First HF contact!

Being stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, I finally had occasion to set up an HF antenna. I picked up a relatively inexpensive and flexible Chameleon EMCOMM II. My “shack” is a 2nd story guest bedroom/home office, so I set up the transformer directly outside the window and ran the wire out to the backyard in a top-fed sloper configuration. I set that up with the Icom IC-718 I got from Dick and Alan’s SK collection, and the LDG IT-100 tuner I picked up.

This weekend happened to be a CQ WPX SSB contest. That meant that there was plenty of activity, but it was a little intimidating to jump in and attempt to make contacts. I finally overcame my mic fright and made my first HF QSO: KK9A in North Carolina, at a distance of 1,377 miles (2,217 km). He heard me, I heard him; unfortunately, I don’t know if I made the contest exchange correctly, because he moved on quickly. Still, I’m happy that my HF station is working!

I tried several more QSOs during the contest, but wasn’t acknowledged by anyone else. My receive has a constant S7 of noise and I know my antenna positioning up close to the house is not ideal. Also, some coworkers mentioned that the solar inverters on my house and my neighbor’s are notoriously noisy, but might be mitigated. I’m sure there are more adjustments to make before I’ll be heard reliably.