Introduction

 This site documents my activities in the hobby of Amateur Radio. It is intended for a wide audience, not only for hams, but also, for those that might want get into the hobby.

I was licensed on 1/17/2006, right after Hurricane Katrina. My original call was KE7FMN. Once I obtained my Extra, I was granted the vanity call of W7YV.

My favorite mode is CW and I love QRP. I always say, "If they cannot hear me, they need a better antenna."

Antenna System Overview

1. General Information

This page provides an inventory and description of the antennas here at the W7YV shack and those used in the field.

Revisions:

04/30/2017 JRH Initial creation

02/21/2025 JRH Update after 7 year hiatus.

2. Antenna Demarcation Point

At my home shack, I have a  steel box, about 14" x 14" x 6" is mounted to the north wall of the house.. My shack is immediately across that outside wall. At the bottom of the box is a 2" conduit, about 3 feet long, that carries numerous coax from the box to a thru-wall conduit connector into the house. Coaxes are carried through the wall into the shack.

3. Home Shack Antennas

3.1  DX Commander CLASSIC 2 Plus 80m HF Multi-Band Vertical Antennas CLASSIC2-80

This antenna was ordered 2/20/2025. It will replace my Loop Skywire. 

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxc-classic2-80

3.2 20 Meter Field Vertical

Feed coax nomenclature: Orange

Lightning Arrestor: ICE Model 300 0.1 MHz to 300 MHz

20M Field Day Vertical

References:

1. http://www.kn5l.net/fdantenna/
2. 
   

3.3 6 Meter Dipole

Feed coax: Blue/Green

Lightning Arrestor: None

3.4 2M/70CM Vertical

Feed coax: Ant3

Lightning Arrestor: MFJ 270 DC - 1 GHz

3.5 Coax Spare

Feed coax: Red/Yellow

3.6 Coax Spare

Feed coax: Coax2

3.7 Horizontal Loop - Out of Service

This antenna patterned after the Loop Skywire (See references). My design differs in that the loop is fed with coax to a balun and ladder line from the balun to the feed point on the loop. My design is supported by pulleys at each corner which allows the feed point to be moved from one edge to an adjacent edge.

Loop Skywire - The Basis of the W7YV Loop

Height:
Varies from 10 feet to 30 feet. Mother Nature has beat this antenna up pretty good. One support was a tall pine tree. That died. So, that corner is now on a fence post about five feet off the ground. The opposite corner was in a tree but the rope broke (inadequate maintenance). Now, that point is 10 feet off the ground. 

Perimeter:
About 268 feet

Feedline:
17ft 450 ohm ladder line between antenna and a 1:1 Guanella current balun. The balun is driven by 15 ft of 50 ohm coax going into the shack.

Feed coax nomenclature: Green/Yellow

Lightning Arrestor: ICE Model 303 1.5 MHz to 200 MHz

References:

1. http://n1su.com/loop.html Skywire Loop Antenna 
2. http://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/W0MHZ%20-%20The%20Loop%20Skywire.pdf
3. http://www.hbphoto.com/Radio/Baluns_101.pdf

QRP Field Kit

 

This post describes a QRP Field Kit that I am cobbling together. The idea is to take the kit into the field, string up an antenna, and work the bands at QRP 5 watts.

Revisions

02/21/2025 Initial publication. Specs and design still being developed. 

Specifications

1. The design shall be "grab and go." This means it must be fully operational without adding any extra gear. Self contained in a carrier that can be picked up and carried off.
2. Operable from 80 M to 10 M using a tuner
3. Power output: 5 W into a 50 ohm load
4. Modulation: transmit CW, receive CW and SSB
5. Antenna shall be an 80 end fed wire antenna with breakaway connections for 40, 30, 20, 15, and 10 Meters.
6. Kit shall contain means to recharge device batteries.
7. A voice recorder shall be provided with proper cabling to record audio from the RX.
8. Noise cancelling headphones shall be provided with Bluetooth connectivity for future applications.

Design Description

Component	Description
Youkits HB1B Radio Transceiver
QRP Z-Match Manual Antenna Tuner 3-28 MHz
Power Supply	12 VDC Power Supply, 120 VAC to 12 VDC References ARRL End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna Kit Palomar End Fed Article
End Fed Wire Antenna	References ARRL End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna Kit Palomar End Fed Article
Coax Interconnect	WQ1 - Connects HB1B to QRP Z-Match References LMR240/LMR-240 Coaxial Cable 50FT NO Connectors, Times Microwave 50 Ohm Low Loss Cable Coax Loss and db loss chart
Coax Feed Line	WQ2 - Connects QRP Z-Match to End Fed Wire Antenna References LMR240/LMR-240 Coaxial Cable 50FT NO Connectors, Times Microwave 50 Ohm Low Loss Cable Coax Loss and db loss chart
Carry Bag	References Waxed Canvas All Purpose Military Style Duffle Bag, Water-Resistant, Adjustable Strap, Fully Lined, Double Zipper Closure, heavy Duty, Olive Green Coreflex 12-Inch Heavy Duty Tool Bag, Tactical Bag, Gear Bag, Range Bag, EDC Bag,Tool Bag for cars, Multi-Purpose Work Bag for Mechanics, Electrician, Carpenters, Builders,Plumbers 12" X 7" X 7"
Headphones	References Professional 264GB WUCOTC Digital Voice Recorder Sony ZX110NC Noise Cancelling Headphones HROEENOI Active Noise Cancelling Headphones, JZ02 Bluetooth Headphones, Wireless Over Ear Headphones with CVC 8.0 Microphone Deep Bass Headset,

What is are NGP Antennas and NGP Coax

 I ran across these concepts today - something I had never heard of. My initial reaction was "BS!" But, after a bit of study, I learned a few things. Here are some links to my finding. 

See https://www.perplexity.ai/search/i-have-10m-vertical-antenna-ex-MVTjMR.qRn.CuqzgeTHv0w#0

Everhardt claims no ground plane is needed. This article speaks to my objections: https://www.wearecb.com/ngp-no-ground-plane/. See, also, https://www.wearecb.com/cb-antenna-ground-plane.html.

Why have I never heard of that? Real hams don't use that stuff!

Sold some radios, now to spend that money

I sold an ICOM 756 Pro and an Kenwood TS-830S tonight for a respectable sum. So, what do I do with the money??

First off, I am going to put up an 80 Vertical. See: https://w7yv.blogspot.com/p/80-meter-vertical-all-band-antenna.html

I pulled the trigger on this antenna tonight. $420 w/free shipping. WooHoo

I will need some help, methinks, getting this antenna up. I have no worries on that front. Folks in the ham radio community are very helpful.

I am documenting progress at https://w7yv.blogspot.com/p/80-meter-vertical-all-band-antenna.html

Resurrecting My W7YV Blog

It has been nearly 7 years since I've posted here. When my wife died in 2017, I slowly drifted away from the hobby. For whatever reason, my interest has returned. This is my first post in a longtime.

10 GHz Microwave (3cm) Beacons on websdr.org

One of the projects on my Never Ending Project List is to build a 10 GHz Microwave Station (3 cm band). A logical first step, I think, is to build a 3 cm beacon. There is a great deal of information on that topic. In particular, KA7OEI has done lots of work and published his findings. (TNX CLINT).

Thinking about that led me to the discovery that the site websdr.org has nearly a dozen SDRs that listen to the 3 cm band. So, I thought I would make a list here and share it.

SDRs Listening To The 3 cm Band

http://websdr.suws.org.uk/  One beacon found sending FSCW (Frequency-Shifted CW) and an unidentified digital mode having four discrete frequencies.

http://maxiplaya.dyndns.org:8901/ Nice CW beacon on 10368929.65 sending chirpy code.

http://ea1rj.cloudns.cc:8888/ No beacons detected.

http://erc-websdr.esa.int/ No beacons detected.

http://websdr.fvzr.ch:8901/ Beacon at 10368086.74 sending unidentified digital mode. No CW heard.

http://microwavesdr.hopto.org:8901/ Quite pleasant chirpy beacon sending FSCW easily copied. This is the choo choo that is saying, "I think I can, I think I can." Located in Dresden, Germany.

http://sdr.dii.univpm.it:8901/ No beacons detected.

http://188.210.92.22:8901/ One beacon found sending FSCW and and unidentified digital mode having four discrete frequencies. Located in Belgium.

http://websdr.afu.eah-jena.de:8901/ No beacons detected, however, there are quite a few markers indicating the frequencies of beacons.