[VHFcontesting] FM antennas

[Sean Waite]

Hi Josh,

i think 222 is the odd-ball of the lower bands, and joins with 902 as you
add the higher bands, in that it has a disproportionate number of FM
stations. Multi-mode gear is hard to come by for it.

A more efficient vertical than the larsen nmo270sh might be worth looking
into, especially since it's fed with 13' of RG-fishingline coax.

As a New England rover and a SOTA operator, HAGL is my friend. It's also an
enemy, if the vertical pattern is flat enough on an antenna I can sail
right over the heads of the people I'm trying to contact. Getting a
vertical up on our masts is another plan that might work, though we only
run 10' masts.

Thanks for the input!

73,
Sean WA1TE

On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 7:02 PM Josh Arritt <jarritt at vt.edu> wrote:

> Unless FM is your primary mode (and some do great work at that!), for
> the moment* I would stick with omni.
>
> A silly multiband colinear vertical can top off a nice H-pol beam stack
> for FM -- just jam it in the top of the mast pipe at your rover stop.
>
> I've found I can get away with a 2/440 colinear and a 222 J-Pole jammed
> into the same mast pipe, right beside each other!  Yes, cross-band QRM
> is a "thing", as is pattern distortion, but the match doesn't seem to
> suffer.  Conserves space.  I hope to experiment with a coax "Y" or even
> sympathetic coupling to drop a coax line next year (dirty!).
>
> HAGL is key, as always -- so a lightweight, small aperture antenna of
> modest gain that can be lashed to a high mast of some sort to gain
> elevation I think should be the rover's primary design goal for a
> "serious -but-not-too-serious" FM antenna.     These Dual-band and
> Tri-band homebrew J-pole/Slim-Jim variants fit the bill, and they're
> cheap.   Again, see above....
>
> * As FM continues to climb in popularity (222 Fall Sprint was upside
> down: 8FM, 3CW, 1SSB!), the serious contester may want to explore the
> possibility of multi-pole gain antennae on at least 2 and 222 -- be it
> circular or switched-pol -- in addition to omni aerials to get the
> proverbial "leg up".
>
> Often, I won't work my own grid on 222 without FM.
>
>
> VY 73 DE KF4YLM
>
> On 11/29/2017 14:57, Mark Spencer wrote:
> > My $.02 worth...
> >
> > I focus most of my contesting on modes other than FM.   That being said
> I try to have a reasonable FM setup for 2M and 1.25M running all the time.
>  I usually just run mag mount whips on top of the cab of my pickup truck
> while roving.
> >
> > 6M, 70 cm, 33 cm and 23cm FM is possible for me but only by prior
> arrangement.   I don't recall ever making a 6M contest qso.
> >
> > I believe I have made enough random FM qso's on 2M and 1.25M to make the
> effort worthwhile.
> >
> >   Last contest I made a conscious effort to cut down on clutter in the
> truck and left the 1.25M whip at home, I ended up picking it up at the tail
> end of the contest to gain a final multiplier and had to enter as an
> unlimited rover as a result.   I won't make that mistake again.
> >
> > 73
> >
> > Mark S
> > VE7AFZ
> >
> > mark at alignedsolutions.com
> > 604 762 4099 <(604)%20762-4099>
> >
> >> On Nov 29, 2017, at 10:49 AM, Sean Waite <waisean at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Since we're always thinking of the next station improvement, I've been
> >> thinking about the best way to implement FM in the rover.
> >>
> >> We've found that it's worth carrying the gear. We don't get many
> contacts,
> >> but they are out there and having the ability to make them on demand
> does
> >> get us points. Right now, I have a 2/70 vertical that is used for FM,
> just
> >> a mobile whip. In January for our run 'n gun I'll probably move to a
> >> triband whip.
> >>
> >> For the stop and shoots, though, we'll be better set up to run beams. We
> >> have a couple of the small Arrow yagis available that wouldn't be too
> >> difficult to strap onto a mast and have a v-pol beam available for the
> FM
> >> radios. Small LPDAs like the Elk satellite antenna are also another
> option.
> >>
> >> This would give us positive gain on FM...but i'm not sure it's worth
> it. FM
> >> contacts are mostly opportunistic, either a periodic call on 146.52 or
> just
> >> hearing someone and grabbing the mic real quick. The directivity a yagi
> >> would give us might blind us to some of the nearby stations calling
> (though
> >> the arrows aren't particularly narrow) if they are off the side of the
> >> beam. The other drawback is that it'll take a little longer to set up if
> >> we've got another beam or three to attach to the mast and cable up.
> >>
> >> What do other people do? Maybe better to have some always-connected,
> more
> >> efficient verticals on the roof the car and sacrifice a bit of gain?
> >>
> >> Looking forward to your thoughts.
> >>
> >> 73,
> >> Sean WA1TE
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