Where to point fixed 2/70 beam

[VK2VHF]

Hi guys,

Quick question, what is the best direction to point a fixed 2/70 beam for SSB from Sydney.

I was thinking either SW towards ACT and Vic or North to Qld.

Would appreciate advice from seasoned ops on where I will get best results.

Cheers Adrian

[VK2BCC]

South West would be best Adrian, a big subject give me a call on 144.1 sometime.

73

de Colin

VK2BCC

[VK2VHF]

Cheers Colin...I will give you a shout one morning, perhaps this weekend.

Cheers

[VK2KRR]

Depends what you want to achieve?
Something more regular, I'd probably aim toward Melbourne.

If not then point toward New Zealand.

[VK3DXE]

Any chance of making it Armstrong rotatable? I'll try to post up some pics of my temporary setup in the next day or so. Mine is attached to an old sat dish bracket at the edge of the roof which allows me to attached a 7m mast to it, just loose enough to rotate by hand from about 240deg, thru north and around to about 160deg. You can even set something like mine up to be turned by a cheapo eBay rotator to save you having to go outside constantly to turn the antenna.

If no go on rotatable, then definitely Southwest.

[VK2VHF]

No - the roof location will mean my arm won't reach the mounting pole.

SW it will be pointed.....but the idea of pointing to NZ sounds interesting too. I could move it a couple of times a year for fun.

Cheers, now to install the beam!

[VK2GOM]

Why not fit a decent horizontal omni? Or am I missing the point - you have a directional beam, but not sure what you want to listen for? Limiting yourself to a 20 to 30deg chunk of azimuth will be very frustrating when you look on the Logger map and see all the activity at 90deg to where you end up pointing! An omni will be down a bit on even a small beam, but once all hell breaks loose on a good Es or tropo opening, it will be a huge advantage. ZL has been worked on 2m mobile verticals from NSW...

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

[VK3DXE]

Why not fit a decent horizontal omni? Or am I missing the point - you have a directional beam, but not sure what you want to listen for? Limiting yourself to a 20 to 30deg chunk of azimuth will be very frustrating when you look on the Logger map and see all the activity at 90deg to where you end up pointing! An omni will be down a bit on even a small beam, but once all hell breaks loose on a good Es or tropo opening, it will be a huge advantage. ZL has been worked on 2m mobile verticals from NSW...

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

The majority of activity is to the southwest from Sydney Rob. Getting up and turning it towards ZL manually when the band is open is a good compromise.

FWIW, I'd still be investigating the option of turning it remotely. There are plenty of TV-type rotators on eBay for around 100 bucks.

EDIT: Just a little more.... When I started to play on 2m again back in the early 90's in Vaucluse, I had a small Quad that a mate made which I kept folded up in the wardrobe in my 1 bedroom flat. When I wanted to use it, I'd hang it from a light fitting and worked all sorts of exotic DX down around Canberra with 2.5w from my FT290RII. I also worked ZL with that setup. Later on when I had a much bigger station, but having just moved house, with the same rig and a small 4el yagi (my portable setup), I was able to work VK3CY at Wedderburn in VK3 via aircraft - around 700km. Bob, VK3AJN at Wangaratta is still active in the mornings, so you should be able to work him pretty easily at around 540km, IIRC.

AND, if you don't have one already, GET YOURSELF AN EXTERNAL PREAMP. The band becomes a whole lot more interesting when you can hear those distant stations.

[VK3ALB]

Adrian, you don't say how big the beam is although I suppose a combo 2/70 might not be very big. I'm sure you have your reasons for fixing it in one direction but unless it's more than a metre or two long I reckon it would make sense to invest in a small TV rotator. The rotator would also allow you to work north when conditions are right. If your heart is set on a fixed heading then I agree with the others, SW is the direction for you.

[VK2VHF]

Geez you guys are full of good ideas!

But yes, the situation is restricted by various factors and the fixed beam is my only option for now.

In any case my 'on air' time is pretty thin so I think beaming SW will be fine for casual operating.

If I get more serious a rotator can be added later.

Thanks all....

[VK2VHF]

So 12 months later I have just put the beam up!

Being new to beams, I am curious as to how directional the beam really is. I have the M2 2M7 (7 element, 12.3Dbi, E43 deg, H 50 deg) beam which is pointing SW towards Canberra and on to VK3. (with the aid of a compass and a map).

So my question is how "perfect" does my bearing need to be on Canberra given the 50 deg H beam width?

After 2 mornings on 144.200 at 8am, I have not heard much in VK1, despite seeing activity on the logger.

Many thanks guys,

Adrian

[VK1DJA]

You should be OK with your current arrangement. Conditions have not been real flash over the last couple of days. Stay with it!

Keep in mind that local topography can have an effect (eg a hill near you on the direct path), so sometimes the direct path is not the best.

You can use the Op Info facility on the Logger to get actual bearings. The VK1 stations most likely to be heard in Sydney are pretty close together.

Aircraft enhancement will be a big help, say 2 or 3 or 4 S points. The tools to predict when AE is in play are PlanePlotter and (better) AirScout.

Dave

[VK3ZAZ]

The tools to predict when AE is in play are PlanePlotter and (better) AirScout.

Dave

Dave I am a pilot and have ADSB OUT in my aircraft and bought an ADSB IN receiver
https://www.openflightsolutions.com/flightbox/
its called a flight box and I set it up initially with a whip aerial then fitted a modified CDMA aerial for 1090 MHZ with a filter and preamp.
It comes along for the ride to see ADSB signals and traffic alerting.

I run ADSBSCOPE at home
http://www.sprut.de/electronic/pic/proj ... sb_en.html
and SPRUT software in a GNS5890
I can see aircraft out to 200 NM or 450 km up to 40000 feet

Half the stuff on FLIGHTAWARE and FLIGHTRADAR 24 is not running ADSB yet still 1000 a/c to be fitted out by the mandatory fitment date FEB 2017
half the planes I see on ADSB 1090 don't appear on the internet and if they do they are delayed or marked ina different place.
So the AE purported to be from this flight or that flight is flawed to a certain degree
Guys running AE are so sure its QFA 19999 when in fact it may not be at all.

if I had some space I would take screen shot of ADSB 1090 and also the internet flight tracking and show you the difference

e.g at moment on Flightaware I see morning bank plane and an airmed on both systems
and yet over Stawell is SIA237 9VSWH a 777 not on any internet page
I don't know why maybe its security unknown but I am seeing direct transmissions from that plane
And LJX just went north at 43000 feet also not on Flight radar or aware.
So what you hear may not come from what flight you think.
AN ADSB receiver at $200 would be a worthy addition to any shack.
On weekend during the highs when 2 and 70 open 1090 MHZ sigs were enhanced out to over 500 km.
Some 2M APRS signals out to 1000 km.



2 cents

[VK1KW]

Hi Adrian,

2 meters 7 elements regular DX, unfortunately your antenna is too small. With a preamp, mount another the same and you will do ok.

But remember what you see on VKLOGGER display is not all that goes on. Too few people post spots to the web page.
Look for VK1BG 144.200 8-9am horizontal every day. (mostly)

Too small - but again it depends on your QTH. On a hill 7 is good but down in the suburbs, bigger is better.

10w on 2 meters DX your whistling dixy! That's only local and repeater stuff. 50w is a good start.

But again, depends on conditions.
If a good coastal location work ZL this summer on what you have. Or coastal ducting, then border to border maybe?

I am behind a big hill toward Sydney so we could only manage aircraft enhancement maybe?

Keep trying - vk1's look toward Sydney every morning.

Best of luck.

[VK3ZAZ]

Anywhere

24H ADSB PLOT

http://flightaware.com/adsb/coverage#data-coverage