HF on the Air, Finally!

After a very long break from successful HF operation (and the front end of a pandemic), I made it back on the radio with successful contacts. Outside is a G5RV Jr (borrowed from a fellow FLARC member) hung barely high enough in a tree. Inside is my kit with tuner: FT-818nd, Z-817, and a Bioenno 12V/4.5AH LiFePO. Logging is pen and a little notebook.

FT-818 with Z-817 to its right, the microphone dangling down the front of the wooden drawers, and the logbook in the foreground on top of an unweathered bird box.

First contact was a POTA hunt, reaching activator AB8AS at K-7050, 2021-12-27 1835Z on 14316 SSB. Thanks for the contact! It was a basic POTA contact, but it was indeed my first contact in probably five years. Last time I was on HF was at W8EDU in March 2015, I think. A whole different solar cycle!

As mentioned, the antenna is a G5RV Jr in a tree just a bit further down the yard from the basement operating position:

Antenna in a tree. The ladder line is just visible by the rightmost deciduous tree trunk on the left with the balun and feedline hanging above the snow. One leg of the antenna extends to the right side of the frame with insulator and supporting twine visible.

The antenna has been very functional on 20 and 40m, also with a successful contact on 17m. Looking forward to more contacts this week with this system!


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