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(1) ANTENNAS:
i) Before the year 2004: a homemade wire-dipole for 15m band, which was only 7 meters over the ground.
(In 1978-1980: a homemade 2-element quad that I made by myself at the age of 13. )
ii) In the years 2006-2009: vertically V-shaped dipoles mounted on the 11th floor balcony.
In the years 2006-2009, I lived in an 11-story apartment building, and used dipole antennas mounted on the 11th-floor balcony (In early 2011, I moved to my new QTH ).
Please click the above link, and you can watch videos showing some of my DX contacts using QRPp/QRP powers and dipoles.
iii) After early 2011: dipoles mounted on the 8th floor balconies, which are about 20 meters above the ground.
21MHz, 24MHz and 28MHz: Full-size dipoles (Radix RDE-15).
18MHz: A loaded shortened dipole (Radix RDE-15 + RDE-C17).
I have been using the following three types of antenna setups, which are all manually rotatable:
(A) Setup A: A horizontally V-shaped dipole mounted on my North balcony;
(B) Setup B: A vertically L-shaped dipole mounted on my North balcony; and
(C) Setup C: A vertically L-shaped dipole mounted on my South balcony.
The coverage directions of the antenna setups are as follows (I have added the arrows to the azimuthal map of the DX Atlas developed by VE3NEA. The original image is more beautiful).
(A) Setup A: A horizontally V-shaped dipole mounted on my North balcony (manually rotatable)
This setup covers mailny North America and Europe.
(View toward North America)
When the antenna is not used, the element is removed as shown in the photo.
Simulation of the Dipole of Setup A for 12m band (20m above the ground) Using EZNEC Demo v. 5.0 (https://www.eznec.com/)
I have added the black solid line to the azimuth plot to show the element.
(B) Setup B: A vertically L-shaped dipole mounted on my North balcony (manually rotatable)
This setup mainly covers the side directions from the North balcony.
Simulation of the Dipole of Setup B for 12m band (20m above the ground) Using EZNEC Demo v. 5.0 (https://www.eznec.com/)
I have added the black solid line to the azimuth plot to show the horizontal element.
(C) Setup C: A vertically L-shaped dipole mounted on my South balcony (manually rotatable)
This setup has the same configuration as Setup B but is mounted on my South balcony.
It covers all the directions from the South balcony.
If you are interested in the performance of the antenna combined with an output power of 500mW QRPp, please see My Log (QSOs after Apr. 2011).
(2) RIGS:
i) Yaesu FT-817ND
ii) Icom IC-7000S (Its output power can be adjusted to any value of ca. 200mW-10W)
iii) Mizuho P-21DX (500mW)
iv) Wilderness Sierra
(3) POWER METERS:
i) Oak Hills Research WM-2 QRP WATTMETER (ca. 5mW-10W)
ii) DIAMOND SX-200 (ca. 100mW-200W)
[Keywords: QRP, QRPp, DX, DXCC, dipole, balcony, apartment, condo, 500mW, Radix, RDE-15, RDE-C17, アパマン、バルコニー、ベランダ、ダイポール、ラディックス]
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