Re: ON4UN's Low Band DXing Free Download
Scat Laboy
Always a great signal and a gentleman on the air. I worked him many times over the decades. Low Band DXing is a must read for all hams. We lost a ham radio titan. My prayers are with the entire family. RIP John Rick N1DC
REST IN PEACE NOW JOHN ( JOHAN FOR ME as we both used our christian names ) . VERY OFTEN FAR AWAY IN DISTANCE BUT NEVER IN MEETING US OVER THE AIRWAVES . THANK YOU DEAR FRIEND . HOPE TO MEET YOU SOME DAY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HEAVENLY PILE UP .
As a wanna-be ham in the 1970-ies, and later in the 1980-ies, John and Ghis ON5NT, where my inspirations of fellow country-men who took ham radio to the next level, be it at the level of operating from remote locations or putting a real science-factor into what we did.
In my DXpedition adventures through FO0CI, AH1A, 3Y0Pi and VK0IR, John remained my link to my family and was a constant supporter. Beyond that, we also ventured with other hams, to experiment and test the boundaries in contesting at his home.
My one regret is that during my time living in Belgium ( Liege) back in 1973-74, I did not take the time to visit with him. I did not want to impose. I know now that it would not have been an imposition.
We have all lost a good man who showed the way to operate the Low Bands. We had QSOs on 5 bands
and met at Dayton, where he signed his book Low Band DXing for me. RIP John you will be missed.
Paul W2JGQ
Sad news. John RIP.
Thanks for your contributions over all these years. Learning about shunt feeding my tower
I was able to get on 160 and work you and others in Europe.
Good Bye Mr. Low Band.
Karl N1DL VE7ZDL
Ham radio will not be the same as John was one of the best CW operator I know. First work John in 1978 on 10 meters.What a pleasure to work a guy that I read all his books on Dxing.He will be missed RIP my friend
Cal K1CAL
Ham Radio will be a different world without John, a deeply and truly inspiring friend. May God bless his soul and give comfort to his family.
We will miss you John. Rest in peace.
Andrew M0HJJ
Rejean VA2AM
First 80 m QSO back 1993 and 160 m qso ssb & cw after applying his shunt-fed tower idea in 1994 just after the night power restriction removed from LORAN system. By the way I am still using the same top band antenna. Always a pleasure to chat with him or exchanging a contest qso. His antenna books will stay in my library forever, RIP John.
It was a pleasure to work with John on a couple of editions of low band dxing. He had a lot of passion for the low band dxing book, and he did a great job of putting it all together for the amateur community. Rip john
RIP my friend. I was so happy when you visited George and me at my Colorado QTH. I knew you would always hear me even When I called in a big East Coast pileup. I will miss your friendship and great operating. It was my pleasure knowing you.
I will always remember the day I met John at his home QTH near Gent. I could not believe what an amazing antenna farm he proudly showed to me. Rest in peace John. I have a great treasure in my shack: Low Band DXing that he dedicated to me. From Manuel, EA7PS
I remember a few months ago someone already put sad news about John`s passed away. I also had many QSO with this Great and Friendly Ham Radio Guy. Who He obviously has been for the entire life. Big sadness again. As well as I am very sorry to his daughter Marleen and the rest of the Family. Mike SQ6WE RIP
I am so sorry for everyone. John was a very fine gentlemen and a very significant contributor to ham radio. His low band dxing books are testament to his enjoyment and knowledge of 80 and 160. I was very fortunate, as others, to have known him.
When Peter I island was first on the air during a dxpedition, I heard John calling him while I was. I knew he needed it for a new one and I told John to go ahead and he worked the station. Well, conditions deteriorated and the station could not work any more people including myself that day on 80m. My point is that the next day, the Peter I station was specifically looking for me. Word had apparently got out (I bet it was dear John) and I worked the station for a new one. My point is that, it gave me great pleasure to do it for John and I think of the many things he had done for others.
Many years ago my family and I had the pleasure of visiting John & Freda in their home. Several years later at an Asia Pacific DX Convention in Osaka, John, my youngest daughter and I spent a lot of quality time together. Always a big signal with good ears AND an incredible QSLer!!! RIP John! Glenn W0GJ
As a 160 meter enthusiast, this news saddens me, when I met him at the Friedrichshafen fair he was very kind and answered my questions by giving excellent advice. He was a competent operator and shared his experience with everyone. Rest in peace.
I have space for a full-size dipole for 160 but I cannot get it up
very high, maybe 30 feet, higher than that only at great expense and
with great difficulty.I will likely put up a 160-meter dipole at 30 feet and feed it with
ladder line and a tuner, and use it for NVIS work on 160-40.For DX, though, I'm wondering if I will be happy with a vertical such
as the Voyager DX from Gap Antennas, or if I should bite the bullet
and go to the expense and difficulty of getting the dipole up 60-80
feet (which still won't be very high, compared with a wavelength, at
160 or 80).What's your advice?
Get a copy of ON4UN's low band DXing.Search the Topband archives Re: antennas.Measure/estimate your ground conductivity and permittivity and get
comfortable with a modeling program.And finally, experiment.I don't mean to be glib but there's really no quick answer to what
antenna you'd be happy with for DX on 40,80 and 160. 30 feet for a
horizontal antenna *is* too low, generally.Maybe someone can comment on the Voyager DX... I can't, specifically.
Verticals are good, short verticals are compromises and must be treated
with care.- - - - - - - - -This is what I use: can certainly work more 40&80m DX on this than on the 30 foot high,
100 foot long centerfed wire I used to use on those bands. As far as
160m goes, this is the first time I can work 160 DX at all... 73,
Dan
>What's your advice?Hi Rick,Choose your poison.A 30 foot high 160M dipole is a notable ground hugging air cooled
resistor. A GAP is probably worse.A combination of the two might be in order (which does NOT mean buy a
GAP to do this). Erect a 30 foot vertical and top load it with what
would have been the dipole.I will leave to others what could be done in higher bands (with one
word of advice, GAPs don't usually perform very well on their lowest
band(s), but have been to be reported as good verticals otherwise).73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC
As someone has said get a copy of ON4UN's Low band dxing..
I would not particularly recommend the Gap Antenna for Low Bands.Than being said if you and put out a decent radial system for dx
Transmitting anyway I'd say you want some sort of vertical.Why not try a Inverted L. Try to get as much vertical as possible.
Base tune it with a matching network- The SGC line works well for that
application. you can read more about Inverted L's in Cebik's write up at: Luck
73, Dave Kc1di
Good morning, Richard.Actually, 30 feet is on the low side of "about right" on 160 and on
the high side of "about right" on 80, for NVIS work, of which I do a
lot. For DX, I agree that it's not of much use.And yet...My current antenna is an inverted V up about 35 feet in the center, 90
feet each leg, fed with ladder line. It started life as a
60-foot-high inverted V, full length for 160, in which configuration
it worked rather well. Then a storm came by and knocked a tree down
... well, I digress... :-(I had earlier put up the inverted V via one of those "expensive and
difficult" mechanisms I mentioned earlier (hired a 60-foot cherry
picker and operator). I couldn't do that again, so I hoisted what was
left of the antenna up to the top of my 35-foot tower, and trimmed the
legs so that they would stay within the property line. Kept the
ladder line feeder, and I tune it with an LDG RT-11 autotuner with the
LDG balun.I use that antenna on all bands including 160, with a Yaesu FT-817
running a cloud-burning 5 watts, and it works amazingly well for the
power level.But, as usual, I want more. :-)Thanks to you and others here for the feedback on the GAP. I REALLY
wasn't up for spending almost half a grand for a vertical.
I have a fairly high noise level around here on any of the horizontal
antennas I've tried.But, I have an MFJ-1026 "Deluxe Noise Canceling Signal Enhancer" :-)
that does an amazing job of cutting down the noise IF the noise is
primarily from one general direction (which seems to be the case
around here although I haven't been able to pinpoint it).That's one of the reasons I wanted to try some kind of a vertical and
see how that worked.I read somewhere that ground mounted verticals with radials on or
buried in the ground tend to be noisier. Is that true? That's one of
the reasons I was considering the GAP Voyager DX... doesn't require an
extensive radial system.
The T is better if he wants it to act like a DX vertical.
The L is ok, but if the horizontal wire is fairly long,
there will be a good bit of horizontal radiation.
This can be good for a mix of NVIS and DX, but
for DX only, the T is usually better. The T will have
an overhead null the same as a normal monopole.
I'd say most peoples L's on 160 have more horizontal
wire than vertical... :/ I know mine did. I could only
get mine about 45 ft vertical . That left 80-90 ft running
across the backyard. I often feed my coax fed dipoles
as a top hat vertical on 160 by shorting the coax, and
feeding as a vertical. At the moment I have a turnstile on
80m, and a dipole on 40. "6 legs total"
The 4 60 ft wires make a good "X" top hat..
MK