Monday, August 22, 2011

The little mini beam antenna that works the world . . .

I am in no doubt now whatsoever that the Cushcraft MA5B minibeam is far outstripping the Butternut HFV6 vertical for working DX on HF. Just perusing the log for the past few days it becomes obvious that the DX is coming in much better and easier than before.

The latest DXCC confirmed on eQSL is South Korea.Total now 122
My very latest QSO as I write this was with Ian VK3MO in Australia. I beamed him long path while he was beaming short path and he picked me up out of the pile. Just before that I had worked KP3A on 15m CW. Here is a list of the nice DX worked in the past few days, all on the MA5B (and all with 100 watts):

S79DO (Seychelles) 20m CW (New one on 20)
YB3JBJ (Indonesia) 20m CW
KH6MB (Hawaii) 17m CW (New one on 17)
D9A (South Korea) 17m CW (New one on 17)
JG1SIS (Japan) 17m CW (I got lots of JA on 17m this week)
HP1/IZ6BRN (Panama) 17m CW
CE2/VE7SV (Chile) 17m CW
VK2GWK (Australia) 17m CW (New one on that band)
9K2HN (Kuwait) 17m CW (New one on 17)
T6MO (Afghanistan) 17m CW (New one on 17)
BD1BYV (China) 17m CW
D9A (Korea) 20m CW
TL0A (Central African Republic) 12m SSB (New DXCC on 12)

And the list goes on . . .

The MA5B is a minibeam, a compromise antenna. Mine is at least ten years old. It had a burnt out trap. It is a bit dirty. It's not up high enough, standing at about 25 feet, not even clearing the rooftops!! And it's not resonant on 15m. But it's doing a great job. If I could say anything to other hams out there with small properties, it's this : "Don't despair - you can work great DX with modest equipment".

Here's wishing you all great DX in the coming weeks. 73 for now.

PS: D9A have me as EA2KC in their log for my 17m QSO. There are only four EIs who have worked them so far. All of us have one QSO each but I should have two.
Posted by at
Labels:

4 comments:

  1. PE4BAS, BasAugust 23, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    Hello Anthony, really nice photo on your previous post. The little beam gives you plenty of DX, but still the main rule is that you have to be there to work it. You probabely know that you can get a QSL from the site of VK2GWK already? Well good luck with this great little pile-up breaker. 73, Bas

    ReplyDelete
  2. HamRadioIrelandAugust 23, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    Bas,

    Yes it certainly has helped that I have been on holidays from work (back at the desk this morning!) and I was able to spend more time at the radio to catch the DX at the right time. I got to spend lots of quality time with the kids too though! I will have a look at VK2GWK's site for QSL details, thanks for the tip-off. Hope you are keeping well and getting some opportunities to sit at the radio . . . 73!

    ReplyDelete
  3. EI4DIBAugust 23, 2011 at 3:37 PM

    You are a happy camper... wait until you get the TH7 up on the 60 foot tower!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. HamRadioIrelandAugust 23, 2011 at 8:02 PM

    Oh yes, now that will be some setup!!!

    ReplyDelete

All comments are moderated - so spam will not get through.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)