscribe to as many Amateur Radio publications as possible - although most are rags and not worth reading and do internet searches for things such as antenna's and coax and line loss and radio receivers and all the things that you need to learn to be a good amateur radio operator.