Suggestion - Sticky Communications

[Fozzy325]

I would like to suggest that we have a sticky
1. OB HF Call sign and location register.
I was thinking about this as I was a HF operator and technician and would like to get my license back and start chatting around the world with HF kits.

Since joining this community it has revitalised my love of RF communications. especially vehicle mounted HF systems. It would be cool for nostalgic reasons to be able to role up to a meet and speak to someone around the world with the rest of us geeks. It would also give the opportunity to make some more meetups for the RF kiddies.

 

[Plasmajab]

We'd need two call signs.. one US and one Canadian. That wouldn't be hard to do on my end for the Canadian side.

But my question is what bands would be the most practical? Hf antennas can be pretty big and somewhat delicate. That's why hf at basecamp.

 

[Fozzy325]

We'd need two call signs.. one US and one Canadian. That wouldn't be hard to do on my end for the Canadian side.

But my question is what bands would be the most practical? Hf antennas can be pretty big and somewhat delicate. That's why hf at basecamp.

with the HF in a vehicle you just need to use the best fraction size antenna you use a length of copper antenna and remove or add extra pieces dependant on the wave length and use the vehicle as the counterpoise

the other method is an electronic antenna that has a base that changes the length of the antenna base on the frequency you need. This again can be used in conjunction with the amount of antenna lengths in use. 3rd option is a a mount that you insert the antenna in and very the length of the antenna in the bracket and where it clasps is the length of the antenna.

 

[Kent R]

@brien Can the comms committee advise on this.

 

[Prerunner1982]

There are a couple of ways to do HF mobile as far as antennas are concerned.
The cheapest are hamsticks, they don't hold up well to getting hit by trees daily but they do come apart in 2 sections for fairly easy storage. They worked fine for me for awhile but broke 3 in 2 years so I moved on.
102" whip with an auto tuner works as well up to about 40m.
A whip with an adjustable loading coil (like a Wolf River Coils) can do up to 40m. This is my next setup using a homemade loading coil.
Then of course you have the screw driver antennas.

 

[brien]

I think with an antenna that can do 20m and 40m that should give enough coverage for both day and night time communications.

I don't have a vehicle mounted HF radio, but i do always have a full HF setup along with me, and i typically toss it up at camp to get on the air while i'm relaxing. My main HF usage is for Summits on the Air, so I have a very light, very compact setup: KX2 with built in tuner, CW paddle, mic, 9:1 un-un, some coax, a 10 meter PackTenna mast, 2 25' ground radials and then a 58' non-resonant-length wire in two 29' pieces.

With this setup i can use my mast or just use nearby trees, or some combo of both. I can be up and on the air in about 5 minutes sometimes. I have the option of running one big 58' inverted L or i can detach half the wire and just run it as a 29' vertical. Since i have a built in tuner, both setups allow me to work 80m through 10m with relative ease.

Here's a photo of my HF setup to get a sense of how packable it is, OB sticker for scale. (Missing in this photo is my mast because it's in the rig stashed under a seat. collapsed it's about 20" long and 2" wide):