Notes from a Small Station

Joe Chester M1MWD ups sticks for a houseboat but manages to stay QRV.

Joe Chester M1MWD experiments with a fan vertical as a possible solution to his antenna constraints.

No, this is not an inquiry into the virus, or an analysis of its effect on radio operators in general. However, the current public health emergency has had a dramatic effect on my station. And no, thankfully, the virus hasn’t made an appearance, but this does not mean that it hasn’t caused a major rethink. For the past few years, I have put a huge effort into improving my small station. Recently, I appeared to have some positive success from these modifications.

Then, over dinner on a wet Monday, the floor disappeared from under my feet. Apparently, there was a family Zoom, or some such, during which stern instructions were issued. We were informed in no uncertain terms, that we were moving house, to be closer to our children.

Now, if you have been following this column, you will realise that moving house in order to acquire more space for antennas was strictly forbidden. And indeed, my dreams of more space were quickly dashed by a further announcement – we were moving into (onto?) a houseboat, by the River Avon, in Gloucestershire! Details of the whys and wherefores are too boring to recite.

So, the radio challenge starts all over again. But there is good news, so don’t panic.

Operating from Boats

Boats, be they yachts, cruisers, or houseboats are, in some respects, ideal locations for radio stations. This goes all the way back to the days of Marconi, and to ship- to-shore services in fine transAtlantic liners. I once had a small yacht, in which I used the backstay of the mast as an antenna, and that worked really well. But this houseboat does not have a mast. However, the ubiquitous fishing pole might be pressed into service as a lookalike mast.

So, my first thoughts are to set up as if I was a /P station, to see what happens. First up was my AX1, basically a short base-loaded antenna for 20m, designed to match the Elecraft series of small /P transceivers (see my review PW October 2019). My Elecraft radio is a KX3, all mode, 160-10m. It has given good service on many portable outings, so I decided to set it up on what passes for a back porch here.

It’s only a few minutes work to set it up on a camera tripod (after I found the various bits, which had travelled in different bags or boxes!). In five minutes I caught Alex OZ7AM, quickly followed by Ger EC1A, both of them 59 with me, as I was with them. I didn’t manage Pavel RA3OA, but I was only running 10W. Thank you gentlemen, my first QSOs with my new M1 callsign.

Proof of concept? Well it’s a portable setup, so of course it’s going to work! There were many other stations showing on the PX3 spectrum display at the time, but unfortunately, we had family round for a socially distanced look about (and lunch), so I had to shut down the radio station.

The new QTH means a certain amount of research needs to be done on the best way forward. Even as I was setting up the KX3/AX1, I was eyeing up the possibilities for the next step. Thankfully, as well as the ARRL Handbook, the manual for the SGC-237 ATU has much of value here.

I had previously used this ATU with the backstay on the yacht.

The manual describes several ways of mounting antennas on all kinds of boats. It doesn’t specifically mention houseboats, but it does mention camper vans (and even aircraft!). Of course, one of the main suggestions is a tall vertical. Which is where it becomes interesting. With its large metal hull, and the nearby river, the opportunity for a really good antenna ground only depends on bonding the ground wire to the boat’s hull.

Wire is the wrong word, but rather

copper foil or a strap is needed. Callum M0MCX describes (on his blog) how he once built a narrowboat, on which he had a tilt-over mast installed, which supported such a vertical, with an ATU at the base. So here is a ready-made solution.

But first, an experiment with the aforementioned telescopic pole, using 19.8m of antenna wire, set in an inverted-L configuration. I will start by using a 9:1 unun as the feedpoint and see how it works.

This is basically what I was using in the previous QTH (but with a GRP pole rather than the fishing pole). Again, checking the concept out found me running 100W one afternoon. I was delighted to catch Geoff GM8OFQ, from Orkney. on 14.285kHz. We have worked a number of times, usually on 40m but never on 20m. He gave me 59+25, and he was 59+ with me. Where he lives on an island in the Orkneys, only 300 people live there. A really nice QSO! Then in quick succession, I logged RU1M, YT8A, EA7ATX and LY1G. So, all in all, a good result, in less than ideal conditions. But, of course, it worked, and just as well as from the other QTH.

80m

But one of my main interests at the minute is 80m, and with the antenna wire being nearly a quarter wave for 80m, it would make sense to eliminate the unun, and set it up as an 80m ground plane, with a bonding strap going to the hull for the ground connection. Future work. But for now it’s time to check on the 80m nets with the inverted-L. I heard David G4HMC on 3720kHz in earnest discussion about poles (does every radio net have an obsession with poles?).

Then it was time. As 0930UTC clicked around came the QRZ from NRC net controller Nigel G4RWI. Next time round I answered and got a 59+20. GB3RS, being run by Ken G7FTD, gave me a 59 as well, as did Ed G3ZLX. David joined the net and was delighted to give me a 59, occasionally 59+.

Needless to say, they were all 59 with me. Thus, we proved at least one more useful rule of thumb for 80m morning operations – you can’t beat being a shorter distance away for a better signal report.

Mind you I’m only a few tens of kilometres closer. But 80m is a fickle friend at that time of the day in high Summer, so every little helps. Of course, I didn’t get away without yet another challenge being offered. “Now you need to see if you can get to 59+40”, said one net denizen. I wasn’t quick enough with the PTT, so I’ll say it here. “No, I don’t want to rent your spare room, or move in next door hi, hi!”

Other Bands

Eventually, I will need to think about other bands and other modes. Dipoles might be a challenge, and certainly will be limited in height. And mounting that GRP pole. And a tilt-over arrangement of some sort. It promises to be a long, but interesting journey.

And I should also mention, for completeness, that although a houseboat nearly all the time, it could be persuaded to slip its mooring lines and travel up the river to new locations – a new variation on going mobile! Or would I be /P? Please help. Is a radio station moving along a river away from its ‘home’ mooring /M or /P? Or something else?