Amateur Radio Station EA3WR in Barcelona

This is my modest station, main radio for DX is TS-850S with INRAD roofing filter mod at the first IF, and IF INRAD optional xtal filters at 2nd and 3rd IFs, plus DSP100, with RSP1A acting as Panadapter and SDR receiver from the rig IF out. Antenna system consists on a 2 element tri-band Yagi, plus an end fed multiband antenna. I use a multiband vertical for 50/VHF/UHF and a discone up to 2GHz (with optimized TX on 144, 432 and 1200MHz).

We are located in a small village 50 Km South from downtown Barcelona and my QTH is in a small hill at 500m asl with a clear view to all directions

Microphone of preference is a Heil HC5 in a boomset and a Silver Eagle with Kobitone xtal replacement element. Log software is Linux based CQRLOG, and Log4OM on my windows computer. I use an old SB1000 computer interface for HF digital modes with FLDigi and JTDX, connected to an FT100, always running QRP. The end fed antenna is made of 16,2m of wire fed with coax to a 9:1 unun (made by EA3GJO) through a PALSTAR tuner. Sometimes I heat the room turning my AL811H on. My best receiver, by far, is the tiny box called RSP1A, that together with my computer, turns into my SDR (Software Defined Radio) solution, also used as panadapter for my old TS-850.

EA3WR in JN01SJ

My favorite multiband antenna, the World famous McCoy dipole, it works perfect on all HF bands, and it is very simple to calculate, its length is that of the distance between your most convenient supports at your backyard, with the only requirement to feed it with ladder line and use a decent AT with built in 4:1 balun.

73 de Joan EA3WR





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McCoy Dipole

If you can not put a beam or other high performance antennas or if you need a convenience antenna for your vacation QTH or as a temporary antenna, an inverted V dipole is a cheap, easy to deploy and easy to align solution.

Evenmore, if what you need is a multiband setup, without the need to use loosy traps or dificult to tune devices, there is a very interesting “design” that Lew McCoy W1ICP described and explained very well at QST January 1962.

Of course you have to use a good Antena Tuner and not a coax cable but ladder line. I work all HF bands from 10 to 80m pretty well.

Diagrams by ARRL, picture by EA3WR, genius by the antenna guru Lew McCoy W1ICP (SK)

EA3GJO Baluns and Ununs

My good friend Salvador EA3GJO, from his retirement in Leon builds the best hadcrafted baluns available around here. He has some “standard” models and he can tailor your specific custom made unit according to your specific frequency, ratio and power requirements.

He has shared with us some units for testing and they are awesome.

To our request he built for us a special 4:1 unit with the terminals adapted to match a 450 ohm ladder line so that my friend Joan “Cullereta” EA3DJL can connect his antenna tuner to the ladder line, outside his shack, by simply running a short length of coax from the tuner, through the wall, to the ladder line bottom end.

So, if you have a tuner without built in 4:1 toroidal balun, and/or you simply do not want to pass your ladder line through the wall, one of this 4:1 can solve your problem.

There is also the 9:1 unit to use with long wire type antennas, and multiple models of baluns and ununs including full legal output (and more) current baluns to use in your beam.

I use one of these 9:1 unun with a 16,2m wire with excellent results on 30/40/60/80m and reasonable results on the other WARC bands.

Contact Salvador through the email specified at his QRZ profile (login required) for more information on available models, specific requests and ordering information.

We do not have any commercial nor business relationship with Salvador.