Can I use my Diamond X50 for 2 meter SSB comms?. I have heard that you need to use a horizontal antenna for SSB on VHF but wondering if this is necessary.
Thanks
Thanks
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VHF SSB vertical antenna
- Thread starter alternative3d
- Start date
Hi A3D,
It's not "necessary" it's just that horizontal is the customary polarization for VHF SSB work. So you can use it, but you may not be able to find anyone to talk to on it.
Good luck!
It's not "necessary" it's just that horizontal is the customary polarization for VHF SSB work. So you can use it, but you may not be able to find anyone to talk to on it.
Good luck!
So a horizontal antenna will not receive anything from a vertical antenna and vise versa? I was hopeing the worst situation would be a lost of dbs when transmitting from a vertical to a horizontal antenna but I am starting to think that this is not the case.
Horizontal Vs. Vertical
A vertical antenna will receive a signal from a horizontal one and the opposite is also true. Weak signal work on VHF and above is done with horizontally polarized antenna's Ex: Yagi's, Quad's or oni directional Loops or Square (aka: squalo).
So is short is yes you can used your properly tuned vertical for the transmission and reception of VHF and above SSB signals, expect a significant signal (about 20dB?) loss though.
I use a Horizontal dual band loop up about 45 feet on my mast and can reach out about 70-80 miles using around 50 watts. Of course your range will vary.
With SSB on VHF and higher a couple of other considerations must be taken into effect. The most important of course is the antenna. The feedline is another big factor. Do not expect to get away with using RG-59/58 or RG-8X. These cables will cost you 4.0 and higher Db loss at 100 feet or so(up to 8.5 on UHF and above). At the minimum good low loss LMR-400(UF) or LMR-600(UF) is the standard.
Power, under good band conditions you can actually squeeze by here with a decent antenna and feed line that 10-25 watts is mostly going to the antenna. Good band conditions being sporadic E, tropospheric ducting etc.
Hope I answered enough to satisfy,
Mike Drake KC2PLJ
A vertical antenna will receive a signal from a horizontal one and the opposite is also true. Weak signal work on VHF and above is done with horizontally polarized antenna's Ex: Yagi's, Quad's or oni directional Loops or Square (aka: squalo).
So is short is yes you can used your properly tuned vertical for the transmission and reception of VHF and above SSB signals, expect a significant signal (about 20dB?) loss though.
I use a Horizontal dual band loop up about 45 feet on my mast and can reach out about 70-80 miles using around 50 watts. Of course your range will vary.
With SSB on VHF and higher a couple of other considerations must be taken into effect. The most important of course is the antenna. The feedline is another big factor. Do not expect to get away with using RG-59/58 or RG-8X. These cables will cost you 4.0 and higher Db loss at 100 feet or so(up to 8.5 on UHF and above). At the minimum good low loss LMR-400(UF) or LMR-600(UF) is the standard.
Power, under good band conditions you can actually squeeze by here with a decent antenna and feed line that 10-25 watts is mostly going to the antenna. Good band conditions being sporadic E, tropospheric ducting etc.
Hope I answered enough to satisfy,
Mike Drake KC2PLJ
Yes they can "talk" to each other, but the range is considerably reduced. Maybe only a few miles locally versus dozens of miles potentially. All depends on who you are trying to talk to and the power levels, antenna heights, antenna gain of both stations.
vertical for ssb
Using a vertical for 2m ssb is not going be very good unless you have some stations close to you,it depends how much you want to talk on 2m ssb as to how much you want to put into a antenna setup,you can go with a loop that will do a fair job for you to locals and you can make some contacts when there is a band opening like this morning into Ohio,Michigan,Minn.
But you are still missing a ton of stuff,I used a stacked set of loops for a year and thought it was great till I went to a station that had a ssb yagi up at 60ft and I was suprised at what I missing,I run 2 m square 9ssb yagis stacked and talk into Vermont,Maine,Conn.,and NJ.all the time 300 watts,my buddy just put up a cushcraft 14820t beam that is 10 ver/10 hor. and he talks pretty much where I do with 150 watts,he uses the vertical for fm and he hit repeaters all over Ny and into Penn.,he has it at around 40 ft and turns it with a tv rotor.
Google 2meter ssb and you get back a ton of info on the subject,good luck and 73s.
Using a vertical for 2m ssb is not going be very good unless you have some stations close to you,it depends how much you want to talk on 2m ssb as to how much you want to put into a antenna setup,you can go with a loop that will do a fair job for you to locals and you can make some contacts when there is a band opening like this morning into Ohio,Michigan,Minn.
But you are still missing a ton of stuff,I used a stacked set of loops for a year and thought it was great till I went to a station that had a ssb yagi up at 60ft and I was suprised at what I missing,I run 2 m square 9ssb yagis stacked and talk into Vermont,Maine,Conn.,and NJ.all the time 300 watts,my buddy just put up a cushcraft 14820t beam that is 10 ver/10 hor. and he talks pretty much where I do with 150 watts,he uses the vertical for fm and he hit repeaters all over Ny and into Penn.,he has it at around 40 ft and turns it with a tv rotor.
Google 2meter ssb and you get back a ton of info on the subject,good luck and 73s.
I can give you a real case scenario of what polarity difference can do. I work into the city on 2m SSB with 50 watts and a horizontally polarised Cushcraft 11 element yagi mounted at 43 feet. There are two fellows in the city which are about 50 miles away from me and about 1/4 mile from each other. Both guys are running 50 watts and both have the same 11 element yagi that I have at similar heights except one of them is horizontal while the other is vertical as he also uses the same antenna for repeater work. The fellow with the horizontal is always S-7 to 9 on my end. On an exceptionally good day I can just barely copy the guy on the vertical yagi antenna. Theory says the signal difference should be in the order of 25 dB or thereabouts but often the difference is considerably more.
question for captain kw
Is there much ssb activity in your area,I can always copy the beacon on 144.295 that comes out of N.scotia,as strong as the beacon is at times I never hear anyone from the area,the beacon was 15 over this morning coming into ny fn14.
Chris.s
Is there much ssb activity in your area,I can always copy the beacon on 144.295 that comes out of N.scotia,as strong as the beacon is at times I never hear anyone from the area,the beacon was 15 over this morning coming into ny fn14.
Chris.s
You're in New York state and in FN14? Must be in the extreme south east corner of the square. I'm in FN75vb actually, and no, there is not a lot of 2m SSB activity up here. The beacon you here on 144.295 must be one of the VE1SMU beacon network. The same call is used with a /x where "x" is a letter identifying the specific location. There is one in Halifax on the roof of Saint Mary's University 9(hence the SMU suffix), another on a fire tower near Aylsford N.S. and I believe the propagation beacon beamimg to Europe is still active on Sable Island also using the VE1SMU/? callsign.
Well...a vertical may work..
However not too well..
I use a 9 element horizontal for 2 mtr SSB
I use my Comet GP9 strictly for repeaters (works great for repeaters)
However not too well..
I use a 9 element horizontal for 2 mtr SSB
I use my Comet GP9 strictly for repeaters (works great for repeaters)
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