AF0CX

A.K.A. What a lovely rabbit hole you've found here

Yesterday I began the final steps of getting myself on the air. My home rig is such a series of compromises that I am sure that none of this will be earth shattering. It will be interesting (to me, at least) to look back to the history.

There are three major limiting factors for my home installation. 1. I rent and do not own my home. 2. The windows to my home, except for one, are all caulked and painted shut. 3. I am surrounded by trees, electrical lines, transformers, and all the detrius of a urban setting.

My solution has been to get a Yaesu ATAS-120A, mount it on a tripod, and throw out radials in my backyard. I went with 16 16.5ft 20awg radials, in 4 groups of 4 using a banana plug system. I straight up stole this setup, minus the alligator clips, from this video.

Last night was mostly about tuning on various bands, and getting used to the new radio (Yaesu FT-991A). All the advertised HF bands were tested and tuned up nicely. 40M, for example, tuned to a SWR of 1.38. This is great since the scuttlebutt has been that this antenna struggles on 40M. I have not tested the VHF bands and feel inclined to skip all that anyhow.

What I have yet to do is actually call CQ. I honestly don't know how well I'll be able to get out from this location. The advantage of this setup is that it's pretty much one good battery away from being a viable mobile installation. I'll also be honest that after all this time I still have ham stage fright. I'll get over it and talk to strangers soon enough. In the meanwhile I heard QSOs from all over the East Coast from New Hampsire to Florida, but struggled with managing noise. This will be an exercise in getting to know my radio.

Regardless, this is a good start for day one.

AF0CX Blog by Chris Wall is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0