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Author Topic: 80M and Field Day  (Read 9146 times)

K0RS

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80M and Field Day
« on: June 30, 2000, 01:43:01 AM »

Although the W0GG 3A Field Day effort managed to double our 80m totals compared to 1999, I still feel we are missing lots of QSO's on 80.  What antennas and strategies have others used to maximize their 80m potential during this event?  I'm always amazed to hear others running stations on 80 as if it were 40 or even 20m.  What's your secret?  
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"90% of the people in a pile-up have no idea what's going on.  It's up to you to be in the remaining 10%."  *W9KNI*

K1IR

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80M and Field Day
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2000, 08:41:07 AM »

Wire beams, my friend. Three-element wire yagis at 40-70 feet will work wonders on 80m. Best if you can make them with straight dipole elements, rather than inverted vees. With an swr analyzer, these antennas are not difficult to construct. From zero-land, you'll need the switchable version. It takes two relays, a power supply and a bit of extra wire to make the beam bidirectional. And, you can be even more fancy with the switching to move the antenna from ssb to cw.

I have a couple of photos, if you'd like them.

73,

Jim K1IR
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W4MGM

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80M and Field Day
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2000, 05:20:41 PM »

Hello Jim,

I  would be interested also. We started with a Wisdom type.. :o( .. but took it down and put up a dipole.

73
W4MGM
Woodbridge Wireless [W4IY]
Est. 1972
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N4ZOU

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80M and Field Day
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2000, 11:24:08 PM »

 A full 80 meter loop skywire works wonders close in on 80 meters at night. You can expect great performance out to about 1000 miles at night. You need a vertical for long haul also at night. We use a Butternut HF2V antenna with a homebuilt remote tuner on the antenna mounted on a roof top about 35 feet off the ground. An above ground radial system is strung out under it. We get a 1/4 mile roll of aluminum electric fence wire to build the ground system. It extends out from the base of the antenna like a spiderweb. We put up at least 10 full 1/4 wave radials for each of the two bands covered, 40 and 80 meters. The wire is so cheap that we just throw it away after the contest. A roll will last about 5 years. If you have ever used a vertical on 80 meters you know the bandwidth is very limited, around 100 KHz. We built the remote tuner to solve that problem. A small control box at the transceiver will tune the Butternut up on the roof fast and easy so that you can QSY to any part of the 75/80 meter band and have a very low SWR at the operating frequency. I have an article on the Butternut remote antenna tuner at http://n4zou.homestead.com if your intrested in building one, it's very simple. We have also put up 2 and 3 element wire yagi's on 40 and 80 meters. As we are located in Alabama we just point them north west and let it rip. Only thing about this is getting the three wire elements up in the trees just right. That is the reason we went to the Butternut vertical and 80 meter loop. Simple and fast setup.  
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N0AH

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80M and Field Day
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2000, 10:38:57 AM »

I ran at a 50-60 rate per hour for about 2 hours on 80 meters on Saturday night FD from the NT7A Bridge Creek Radio Club headquarters- ...my secret is legal power and a 4SQR along with beverages for listening- in the summertime thuderstorms, anything short on 80 will most likely produce sour results from the middle of now where in Wyoming-...that said, 100 watts and a dipole near population centers on the east coast should make it a walk in the park- it must be lack of bodies-

73  Paul  N0AH
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K8MR

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80M and Field Day
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2000, 03:03:45 PM »

The secret is the same as in real estate: location, location, and location.

80 meters is a good place to be in the northeast or nearby midwest.  If you're not, there's not a lot else to do, especially on FD when there is summertime QRN to contend with.  

Get a dipole up as high as you can - and go at it.  And feel bad for us 8's as you are running the snot out of 15 and 20 meters.  Unless we get short E-skip, there's not much we can do on those bands.  Just like your situation on 80.

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