Newbie needing lots of help (Issued)

Hi, I really need some help. I bought a setup but I don't receive any chatter. My speaker works fine with squelch but I don't hear anything else. Please help me. Thanks in advance.

Hi talost, Have you checked your SWR? if that's ok be patient mate, I'm sure you will hear someone at some point.
There are a few lads on around that way, once you have checked your SWR have a shout on ch19 of the UK frequencies I'm sure someone will hear your call.

Hello Tom, welcome to the forum.

I think your problem is the Excalibur antenna, they are well known as a poor performing antenna. Where is it located? If it's anywhere inside the house or loft you will be limited to a range of around a couple of miles.

Tell us a bit more about how you are set up and we'll try and help you.

P.S I'm going to leave this post here for a bit but will move it to a more appropriate part of the forum in a couple of days.

Best 73's Gary.

C.T. Admin.

Thanks for the heads up. My antenna is outside on the house wall. I am starting to think it needs to be on the chimney.

P. S can you suggest an alternative antenna please.

Hi Paul,

Outside is really a must so that's good. I would suggest at least a half wave silver rod or similar the higher the better. They are quite large but with stations being much further apart these days a decent antenna system is necessary to get the most from the hobby. Have a look here. https://www.kcb.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d3_Base-Antennas.html This is for reference only and not a supplier recomendation however Knights are an excellent supplier.

Also have a look in the nets and skeds section to see when there is likely to be activity in the Gateshead area.  

Best 73's Gary.

Excellent Gary thanks for the help need all the help I can get.

You're more than welcome Paul, we all had to start somewhere buddy.

Hi, so I bought a pole and brackets and still no change. I am trying to get a scaffold pole to raise it more. If this doesn't work I'll get a new antenna as suggested.

P. S my name is Tom.

Hi Tom, sorry for getting your name wrong.

I would definitely ditch the excalibur, I've never heard a good word said about them and to be honest it's pretty obvious they are a one meter long collinear antenna trying to RX/TX an 11 meter RF signal it's simply too much of a compromise. Even my mobile antenna is twice as long as that at nearly six foot!!! Pitch for at least a half wave antenna at around eighteen feet long!!!

It's also important to find out when people in your area are on the air, it varies a lot you might just be on when no one else is.

Best of luck 73's Gary.

You were right Gary, the excalibur was cack, I got a 5/8 silver rod and two hours fettling, I got it working. Only got 5 mile but hey it will do till I get it up higher. Thanks again for your help, you are a diamond.

P. S. How do i get a callsign?

That's great news Tom,

You did the right thing there!!!! You'll easily beat that distance soon and when the summer E-skip season begins you'll be working all over Europe.

I am delighted to allocate you 26-CT-3358 may you have good luck with it.

73's Gary.

C.T. Admin.

That's absolutely fantastic Gary thank you very much.

Hi Gary I just wanted to pick your brain, when tuning the antenna Im struggling to get equal readings. I'm getting 1.5 on ch40 and 1.6 on ch1. It doesn't matter what I do i can't get them lower or equal. Any thoughts?

Hi Tom

No need to worry about them SWR readings it’s perfectly normal to have a difference between Ch 1 and Ch 40

Good practice is to get the lowest SWR reading in the middle of the band you want to use , but it’s not critical and your readings are just fine

Good luck and enjoy

Craig

Thanks very much Craig, I was worried for nothing.