A quick drive from Green Bay, WI to Appleton, WI last night gave me a really nice reminder just what sort of contacts are possible from a little mobile rig and whip with coils style antenna on the HF bands. I happened to be listening to 40 meters (around 7.156 MHz) around 5 PM central standard time. I heard quite a strong station as I tuned the band without looking at my radio dial. Form the strength of the signal I assumed that it HAD to be someone local – probably with a beam, and probably running a linear amplifier.
Using my ears I was able to quickly tune the signal to just about spot on. Probably the biggest challenge in HF mobile radio is my mount. I have a dash mount and my control head hangs out from the dash. It is REALLY nice in terms of being able to see the readings quickly. It also looks quite professional and in-line with the rest of the gauges on the dash. BUT – I always worry that if I am actively tuning the radio on a bumpy road that the weight of my hand and arm bouncing around will tear the control head from it’s glued on mount. It’s been a year – and that hasn’t happened. But I do worry about it.
The signal I heard was from SPAIN! My goodness! I was amazed! And then I remembered that there were sun spots… aha! It all made sense. There was quite a pile-up of stations trying to make contact with this station from Spain. Interestingly a station from New York was strong, but not as strong as the station from Spain. But as often happens, I drove by some power transfer station or something and the radio was soon quite noisy. So I switched back to HF and that was that.
For those that haven’t done HF mobile – give it a try! You will hear a lot of people boldly announcing that it can’t be done or that you won’t make any contact because your antenna is vertical and the rest of the world is horizontal. And that is sort of right on a percentage basis. But I DO make regular mobile HF contacts – even international – when mobile. It is a bit hard to do on your morning commute. But if you’re taking a half hour road trip… then it works out quite well… And if you haven’t upgraded to at least General yet… it is SO worth it! Get the license first. Figure out what to do for a radio and an antenna later. Don’t worry about having the “perfect” station. Just get on the air, operate well and have fun! If you are on 40 meters, I hang out around 7.1600 MHz because that is what my antenna is tuned to… would love to chat with you some time!
Stay radio active!
Jon Kreski, AB9NN
http://www.HamRadioResources.com
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