I setup at US-1418 for an activation. I tried to setup the 40m EFHW in a nearly vertical configuration, but my throw wasn’t high enough, so I went for a vertical 25-foot Rybakov instead. I used my 4:1 balun.
I got my activation working 10M and 15M FT8.
The rope came undone at far end of my EFRW. I had to fish it back down with a wire hook stuck in a fishing pole.
The SWR was a bit high, and I found broken wires in 9:1 balun, so I stripped the wires and reassembled it.
With the antenna working again, I contacted New Caledonia on 10M FT8 with 8W.
The bands were dead with the terrible geomagnetic storm this weekend, so HF is very limited. I was only able to contact Lititz from Mountville.
With the downtime, I built some new EFHW antennas. I tied some wires to trees, stretched them out, and tuned each of the 2 20m EFHW antennas with the NanoVNA: one speaker wire, and the other lightweight silicone wire. I built new ununs and mounted them in plastic gum cases and a 3D-printed winder.
I also cut a lightweight EFRW, 12.5m, from the silicone wire and gave it a gum case as a winder.
I’ll test the new antennas soon when the bands are better.
