Optimizing a New Ham's Station

I started putting together a station a few years ago after getting licensed again after a considerable lapse of time. In doing so, I ran into three glitches that prevented me from having a satisfactory experience on the HF bands right off the bat, and it took me a while to figure out what the problems were and how to correct them. Once corrected, HF operating became much more enjoyable; while the problems remained uncorrected, the experience was discouraging.

Glitch # 1. A non-working commercial wire antenna. As my first antenna, I'd run a random length wire from the shack to a tree about 30 feet away. While it worked OK, I wanted to see if a commercial wire antenna would do better, so I bought one. The new antenna, good on 80-10 meters, had a matching unit, 22' of coax and a line isolator that connected to a coax feed line. I expected to hear strong signals, but in point of fact, I heard almost nothing. The random length wire outdid it! I was buffaloed. I tried different heights and different trees for different orientation, different coax feed, but nothing worked. Finally, I built a G5RV per the instructions in the ARRL's "Wire Antenna Classics, Vol. 1" and presto, I heard many more signals. Clearly, the commercial antenna had a glitch somewhere, and I was unable to obtain any satisfaction from the manufacturer.

Glitch # 2. I bought a radio from another ham. The rig had a good reputation for both selectivity and sensitivity, as well as being near ideal for CW operating. I used it for nine months or so, but I was disappointed in its audio, both on CW and SSB, and with the receiver generally. Also, I was not getting many contacts. So I decided to spring for a JRC JST-245, which had received a good review in QST some years back. What a difference! The JST-245 heard much better than the one I'd been using, and I was able to contact many more stations with it on my G5RV, both on CW and SSB.

Glitch # 3. I bought an inexpensive two-position coax switch for the shack in order to switch antennas. When I put it into use, I was unaware that signals passing through were being degraded. It took me quite a while to realize this fact, and I replaced it with Alpha-Delta switches, which cost quite a bit more, but worked.

So I have learned the hard way that, as a new ham, you have nothing to go on. You don't know if an antenna is working right or not, since it is your first. Ditto with a transceiver or even a coax switch. Since you don't know what to expect, there's a good chance of ending up with mediocre performance simply because you are unaware of what's possible. To complicate matters, every QTH is different, so it is difficult to extrapolate another ham's experiences and apply them as a template to yours.

My response has been to purchase, try out, and then sell, a variety of transceivers (which many hams may not be able to afford to do). In this way, you get a much better idea of what kind of performance can be expected and which transceivers appeal to you. (I also have found in two instances a wide variation in performance from different samples of the same transceiver--a further complication.) And, of course, ditto with antennas.

The winnowing process takes many months, I can tell you. Some may see this work as repetitive and pointless, but I disagree. I think that more-or-less continuous tinkering is essential in order to have a station optimized for one's operating preferences.

And there's no short cut I know of to avoid such work. Trial and error is the approach that's worked for me. Also, if at first you don't succeed, trying the same thing again is an option worth considering. For example, I am getting excellent results now with a second antenna identical to the one that failed the first time, and very good results with a second transceiver of the same kind that didn't work well in its first iteration.

I guess this is what makes the hobby endlessly fascinating.

73,
John, W3ULS

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