After fussing with the antenna length, orientation, counterpoise type and length, RF chokes ...

The only fixed item is 100 ft of RG213 feed line.

This is about the best I can do with 135 ft wire (narrow gauge) in a giant horse-shoe shape since my yard is not big enough for a straight 140 ft run.

I played with a variety of "counterpoise" types and lengths of wires, and am satisfied that this is acceptable as is.

Goal: work on the digi part of 80m, 40m and 30m for NVIS contacts.

I am just planning on what kind of HF antenna to set up first at a new QTH in a few weeks.

This looks promising for three bands, one coax feed, and a 49:1 UNUN.

Now I've got to figure out a way to HIDE the wire (or use a rain gutter).

I've read that the 49:1 UNUNS? may be difficult to adjust as the voltages and impedances are very high at the end of a 1/2 wave wire.

And at the harmonics (40m 30m, 20m, 10m) the impedances may be very different from what you expect.

Some of the RF you send down your coax may just heat up the UNUN rather than turn into an EM wave.

But this is what I get from the shack, with a Nano VNA.? It's all I can do for now.

It concerns me that the lowest? SWR? is below the 80m band (3.3 MHz)? and yet above the 40m band (7.8 MHz) so ... ? can anyone explain that.

I may have some mutual "coupling" to other long wires in my yard which are not too distant in terms of wavelength at 80m/40m? (rookie error).

I suspect it also may have something to do with the overall SHAPE of the 135 ft wire antenna in a?

giant horse-shoe shape? (also quite close to gnd and 30 ft above the township sewer line).

Maybe the SWR varies with who in my neighborhood is flushing/showering/washing dishes and clothes!

de? k3eui

????

After fussing with the antenna length, orientation, counterpoise type and length, RF chokes ...

The only fixed item is 100 ft of RG213 feed line.

This is about the best I can do with 135 ft wire (narrow gauge) in a giant horse-shoe shape since my yard is not big enough for a straight 140 ft run.

I played with a variety of "counterpoise" types and lengths of wires, and am satisfied that this is acceptable as is.

Goal: work on the digi part of 80m, 40m and 30m for NVIS contacts.

I am just planning on what kind of HF antenna to set up first at a new QTH in a few weeks.

This looks promising for three bands, one coax feed, and a 49:1 UNUN.

Now I've got to figure out a way to HIDE the wire (or use a rain gutter).

I've read that the 49:1 UNUNS? may be difficult to adjust as the voltages and impedances are very high at the end of a 1/2 wave wire.

And at the harmonics (40m 30m, 20m, 10m) the impedances may be very different from what you expect.

Some of the RF you send down your coax may just heat up the UNUN rather than turn into an EM wave.

But this is what I get from the shack, with a Nano VNA.? It's all I can do for now.

It concerns me that the lowest? SWR? is below the 80m band (3.3 MHz)? and yet above the 40m band (7.8 MHz) so ... ? can anyone explain that.

I may have some mutual "coupling" to other long wires in my yard which are not too distant in terms of wavelength at 80m/40m? (rookie error).

I suspect it also may have something to do with the overall SHAPE of the 135 ft wire antenna in a?

giant horse-shoe shape? (also quite close to gnd and 30 ft above the township sewer line).

Maybe the SWR varies with who in my neighborhood is flushing/showering/washing dishes and clothes!

de? k3eui

????

Dave
I can get on any 40m frequency in the morning hours (7AM to 12 noon) ?try a link from Philly to AL using Thor11. I suggest staying clear of 7070 (vfo) since there are occasional BPSK31 chats on or around 7070 khz (vfo) and a Thor xmission might scare them off. Might I suggest drop down to 7068.0 kHz (vfo, usb)?

The MidAtlantic NBEMS net (since October 2023) has been using THOR22 successfully at 80 wpm and 500 Hz BW.
I told the net control ops (there are four) to switch to Thor11 if the conditions of propagation deteriorate or if there is a nearby RTTY signal (during a RTTY contest). So far we’ve not had to do that. Thor11 is about 1/2 the speed of Thor22 but gains +3dB in S/N due to the longer duration individual tones. The net is averaging about 20-30 checkins each Sunday morning at 10AM (EST) on 7068 kHz (vfo) @1500 Hz WF. Checkins are from Pa/DE/MD/NJ/NY as well as New England and down to VA and NC. Often stations are checking in QRP (5W) and are usually easy to copy with local noise lower on 40m than on 80m.

We have also been trying Thor 32 for traffic in place of MFSK32. Thor modes are much more robust if the sender and receiver are not at the same audio frequency on the WF. Thor56 has been more problematic if the S/N is not over 0 dB.
We’ve not tried Thor44 (yet).

We also use Thor22 as the checkin mode on a 2m FM net in Philadelphia region (Chester County ARES/RACES). Thor modes work extremely well over analog voice FM repeaters (with owner’s permission of course). At about 80 wpm, Thor22 is as fast as I can type so we gain nothing by using a higher Thor or MFSK speed mode for checking in (no voice net on 2m FM repeater).

We are having success with 8PSK1000F for long traffic (FLAMP eml files) and drop to 8PSK500F if S/N is weaker.
Modes like Thor100 and MFSK128 are also working well over a BW under 3 kHz via an analog voice FM repeater. What about the 1200 baud vs. 9600 baud issue for non-VARA modes?

No advantage to setting up RX for “wide” (Rx on pin 4 on 6 pin MINI DIN data port) or 9600 baud on these FLDIGI modes.
Although at 9600 baud (no processing or filtering) the results with “flat audio response” are no better, no worse, than THOR modes at 1200 baud where the RX audio gets “de-emphasized” -6dB/octave and the TX audio gets boosted +6dB/octave. Often one-half the net is set up at 1200 baud and the rest at flat audio 9600 baud. Makes no difference except the PL tones are quite visible on the radios set to 9600 baud.

TU for creating Thor (or THOR). As a former bassoon/saxophone player, I love to listen to Thor.

de k3eui barry
Philly region

Dave
I can get on any 40m frequency in the morning hours (7AM to 12 noon) ?try a link from Philly to AL using Thor11. I suggest staying clear of 7070 (vfo) since there are occasional BPSK31 chats on or around 7070 khz (vfo) and a Thor xmission might scare them off. Might I suggest drop down to 7068.0 kHz (vfo, usb)?

The MidAtlantic NBEMS net (since October 2023) has been using THOR22 successfully at 80 wpm and 500 Hz BW.
I told the net control ops (there are four) to switch to Thor11 if the conditions of propagation deteriorate or if there is a nearby RTTY signal (during a RTTY contest). So far we’ve not had to do that. Thor11 is about 1/2 the speed of Thor22 but gains +3dB in S/N due to the longer duration individual tones. The net is averaging about 20-30 checkins each Sunday morning at 10AM (EST) on 7068 kHz (vfo) @1500 Hz WF. Checkins are from Pa/DE/MD/NJ/NY as well as New England and down to VA and NC. Often stations are checking in QRP (5W) and are usually easy to copy with local noise lower on 40m than on 80m.

We have also been trying Thor 32 for traffic in place of MFSK32. Thor modes are much more robust if the sender and receiver are not at the same audio frequency on the WF. Thor56 has been more problematic if the S/N is not over 0 dB.
We’ve not tried Thor44 (yet).

We also use Thor22 as the checkin mode on a 2m FM net in Philadelphia region (Chester County ARES/RACES). Thor modes work extremely well over analog voice FM repeaters (with owner’s permission of course). At about 80 wpm, Thor22 is as fast as I can type so we gain nothing by using a higher Thor or MFSK speed mode for checking in (no voice net on 2m FM repeater).

We are having success with 8PSK1000F for long traffic (FLAMP eml files) and drop to 8PSK500F if S/N is weaker.
Modes like Thor100 and MFSK128 are also working well over a BW under 3 kHz via an analog voice FM repeater. What about the 1200 baud vs. 9600 baud issue for non-VARA modes?

No advantage to setting up RX for “wide” (Rx on pin 4 on 6 pin MINI DIN data port) or 9600 baud on these FLDIGI modes.
Although at 9600 baud (no processing or filtering) the results with “flat audio response” are no better, no worse, than THOR modes at 1200 baud where the RX audio gets “de-emphasized” -6dB/octave and the TX audio gets boosted +6dB/octave. Often one-half the net is set up at 1200 baud and the rest at flat audio 9600 baud. Makes no difference except the PL tones are quite visible on the radios set to 9600 baud.

TU for creating Thor (or THOR). As a former bassoon/saxophone player, I love to listen to Thor.

de k3eui barry
Philly region