Not good! Try substituting barbed wire, lol!

David N1ZHE

I think WA9CFK hit on a good point when he said, "Judging from the last CW contest there is no shortage of hams who can work 160 meters but I suspect they prefer the more fruitful territory of the higher bands."

I work 99% digital modes, JT65, Olivia, etc. JT65 activity can be heard on 160 nearly nightly at 1.838.

Due to my work (2nd shift) I don't get on until after 1 AM EST. During the week it's usually the same folks calling CQ, during the weekends you'll find many more "new" callsigns on.

My current 160 meter antenna is not too good, it's a 124 foot long wire at about 20 feet. I have only managed to snag 5 DX countries (all western Europe or Canada) and 32 states with it.

It all comes down to what mode and what time you're on.

I'm in the same situation, have been since November 2010.

Some of my antennas have been a 31 foot 10-40 meters S9v vertical (now available from LDG) hidden in the woods behind my house and a 124 foot log wire antenna (10 meters-160 meters) also hidden in the woods behind my house.

That all works fine if you have woods handy and nearby. But in my case it demanded 135 feet of coax buried in my back yard in order to reach the woods .... Plus winds have brought a few treetops down and taken parts of my log wire to the ground.

I want to get rid of the long buried coax run and get as many antennas as possible in or on my house. So I built a 6-20 meter Carolina Windom and hung it from the rafters in my two car garage. I was really amazed at how well this antenna performed so I added length to it to add 30 and 40 meters. While it worked at approximately 10-12 feet off the ground, it was not very satisfactory on 30 or 40 meters. But I did add a 6 meter stub (like a fan dipole, only Carolina Windom style) to it so it's resonant on 6 meters. Though horizontally polarized (mostly) I can easily hit my local 6 meter repeater that's about 10 miles away.

The pitch of my garage's roof is a bit shallow so there's not much room from the rafters to the inside of the roof above them but I'm confident I can attach a small Radio Shack TV rotor to one of the rafters and put a 6 meter Moxon on it.

I run mostly digital modes, around 99% of my QSO's are JT65. There are JT65 frequencies on each band so I mostly go to that frequency and stay there until I change bands. My 30 meter and lower antenna plans include a possible MFJ Magnetic loop, from what I read they're a suprizingly effective antenna but if you move even slightly from your operating frequency you have to retune. Not a problem if you run mostly digital modes such as JT65, JT9 or PSK, etc.

I've been looking longingly at my downspout (rain gutter). I live in a single story house, what I want to do would work much better on a two story house. But I already have everything I need so it will only cost a bit of time to setup.

My house is pre-fab, it has skirting and sits on a slab. So I can easily run a short coax run to one of those MFJ weather proof remote tuners. I can connect the hot lead to the down spout and the ground to my radial field. Because it's winter the radials will quickly be buried in the snow.

My down spout is 10-12 feet vertical to the edge of the roof, then it runs continuously (horizontal) along the edge of my roof for about 60 feet to the other down spout (10-12 feet again) at the other corner of the house. Again, it's a bit low with my single story house so I'm not sure how well it will work. All I need to do is spend an hour or so to find out ...

There are plenty of options, you can stay within your HOA's rules and still be active.

David N1ZHE

...and there is a "hidden option" when you use FLDIGI and Aether.

You can setup a macro that will automatically log your contacts from FLDIGI to Aether.

See: https://github.com/muonzoo/ham-utils

It works for me.

David, N1ZHE

30 meters is a great band, VERY under utilized!

Movement is currently being made to add JT9 to the ADIF Mode Tables. If this happens then LoTW will start accepting QSL's for JT9.

Hope it happens soon!

David N1ZHE

I got an email from eQSL. They added JT9 yesterday!

I uploaded my QSO's from HRD logger with no problems after using the above method to add JT9 to HRD.

Still waiting on LoTW .....

David N1ZHE

First, let me add a few bits of important things you need to know that I just found out a few days ago.

ALC. You want it set to nothing, the minimum. On my Ten-Tec, I set my mic gain to zero and that does it. Failing to do so will make it VERY difficult for the other station to decode you.

Also, set the "Tol", located just to the right of the clock to "500".

JT9 has a few sub modes as you may have gathered if you read the Quick Start Guide. I setup up HRD for JT9-1.

I am unaware of any other special JT9 freqs, you might try listening on the normal JT65 freqs, you might get lucky. Note that I don't think the JT9 program will decode JT65.

As to how to add JT9 in HRD, here's a quote from an email I received telling me how to do it. Open the HRD Logger, then:


Actually, that should work as is, when you QSL electronically the HRD logger will send "JT9", even if you choose JT9-1.

This brings up another speedbump ... neither eQSL nor LoTW recognize JT9 as a mode. Neither accept QSO's using JT9 as a mode. Well, LoTW might take it and automagically convert it to "DATA". Or if you know your way around the TQSL program configuration settings, you could get it to convert the mode from JT9 to DATA.

Here's an email I received from eQSL when I asked when they would add JT9 as a mode. I sent my email when eQSL wouldn't accept my QSL when I used JT9 as the mode:


I have not heard back from eQSL since. I may send him a reminder.

So, in light of that, I decided to only paper QSL my JT9 QSO's as I receive paper QSL cards from the other op. I won't try to submit an electronic QSL until I know LoTW and eQSL both accept JT9 QSL's.

David, N1ZHE

If you use JT65, Joe Taylor, K1JT has a new digital mode for the low bands that works in a similar manner called JT9. Here's a link to an article and the program download.

http://www.amateurradio.com/wsjt-x-for-lf-now-i-really-will-have-to-look-at-a-top-band-antenna/#comment-36058

After installing the software be sure to read the Quick Start guide, it will be in the program's folder and it's in .pdf format. Note that I would highly recommend using the software suggested in the Quick Start guide to keep your clock accurate. The time accuracy requirement is much sharper than the Quick Start guide indicates.

Don't have an antenna for 160 meters or lower? You'll find a lot of us hanging out on 10.130 almost any time of day.

After setting it up and starting the program, don't forget to hit the monitor button on the program or you'll copy nothing! Also, turn your mic gain to zero or others may not be able to decode you.

David, N1ZHE

I just realized the above link takes you to an information page but the link on THAT page for the program download does not work. Use the link below to find the program. Scroll down and click on/download the WSJT-X program.

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wsjt.html

I believe you can interface your Omni VII without an external "aftermarket" interface.

See this Ten-Tec video http://youtu.be/peRfTeeT1yo. Even though the video is aimed at rtty users, you should be able to apply the connection part with any digital mode.

Three things to remember, though RTTY uses LSB many other digital modes do not. Also, you will need to use a method to key the radio. If "hardware keying" is not employed, the VOX may work for you. Lastly, you will need to set your Audio Source in the Omni VII's menu to "Line" or "Both". I would not recommend "Both" if you use the VOX.

I personally have not tried this, I may have to get my Omni VII's box down and look for the cable as I've always used an external interface.

David, N1ZHE

Monday through Friday I don't get home until 5:15 AM GMT, I find plenty of activity on 40 meter PSK.

$340.00 to $540.00 to get started is my main reason for not using it.

I believe it would even be legal on 30 meters because it is a digital mode.

Can someone please explain other than posted times and frequencies, what the difference between what the ARRL does and what K1MAN did (which incurred the wrath of the FCC)?

Understand, I'm NOT defending K1MAN, I just would like to know the difference.

Thanks N4UM.

Usually what I have found that seems to work is on Sunday evening (I work 2nd shift so I cannot speak for other evenings) if the contact is really good with good print I will throw in a comment, maybe about antennas or if the other op has mentioned something about his shack in a macro, then I may make a positive comment about that.

The ball is now in their court. If they use only macros, then that's how the QSO will go. If they answer, the conversation is started.

During these conversations I still use macros, in fact I usually use all my macros. There's just a LOT of real human interaction and conversation mixed in. More than just pushing buttons.