Lately I’m not doing well on the antenna area. I did pull down the multiband dipole because it was really a horrible sight from the back garden. Then I put down the Antron 99A because it wasn’t giving the performance I hoped for (I couldn’t use it for 20m anyway). And the Cobwebb is still under construction which give a little delay because of the DYI-stuff I have to do around the house at the moment. So the only antenna I now use is a single wire which I draped over the roof. More of less in a square, 20 meters long.
I’ve noticed a pretty nice receiving signal in SSB but (of course) transmitting is awful. Not been able to make a single contact in SSB.
But the other day I got an idea: why not trying BPSK31?! So when I fired up the Signalink USB I started making QSO’s! A lot of European Russia (UA3PI, UA3GX, RA3FO, RN3DY, RX3DD, RU3EJ) but after trying a little harder I also contacted Croatia (9A6DJM), Ukraine (UX1MW, UX1LN) and Romania (YO3JX). This turns out to be fun! Fine tuning my macro’s a little here and there.
Seems that my wire on the roof has a liking for the east, don’t know why since it lays out in a square. But hey, it’s nice working till I’ve get my Cobwebb up and running!
Tag: Cobwebb
Cobwebb version 0.1
After studying several articles on the webs I tried to figure out a concept construction for my first Cobwebb antenna. An awful lot of tie wraps, a few fishing rods and a almost 50 meters of electrical wire. A few hours DIY in the rain and you see the result beneath. First test results: even at only 2,5 meter height very nice reception! In comparison to my end fed wire it’s a lot less noisy and picks up even very weak signals. Last night I was even listening to local QSO’s of amateurs in North America on 20m! Transmitting is another story on this height of course. No one heard me since, but almost all dipoles are resonant in the band and SWR is good. I think it will be even better when it’s on good operating height of 10 meters. I’m planning to put it on a pole on the roof, then it will be 14 meters high and more ore less 360 degrees free around.
The construction is of course just for testing purposes only. I need to construct another feed point which is waterproof. I’m not satisfied with the tie wrap solution to attach the wires to the spreaders. I think it’s not UV-proof too. I’m thinking about drilling little holes in the spreader to put little screws in them. And the end of the dipole wires I want some elastic pieces in. Then the wires will be tight all the time. Just haven’t figure out what to use for the elastic material yet.
And the baseplate needs some adjustment too, no possibility to attach a vertical pole in it now and the spreaders are not properly aligned. So need to do some rework… Then again, it’s only version 0.1!