My HF roof antenna is up!
Saturday - June 08, 2019
A few hours ago, a couple of friends of mine came over and helped me install my first vertical HF antenna on the roof of the QTH. It is an Alpha Antenna Promaster with an 18' vertical telescopic aluminum pole mounted on a Hy-Gain tripod mount bolted on to the roof, one NVIS element tied and isolated from a pvc vent pipe and ground clamped to the gutter.
This new addition definitely improved my receive and transmit by a lot compared to the magnetic loop antenna I was using.
This new addition definitely improved my receive and transmit by a lot compared to the magnetic loop antenna I was using.
So far, I've used it on FT-8 over 20M and 40M–even a few times on 30M. I made a few DX contacts to Russia and continued with Mexico and Canada. Sometimes I can hear Cuba calling CQ but I can never make contact. My signal is definitely stronger and being heard more—on FT8. The antenna is directional on the low bands because of the NVIS element is anchored West, so the signal radiates out East.
On voice, I can hear conversations on 80M and 40M that I never heard on my loop operating inside the office, but I haven't made contact nor called CQ yet.