Although HF radio fascinates me, and I really enjoy working HF, I have not been very successful at it. So far, I’ve made contacts all over the USA, including Alaska and a few in Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, but outside of that, the only contact I’ve made outside of the Western Hemisphere has been a single contact to Japan.

This does not mean I won’t continue to try! Even with poor band conditions considered, I’m in the process of adding different antenna options, as the only HF antenna in use at this time is the Comet CHA-250B. (See the link to Shack / Antennas.) The first new antenna I plan to try, is a 40 meter dipole, attached to my rig via an LDG AT-897 Tuner. I will update this page after we have tried this option and determined if it has been successful.

Update - September 7, 2010:

At a local Hamfest, I purchased a 40m Dipole antenna with a 1:1 balun. When I erected the Comet Antenna last year I had the foresight to put a pulley with some line at the top of the mast. This turned out to be a good thing. Over the Labor Day Weekend, I hoisted this new antenna up the mast, and tacked out the wire ends about five feet off the ground at fourty-five degrees in the classic “Inverted-V” antenna arrangement. The balun was connected to one end of 100 feet of RG-8X Coax, which I rolled out through the back door, and eventually to the back of my radio and hooked it up.

Talk about positive results! This was a great antenna! I had so much fun that weekend making contacts all over the place!

The bad news, is this was just a temporary arrangement to test out the idea, so I had to take the new antenna back down Monday Evening. The good news, is this will soon become a permanent antenna option at my shack!

Update – February 27, 2011:

With the help of Eddy – KY0F, we did the “official” install of the 20m dipole during late October. It is strung from the antenna mast at the center to one tree in the back yard, and the other leg to a tree in the front yard.

After using if for some time, I have come to two conclusions: 1) It worked better as an Inverted V, and 2) Although this is a good antenna, the Comet Vertical has not been so bad! It seems that perhaps the poor performance I had before was not so much based on antenna selection as it was that the bands simply were not as open as they have been of late, and seem to be getting better.

Take a look at my HRD Log and Map below; I’ll admit that my results have not been spectacular, but I’m proud to say that my results have not been bad either!

Have Fun!