Booster and End fed in UBA DX CW 2024

Booster Cylinder Dipole
Wingspan 55 cm - 22"

In the UBA DX CW contest I used the Indoor Booster Cylinder Dipole and my End fed antenna. 
I used the Booster Cylinder Dipole exclusively on 21 MHz.
I used the End-fed on 14 MHz, 7MHz and 3.5 MHz.

Booster Cylinder Dipole
On 21 MHz I compared the Booster with the End fed. Strong signals on the End fed could be worked easily with the Booster Cylinder Dipole. Also with a lower power than 3 or 4 Watt. Hi.
On 14 MHz  I had to use "Full Power" to make the QSO's.
I used Search & Pounce for all QSO's that I made with the Booster.
This gives the opportunity to lower the power, when the received signal is strong.

End Fed on lower bands
 

As a Low Power enthusiast I often use Search an Pounce (S&P). When the signals are strong I use S&P, instead of calling CQ with  the maximum power of my QRP set.
Before I answer a CQ, I can adjust my power, using the S-meter reading. The stronger the signal, the lower the power can be. Propagation works both ways.

The Booster in the EUDX 2024

PA1B Constuction of the Booster

In the EU DX contest I used the Booster Cylinder Dipole. 
I used the Booster on 15 meters  and on 20 metres . These bands are not always open, but I seized the oppurtunity. Hi.

Bands and Power
The power of the set is 3 W on 21 MHz and 4 W on 14 MHz.
All QSO's are made with search and pounce. S&P. I did not call CQ myself.

QSB
There was some QSB. QSB can be a real showstopper, when working with QRP.
If I am lucky, it is best to start, when the signal strenght goes up.
Then the station will hear my call, before the signal peaks. And the QSO can be completed, before my signal fades again. Hi.

32 QSO's with 17 DXCC's
I am very pleased with the results.
I started on 15 m and after 3 QSO's I went to 20 m, to make 15 QSO's.
Then I went back to 15 m, to make another 12 QSO's.
After that I went to 28 MHz and to my surprise, I could make a QSO with just 800 mW, this time on the Monster Cylinder Dipole. 
In 3 QSO's the signal was so strong, that I reduced my power to QRPp and could make two 1000 Miles per watt QSO's.

Booster
The Booster is a cylinder dipole. The two cylinders, are each made from 6 Energy Booster cans from aluminium, that are cut open and bolted together. The wingspan is 55 cm or 22 inch. Hi.
Click for details >>

Booster in HA DX 2024

Booster - Cylinder dipole

The HA DX contest is a contest with much activity. So I decided to work with my indoor Booster Cylinder Dipole. As a low power enthusiast I always work with QRP or QRPp (less than 1 W) when possible. The stonger the received signal, the lower the power can be. The Booster hangs in the Dormer Window.

The table shows the 17 QSO's that I made on 21 MHz.
21 MHz worked more easily than the other bands. Hi.
Further only one QSO on 14 MHz was made.

PA1B in HA DX 2024 with QRP on 21 MHz
Booster Cylinder Dipole - Wingspan 55 cm

Booster
The Booster is a cylinder dipole. The two cylinders, are each made from 6 Energy Booster cans from aluminium, that are cut open and bolted together.
Click for details >>

The Booster in the dormer window (dakkapel) PA1B

Taps on the coil. One turn apart. PA1B

Not really a DX QSO with the Booster

In the PACC 2016 I used a new cylinder dipole, that I had build shortly before. I built the Booster to experiment with larger cylinders and a larger coil. To work on 7 MHz and 14 MHz.

Booster in the PACC  2016  

In the PACC contest of 2016 I made a total of 32 QSO's with the Booster.
25 QSO's were made on 40 m with 3 W and 2 QSO's with 150 mW.
On 20 m I made 5 QSO's with 4 W.

I had no intention to make hundreds of QSO's, but on that moment I wanted to know, how the new Booster would work. 

Read more about the Booster Cilinder dipole >>

eQSL of PA0AA

Recently I received an eQSL of the QSO, that I made with PA0AA over a distance of aubout 10 miles. Not a real DX QSO, but still a very nice QSO. 

eQSL of the QSO with the Booster Cilinder Dipole - Wing span 22"

 Thanks to Veron afdeling Centrum A08.

Cylinder dipole in CQ magazine

Cylinder dipole in
CQ Magazine

In the CQ WW WPX CW contest 2016 I used two indoor cylinder dipoles. After I sent in my log for the CQ WPX, Terry N4TZ noticed my soapbox. Terry asked my to send in a picture of my cylinder dipole to include in the write up of CQ Magazine. I thank Terry for the nice and beautiful write up.

Click to read

The CQ WW contests generate a lot of activity.
I use contests to make QSO's with very low power.
And. . it is good opportunity to test your antennas.


Soapbox PA1B in CQ WW WPX CW 2016
X-RADIOS:           FT-817
X-ANTENNAS:    Cylinder dipole
SOAPBOX:            I had great fun with QRP and two cylinder dipoles
SOAPBOX:           On 20m I made 3 QSO's and on 15m 4 QSO's with a 15" cylinder dipole 
SOAPBOX:           On 40m I made 3 QSO's with a 22" cylinder dipole 
SOAPBOX:           The PA1B cylinder dipole consists of two cylinders and a coil
SOAPBOX:           The coil acts as a impedance transformer
SOAPBOX:           The QSB and the good activity, did not make it easy to answer CQ's - hi
SOAPBOX:           Thanks for the activity in the contest

PA1B with cylinder dipole in CQ Magazine

The cylinder dipole shows a large capacity between the cylinders.
Although the coil and the capacity  are tuned to the band of interest, the cylinder dipole can be used as a multi-band antenna. Two taps at the center of the coil provide a low impedance feeding point to connect the twin lead.  Match for a SWR of 1:1 with your symmetrical tuner.

  Energy  Booster  cans or not, a cylinder dipole will radiate better than a wire dipole of the same length.

Thank you, Terry for the very nice write up. 

Cylinder dipoles in the UBA CW 2016

In this UBA DX contest I experimented with  the new built Booster cylinder dipole.

Wingspan 55 cm
The Booster antenna is called Booster, because each cylinder is made out of 6 Energy Booster cans, that are cut open and bolted together. The length of the cylinders is 22 cm (9") and the wingspan of the antenna is 55 cm (22")
The booster is hanging in the dormer window at the second floor. The coil is wound on a 110 mm PVC tube and has 15 turns. The Booster resonates on 10 MHz.

The Booster - One cylinder is made of 4 cut open cans - PA1B

It took my a long time to discover the right setting of the tuner for the Booster on 20 m. At first I could not get a good matching at all on 20 m. The SWR was too high. At the end of the contest, I discovered the right setting for the tuner to get a SWR of 1:1  This is the setting that I always use on 10 m, with the inverted Vee. hi.

The Booster - Wing span 22" - PA1B

The table below shows the QSO's in chronological order.

Booster on 20 m 
The table shows that in the first 5 QSO's, I used the Booster on 20 m. The Booster is longer than the Monster, so I expected much of the Booster on 20 m. But I could not get a SWR of 1:1.

Taps at the center  - ONE turn apart - Click to enlarge

Monster (35 cm) on 20 m
After 5 QSO's, I was a bit disappointed. Just to make some QSO's, I decided to switch the shorter Monster energy can antenna, which is located in the the shack, also on 20 m . This antenna is easy to match. I could easily make two QSO's with UA.

Booster on 40 m

On Sunday morning I went to 40 m. I started with the twin lead two turns apart. I ended up with the twin lead connectors ONE turn apart to get a SWR of 1:1 

Monster on 15 m

The monster is doing fine on 15 m. A total of 8 QSO's were made on 15 m. The signals in QSO number 14 were very strong so I reduced to 800 mW.
QSO number 16 was with R0AA over a distance of 5200 km and was very easy to do.
<<  Read the details of the  QSO with R0AA >>  Click

Booster again on 20 m

My experimenting payed off. I found out by desperately playing around with the tuner, that I had to use a very strange setting of the tuner to get a SWR of 1:1   - Finally I got the Booster working on 20 m. With this setting the last two QSO's were easily made. hi.

UBA CW - Booster - Monster - PA1B

Wat een gein

De blikjes komen van de straat. Ik drink het niet zelf.

 Energy Booster  is verkrijgbaar bij Trekpleister voor 39 Eurocent.

Contest QSO's with the cylinder dipole

Is it really THAT simple?

The cylinder dipole has proven to be a indoor HF-antenna with the size of a VHF/UHF-antenna.  The cylinder dipole with Monster energy cans is working fine on 15 m.

Build  - Work  -  Analyse

This table gives an inside on the number of CW contest QSO's that I made with cylinder dipoles per band and per contest. In the table, QSO means a single QSO outside a contest. All QSO's were made with 4 W or less.

Most of the QSO's were made with the cylinder dipole with two Monster cans.
I noticed that there is NO sharp boundary, but the the Monster seem to work better on 21 MHz than on 14 MHz.
It is not easy to compare antennas on different bands or in different contests, because the propagation has much more influence than the used frequency.

Number of QSO's per band with Cylinder Dipoles  -  PA1B

Easy to build indoor antenna

The Monster cylinder dipole, made of two Monster energy cans of 500 ml is a good, easy to build indoor antenna for 15 m, but also works on 10 m and 20 m. If you want to get acquaint with the indoor cylinder dipole, I suggest to build the cylinder dipole with Monster cans and a coil with 9 turns on a coil former of 80 mm. The cylinder dipole is fed on two taps at the center of the coil that are ONE turn apart.

More construction info here Click

140 QSO's with the cylinder dipole

Since the ARI contest in May 2015, I made 140 QSO's with 3 types of cylinder dipoles. The table shows the 3 different cylinder dipoles that I used, in several contest in 2015 and 2016.

Build  - Work - Analyse

I made this table to show the number of QSO's, that were made, with each of the three types of cylinder dipoles that I have build.

Number of QSO's with different Cylinder Dipoles - PA1B

I used the Red Bull antenna in the ARI contest on 20 m and 40 m. At that moment 15 m and 10 m showed no activity. But the propagation on 20 m and 40 m  was excellent.
The 6 QSO's on 10 m were made in two different 10 m contests.

The Monster antenna, made of two Monster cans of 500 ml is an excellent, easy to build indoor antenna for 15 m, but also works on 20 m. The table show that it works better on 15 m that on 20 m.

The Booster with it's wingspan of 55 cm (22") is build for 20 m and 30 m and is until now, only used in the PACC.
In the PACC I made 27 QSO's on 40 m. The Booster works on 40 m and 20 m. In the PACC there was more activity on 40 m than on 20 m. But I suspect that the booster works best on 20 m,

The used the cylinder dipoles indoor from the shack or from a dormer window at the second floor, with a power of 4 W or less.

Cylinder dipole in PACC

Booster - Cylinder dipole 22"

In the PACC I used a new cylinder dipole, that I have build recently.
I built the Booster to experiment with larger cylinders and a larger coil. To go below 15 m.

The  Booster  has two cylinders, that each are made
of 4  Energy Booster  cans of aluminium, that are cut open and bolted together. The length of each cylinder is 22 cm. The wing span of the dipole is 22 inches. The coil former has a diameter of 110 mm and the coil has 15 turns. The taps are two turns apart. The Booster resonates at 10 MHz.

The cylinder of 4 cans PA1B

On Friday I made the coil and just before the contest I made the taps on the coil. During the contest I used the taps that are two turns apart. The Booster could not be MATCHED with the taps 4 turns apart. I suspect that the impedance on the end of the twin lead in the shack is too low, or too high, for my symmetrical tuner. So I switched to the taps that are 2 turns apart. I later realized that I did not try taps that are one turn apart.

I started with checking the MATCHING of the Booster on 15 m, 20 m and 40 m. Matching on 15 m and 40 m is very easy. Matching on 20 m is difficult.

Before the PACC, I made the first QSO with the   Booster   on 40 m, with 7S6WRD from Sweden. My RST was 339. hi. Not a very strong signal, but it works.

PA1B in the PACC 2016 

PACC    

I made a total of 32 QSO's with the Booster. 25 QSO's were made on 40 m with 3 W and 2 QSO's with 150 mW. On 20 m I made 5 QSO's with 4 W.

I had no intention to make hundreds of QSO's, but I wanted to know, how the Booster would work. 

Saturday

On 15 m and 20 m there was no activity, So I started on 7 MHz. The first 3 QSO's were made with 2 Dutch stations (PA) and with F5IN, all with S&P. Then I stopped to visit some friend.

Around 17:00 utc, I started again on 40 m. I decided to give CQ. To my surprise, I was visited by stations from DL, HA, OE, OK (4), SM and UA (3). I was pleasantly surprise by the stations from Russia that answered my CQ, over a distance of more than 1300 miles.

Sunday

Sunday morning on 40 m gave a mix of stations from PA and DL. When the propagation peaked, I could QSO with PI4CC and with DL5JQ using just 150 mW. WOW. But in the next QSO's I needed a power of 3 watt. hi.

At about 11 utc I went to 20 m and made 5 QSO's with 5 DXCC countries, all QSO's with 4 W.

During the contest I frequently went to 20 m and 15 m. Most activity was on 40 m, as you can see in the table.

The Booster is doing fine on 40 m and 20 m. I worked 10 DXCC countries from the dormer window with the Booster at a height of 7 meters above the ground.

Cylinder Dipole by PA1B  -  Taps two turns apart
Click to enlarge

Cutting the cans  -  Mooi schaartje hè.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

QRPp QSO with the Booster

In the PACC I tested a new cylinder dipole - The Booster. I tested on 7 MHz and 14 MHz with 3 or 4 watts. I use my cylinder dipoles as indoor antennas. I placed the Booster in the dormer window.(dakkapel).

As a milliwatt enthusiast, I enjoyed to make 2 QSO's with QRPp, which is less than 1 W.
When the propagation peaked on Sunday morning, I heard PI4CC, with a very loud signal. S9⁺⁺.  I reduced to 150 mW, before answering their CQ and made the QSO. In the next QSO with Erhard DL5JQ, I also used 150 mW. His signal was also very strong, S9⁺⁺. In the next QSO I first tried 150 mW, but I needed the full power of 3 watts to be heard. hi.

Yesterday I answered the eQSL of this very special QSO, with Erhard DL5JQ. After answering the eQSL,  I have sent Erhard an email via eQSL to inform him of my power and my antenna.

Hallo Erhard,
Fabelhaft!! Dein Signal war sehr stark. S9⁺⁺. Ich habe in unserem QSO, einer Leistung von 150 mW verwendet. QRPp. Ich bin ein begeisterter Milliwatter. Wenn die S-Meter nach oben geht, geht meine Leistung nach unten.

In diese PACC habe Ich einen Zylinder Dipol versucht. Meine Antenne ist eine zylindrische Dipol in der Dachgaube. Die Flügelspannweite beträgt 55 cm. Informationen über die Antenne:
http://pa1b-qrp.blogspot.nl/2016/02/the-booster.html
Aber schauen Sie sich auch, das Etikett Cylinder dipole an.

Dank für das nette QSO. Ich hoffe du nächstes Mal zu treffen, mit niedriger Leistung. hi.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Bert PA1B

DL5JQ  - 40 meter  - 150 mW  -  Booster

OK dear Erhard, thanks for the nice QSO and eQSL.

The Booster

First light for the Booster (hi)

The Booster is a cylinder dipole. The two cylinders, are each made from 6 Energy Booster cans from aluminium, that are cut open and bolted together.

Cutting the Energy Booster cans. Click to enlarge

I built the Booster to experiment with larger cylinders and a larger coil to work on 14 MHz and 7 MHz.

The Booster has twice the size of the Red Bull antenna.

The length of each cylinders is 22 cm. The wing span of the dipole is 22 inches. The coil former has a diameter of 110 mm and the coil has 15 turns. The taps are two turns apart.

The Booster resonates just above 10 MHz.

Giving CQ on 40 m with just less than 3 W on the Booster, resulted in contest QSO's with  DL (1), HA (1), OE (1), OK (4), SM (1) and UA (3)

The Booster in the dormer window (dakkapel) PA1B

Taps two turns apart. PA1B