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 Previous: Inside Your League--QSL Service |  Next: Ducie is Newest DXCC Entity! DXpedition Operation Imminent |
By Dwiggins, N4QVM
November 16, 2001
The thrill of working a station, on perhaps another continent, is within the reach of any ham. Budget challenged beginners can have the thrill of a DX contact on their first contact--with good planning and just a bit of luck. Trees can substitute for towers, wires can easily replace beams and patience can be a match for brute power.
 N4QVM |
When most people think of DXing they probably have a mental picture of the latest whiz-bang radio with dozens of buttons and knobs on the front panel, a full legal-limit amplifier, a huge antenna farm or at the least a rotatable antenna on a tower. Some may have heard of antennas like the rhombic--an admirable antenna if you have a couple of acres to mount it on. However, you can work DX reliably without going to these extremes. It's possible to enjoy DXing without taking out a second mortgage.
The reason I know you don't have to have a super station to work DX is because mine is not. My first rig was a 50 W Heathkit HW-99. I bought it fully assembled when Heathkit was getting out of the radio kit business. I wanted a kit, but all the local store had left was the display unit, so I took it. I think the price was around $200.
My first antenna was a simple long-wire coupled to an antenna tuner. The antenna tuner cost around $50 I think and 500 feet of #14 wire was around $30 at the local hardware store. The total cost was less than $300, and N4QVM was on the air. Of course I had to operate only CW since the HW-99 was a CW rig for the 80, 40, 15 and 10 meter bands. Still, it was a thrill to talk to people far away.
My first QSO ever was with W8HYY on June 13, 1988. Just 5 days later I worked GM3NEQ for my first DX and I was hooked. I can still remember how amazed I was that such a simple station as a 50 W rig and a long piece of wire could reach all the way to Europe. In the following months I worked many DX stations, most of them on 15 meters. Finally I decided to try to reach Europe on 40 meters, and again was surprised when that worked. It was beginning to sink in; you don't have to have a super station to work DX.
There were some problems with the long-wire antenna though. No matter how I grounded the rig and antenna tuner, there was RF in the shack when I transmitted on certain frequencies. Since RF burns are no fun, it was time to try something different.
Using the rest of the #14 wire, I put up a loop in the shape of a large rectangle about 50 feet top to bottom and 250 feet end to end. This antenna worked much better and eliminated RF in the shack. Until recently I was still using the loop but this spring a storm blew a tree down onto the antenna.
The loop performed very well, but after a while I wanted to try something different again. Since funding was a definite consideration I looked for an antenna that I could build from inexpensive materials. After reading several articles and books on simple antennas I decided on a folded dipole. The ARRL Antenna Book mentioned that a folded dipole could be constructed from twin-lead TV antenna wire and the antenna could be fed with the same TV wire and an antenna tuner. For around $30 I picked up enough TV wire at the local hardware store to build a 40-meter antenna with lead-in and a dual 20/10-meter antenna with lead-in. The 40-meter version also works well on 15 meters. The interesting thing is that with the antenna tuner the current 40-meter version works well on all bands from 40 meters to 10 meters, except for 30 meters.
 On the ground, the DX antenna looks like nothing more than a bunch of coiled-up twin-lead. Up in the air, however, the antenna has netted the author 125 countries. |
The 40-meter antenna is actually a sloper. One end is about 60 feet high in a tree and the other end is a few feet off the ground at the base of another tree. The 20-meter antenna is a simple dipole. Both antennas seem to do equally well on 20, but into slightly different directions. These are the only antennas I have ever used. From time to time I do have to take them down and do a little repair work. The effect of wind and tree motion sooner or later leads to broken antennas. I managed to work 125 countries in about 18 months using these simple antennas and the 50-W HW-99. I did upgrade the rig to a Kenwood TS-140S, which added SSB and more bands, but I still use the simple antennas.
With a modest station such as this you do have to work a little harder and be a little more persistent to work some countries. Without getting into the "CW or not CW" debate, you will have a better chance in the pileups with CW. For one thing, all the people that don't use CW are already out of the way before you get started! That's just a little something extra for you to think about. A CW signal can also be copied under conditions that an SSB signal cannot. One of those conditions could be low power under less than ideal conditions. It's almost always easier for me to bust a pileup on CW than on SSB. It could just be luck, but it happens time after time so I think it's the mode.
If you are a newcomer to DXing, I hope this will convince you that you don't have to have a super station to work DX. It will take an effort--sometimes a lot of effort--but if you keep trying, you can work nearly everything you hear. In the end I think it is more satisfying to bust the pileup using a modest rig than being the loudest station in the pileup. Now go get that new one and have a lot of fun doing it.
Editor's note: John Dwiggins, N4QVM, lives in Cooleemee, North
Carolina. An ARRL member, Dwiggins holds an Extra Class license. While working
on a degree in Information Systems, Dwiggins applied his knowledge to write his
own logging program for use in contests and chasing DX. He writes that he is also very interested in nature. The
National Wildlife Federation has certified his yard as a Backyard Wildlife
Habitat. Visit his Web site for some beautiful
pictures. Dwiggins can be reached at jdwiggins@earthlink.net.
| Previous: Inside Your League--QSL Service | Next: Ducie is Newest DXCC Entity! DXpedition Operation Imminent |
