Some time ago I wrote 2 small blogs. One about using a CW filter in digital mode and one about doing more with less. It was about a trip I made to Montreal, where I used my small FT-817nd radio to make some impressive contacts. Well, at least to me they were impressive! 😉
My furthest contact there was 7500 km (4660 miles) using 2.5 watt on RTTY.
I found some pictures that I took when we were there and I decided to share them with you. I was using my FT-817nd, together with a Signalink USB device for digital mode (RTTY) and a small MFJ-904H tuner with built in 4:1 balun.
I used my Macbook Air running Windows XP on Vmware to be able to use RTTY on Digital Master 780.
As an antenna I used a 9 meter (29 feet) long end fed wire on a telescopic stick. I used the tuner with built in balun to make the wire into a usable antenna.
Why was my antenna 29 feet? I found a great article about wire lengths for end fed antennas here. It was written by VE3EED (SK), and its a must read for people that like end fed antennas, I think!
So, here are the pictures.
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This article was first published on www.pa1ca.nl and is published here with permission of the author.