K7RPM's Ham Radio Blog

Hy-Gain AV-640 Vertical Antenna Installation In Progress

Now that the VHF/UHF antenna is up, it’s time to start putting up the Hy-Gain AV-640.

Hy-Gain tells me that a footer of 2-3 cubic feet of concrete should be sufficient. I’m digging a whole about 18 inches in diameter and a little over 2 feet deep.  That will be 3.5 cubic feet of concrete.

The ground here is HARD and progress is slow. I can dig down about 3 inches.  Then I fill the hole with water.  It takes several days for the water to soak in.  Then I can dig another three inches. So far my hole is 16 inches deep.

Permanent VHF/UHF Antenna is Up

My permanent VHF/UHF antenna is finally up.

Antenna is a Diamond X200A mounted on a 10-foot mast.  As you can see in the adjacent photo, I have a 2-inch steel pip that is four feet long, with 2 feet of it set in concrete.

Attached to that is a Hy-Gain ATB-75 Universal tilt-over.  The 10-foot mast is attached to the ATB-75.

One difficulty of note:  The ATB-75 instruction say that you can use “tube bases or mast pipes up to 2 ¼” OD”.  They neglect to provide a minimum diameter. So I promptly bought a steel pipe 1.25 OD and set it in concrete, only to discover that the U-bolts on the ATB-75 would not accommodate a pipe that small.

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGG! Yes, I know, I should have done a trial assembly before pouring the concrete.

I dug the pipe and it’s concrete out of the ground, Bought a 2-inch pipe and some more concrete, and after much cussing I was ready to continue.

From that point on the project went smoothly. The mast is also secured to the eaves of the house using a Rohn WM6S Wall Mount

I live in a small rural community in Arizona called Spring Valley, nestled in the foothills of the Bradshaw mountains. I keep the Wildflower Mountain repeater (145.350) on in the shack all the time and thanks to the broad coverage of it, I’ve made friends all over the state.

K7RPM is on the Air Again VHF/UHF

I’m happy to say that I’m back in the air at least on VHF/UHF.  Things are a little makeshift (The antenna is vip-tied in a tree) but at least I am on the air.

145.350 (WIldflower Mtn)

147.000 (Mingus Mtn)

Update on the QTH Move

My house in Phoenix is now officially sold and the proceeds are in my bank account.  The closing/escrow process on my new home in Mayer, Az is moving along and I expect to be handed the keys in about 2 weeks.

The vague outlines of the new ham station are taking place:

  • My tried and true Kenwood TS-590sand Hy-Gain AV-640 vertical for HF.
  • Yaesu FT-8800R and Diamond X200A for CHF/UHF
  • My Kenwood DM-710 will get moved to my car to help me through the commutes down the hill to Phoenix.

I’m most likely going to build a bench like the one I had 10 years ago.  I used the Simpson Rigid Tie Connectors to create a super-strong bench.

Heathkit Has a New Kit and I Want It

Heathkit has just announced a new ket: a rather sleek and sophisticated power meter. I want it.

There was a time when everything in my ham shack was Heathkit. My hf rig was an old tired HW-100, and I learned a lot about electronics keeping it running.  Sometimes I went to the local Heathkit store and bought something just because I wanted to build another kit.

Now, as I plan my move to a new QTH and envision setting up my ham station there, I want this power meter to be a part of it.

Preparing for a Move

I’m preparing for a move. I’m 64 years old. My Sweet Lady Wife is 62. Time to downsize from this two-story 2200 sq ft house into something single story and smaller.

We’re planning to move to the Mayer, AZ area. (Actually Cordes Lakes) I’ve done my research. No HOA. No antenna restrictions in the CC&Rs. I’m looking forward to having a real antenna for the first time in 10 years.

One of the two places we are looking at is on half an acre and would certainly allow for a tower, but for now I’m planning on putting up a Hy-Gain AV-640 vertical.

I’ll be on the air from the new QTH in 2-3 months.

I’m Switching from Aether to MacLoggerDX for logging

I’m a Mac user and have been using Aether for logging my contacts for several years.  I love aether.  It’s nice and clean and for the most part is very intuitive.

The trouble however started when I got my vanity call.  Aether does not know how to handle the fact that contacts prior to date XXX were made using my old call (WB7OBG) and subsequent contacts were made using my new call, K7RPM.  The only workaround I came up with was have two log files. Also, Aether seems to be unable to connect to QRZ.com for callbook access.  I give it my callsign and password and it says “Login Failed”.  I’ve manually logged in to QRZ.com with no problems.  Multiple callsigns (and certificates) is also problematic when interfacing with LotW.

A couple of days ago my frustration level was to the point I was ready to drive a marlin spike through my monitor.  I decided to look at alternatives.

So far, MacLoggerDX seems to work pretty well. The ‘two callsigns’ problem is solved with the ‘Operator’ field. MacLoggerDx’s integration with LotW is a little looser:

“MacLoggerDX supports LoTW and eQSL with Ham standard ADIF files. QSO’s can be exported by ADIF, signed (using the ARRL supplied applications) and uploaded to LoTW. MacLoggerDX also uses LoTW and eQSL ADIF confirmation files to update the QSL received status of your logged QSOs”

MacLoggerDX also seems to have no problem connecting to my Kenwood TS-590s

73’s

Dave

I Ordered a CrankIR

I ordered a CrankIR today.  I ordered the full 80M version even though I’ll probably never operate 80M with it.

My main motivation for the CrankIR is day trips up into northern Arizona.  My Sweet Lady Wife loves to get out of the PHoenix heat in the summer.  In the fall she loves to get up into the pines and see the fall colors.  I figure that I can haul and antenna, a battery, and the TS-590 up north, operate or a few hours, and meet her needs as well.

I have a second motivation (scheming here).  I live in an HOA with antenna restrictions. But I can have a flagpole!  I have the spot picked out for the ‘flagpole’.  As a test I’ll set up the CrankIR on that spot and see how it performs.  Mostly I want to make sure that when I operate I don’t make the TV go crazy (or my neighbors’ TVs go crazy).

Making Winter Antenna Plans

I’ve started making plans for some winter antenna projects. Of course, I’m in Phoenix Arizona, so our definition of winter is “The temperature allows for outdoor activities.”

  1. Get the raingutter antenna working again.
  2. Use the long narrow strip of vacand land behind my house to erect a beverage receiving antenna.
  3. Erect an end-fed 17M dipole anenna vertically-oriented in the tree in the back yard.

I’m also designing a shortened 40M vertical that I can hang from the tree but I don’t know if I wil get that far.

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