KC4MOP RE-Eval Station Needs

[flintstone mop]

Hello everyone
I am having to re-think my possible future with amateur radio if we should move to the Pilipines. The Island of Cebu looks like any QSO with anyone, in country, would be considered DX. And talking to someone in Japan or Honk Kong on the upper bands would require a Yagi and legal limit (2KW BTW) I'll have a portable vertical with me for our trip coming up and I'll be an "ear-witness" to any activity on 40M. And only able to listen on 80 and 160M. I'll evaluate the noise level with the Tropics and condx there.
My thoughts would be to skip the idea of copying what I have in the USA with wire antennas, except for beverages, or a K9AY loop, and use verticals or a HyTower, or PHASED Hy-Towers for the low bands.
Any thoughts? Or valued comments?

Fred

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Sounds like low-angle is what you'll need. So that's very high horizontal antenna on the low bands, or verticals. If you have a good ground situation, especially close to salt water, vertical will likely be superior to anything else.

[N3DRB The Derb]

the low bands are gonna be really tough. sunspots are on the way up now at least, sooner or later you'll get some DX propagation on 15. If'n I were you I would just play the "I'm the DX , pile up on me card".  On the other hand maybe you could start a AM revolution down there. 

[Bill, KD0HG]

Hi, Fred. I forgot to reply to your note.

From the Phils, you'll never be able to work the states on 80. 40 would also be a toughie. You're going to need to concentrate on 20-15-10 meters. As Steve suggested, IF you're near the water, then a vertical would be best on the lower bands. Horizontals, the higher the better. On 40, a Bobtail Curtain might give you a few stateside contacts. On 20-15-10, you might want to consider a wire log periodic or yagi aimed stateside from inside the trees. It's a l-o-n-g way from here to the Phils. Yes, it's 1000-2500 mile DX for me to work the east coast of the USA from here, but it's 4X that from the south Pacific/Asia.

I have managed to work VK and ZL on AM from here on 10 with only 50 watts. Gonset G-76 here.  Great sigs both ways.  That might be your best bet. Concentrate on 10 as the sunspots get cranked up.

In any case, I wish you the best should you choose to QSY down there.

[w1vtp]

Not knowing your situation, consider a stateside friend who has a Flex Radio system stateside and use the internet to contact your friends on HF here.  It may be a long shot it is possible.  Perhaps regular correspondence could set up an informal schedule so that it does not become a burden.

Bill W1MPY does this while he is on the road.  He travels all over the states and is able to keep in touch with us all.  It is nearly impossible to tell when he is on the road

Your situation would require a friend who can supply the hardware here.  You would need to have a computer with a reasonably fast broadband connection.

Finally, you can always keep in touch with us all here.

GL Al

[K5UJ]

Fred, is that legal limit 2 KW CARRIER     ??

Yowza

Yep, the high bands or internet remote may be the way to go, although I must admit I'd find the latter hard to get used to.

There's always SEE Doublyoo too a.k.a. AM without a mic hi hi.

Actually, when I was stationed in Pusan for a year, a friend had a ham station set up there, and we would check into the SouthEast Asia Net almost every day.  It met on 20 m. but I forget when.  But oh my, back then what a bunch of characters!  I remember John the Pirate, 9M1MV operating from the Straits of Malacca (it's been over 30 years so I'm probably getting a lot of this wrong) and all these M.M. stations and other guys from all over the Pacific Rim.  VK was well represented.  There were all these wild ex-pats out there living in these resorts and on boats.  Yes, it was/is a ssb net but Fred, you gotta hook up with these guys, assuming the net is still active.  They had an annual SEA Net convention every year too, in Thailand or some place like that.  Never made it to the convention; I was on active duty after all, but what memories--tropical signals, exotic DX...you'll have a lot of fun out there on the high bands.

Rob

[Superhet66]

Is Marlon Brandos' Island Paradise rig still available on e-bay?