KD9ZDY Gets a New Antenna

Since earning my technician's license this past fall, I've basically just been listening in to various HAM frequencies, scanning for signals and learning about my equipment. In spite of passing my exam, there was still a lot I felt I needed to know before really getting started. Beginner's anxiety generally kept me away from transmitting with my call sign, and even when I did try, I found that my limited antennas (handheld "rubber duckies") were not really well-tuned enough to generate an audible signal that would travel more than a few miles. Even if there were some other HAM operators in my listening range, it wasn't likely they'd be able to hear me unless they were tuned-in right at the same time I was transmitting, and also within a short distance from my location. I could listen in on signals as far as 100 miles out, but I could not transmit that far. I needed a bigger antenna, something to really put my 50 watt ICOM IC-2730a transceiver to work. 

So, I began my latest HAM project: installing the telltale antenna -the ones that easily identify the radio enthusiasts in your neighborhood, and sometimes run afoul of the maligned home owners' association. I ended up buying a 2-meter and 70-centimeter band antenna from HYS. This fiberglass antenna had good reviews, and is basically a slightly less-expensive copy of the similarly tuned name-brand Comet antenna, which has a good reputation in the radio industry. The HYS is white and flexible, so it blends in nicely with the front of my house, and it should hold up to heavy Midwest winds. Outside of the good reviews, and attractive price point, I chose this model because it's tuned for the 2-meter and 70-centimeter bands which are the most common frequency ranges for local FM HAM communications. The length in meters and centimeters, is roughly equal to one wavelength between 144-148 MHz "2m" band and 420-450 "70cm" band. The 5-foot, 7-inch pole with three steel radials at the base is perfectly tuned to transmit at the 2m and 70cm frequency ranges. The HYS also boasted a 1.5 standing wave ratio (SWR), meaning it was well-suited to provide the most gain (signal strength) for the 50 watt power output that my transceiver was capable of providing. An SWR that is too high can cause damage, as too much of the power pushed into an antenna will feed back into the radio. An SWR of 1.5 or less means that the antenna is sufficiently resonant to safely transmit. But, I'd still need to install and test the antenna to make sure it works as advertised. 

Before the tough business of mounting the antenna and wiring the it to the base station, I first connected my a hand-held Baofeng UV-5R transceiver to the antenna to make sure it wasn't blatantly faulty. I dialed up the input frequency for my local repeater, and listed for its response "beep" on the output frequency. Sure enough, I heard the beep. So, at the very least, the HYS antenna would be as good as what I was already using. 

Set-up was actually quite straight-forward. I only needed a mount, a lightning arrestor, grounding rod, and about 30 feet of all weather HF coaxial cable, plus some siding hooks and wire clips to run the the wire neatly around the back of the house and in through the basement window where my radio is. I chose this location and set-up as a compromise between getting the antenna as high as possible without drilling into my home's plastic siding, and being able to install the antenna, and potentially remove it safely, without having to climb onto the roof. You can see from the photo above that a person can easily access the antenna from the front porch without a ladder. The other main safety precaution was adding a lightning arrestor and ground rod near the point where the cable enters the back of the house. The 4-foot copper rod is buried straight down 2-feet from the base of the house with three, 4-foot copper radial wires extending away from the home to disperse any charge from a lightning strike. 

Now it was time to test station KD9ZDY's new antenna with the real transceiver from the comfort of my basement HAM "studio." First, I wanted to make sure the antenna has a safe SWR of 2 or less as advertised, before transmitting. For this, I used my handy NanoVNA network analyzer. Success! The analyzer, calibrated to measure SWR between 100 and 500 MHz, shows two deep troughs at the 144 and 420 MHz ranges where the ratio dips below 1.5. So, the antenna came as advertised and is safe for my transceiver to transmit on the 2m and 70cm bands.

The final step was to get on the air and announce myself with a radio check to see if anyone or anything could hear me. Success again! While I didn't immediately hear from any other HAM operators, I could hear the beacon, or courtesy "tone", from repeater antennas I'd never been able to contact before. Repeaters, automated transceivers, which listen for your transmission and repeat it over a much longer range often send a beacon, tone or squelch tail (the static fuzz that denotes an end of transmission), if it successfully receives a transmission. In the video above, you can hear the repeater's beacon when when I made contact with it. Not long after confirming my station's new capabilities, I was getting responses from other HAMs across the region, confirming that they got my signal loud and clear.