Year 1 on HF

     I started doing some shortwave/ham listening in fall of 2023 on online SDRs. I was licensed as a Tech originally in 2005, but let it lapse...so had to test again. Took my Tech and General exams in the same sitting the end of October 2023. Got on the air a few days later, first HF contact on 11/3/23.

     I've learned a TON this past year. I've had some challenges, but also have derived a lot of enjoyment from flinging some RF watts around the world. I've enjoyed building, experimenting, reading, operating and listening.

Operations/Setup summaries for my 1st year, FT8/FT4 only, save for 1 JS8Call contact:

 I started with a 4-5w QDX that I used only on 20m, with an attic dipole and an old laptop. Added a 25w amplifier soon thereafter, but still limited to 20m most of this past year. 

I later built a portable QDX for 40-15m, and a QRP-Guys EFHW Mini Tuner/Antenna for the same. 

Ended that 1st year getting a remote station up and running. I can now operate 40m through 10m between 2 QDXs, with 40-65 watts from a Hardrock 50 amplifier (and ATU) into a 40m horizontal loop at 34 feet. Also hosting a KiwiSDR2 there. 

1st year HF Stats, all FT8/FT4, and 85% of it on 20m:

• 4617 total contacts/QSOs, 
• 1067 POTA contacts "hunted" (with the 2fers/etc included)
• 2 POTA activations with 31 contacts combined
• 104 DXCCs/countries worked, 90 LOTW confirmed. 
• 279 band slots worked, 214 LOTW confirmed. 
• Worked All States from my home shack on 20m (EN62), and 47 confirmed from the remote shack (EN55). 
• 5 Band WAS: 89 of 250 confirmed. (on 4 bands, I didn't get on 80m this year) 
• Transmitted from 6 different locations: (Home, my cabin, 2 AirBnBs in Illinois, and the 2 POTA activations...one in Missouri and one in Milwaukee where I live.) 

 

Notable things set up/built, etc:
Built 3 QRP-Labs QDXs, one for 80-20m, one for 20-10m, and another I made for 40-15m.  

Bought and set up a KiwiSDR2.

Antennas: Set up a 40m loop antenna at 34 feet at my cabin / 2nd QTH. Set up a 20m speaker wire dipole in my attic at my main home. Built a linked EFHW for 40-15 for the QRP Guys Mini-Tuner. Mostly built a Pacific Antenna 40/20 trapped dipole... but didn't deploy that yet. It's slated to replace my 20m attic dipole. 

Also built: 

• Emtech ZM-2 Tuner
• 10th Anniversary Hardrock 50 amplifier with prebuilt ATU add-on
• DJ0ABR TRX Selector Board (SMD soldering!)
• Relay/control box with Devantech ds378 relay board, voltage regulators, etc. Basic Node Red flow work, too.
• QRP Guys EFHW Mini-Tuner for 40-15m
• QRP Guys QRP Power/SWR Meter/Dummy Load
• Pacific Antenna/Kits 0-11db attenuator
• K9DP BCI Filter
• QRP-Labs 20w Dummy Load

"Goals" / Thoughts for year 2: 

• Continue to operate/improve the remote station now that it's up and running on 2 QDXs. (Filling out more band slots now that I can operate routinely outside of the 20m band!).. hoping to get to, and beyond 100 DXCCs confirmed. 
• Set up another antenna, switch, and QDX to operate on 80 and 160m. (Need to build a 160m QDX). 
• Based on performance of existing antennas....evaluate my next antenna move: 80m loop? 160m loop? Leave the 40m loop and a separate 80/160m antenna? 
• Evaluate my next transceiver move: A QMX+ for SSB and 6m coverage? Hermes Lite 2? Save for a Flex, now that my cabin has fiber internet, and thus not speed limited?
• Do a bit more POTA/portable/travel operating... another couple activations maybe?

KiwiSDR antenna issues solved

    I pulled down the 40m loop entirely to inspect it after sweeping SWR and finding nothing there. Found nothing physically wrong, really. I added some electrical tape where water was getting into the PL259 threads at the balun, and soldered a connection that was just crimped. Checked the 80 feet of coax with a NanoVNA, and got 1.95 db of loss at 50 mhz, and about 1db at 15 mhz. Normal for RG-8X with a GDT in it. 

     I found a couple issues in the shack: A PL259 jumper cable had a loose ground connection to the shield, and a right angle BNC to PL259 jumper was shorting out or something depending on position. I could turn the interference/noise on and off by moving the cables around. Hard to say if it was one or both, as they both plugged into an MFJ SDR switch, and thus moving one kinda moved the other. I replaced both cables, and signals were back to as they used to be. 10m WSPR SNRs improved by 25+ db, back to where they were before 10/13. 

I've vowed to use more flexible (smaller cable) jumpers where I can in the future, as the thicker ones are wrenching around light things they're attached to. So more 6-12" RG-174 jumpers instead of RG-58 or RG8-X.