Newbie with vertical install of HF antenna

[NA5XX]

The only hf I run for now is 10 meters. I am using an old Antron 99 vertical and seems to do much better than the 10 meter dipole I have in the attic.

Antron A-99 is a great antenna. I have worked the world with the A-99 and HTX-100 radio. Late 90's was a great solar cycle.

 

[SIX-SHOOTER]

Bundled up and went out today to bury some radials. I had bought a spool of some surplus wire at a local Restore. The spool had enough 14 ga insulated wire to bury 8 radials. Lengths were anywhere from 18-25ish feet. I was able to bury each of them pretty easily. The sod was pretty soft so cutting some slits and pushing the wire into the ground was easy. I used some lawn staples to keep them in place and cut the slits and pushed the wire into the ground. Lots of mud on my shoes and pant legs. Ground here is a clay soil so it was easy to mold the soil back over the wire. When done I was hard pressed to see where the radials had been laid. Going back to Restore and buy the other two spools to finish the radial field. Total cost of radial field will be $12ish dollars. Love good deals.

Being retired is a blast. Extra time to have some fun. Spent my working life working hard in a lumber mill out in Scotia Ca. After leaving the mill I worked in a fab producing memory chips for computers and cameras. This job was at Micron in Boise Idaho Also made imager chips for cameras and phones. After that job worked as a satellite installer. That was a fun gig. Now I stay at home and do honey do chores and fun projects of my own.

LOL,being retired is better than work any day even at a high paying job because you are finally your own boss. I will be Retired 6 years on February 28 & it gets better every single day & my wife Rarely ever hands me a Honey Do list. Plenty of time for Ham Radio,CB Radio,Bass Fishing,or any other Hobby or activity I choose. By the way I never had a single high paying job & I still don't want one today. I prefer retirement anytime. Nobody ever told me it was this much fun or I may have retired sooner & that would have cost me on my retirement income so it's better the way it turned out.

SIX-SHOOTER

 

[Alan Blackmon]

Well the 5btv teamed up with the Icom IC701 got me checked into a net today. This would be my first contact on HF. So I got from Boise Id. to Grants Pass Or today. Kind of happy with that performance. I was on 80m and using a tuner to get the match a bit nicer for the Icom. I did want to have my first contact with the Icom vs. the newer Yeasu 450D.

 

[NA5XX]

Well the 5btv teamed up with the Icom IC701 got me checked into a net today. This would be my first contact on HF. So I got from Boise Id. to Grants Pass Or today. Kind of happy with that performance. I was on 80m and using a tuner to get the match a bit nicer for the Icom. I did want to have my first contact with the Icom vs. the newer Yeasu 450D.

Well done. Kep it up.

 

[Alan Blackmon]

What was nice was just after this contact I heard a operator from out of Humboldt County California talking. That was my old stomping grounds growing up. He was pretty weak so I did not try to contact him due to the Net going on.

 

[BJ radionut]

Well Alan: Glad it's working out for you.
Now that you have a working set-up, the fun begins!
Roadstar/Mike/KI5CHB(from the forum) and I were able to hook-up this morning on 75m and his new All Band Doublet Antenna at 40 ft. had a nice 59 signal from Texas to Ind...
So amazing what good effort in setting up a practical efficient antennas does.
Look forward to hearing you on the bands.
All the Best
Gary/W9FNB