Falcon OUT-250B sort of test results.

Hello all,

I did not realy test the antenna yet, but i can not keep you from the few experiences i had so far with this antenna.
As last friday evening I had some time ti sit behind the set, i scanned most of the bands.
20m was open , and i could hear stations from Brazil, Chille, Peru. This is all between 10.000 and 12.000 km from where i live. They all were very clear.
I did not get the chance to make a QSO with them due to huge pile ups caused by our Italian/Russian/Polisch/etc friends. As they all work with huge beams and at least 1Kw......

But, back from naging to the essence....
As i can swap quickly between antennas due to 2 antenna inputs on my TS-480 i could see and hear the difference very well.....
To be honest, with the falcon i could hear those stations perfectly, and i heard nothing on my wire....

The same story goes for 10m... i heard stations on the falcon where on the wire i just heard QRM.


I hope that upcomming weekend i'll be able to do some real test. If you read my blog and want to help me with tests, please drop me a msg or mail.

73's

New project... Bitx 20

Even though i have limited time, i decided to buy a fun kit to have something to do ... yeah right....

I heard a few fellow amateurs talk about a qrp tranceiver called a bitx .... as i had no idea what they were talking about i joined their conversation. They talled me about this little qrp set designed with off the shelf components, and and VERY cheap.

So that night i started to do some research on this set..... and after a few days thinking about it i ordered the most expensive set.... yes... the MOST expensive set. Now get this ... the most expensive set.... is ... hold on.... $75... yes you read it correctly 75 dollars.

Now, i am not going to tell all about it here as there is way enough info on the net...
This is the main site. Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE
And this is the ebay site where i bought it ... Ebay store

If you want a cheaper version.... thats possible....the cheapest kit is ... and again i am not kidding you, check it out yourself.... a whole 30 us dollars......

Well... i got an email saying the kit was send on saturday the second of july.... so i will just have to wait :)

I will keep you guys posted

Alex

Falcon OUT-250B the ultimate 20m vertical ?

I promised i would post some test results about the the Falcon OUT-250B i got recently.
And finally i got some spare time to use the set again last night and today.
Now befor you read on, i only have a wire in my backyard to compare it to. it's a Wimo balun (i think a 1:9) with about 15m wire attached. This is the one: Wimo MTFT antenna

As i really like the 20 meter band, I will start my test there.....
And the first thing i noticed.... no signal ? is the antenna broken? No its not!
On 20 meters this antenna is QUIET!....
The signals might be a bit lower then compared to my wire antenna (about .5 to 1 S point) but it does not have a S3 to S5 noise level with it.... I have no idea what you would want, but i prefer to listen to a S5 clean signal then to a S7 with noise in it.

Now, the 20 meter band is also where this antenna switches from good to bad... well bad....
If you expect to work 40M, 80M well on this antenna i  have to dissapoint you.
Experience teaches us that all above 20 meters, you are better off with a wire...
So also with this antenna, it works, but do not expect miracles.
This was confirmed as well when i was listening on the 40m and 80m bands. As soon as i switched to my wire, the signal level went up as well the clarity of the signal.

On the other hand, 17m,15m,12m,10m and 6m all work above my expatiation i had of this antenna.
I do have to say i did not work on those bands  yet, but i did listen to other amateurs there.

Anyway, that's my point of view on this antenna.
If you do not have a lot of space to put multiple antennas up like wire's and beams and verticals etc, and you are stuck with just being able to put op a vertical, then this antenna is really not a bad choice.
Is it the best? i dont know. Is it the worst? for sure not.
Also the 'lack" of radials is awesome when you have lack of space.

Anyway, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to send me a mail or something....