Sirio Tornado 50MHz 6 metre vertical plus my stolen identity.

First of all I have updated my official shack photo. I did this because someone was coming to visit and I thought I should tidy up a bit for that reason. So for once in half a decade I could take a photo of the tidy (or at least more tidy) shack.

Latest gory image of GM4FVM and his shack.

What is male pattern baldness is a sign of?

Now there are few things as good as someone whose views you respect and value coming to see your shack and saying things about it. More on that visit in some later posting.

Anyway, this updated photo shows my "new" £30 second hand display PC screen, a Nikon slide scanner plus my keyboard and screen used for work. Also there are Wallace and Gromit looking down on me, and a photo of Mrs FVM which I printed back to front (seen in the mirrors in the background it is now the right way round).

We still wonder why the previous owner of this house made a wall of her bedroom with mirrors, but I kept them as there are shelves behind now with radio gear in them now.

Also in the corner of the shelving is an Icom IC-705. The existence of an IC-705 at GM4FVM has never been admitted to before. That also will need to await a further posting before more details can be disclosed.

Three SWR/power meters have appeared in place of the Wavenode. For now the Wavenode has been put into isolation while I decide whether I like it or not. Maybe it will come back and the SWR meters will disappear instead. 

Just peeking over the top of the screens is the Tajfun 1000 2m/70cm linear. Do I need a linear as powerful as that? Probably not, but it is a wonderful thing.

The new photo proves what GM4FVM actually looks like. I need to point out that I am not the person with the same name who came 16th in the 2022 Commonwealth Games Triathlon. Nor these namesakes:

the 38th Governor of Illinois,

the guy who writes the books about cats and,

the international squash player. 

I am the person in the photo above and not these others.

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Not GM4FVM (too much hair)

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MOVING ON

My destiny is not to put back up my heavy dual feed 6m/4m yagi (see last posting). However, I really do not like the lightweight single coax sleeve fed Vine which is up there. So what to do?

I have consulted widely amongst my elders and betters (plus some youngers and betters) and the they all agree that if 4m is one of my key bands then I need my best 4m yagi up. They reckon that the basic idea of the 6m half wave vertical was a good one. So I will do what I can by going back to the previous situation with something better replacing the 6m vertical. 

Enter the Sirio Tornado 50MHz 5/8th vertical!

https://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/product/sirio-tornado-50-60/

There are other versions with more sections covering the spectrum from 36MHz up to this one which covers up to 60MHz. The images on some sites show drawings with very short radials - in real life the radials are 1170mm long.

Everything set out and checked complete

The basic construction will be familiar to those using other Sirio products. The elements are made of a base with loading coil, two aluminium alloy sections which are attached together and to the base with self tapping screws, and a top section which slides to adjust the antenna to resonance. This top section is held by a "hose clamp" (Jubilee Clip to UK readers), and the lower section is cut to allow it to grip once the clip is tightened. The tubular alloy radials are held in place with grub screws, for which a Hex Key (= Allen Key) is provided. So far so good.

I built the antenna low down where I could adjust it. Setting the length to 3800mm seemed ideal for me and no further adjustments were needed. I tested it with my antenna analyser and it showed an SWR of 1:1 at the bottom of the band, 1.2:1 at 50.300, and it stayed below 2:1 right up to 51.700MHz. Having thus tested it, I was ready to waterproof it and get it aloft.

Not bad on the YouKits analyser, even close to the ground.

Basic waterproofing is ensured by plastic push-on covers on the top section and one on each of the four radials. My 4m Sirio J-pole died when rain water got into it, passed through the PL259 plug, and ran along the inside of the coax. Losing the 4m antenna was bad enough, but losing the coax was expensive. The design of the 4m antenna has since been changed by Sirio but that experience made me fussy about waterproofing. Some time ago I decided to bind my 10m half wave and 5/8ths Sirio Gainmasters up at the joints using self amalgamating tape. This 6m antenna has received the same treatment.

The only problem I encountered was that the PL259 compression plug on this coax was too wide to fit into the weather shield which surrounds the socket. This plug is milled round the outer diameter. I ended up having to screw the plug in using a 19mm spanner. This strong-arm tactic distorted the cover but it was successful in tightening the plug. This is probably due to the type of plug I used. That area then got some self amalgamating tape too.

Milled edge on plug got stuck in the cover. It had to be forced in with a spanner

I am not a great fan of the mounting bracket which is supplied. It relies on four dimples on each side of a plate between the pole and the base of the antenna to locate them while a U-bolt clamps them together. There are two of these brackets. I would prefer a more solid fixing with each pole firmly fixed but I suppose this saves weight. I have better ones in my box of brackets but for now this will do. We shall see how it works in the Scottish winds. It is not likely to fall down, but maybe it could get blown off vertical.

Bracket does not inspire confidence.

Final step was to get it into the air. I had a two metre pole for this but given the weight of the antenna, the unknown strength of the fixings into the house and my rather reduced climbing ability just now, I used a 1 metre pole instead. There is a loop of coax there to get it higher but not just yet. 

It went up fairly easily. Not an easy thing to photograph against the sky. As usual click the image to enlarge if you are having problems seeing it.

Sirio Tornado ready to use at GM4FVM

When I put up the half wave I said that would put an end to my cross-Atlantic capabilities. I then went and worked cross-Atlantic with it. Theoretically the 5/8ths should give one more dB of gain (wow!). Of course the half wave did not need radials and was lighter. It has to be said though that the half wave seems to have corroded itself to pieces. I think that the Sirio should stand up to the weather better.

Just out of curiosity I decided to try to work some stations around Europe on 6m to see how I got on. When I tried that on the 6m half wave I forgot and worked EA8 on 4m on it instead. This time I managed to stick to the right band (the Sirio has a 8:1 SWR on 4m but that would not necessarily stop me ...). Anyway this was what I managed.

50MHz contacts at GM4FVM on 1 and 2 August 2022 using Sirio Tornado and 100W

This was a nice way to spend just over 24 hours (but only 3 hours 12 minutes actual contact time). 23 QSOs in 22 squares, in 9 DXCC. I did not try very hard as it was just a test, but LA, CT etc would have been easy to add. SE3X and TA7OM were new squares for me.

I also used the new Sirio to hear my first station on the 8 metre band. S5/M0MPM in JN75 heard at -11dB on 2 August 2022.

First station heard on 40MHz at GM4FVM.

No TX on 8m from the UK, or not yet. OFCOM apparently refuse to consider it and no doubt the "existing user" wants to hold on to anything they have. I do think however that a few kilohertz for data modes would be easy to allocate. In any case, who wants to use frequencies there these days when microwaves are the way to go. After all, 40MHz has lots of Sporadic E "interference" ...

The Tornado antenna should be ideal for me to work some EU Es on 6m and gather intelligence about band openings. I know that it is not a DX antenna in the sense that I am unlikely to work Brazil, Mexico or Japan as I have done on the beam.

The basic limitation here is that I only have room for four antennas on the rotators. If I use single band antennas then something has to be vertical. For as long as I find 4m, 2m, 70cm and 23cms more deserving of one of the four places each then 6m is going to end up with a second string aerial.

I am looking forward to using this antenna which I think is better than the half wave.

Actually, if the half wave had not failed I would never have changed it so maybe this is a step forward. A week ago I had never heard of it, and now it is in use at GM4FVM.

73 Jim GM4FVM