Possible DXpedition this weekend

I am renting a car on Saturday afternoon for a few days (until Tuesday afternoon), this is primarily for me to get somewhere I need to be on Monday afternoon without taking the train, however it has another plus point, getting to a nice high point for a spot of DXing.

My initial plan in August was to go to Tan Hill and do some DXing there, this fell through as I could not find any time to get up there and I was late finishing the T2LT and finding a suitable pole for it, this is now remedied, and I could go to Tan Hill or Emley Moor, the latter being home to a famous broadcast transmitting station, but I'll see which would be best, Sutton Bank on the A170 is another option but the only car park is owned by the North Yorkshire Moors National Park Authority so only useable with a magmount and tank whip, and I don't have the latter and cannot put a magmount onto a rental car as it may damage it, Tan Hill is closer however.

The radio (the President Grant 2) will be powered by my sealed lead-acid battery and not from the car's cigarette lighter to avoid damage and running the car's battery flat, the only antenna I have available is the T2LT, this will happen assuming the weather is better than it has been of late.

If I can do this I will be on air most of the day, and I hope to catch you on air that day if conditions permit.

73 de 26CT730

Evening SSB net

Tonight I made an attempt to take part in an SSB net for a couple of hours on EU 28 USB, though I could hear a station in Corsica I was not able to get back to him, nor another Charlie Tango station on channel I heard in the back of the box, presumably Northumberland, there was  a lot of QRM from the US as well as some QSOs going on, but unable to reach them either.

The T2LT had tuned down fine so perhaps conditions were not favourable for me this time, if the weather is good I might give it another go next weekend, and perhaps work out a shelter that's somewhat better than my scooter's cover.


73 de 26CT730

T2LT update

With the new pole having arrived I strapped it to my scooter, packed up my Grant 2, my most decent SWR meter, my multimeter should I need to investigate any shorts, the dummy load in case I needed to check for any issues with the radio, which I did not need.

The pole was not 100% straight (it was propped up), the T2LT was slightly adrift at the top but otherwise fine, a small loop was also provided for tuning. but no tuning was needed as the SWR was below 1.5 at all times, reception was good across both UK and midband, the tuning loop was positioned slightly above the top of the pole with the main part of the antenna running the length of the pole, the choke also worked perfectly.

Should the weather be good on Saturday I shall be heading back up to the car park where I did the tests and will be going on air properly for the first time in a long time.

73 de 26CT730

Tan Hill pre-DXpedition evaluation - video

Here is the video I took up at Tan Hill, it's taken me a while to get it ready for putting on here but I got there, it should give you some sort of idea of what I was talking about in my last post.

73 de 26CT730

Pre-DXpedition evaluation of Tan Hill

I took a ride up to Tan Hill today to evaluate how good a DX spot it really is, for PMR446 use I’d still advise on an external antenna mounted as high as possible, for CB a proper antenna would be beneficial, though I had stations incoming on a handheld, in this case the Midland Alan 42 Multi, notably some foreign stations on channel 8 midblock using AM. I did have a brief flick around on FM and also on 27/81 but AM appears to show more promise, SSB may also be very promising when I can finally give it a go, which may well be at Tan Hill.

I took some video footage on my phone and while I type this I am awaiting it to process before I upload it to YouTube, a later post will be that very video, which includes my very first call on AM, although because I was using a handheld I doubt anyone was able to hear me but with radio you just never know.

All I am left to do is sort out a shelter, build a T2LT and some suitable battery packs, acquire a pole to mount my antenna to, and hopefully I can get back to Tan Hill and keep DXing, I’d like to be up there in August on a Sunday.

So, a video is to come later one when it is finally uploaded to YouTube, and on Monday the President Grant 2 should be here on my desk.

 

73 de 26CT730

DXpedition preparations, parts list and rough measurements for T2LT antenna, and a possible cheap and light power supply

As I am hoping to order a 100 meter drum of coax, specifically RG58, I have taken some measurements for the T2LT antenna, I may make a second antenna for home if the design proves itself in service, the measurements are those used by YouTube user UKCBTV, a fellow Charlie Tango station (though can't remember the callsign), with a working centre frequency of around 27.500MHz, should cover the legal 80 channels with little in the way of trouble.

Another thing I found while watching UKCBTV's videos was his excellent idea of a portable power supply, which uses 10 1.2v rechargeable batteries, which range in capacities up to 2500mAh, that would be roughly 25Ah at 12v DC, so something I may cobble together, as well as get hold of a decent battery charger plus some new batteries, he also fitted a volt meter, a good idea to ensure voltage is stable and a cigarette lighter line socket, the battery box and cigarette lighter line socket can be sourced from Maplin Electronics, the voltmeter appears to be an eBay purchase.  This idea was compared to the Midland 77-805 Portapak CB radio, which had a battery box with it, handhelds are another option but the battery life in most is usually pretty dire and the rubber duck antenna is usually hopeless.

The current draw for my Midland Alan 78+ Multi B is around 1.1A on TX, presumably at full modulation, the 42 handheld (which includes a car adaptor) is slightly shy of 1A on TX, the President Grant 2 is 3A on TX with modulation. my Moonraker FA5000, which I now hardly use, I do not know the current draw for as I've lost the manual.

So if I can get the T2LT antenna built and tested in the next couple of weeks, I can focus on a suitable power supply, the battery pack idea above from UKCBTV sounds ideal and is cheaper and lighter than the car jump starter I was originally going to use and will get me started, a telescopic fibreglass mast, and, importantly, a shelter, a collapsible tent may suffice, and a means to carry it all on my back while riding my scooter (I don't have a car yet) then I'm  all good to go, and can get on the air portable at Tan Hill hopefully come August time, if you're on air the day I am up there then we may hear each other on air that day, I'll be using the usual callsign

So, progress in the right direction, power lead, a possible electrical supply, and the measurements for the T2LT written down.

73 de 26CT730

Planning a DXpedition to Tan Hill

I am planning a DXpedition to Tan Hill, home of the highest pub in England, my plan is to take a rig, battery rated around 10Ah, may get a bigger one (my scooter's battery is 7Ah and I need that to power my scooter's starter motor so I cannot use that), or a portable jump-starter with a 12 volt outlet, I just need a collapsible pole and antenna, I plan to make up what is called a T2LT for this purpose.  This is inspired by others going up hills to do this, and Tan Hill makes a good place, I'm sure the Amateurs would like it too, and best of all there's a pub up there for food and drink

Update: Listening to GB3IR, the 2m repeater in Richmond, this evening (I obviously cannot transmit as I don't hold an Amateur license yet) the Amateurs that were on air have mentioned Tan Hill so they actually have used it themselves for HF work, so I am not the first nor am I the last.

The pub itself stands at 1732ft ASL, so the location is pretty much perfect for radio, especially DXing on both 27MHz and 446MHz (I may give the latter a go as well depending on how much charge is in my radios, though I can charge them up prior to the event and take spare batteries, but my aim is to try on 27MHz, as it is sat around spare and it the better of the three mobile rigs I own I will use the Midland 78+ Multi B (the TTI TCB550 is on gateway duties so won't be removed and the Moonraker FA5000 has an awful s-meter and cannot do AM, as AM is now legal and my Midland 78 Plus is type approved for use in the EU as far as I can tell it is legal to use on AM here, for the full 4-watt output on AM, it is required to put the radio into the setting for Spanish channels as these use 26.965-27.405 AM and FM at 4 watts.

My new Sony headphones and my converter will also be going with me, just for those stations I may not hear easily, laptop, maybe, though a notepad would allow me to write down callsigns, I simply need to pick up a portable power supply (a battery and volt meter may be sufficient as a temporary measure until I can get something better), a telescopic or collapsible pole, and an antenna, preferably of the T2LT type.

I may also look into picking up a President Grant II CB radio, as I hear these are very good indeed, and I've wanted a President CB radio for a while now, but until then I will just use my Midland 78+ Multi B.

One thing that I intend to do is take an SWR meter, my good quality Zetagi combo SWR and power meter will be ideal for this role, my cheaper two aren't brilliant, one has a needle that is not as precise as it should be and the other sometimes likes to stick, one of these is connected to my home antenna system for the CB gateway as the radio is also connected to it and I need to monitor if the tuner is working as it should be on occasions.

on PMR446 the antenna will be screwed into the radio, so no meters, coax, or anything else.

If I take the computer I may take the RTL-SDR and use it with another antenna, provided I don't overload it with my own transmissions.

So, I'll post an update as and when this DXpedition takes place, Tan Hill is there, I might as well use it for radio.

73 de 26CT730