11 Meter Check-up

I am working 20 and 40 meters almost daily on ham sticks and have not made a contact over 1500 miles with them.  I only have 20 watts max power and am up only 23 feet so that’s not a bad range.  When I take the time to set up my inverted V wire antenna I have reached 3000 miles with the peak of the V up 30 feet in a tree so I am happy for now.  Today I have been playing with my 11 meter Uniden 980SSB made no contacts but did hear some area traffic on channel 19USB.  Here is a photo.

Walking stick 20 meter

 Above is my five foot PVC that carries one of my 20 meter ham sticks.  So I do not need to take my 20 meter off the RV roof when visiting friends with no tree to hang my inverted V.

Update on ham sticks and inverted V antenna

Update on my inverted V  and ham sticks now that I have used them for a bit.  Range has settled down a bit with ham sticks normal max range is up to 2300 miles for the inverted V it is 3000 miles.

Propagation has a huge impact on HF communications so ranges can change by the minute in real time.

BOA Vista Brazil on ham stick

This is a new distance record for me on a 20 meter ham stick.

My portable HF outfit

This field bag that I picked up at Walmart holds all I need to put my inverted V up a tree and be operating on 20 meters, I also have additional wire to make it into a 40 meter.

 Above shows my set up in camp where I use a ham stick they do not like antennas put up in their trees so no inverted V.   Below are my operational components I did not layout extra parts, para cord etc.  I leave the inverted V in the bag so I always have an antenna with me.  I normally leave my 20 & 40 meter ham sticks up on my roof ladder at the camp ground.  I/we drive our tow vehicle for area outings.  The white and red jump start batteries let me operate for about 3 plus hours but I can recharge one while using the other.  I can charge off solar, car battery or AC power.

Inverted 20 meter V up a tree 30 feet

Inverted V for 20 meters up a tree 30 feet has a range so far up to 3000 miles.

 Above is a range map to one of the furthest contacts on the V.  Below is a poor photo of the V deployed in a backyard in a tree.  You can just make out the wires and the coax to the tree.  I made the V for under fifty dollars.

Ham Sticks for my radio

You can see my two ham sticks going up my ladder, 20 meter on the right and 40 on the left. The 40 is shorter right now because I am still working on tuning it.  While my inverted V dipole let’s me reach 3000 plus miles, I have only reached a little over 1300 with the 20 meter ham stick to date.

Finally a full back shot of our site at 7:30 am.  Some parks frown on big radio antennas so I will try to keep mine on the small side (ham sticks).