Try putting a closed reflector wire under a 1 WL horizontal loop. Lay it on the
ground or bury. Use insulated wire and size per typical loops…~+5% at design
frequency. Experiment by listening to weak signals while opening and closing
the ends of the reflector.
At our latitude (64N) loops (and
I told myself when I started Amateur Radio I was going to be a Goose…where
every day’s a new day. No awards, just work who you can, when you can, any way
you can.
So now when I hear DX or there’s a contest I try to make a contact if it’s of
interest. As I say, that way every day and contact’s
Poor also from Fairbanks, Ak. Listened both nights off and on. But in the end
it was the burning end of my Inv-L that called timeout.
Apparently my coated stranded wire had a covering defect at the far end where
it was suspended in a tree…the voltage node melted the pull-up rope and down it
Hi John. Find a piece of wood, maybe a 2x4 and saw a slot in one end width-wise
deep enough to firmly hold a partially inserted staple without it bending. Push
or drive with a hammer against the 2x4 and force the staple into the ground
over the wire flush with the end of the wood. Remove the
I guess we’ll hear this 160 season from 7J4AAL. Living mid-path USA-JA affords
KL7’s the opportunity to receive both as W’s and others turn their attention to
JA. Why not give it a try if one has the motivation, real estate, and resources?
And about which antenna is better? His 160 beam on a
Fast forward a few years:
http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2001-11/msg00025.html
I had the pleasure and unique experience to share a chair with Rich KL7RA, Chip
K7JA, and others. Watching, listening, soaking in all I could of their radio
techniques and pileup control was a once in a lifetime
Paying for? Weight, eye candy, and interface? Oh, and a better behaved ALC.
However, as I noted I didn’t fuss with much over 20M and SSB, so maybe that’s
where the 990 excels. They are very nice to observe and operate. The primary
receiver on my early 990 may have been maladjusted, as it was
In my earlier comments I avoided direct comparisons between the TS-590S and K3.
In my experience anyone maligning or questioning a K3/P3 is eventually in for a
few bee stings, as that topic brings out a swarm of loyalists defending the
hive.
I was through this earlier this year on their group
Where is the TS-590 ALC fix described Mike? I have one and will have it done if
it’s available.
I also had a TS-990…the receiver performance (both primary and secondary) were
no better over a month’s trial on 160-15M than my 590. Looks real good however.
Eye candy usually does.
I have a
TU Mike for the info. I’ll call them tomorrow.
BTW, the 2nd receiver in my TS-990 was consistently better at extracting very
weak CW on 40-160 (mainly steady eastern RU beacons on 40, EU CW on 80-160)
than the main, and as you note, an equal to the 590.
Kenwood service:
KENWOOD AUTHORIZED
On my 990 the 2nd receiver was consistently night after night better able to
detect a weak CW sig on 40-160. Same settings on both receivers: different
settings, AGC, no AGC, ATT, RF gain varied, it didn’t matter the race was won
by the second. I didn’t fuss with SSB very much so that mode may
And here’s
why…http://www.alaskadispatch.com/video/video-northern-lights-dance-above-fairbanks-alaska
Was SP from 0700-1000. Lots of S’ing, no P’ing while listening to my TS-590 in
scan mode.
Maybe tonight. I have a fresh Voodoo chicken to swing in the shack.
73, Gary NL7Y
_
Still poor in central KL7. Maybe later. Aurora’s heating up, so maybe never:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html
GL es 73, Gary NL7Y
_
Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Hi !
Bad condition ... only W1UE, WE3C = QSO
W3LPL, K3LR copy, calling, but no QSO
Aurora !
http://www.tesis.lebedev.ru/magnetic_storms.html
See on HF
GL in ARRL DX Contest
73! de UR5IFB
Суббота, 15 февраля 2014, 19:29 -09:00 от Gary and Kathleen Pearse
pea
I believe OH8X had one or more “hammers” mounted to their 160 Yagi to help
remove the ice buildup. Sadly their extraordinary effort recently fell victim
to winds and reportedly torque: http://dx-world.net/2013/oh8x-tower-collapse/
Not sure what the answer is. My Puny 3-el SteppIR with
Here’s a recent link from Ed KL7UW regarding his experience with Adaptive
Polarity Reception: http://www.kl7uw.com/LINRAD.htm
We were discussing the K3 and dual receiver diversity mode, and I had asked him
about his EME and polarity antennas. 160M did come into the conversation as
well.
Might
I keep a Honda EU 2000i genset
(http://powerequipment.honda.com/generators/models/eu2000i) in the house for
emergencies. We (Fairbanks, Ak.) had a wind and ice storm in November…lost my
160 wires for a while, two trees hit the house, and another broke the power
line for over a couple days.
I've built them for 40 and 80 via his modeling years ago. Fed both up high, and
both down low. High feed 'seemed better', but no real way to tell. Worked a RU
station on 80 from KL7 so they do emit a signal. It was a good aerial, easy to
build, with some vertical component to the pattern.
On
Oh, I left out the RU was in Antarctica.
73, Gary NL7Y
I've built them for 40 and 80 via his modeling years ago. Fed both up high,
and both down low. High feed 'seemed better', but no real way to tell. Worked
a RU station on 80 from KL7 so they do emit a signal. It was a good aerial,
Found paper logs from July 1997…it was VP8CTR on 3796 SSB at our SR, and a
Ukranian base not RU. Still, Cebik's L worked.
73, Gary NL7Y
That's a good one for 80m from KL7! FB!
73,
Charlie, K4OTV
Oh, I left out the RU was in Antarctica.
_
Topband Reflector Archives -
I’d run a test wire under the house and connect it to the rig. Listen for
noise. Then connect to house ground and see if noisy. Compare that with each
existing elevated radial for QRN.
Here in Fairbanks anything through the home or grounded to the house or tower
on 160 is worse than my
I may be overreaching here but…in learning some of the new features of my K3/P3
with SVGA card and remote terminal I came across the screen snap or hold
feature. If that image can be exported to the Utility program (or ???), saved,
and maybe printed would it be possible to go portable and
Finished rebuilding my windstorm destroyed Inv-L Sat eve around 6pm in the dark
headlamp on. Twenty above and warm. Snow and four downed trees so had to crawl
around to hang new cords and elevated wires. Tuned up nice and low at 1830 and
heard some ‘6’s, ‘7’s, a displaced 9, and KH6LC above the
Thank you all for the replies regarding the T versus L rebuild for my 160
antenna. I'm on a 120x120' city lot in Fairbanks. For fun look me up in QRZ,
under 'Detail' zoom in for a satellite view via Google, then switch to a street
view to see the trees. The motorhome is gone, the motorcycle is
Where are the high voltage points in a T antenna?
I have the choice of putting up either a new T between two trees, or an L again
on 160M. The ends of the T would by necessity be strung over and go down 20-30'
alongside the two supporting trees.
The L would parallel a tree and bend over at
It's that time of year when trees and temps become Topband topic. Propagation
must be poor.
Until the supporting tree blew down, my Inv-L for 160 required shortening of
the L in the Fall when the supporting and surrounding trees froze along with
the ground below. However, in mid-winter if
I've had a Wellbrooke loop for a few years at 20' on a TV rotator. It nulls a
single nearby QRN source NW at 300 deg true. EU is about 15-30 deg from here.
When 160 or 80 are open over the N Pole, it often helps me hear the weak.
It's less effective on multi-source QRN, but still helps at
Expecting this and given the proximity of my transmission antennas to the
Wellbrook Loop (50-100'), I put 10 Type 31 slip-on beads over each end of the
RG8-X feed and rotator control cable, and insulated the loop from the rotator
with CPVC plumbing pipe.
Did it help? Maybe. I get no feed line
Thanks Tom for the explanation. As always, this is a learning Reflector. Part
of my location involves potential BCB, power line, adjacent home electronics,
and of course the legal limit transmissions close to the loop/feed/rotator
controller. Common mode supression is an absolute requirement on
The following obs were an annual occurrence until my 85'+ support tree blew
down this year. The 160 antenna described below was supported by the tree, and
was no more than 4' from the trunk in the middle...the top an bottom were
closer, ~1'.
A wire Inv-L (#12 stranded THHN) with tuned
Hi Dale and the Topband group. To trim the vertical portion, and return to
original resonance every winter, I simply folded the wire closely back on
itself in a flat bundle at the feed point and taped it tight. The overall
length was shortened about 3' max.
Just pulling in the wire to reduce
I used eight elevated tuned radials. They angled about 45 deg from about 4' at
the feed to ~15' for their horizontal run. To initially tune, I used my MFJ-259
to feed a pair of radials (dipole), then cut the rest to match them. I set the
system resonance via the length of the
If we want to make an antenna electrically longer through cable velocity
factor, it can't be done by the insulation slowing the wave inside the shield.
73 Tom
In my experience, external insulation (through synthetic covering or frost)
lowers the resonant frequency of wire antennas of a
One thing I've wondered: are elevated radials more likely to pickup local QRN
than those on the ground, or buried? The on-ground 160M loop antennas I've used
for reception seemed quieter here than those that were elevated 15-20'.
Before my 160 tree blew down this Fall and took the Inv-L
FWIW, at one point on a 5 acre remote parcel I had a GAP Voyager, GAP Titan,
80/160 parallel Inv-L over 120/125' radials, a 160M Inv-V, a F-12 C-4SXL beam
at 54', and homemade vertical fan dipoles for 10-40M. Tall 70-85' trees that
later burned in a forest fire held up the wires.
The GAPS
One thing to consider (a non-Gap subject as this thread is drifting, sorry)
is to make your 80M loop into a 160 dipole when desired if a 160 aerial isn't
available. It can be done mechanically by separating the loop half-way around
(via a relay, or connecting drooping ends from the
I don't use a PC in the shack out of choice. Spots don't exist. I tune around
and work what I hear. W3LPL helps those that use that service.
73, Gary NL7Y
___
Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
As I recall they never blew up the receiver here, unlike TF4M, GM3POI, and
others in that direction from KL7 who were consistently available during times
of low absorption over the N Pole.
Then again, who knows what antenna array they were using or the ERP when heard.
I'd still like to know
My 160 aerial next season may be a top loaded vert that can be laid over from
the base. After fiddling with an L at 64N latitude, I'm curious about which
portion of the L is best as propagation and angles (?) vary. Our ionospheric
world is different.
We can hear the Aurora and it's
Soldering in wild Alaska/KL7. Two hands and a mouth. Wire supported in one
hand, butane/propane torch in other, solder roll in the mouth (don't tongue the
contents) with a long lead of solder feeding the joint. Face downwind to avoid
burns.
After suffering numerous heating related failures at
Why an L versus a T, with the T's arms over the radials depending upon wind
direction? Just curious. Not questioning the design.
KH8, some days we can almost see it from Alaska. GL and keep dreaming, we'll be
looking for a contact.
73, Gary NL7Y
___
I actually did bang away at the key off and on for a couple last eve after
midnight...nothing heard or worked. Receiving loop, and flat-top 80 M dipole at
70' with the twin-lead shorted and fed against elevated radials. Perpetual
daylight in Interior Alaska may have had some effect. That, and
Well, my Wellbrook might work as well yours, as I too have worked CE/K7CA with
mine on 160 from the Black Hole of KL7. More than once as well.
For me the magic isn't directional gain, it's the improved S/N and the ability
to null local single point QRN.
If I were able to extend a Beverage or
I've had a Wellbrook 1530 loop up for a few years on a rotator at about 20'
It excels on a small city lot in nulling local noise sources off its sides.
Far better than the MFJ and ANC noise nuller boxes and sense antennas I have
used on 80 and 160. Legal limit 75' away on 160 hasn't
Public domain edition also available in downloadable Format:
http://snulbug.mtview.ca.us/books/RadioAntennaEngineering/
73 Gary NL7Y
Herb,
Radio Antenna Engineering, published in 1952. It was written by Edmund
Laport. It is available from
Lulu Enterprises
3101 Hillsborough Street
Pretty quiet up here in KL7 last eve…only sigs were between the Auroral zones,
not across. Mainly 40M. Will try 160 test again tonight.
Poor propagation culprit: http://helios.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/#
73, Gary NL7Y '591
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB
The insulator loop will work. Anything that amounts to a strain relief will
work.
What I do in a very similar situation is tie some nylon cord (in a series of
about 10 tight half hitches) around my insulated vert wire, than tie the cord
to the feed point balun box mounted on the supporting
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