New 160m windom antenna on the air

No more yagis, not even a dipole, but a 160m windom antenna is now my main (and only) antenna.

With a total distance of 82m, the longest leg is 57m, this is a monster.  
Everything seems out of proportion when taking a picture of this antenna. 
The height of the longest leg is at least 15m with a sloping ending in the far end of the garden.

Thanks to the ON5ZO construction I'm able to put it so high on a (relatively) simple way. 

More important for me, this construction can be storm and lightning protected within a few minutes.
Because I can only be active during weekends in wintertime, I can put it up on Friday and lay it down on Sunday without too much effort.

160 m windom antenna - 25 m going to the roof of the home - 57 m from the tower to the far end of the garden with in between the on5zo construction to keep it high and divide the forces of the wire.

In order to divide the forces I use a vertical wire to fix the antenna to the 15m high intermediate construction (made for a 80m vertical).  This exists of the old KT34XA alu boom and a 5 m spiderbeam on top of it.  From the construction the antenna wire goes down and is connected to the end of the garden with a second wire.

The connecting part is on the tower where I use the existing basic part of the Optibeam 30m dipole.  Both wires coming from the 4:1 balun are first connected to this tube (protected by to fiber tubes to avoid electrical connection).   This prevents that when raising the tower, a wire tough the alu part and give problems.

It was also a method to quickly switch back to the Optibeam in case of problems with the wire antenna.

Measurements are more than satisfying.
In all CW parts, SWR on 80m/40m/20m/10m is lower than 1,5:1, mostly 1,2:1.  Only on 160m I measure 2,2:1 (resonance occurs at 1740 Khz).

SWR on 30m/15m is slightly higher as expected.
SWR on FT8 frequencies are also around 1,5:1 (160m 3:1).

A first test on 40m in the afternoon gives super results with BV, many YB's, and reception reports in VK

To be continued...

How is ON4CCP's 1 Watt project doing ?

Fine !

243 QSO's made with the 30m dipole and the G5RV. 
A total of 314.000 km worked.

It's a hard job, only 1 Watt isn't really much power to use in this solar cycle dip.
Most of the time other stations come to call CQ on my frequency.

Sometimes there is a suprise, like the 9A who came back on 50Mhz (using the harmonics on 30m dipole).  Or the K-station on 18 Mhz, more than 6500 km away.

Looking forward what would and could be possible on 10 meter with a 5 element yagi and a solar maximum.

First FT8 awards arrived

2018 will be a fantastic year in my ham carreer. 


With >3000 QSO until now, 90% in digital mode and all done with a single element or wire antenna, it's a new world that has been opened.


Last days I made some hundreds of QSO on 18 Mhz with the G5RV.  With a height of at least 12m on every part of the legs and an angle of 180° between, the antenna delivers optimal results.
The predicted 4 lobes on this frequency are detectable in the log.  Ie. USA, SA, JA and Middle East. 
Almost no Carribean stations worked.


Everything is now ready to change this wire by the new 160m Windom antenna.  
Just waiting on a day with a temperature  <30°C.


The first FT8 awards arrived via mail (using Ultimate AAC combined with the FT8DMC club.  All handling is automatic based on a standard ADIF log).
.

Worked All Continents on 80m, Worked All Japan on 30m and 500 grids worldwide.


Total cost : 0 €, delivery time : 12 hours thanks to a great job of award manager A92AA. 
DXCC has a problem if this nice way of working by others continues that way.