wythall radio club

Since I started to get into operating portable I’ve had some highs and lows, more lows than highs! 

I started off with the Yaesu FT817 and the LDG 817 auto tuner, great bit of kit and I worked some good dx on 20m icluding Morocco on 20m using just 2.5 Watts on FT8. 

I then decided to change radios as I wanted some more power, main reason is that I got into Bunkers on the Air (BOTA) as there are loads of Royal Observer Corps bunkers here in the South West as well as the rest of the UK, I found that the power as well as the antenna choice was letting me down. 

I decided to sell the 817 and got a Yaesu FT-857D – super radio and works really well, I’ve been getting some really good reports off it. 

That’s the radio sorted so now the antenna!

I had been using an End Fed Long Wire which seemed to just work occasionally on 20m,  but as I really needed 40m for BOTA I needed another option. I picked up a second hand pro-whip vertical; that failed massively; yes it tuned up on the bands I wanted but somehow it just didn’t work and I was having fewer contacts and  the ones I was having gave me really low signal reports. 

I was looking at other antenna options and thought about dipoles.

One of my BOTA friends suggested he’d make me one to see what I thought.

It arrived so as I had the day off decided to try it. I was at sea level in Torquay as would have been too windy at the bunker I normally operate from. Using 50w SSB I was able to get signal reports ranging from 56 to 59 plus from locations north to Cheltenham, East to Dover, London and Bedfordshire as well as South to Brittany. 

There are many types of antenna on the market for portable ops and I fully appreciate it’s everyone’s personal choice as to what works best for that operator.

For me the dipole is definitely they way forward and works best in my situation.

Brand new antenna + BOTA paraphernalia

40m/20m dipole- home made by Jason M9JSD

AND A FOLLOW UP  REPORT FROM A BUNKER IN DECOY PARK

Day off from work and as it was a nice warm day and no wind decided to activate another bunker with my Dipole. 

Short drive to B/G-0207 Newton Abbot ROC bunker, I was operating from inside the 1km from the bunker limit in Decoy Park.

I’ve got the setup down to a tee now!

Yaesu FT-857D with the ultramax battery, fully charged operated at the full 100 Watts output.

The antenna was up at 5.5m above the ground on the mast. 

The band was pretty noisy, S6 noise all the way through the activation 

On the  air for about an hour, and managed 31  QSO’s in the log including one bunker to bunker.

Stations worked were up to the Scottish Borders, Isle of Man, Penzance, Walsall, one in Kent as well as France, Belgium and the Netherlands. 

Probably won’t be out again now till the 3rd weekend of the month as its another weekend bunker blast.

KEV G4XLO