HF

摘要

Currently, I have my HF beam down for tower maintenance and I get the feeling I've not been missing too much. The latest solar forecasts seem to have put back the start of the next upturn by about six months from previous predictions. But at least we are moving into the main DX season, with some interesting DXpedition operations scheduled and some major worldwide contests. Those with big stations seem to do well even when sunspots are in short supply; it is those with lesser stations who tend to suffer. This is where it pays to focus on maybe one or two bands, rather than have some sort of compromise station trying to cover everything. I'm talking about the antenna system in particular. A multiband dipole such as a G5RV is all very well, but how about mothballing it in favour of a full-size dipole for 30m or maybe a 2-element wire-beam for 17m? Or, if you are a contester, maybe some sort of phased array for 20m?