Setting up your First Station

1. Setting up your First Station Bryan Harber G8DKK

2. What will be covered? • Planning – not planning permission • Site • Antenna & Feeders • Radio • Station Accessories

3. Planning • Make a simple plan • Too easy to jump in and buy the shiny new radio • Start with site: • How much space? • and then antennas • What band(s) would you like to use? • Modulation modes? – SSB, CW, FM, Data

4. Site • Carry out a simple site survey • Key points • Outdoor or Indoor Antennas? • What space is available? • Measure and make a sketch with dimensions • Mark any no-go areas

5. Site

6. Site • Don’t be too ambitious to begin with • Most of us start small and make improvements • How will your neighbours react? • Remember HF (<30MHz) antennas generally need more space than VHF/UHF (50MHz up) antennas

7. Site

8. Antennas • Now you have decided what band(s) you want to use • And how much space is available • What are the antenna options? • Especially for different bands

9. Antennas - HF • Probably the 3 simplest are: • Vertical Monopole • Horizontal Dipole • Random or not-so-random Wire

10. Antennas – HF Vertical • Works like a vertical dipole using ground as the missing element • A space efficient antenna at first sight • But really needs radials – either elevated or at ground level • Many commercial models available for both single band and several bands • Beware of claims about “no radials needed” • Not good for loft mounting can work outside as “stealth” antennas

11. Antennas – HF Vertical

12. Antennas – HF Dipole • Usually a half-wavelength dipole but could be longer – multiband G5RV • Simple to make from wire with suitable insulators, easily available • Can be fed with coax cable, ideally with a 1:1 balun or 75Ω twin feeder • Needs 2 supports – house + mast or 2 masts • A loaded dipole can be loft mounted

13. Antennas – HF Dipole

14. Antennas – HF Wire • A common SWL antenna • Can be a random length or resonant length • Many configurations possible including L and • Windom which is an offset dipole • Need at least one support • Almost never 50Ω impedance • Requires a ground system and a tuning unit (ATU) • The ATU should be outside the shack on the end of the wire NOT in the radio!

15. Antennas – HF Wire

16. Antennas – VHF/UHF • The choices are simpler than HF and space is less of a problem • The most common types are: • Verticals for mobile and local contacts • Horizontal Yagis for longer distance and weak signal operation – will need (mast) • Occasionally Vertical Yagis for longer distance FM contacts

17. Antennas – VHF/UHF • Vertical Antennas • Generally used for local FM contacts either direct or via local repeaters • Antennas are most often 1/4λ or 5/8λ long • Radials are usually integral • Nearly all are 50Ω feed impedance • Omni-directional, vertically polarised

18. Antennas – VHF/UHF • Horizontally polarised Yagi antennas • Normally used by VHF/UHF SSB & CW operators • Can be any number of elements from one (dipole) to 50 or more • Normally 50Ω feed impedance • Increased gain (by length) but directional • A rotator is normally required • Remember – turning radius • Cable loss a problem at these frequencies

19. Antennas – VHF/UHF

20. Antennas – VHF/UHF

21. Antennas – VHF/UHF

22. Radios • HF only, VHF only, Multimode • SSB, CW, FM, (AM), Data • Multi-band do-everything radios • Base station, Portable, Mobile, Hand-held • Foundation licensees need to search out the 10W radios – reducing the power of a 100W radio is difficult to justify • 10W Radios: IC703, FT817, Elecraft K3/10

23. Station Accessories • Here are some other items – some essential, some not: • Power supply – linear or switched mode? • RF cable: feeder and patch leads • Power/VSWR indicator • Antenna Tuning Unit (ATU) • Dummy Load 50 • Morse key • Headphones • Rotator – for a Yagi antenna • Logbook or shack PC with logging program