Yesterday from Florida I heard but failed to contact YC6ODD Indonesia.
A number of JA stations heard from Florida also, but no contacts.
Anybody manage a contacts.

Today managed following contact :
S7NE  Seychelles
20.45 UTC
17m/18.137Mhz
SSB
report 5.8 sent/5.7 received
Power 600watts
CHA -hybrid v1 base and 8 foot whip
from Fort Lauderdale

2012-05-03

Station/Country: T88RF/Palu
UTC time: 1127
Band/Mhz: 30 mtrs/10108
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/599
Power: 100
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/99' random wire
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 7410 miles)

Station/Country: VP2V/NY6X/British Virgin Islands- Tortola
UTC time: 0915
Band/Mhz: 40 meters/7008
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/599
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/99' random wire
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 2830 miles)

2012-04-29

Station/Country: RI1ANF/South Shetland Islands
UTC time: 1122
Band/Mhz: 40 meters/7004
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/599
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/99' random wire
Your location:Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 5431 miles)

 

Wonderful contacts. Well done. Great to see the CHA antenna is getting out all over the place. Have not worked CW since 1994 I think !

Wow, nice contact Ed! I am amazed at the contact you folks with the Hybrid and mil whip are making . I am in awe of the ability to talk to somone so far away with nothing between but electromagnetic plasma between antennas and reminded daily that it  is all controled by El Sol. Is your setup elevated (how far up) with counterpoise or ground mounted with radials (or somethng else).  I am very curious how these are set up for DX for future DX portable (or pehaps here at QTH).  Thanks for sharing this, there are some of us that find this information interesting and useful, 73, John

 

Station/Country: V44KAI/St Kitts and Nevis

UTC time: 0855  (0255 MST)
Band/Mhz: 40 meters/7005
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 559/449
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/99' random wire
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 2980 miles)

Station/Country: RW0LZ/Asiatic Russia
UTC time: 1055
Band/Mhz: 30 meters/10108

Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/599
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/99' random wire
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 5655 miles)

Station/Country: HC2AC/Ecuador
UTC time: 0915

Band/Mhz: 20 meters/14014

Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/599
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/99' random wire
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 3331 miles)

2 interesting contacts on 40 Meters SSB today 5/14/12 from Florida.

KH2JU Guam (8346 miles)
09.56 UTC
7.190 Mhz
400 watts
CHA-Hybrid 31ft wire vertical

ZL2OK New Zealand (8031 miles)
09.45 UTC
7.190 Mhz
58 58
400 watts
CHA-hybrid 31ft wire vertical

Tonight from 9.50pm to 10.01pm EST had a 17 meter phone qso with G3EHQ. 59 all round. This is the latest that the 17meter band has been open at my QTH. Antenna was my trusty CHA Hybrid -V1-whip. Wonder if others are experiencing 17 meters open so late?

I keep trying to keep this thread going. I have been doing a little DX chasing recently.

5H6CMG/Tanzania
5/24/12
03.08 UTC
17m/18.130MHZ
SSB
55 57
600 watts
CHA hybrid/V1L base/mil-whip

Yes, please keep this thread open. I make contacts on a daily basis from my truck I just don't get a chance to post them here. The wife and I are going to try to go up to the mountains at least once a week and see what kind of activity we can stir up. I usually hang on 20m-10m. Most of the contacts that we have made though have been on either 20,17 or, 15. If you want to try a sked we can definitely try and set one up. I'm using a V1L with a Hybrid base. When I go up to the hill and park next time I'm going to try and replace the top whip of the V1L with the 30' wire that I got with the Hybrid to see if it makes any difference. I'm thinking it will improve it quite a bit. I even maybe able to work some good contacts on 40 & 75. I can tune her up just fine on the lower bands and I even check into a net every morning on 3947KHz with the stock whip, but I'm sure the added length will help tremendously. I'm also set up as of last night with a loop for 6 meters and a stacked pair of loops for 2 meters. Now all I have to do is pray to the propagation gods to send me some good skip for VHF.

This is great! 
KA3NXN it would be great for us all to chat, maybe a thread here where we can all check in and say we are on the air and then with response we can designate a frequency or something along that line - what do you think ? Could become an impromptu "net". Height/mountain and a longer wire should be good. My hybrid-31 foot wire vertical gave me much better results on 40 and 80m, but not as quite/good as V1L whip hybrid setup on 15,12 and 17. But I am NO expert but enjoy "playing" with antennas.
K0FTC, John, great contacts from Colorado - certainly easier to work Europe from Florida, no mountains and 8 foot above sea level and other than houses not many obstructions to the ocean!
163 entities/countries - you are ahead of me, as I am at 151. Aland Island, interesting place, have not worked them...great geography lesson ham radio, looked it up on Wiki. Reminds me when I was young and my dad would work DX and I got a geography lesson.

73's
David

David,

Nice contacts.  I've been on most the day and no joy here as far as contacts.  I'd love to snag Oman and Qatar.  I seem to be able to hear and make QSO's the world over except I seem to have a donut hole for the Middle East/North East Africa for some reason.   And with me its not a question of power (at this time), either I can't hear them or barely hear them.  Great stuff David,  73, John

Did manage an Italian QSO after I wrote this:

II2POPE/Italy - Special Event Call - Pope in Milan for VII Meeting of Families
2222 UTC
21038.1 mHz
100 watts
599/599 (pile up RST - neither of us were)
CW
Hybrid/99' random wire.

HI David, having issues with formatting and posting here on the forum, so if this shows up a couple of times my apologies. Yes, Japan really comes in well here, especially early in the AM.  Hawaii as well.  Bands opened up last evening and this morning I am hearing KH6MB in Hawii on 15 and seems to be working a pile up in EU and places elswhere then NA.  Also made contacts on 30 meters, and 17 which is really good.  Very unusual at least for me for these higher bands (20 and up)  to be open this time of the early AM.  I am reducing my power to around 50 watts to see how well I might get out there on lower power.

G0NXA/England (4554 miles)
0608 UTC
10117 mHz
50 watts
559/449 
CW
Hybrid/99' random wire

RK3ER/Asiatic Russia (5431 miles)
0614 UTC
18072 mHz
50 watts
599/599 
CW
Hybrid/99' random wire

Hi W3NRL, before my Hybrid, I ran a number of random wire antenna's ran against ground/radial/counterpoise and always came back to them in my "limited space - CCR" home, as they really worked for me.  "Long wire" antennas are cut to frequency and also "end fed" antennas are the same concept, but I am using a "random wire" antenna.  So....to answer your question there are several sources on what length to cut a "random wire" for multi-band operation. I think the term "random" comes not from the length - you - determine that, but in that it can go around corners, up down, sideways, etc. which is what I need in my little space with a semi-stealthy antenna.  The main thing I read about is not to cut it at 1/2 of a wave length or multiples thereof of any frequency  you wish to work as the impendance will be very high - you don't want it resonant anywhere and you will need a tuner to use it as a multi-band antenna.  So here are a couple of resources that give optimal lengths and a bit of instruction on how to build them. My original hank of wire was a 100' in length, and by the time I got the ends soldered and secured on either end, it was close to 99', and I hate cutting wire shorter if I don't have to. One resource shows it not good on some multi-multiple of a fequency but it tunes all frequencies I ask my Ten Tec internal tuner to try. Of course, I am not sure what the magic in the Hybrid cansister is, (I used coax and a regular balun before), but it seems to work just fine for me. Here are a couple of resources:

http://www.hamuniverse.com/randomwireantennalengths.html

http://www.w0ipl.net/random-l.htm

http://www.w8ji.com/long_wire_antenna.htm

Best of luck, 73, John

 

Thomas thanks for your input. Nice to know that CHA antennas are working well in Austria, especially in your portable set-up. Have not spoken to any JX station yet.
It continues to amaze me how well these antennas work especially when some say "no way". Today here is an example. Heard station from India VU2PAI on 20 meters , turned on amplifier, rotated my 2 element mini-beam in that direction (which is 25 foot above ground) could not make the contact - switched to my CHA antenna which was hearing 1s unit better and made it through the pile-up. My current setup works incredibly well on10m(not much open) 12m,15m,17m especially, and 20m. With power I am competitive from east coast of Florida. Recommend an amplifier as it makes a massive difference if you want to DX-QSO-ragchew. From here I can call CQ and hold the frequency for hours on end. Also these antennas make great listening antennas.

VU2PAI/ India.
14.254 Mhz
21:15 UTC
SSB/phone
58/579
600watts
distance 9268miles
V1L-base/mil-whip/cap-hat at 14 feet a.g.

I add my log from this afternoon from around 4.00pm EST to 7.00pm, not to boast, but to show what these "little" antennas can do with some power/amplifier.I sincerely hope that all of you can do the same or perhaps better.

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g372/N4DOV/2012-06-04_213312.jpg

From Thailand HS0ZIO V12 QRZ Admin	CP1FF
Last Update	2012-05-08 15:42:03
Class	A
Latitude	-16.537087 (16° 32' 13'' S)
Longitude	-68.079824 (68° 4' 47'' W)
Grid Square	FH53xl
Bearing	250.1° WSW (from HS0ZIO)
Distance	11667.7 mi (18777.4 km)

Some prop this afternoon, both east and west on 15 meters. 

Station/Country: AH6V/HI
UTC time: 1915
Band/Mhz: 15 meters/21019
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 579/579
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/74' random coax antenna
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 3264 miles)

Station/Country: UA5C/Moscow
UTC time: 2025
Band/Mhz: 15 meters/21031
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/599
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/74' random coax antenna
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 5441 miles)

Then north and south on 17 meters:

Station/Country: KL7J/Alaska
UTC time: 2121
Band/Mhz: 17 meters/18071
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/579
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/74' random coax antenna
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 2379 miles)

Station/Country: PV8ADI/Brazil
UTC time: 2136
Band/Mhz: 17 meters/18073
Mode(SSB/LSB/AM/CW/FM/FSK): CW
Report sent/received: 599/599
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna: Hybrid/74' random coax antenna
Your location: Fort Collins CO (Distance from station - 3794 miles)

Still trying to keep this thread going. Propagation pretty "sketchy" here, but every now and then can hear a new DX country for me (up to 157 now). Contact with QSB made with
9M2ESM  West Malaysia
10481 miles from Fort Lauderdale,Fl
report : 55/55
power: 600watts (acom 1000)
band: 17meters/ 18.117Mh
mode: SSB phone (rig Ten-Tec omni 7)
antenna: V1L base-hybrid-mil-whip-caphat @14 foot above ground

The CAP-HAT does two main things:
1 - Help the tuning of the antenna across the entire HF spectrum.
2 - Increase the TX because the CAP-HAT increase the amount of current in the bottom half of the antenna. The radiation is at the highest where the current is the highest. So you'll have more radiation with the CAP-HAT.

From my unscientific point of view, as I did no comparison testing, I found that:

1. Never had SWR problem before or after installation
2. Had no effect on receive
3. Made a DIFFERENCE ON TRANSMIT. Cannot quantify this, but have made more QSO's without amplifier  
    since adding and made some, that for me from Fort Lauderdale are impressive SSB contacts to the      
    Pacific (India, Malaysia) where I had to break through pile-ups(was using 600watts). Europe is an
    every day event from the East coast.

So, I would summarise that for the price, it seems to be a very cost effective improvement. It is always a "humbling experience" to tell a yagi/ log periodic/ stacked array owner (of which I am jealous) that all I have is my green and black Chameleon !
Good luck,dont think you can go wrong adding it.
73's David.

Condx still poor.  Still, nice QSO... 

06-30-2012 at 12:35 UTC, KH2L, Guam (6600+miles), CW, 30 meters 579/579, 100 watts, elevated Hybrid/V1/extended mast

TU David,  we've been fine and only can watch the smoke and flames.  Up to over 600 homes gone now.  Forest has been reset by 50 or more years.  Its a measured risk living in a place that has adapted to fire over the eons.  Our thoughts and prayers with those who lost their homes.  At least seems to be quieting down here around Fort Collins with the High Park fire.

I am with you as far as the "little engine that could".  Once in a while I am envious of those big beams on tall towers - but then I am reminded why I can't have one of those.  Besides, being on the margin keeps me enthused in trying different things to see if they work. Quite the challenge.  I continue to be fascinated by radio propagation and love this hobby.

But...condx are terrible right now, grand daughters are on the way up to visit, and there are other priorities in life to keep one engaged and thankful. So will park the radio for a while this afternoon.

Take care, 73, John

 

 

Have you tried a 25'-30' push-up mast with the 30' wire installed vertically with few radials?

My setup is a 31 foot jackite fiberglass push-up (flag) pole with the supplied wire that comes with the Hybrid, which if completely unravelled at the end, is about 31 foot.  I have a limited area to put it about 62 foot by 4 foot of ground next to my patio. I live in a courtyard home, the courtyard being my only land. Not the greatest location, also it is 2 foot from a wall and very near to my home on the other side. Not by any means an ideal place for a vertical. I have managed to bury 8 radials (4 to each side) 31 foot long. The pole is "permanently" mounted -attached at base and at about 6 foot to the wall and sticks up through the palm trees. I have posted some photos on another thread but will repost them here. From results so far, this antenna appears  better on 40 and 80 meters (which is how I aimed to set it up) , equal on 20, but worse on 10,15 and 17 meters in comparison to hybrid V1L whip setup on the other side of the house amidst the bamboo trees. None of my antennas are in the open, all surrounded by obstructions, all "stealth". But they sure work unbelievably well as far as I am concerned.

First photo is of the radials and the base attachment of the jackite pole. Ugly balun in background and a 8 foot ground rod is also attached to "radial plate", made from a piece flattened copper pipe.
Second photo shows the lower attachment of push-up pole. The support pole is PVC. Held by thick cable ties.
Third photo push-up pole with the wire attached with electrical tape and plastic cable ties
The fourth photo shows the antenna third from the left, the others are emerging palm fronds/leaves. Florida version of "stealth set-up".

Station/Country: K2D CT Special Event - 13 Colonies
UTC time: 0155 7-7-2012
Band/Mhz: 40 meters
Mode-SSB
Report sent/received: 599/559
Power: 100 watts
Type of CHAMELEON antenna:  Hybrid, base V1, Cap Hat, MIL