Beachside DX from Jekyll Island

Location: Jekyll Island, GA

What a great afternoon on the radio! I woke up around 3:30 PM this afternoon and headed out to get some early dinner: fried shrimp and clams from Jinrights in Brunswick. After eating, I headed out to Jekyll Island and took up a spot at one of the parking areas along North Beachview to operate the mobile/portable amateur radio station for awhile. I took advantage of the cooler weather today: the temperature was 74 F and the skies clear and blue.


I worked a few stations on 20 Meters before giving the station a test on 80 Meters by checking into the weekly Georgia ARES Net on 3.975:

• 9A5BS, Felix in Zagreb, Croatia
• OP2A, Ivo in Brussels, Belgium
• GM3UEG, Dave on Orkney Island, Scotland

I got a good signal report from Charles, K4GK, net control for the ARES net when I checked in and I heard K4GTM - Guy, KD4PDX - Mark, KB4GNX - Bob, and KI4TYO - Ken from Chatham and Effingham Counties at good levels, I suspect we could have worked each other. I think the HVT400B would work OK for ARES use if the need be.

After the net, I worked some more DX on 15, 17, and 20 Meters. I used the LDG897 tuner to tune the HVT400B's 15 Meter setting for 17 Meters and it worked good enough to make contacts with.

• YV5ZV, Victor in Venzuela on 15 Meters
  
• F6IGS, Gerry in France on 17 Meters
• FM5DN, Leon in Martinique on 17 Meters
• GS3PYE, Lawrence on Island of Harris in Scotland on 20 Meters
• IS0R, a DXpedition on Sardinia (20 Meters)
• ZW7R, a DXpedition on Restinga Island (Brazil) on 20 Meters

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Opek HVT400B Mobile HF Antenna

Location: Brunswick, GA

Last week, I ordered an Opek HVT400B mobile HF antenna from R&L Electronics. The best way I could describe the HVT400B is that is a "poor man's" Outbacker. It is a multiband antenna (80/40/20/15/10/6/2/70cm) that uses taps and whip length adjustments to tune. The antenna and a tri-mag mount arrived this afternoon via UPS and I put them on the car this evening to try it out.

Using my FT-897D and LDG tuner (I've yet to try the antenna without the tuner) I worked Europe and Africa on 20 and 15 Meters! The first thing I did was check 40 Meters. I didn't hear anyone calling CQ, so I didn't get a chance to see how it would transmit; it was receiving quite well and I don't expect that there will be any problems transmitting. When I changed the tap for 20 Meters, I quickly came across DK1II, Franz from Germany working DX. I answered one of his QRZ calls and received a 59 report! That's not bad for an inexpensive antenna and 100 watts! I tuned up the band a bit farther and found S58FA, Freddie from Slovenia working DX; Freddie gave me a 57 report. I decided to try 15 Meters next, changing the tap and extending the whip. Almost immediately I came across TL0A in the Central African Republic working stations; he gave me a 55 report, which was the same as the station he worked before me. Once again, not bad for a mobile installation!

I'm looking forward to giving the antenna a try on 80 Meters soon. I'm hoping that it will do well enough to allow me to check in to the weekly Georgia ARES net on 3.975 on Sundays.

So far, I'm quite pleased, this looks like it will be a nice antenna to use for the portable HF station here in Brunswick!

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT