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Back
through the years ... |
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1971
- NANTES Loire Atlantique (FRANCE) After a few years listening to Ham bands on an homebrew REF-design all
valve 5 band receiver, I had upgraded with an all solid state Ham receiver Vendee
5SD by LAS France: a nice piece of equipment for that time, though expensive for
a student. With Pierre F5PW as CW coach, learning code was not that much
of a problem, and time had come to go for the Ham licence. I finally got my ticket in
1971, about same time as buddies like F6AXC, F6BLU, and F6BSW. |
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Transmitter was homebrew as per F3LG design, with a 50 Watts grid
modulated 807 PA: about twice the weight and half the power of a modern
transceiver, but built like a rock into an army type steel cabinet. CW was thru a sawblade
and antenna a mere dipole in the attic. Also I had experienced with QRP portable op
with crystal controled EL84 transmitter into a rotating dipole. My first SSB rig: Heathkit
HW32A 20 meter SSB monobander is shown at right. |
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1972
- SAINT HERBLAIN Loire Atlantique (FRANCE) Moving along with my parents to a new house, there was some room
for improvement: it came with a 12 meter mast and various wire antennas. It is about this
time that I traded out all HW32A, Vendee 5SD and homebrew transmitter for a "top of
the line" Sommerkamp FT250 5 band trcvr. Woooow, whats a change. |
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2 element quad before and after storm. |
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1973 - French Forces in Germany Time had come to wear battle dress for that time
compulsory 12 month military period that took place in south west Germany. I turned out
soon as being the only member and then manager of the local radio club DA2.., later
operating under my own callsign DA2VI with still alive FT250 + wire antennas from the
base, or with army rigs whenever mobile. |
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1991
- MIRAMONT de GUYENNE Lot et Garonne (FRANCE) When settling back in France after no ham activity since 1976, it
happened that the radio bug came around biting again: that made me soon acquire a YAESU
FT102, and raise up an homebrew G4ZU tribander wire beam @ 9 m high (super
Db/cost ratio) + horizontal loop fed thru a parallel line and homemade matching unit. |
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2000- PORNIC Loire Atlantique (FRANCE) F6BLQ home callsign is used not more than
2 or 3 months a year due to overseas assignments (just a fact, not an invitation for
piracy!). |
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Till 2000
only verticals or dipoles have been used as temporary aerials behind FT 1000MP
+ HL2K amp. Results surprisingly showed above average, with QTH being 15 m. ASL and 150 m.
far from seashore, with no major obstacle except toward North. Yet an urgent upgrade was
felt necessary, as no serious Ham can sleep well if no proper antenna :-) |
| French regulations are that
any tower higher than 12 m. and antennas larger than 4 m. do require a construction permit
from the township: usually no big worry, at least when erected on owned properties. Much
different is when a QTH is within a 500 meter radius from a so-called "classified
piece of history": in this case all tower projects (and more generally any
construction project) need additional and often cumbersome investigations by
environmental/historical protection agencies. Our home QTH was within this category, so
the administative venture was expected to last. |
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< Not the shack ! but
the neolithic culprit stone 350 meters away from the house, that rules out any large
antenna project! A construction permit has therefore
been applied in October 2001 for an "11,50 meter" telescopic tower, even though
seldom are those who would make the difference between 11 and 15 meters from a simple
glance toward the sky! Yet always mind your neighbours,
experience says and has proved this time again. |
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| Late 2003, advantage has been taken of several 16 m. high pine
trees to support a 40 meter vertical delta loop (with feeding point at mid base in order
to achieve high angle for european traffic), and an inverted Vee on 75 meter, both being
rather unobstrusive wire aerials. Also a 6 meter long boom yagi by DXSR is atop the main
tower. |
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| 2003 - Pornic (FRANCE) |
Constructed
on a mere 800 sqm of "antenna garden", this setup will surely not challenge big
gun stations but still offers multiband "better than average" performances,
taking into account administrative local restrictions. Also when the neighbourhood will
have visually accepted both tower and aerial, it is no reason not to apply next for an 18
or 21 meter extension permit, just enough to give local squirrels a chance for new
experiment! |
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