So the bad weather continues in the UK, i had wanted to carry on with my 2m/70cm antenna project but with the gales, it didnt seem like a sensible thing to be doing, esp as the mast is tall and heavy – even with a light breeze, it could be dangerous.

Instead I looked thru the Buddipole in the field document and reviewed the 40M section. It said it was possible, albeit with a slightly higher SWR.

So with the bad weather I got the buddipole setup, not wanting to lose any more antenna, I kept the height at about 2m verticle and guyed down the mast as usual and also thru the veresatee to give some extra support on the horizontal element of the dipoloe. This worked really well as the winds did pick up and mast held up well in the eright location.

I was only able to get my SWR down to 5, probably due to the height of the antenna, but amazingly I was able to receive ! Given I’ve not had alot of action on the Kenwood I was so happy to tune in and listen in. Some points I could get both ends of the conversation, others just the transmitter, but nevertheless, i found it a worth while excersie in setting up the antenna in inclement conditions and also being to use the Kenwood on HF.

Do some more investigation, one other configuration I could try is a ‘NVIS’ on 40m. This is well documented here and as I’m short one wire and the clearance mounts will probably do it another day (having just got over a bad cold, dont want to risk getting ill again !)

So for now here is a video of one of the many stations I could pick up on 40m. It was great, and amazing to see how the sun going down quickly effected the transmisions ! (80m is popular after sun).