Re: Topband: Lack of DX CW Activity (and AA1K mobile)

Seems I'm not getting all of the reflector emails of late. Thanks to K3OO for tipping me off to the conversation. I never worked JA from the 160 mobile but did QSO VK3ZL a couple of times, FO/A, KH6 and a bunch of Europeans. In fact Bob VK3ZL (SK) was my first DX QSO after installing the KJ7U

Re: Topband: NCC-2 antenna pattern?

I use NCC-1 and NCC-2 boxes for phasing numerous receive antennas, mostly on 160. My property is heavily wooded, with antennas among loblolly pines, oak, maple, gum, etc. For in-band listening while transmitting on 160, I have a pair of 34-foot verticals (self-supporting aluminum elements)

Re: Topband: 1940 kHz Intruder

Listened last night and signal was weak and under some SSB QRM. Might have been  two signals— peaked both NNW and NE. If from the station in Hackensack on 970  should be stronger in daylight hours when they are 50kw. 73/Jon Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire http://www.aa1k.us/

Re: Topband: RFI tripping GFI breaker on 160m

Hi Darrell, Had similar problem when installing a station in Rehoboth Beach, DE, a few years ago. Client had an addition built for the ham shack and breaker box used the arc-fault breakers now required. We tried all kinds of toroid filtering in the shack but couldn't eliminate the problem. We

Topband: VK9NT

Still life in the band here. Worked VK9NT on 1824.5 CW at 1008z today, about 10 minutes before my sunrise. Conditions were quiet. 73/Jon Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire http://www.aa1k.us/  email: j...@verizon.net or a...@arrl.net _ Searchable Archives:

Re: Topband: What antenna would you build?

My version of Tim's array was installed in 1998, with 120 on-ground radials under each element. A few years later I added an extra director toward Europe for an additional 0.9 db gain in that direction. It brought me up to 329 countries on 160, including JT, HS, XZ, VU, A5, BA. After a few years

Re: Topband: Relay bounce

Steve, Older RCS-4 used open-face relays which are more of a problem for relay bounce. Newer RCS-4 use sealed small-signal relays. Getting one of the newer units may solve your problem. 73/Jon Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire http://www.aa1k.us/ Cell: 302-632-2353email:

Re: Topband: Vacuum Variable Help

Bob, Try just using the good variable in series by itself. Often all you need (no omega match)73/Jon AA1K Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, 8:36 PM, Robert Garrett wrote: Greeting Topband Group, I've been shunt feeding my tower for probably the last

Topband: Delaware report

Around our sunrise on Saturday, Sept. 11, we worked JA0FSB for our first JA on Topband this season. This was on FT8, with a couple of other JA decoded. Tried some CQ's on CW with no luck. Our first JA of the season QSO has come on earlier and later dates in previous years, sometimes even in

Re: Topband: I identified signal on 1.825 MHz this morning

It is 10db over S9 here in central Delaware, peaking on NW Beverages. Much weaker spur from it covering 1823.5 as well (strong enough to cover HL5IVL). Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire http://www.aa1k.us/ Cell: 302-632-2353 Reviews of AA1K tower work on eham website:

Re: Topband: ARRL 160M and 1830-1835 change

Interesting Tim. November QST came in a few days ago, and the summary of rules in there says "1.830-1.835 MHz should be used for intercontinental contacts only." Dropping that rule was long overdue so glad to see it stated in the rules online.  73/Jon AA1K -Original Message- From: Tim

Topband: Delaware report

We have had regular VK and ZL openings through our summer, though generally with marginal conditions. ZL1AZ called in this morning at 0815z, peaking 559. This morning we worked JA5DQH at 0946z, about 55 minutes before our sunrise, for our first topband JA QSO of the season. Later than some

Re: Topband: Herbert Schoenbohm, KV4FZ: Silent Key

Sad to learn Herb is gone. We will miss his friendship on the band, the reflector and the low band chat. Herb was one of the pioneers in Topband DXing. He and W8LRL were both issued 160m DXCC No. 3 on the same day (there was no No. 4) in 1977, around the time I was just beginning to get serious

Re: Topband: CONDX 27-28 DEC

Good conditions continue today. I listened to dozens of Europeans on 160 as I was driving home from the Pizza Blast. 73/HNY Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire Website: aa1k.us Cell: 302-632-2353 Email: j...@verizon.net Hug your favorite tower every day, and always stay connected to

Re: Topband: Interference on 1.821 From WRCR

It was loud here last evening and this morning. At first I thought it was some digital garbage from my computer since I had just started using FT8. I could not copy the audio in CW or SSB modes on my K3 but it was clean copy when I switched to AM on 1820 kHz. It peaked on my long 45-degree

Topband: A50BOC

I worked A50BOC on 1826.5 (qsx 27.5) CW at 0040z today. A new one for me on Top, no. 329. I started hearing at 0030z and their signal dropped out just before 0100z. Peak was 559. Best receiving antenna here was single-wire 950-foot Beverage at 37 degrees. Stations 90 miles north of me reported

Topband: Band perking up

Yesterday we had the strongest VK opening of the month, with VK2WF, VK3HJ and VK6GX worked right around my sunrise. Today JH1HDT called in at 1051z, three minutes before my sunrise, for our first JA of the season. VK2WF also called in, weaker than yesterday. In my evening, 6O7O was worked

Topband: list email stopped

For unknown reasons I stopped receiving list emails after Sept. 9 (also halted same time on my Towertalk subscription). Anyone know how to get this fixed? 73/Jon Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire http://www.aa1k.us/ Cell: 302-632-2353 Reviews of AA1K tower work on eham

Re: Topband: VE1ZZ has passed on - Very Very Sad news! (Long)

Jack has always been one of my heroes on Topband. I recall when K1VR visited him and wrote (in a QST article) about how Jack used old plastic soda bottles to weatherize open coax splices in the field. A great idea I've copied hundreds of times here on coax and hardline junctions. I usually

Topband: CQ W1 topbanders

Hiro, JJ5GMJ, who gave many of us a new one on 160 when he was /DU1, is now in Massachusetts till next year and looking to connect with Topbanders there. His email is jj5...@gmail.com. More info in his note to me below. 73/Jon Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire http://www.aa1k.us/

Re: Topband: Beverage in a slope

Gabriel, At a previous QTH I had a 600-foot Beverage on a hill, dropping from 90 feet to about 10 feet elevation and it worked great. Was switchable NW/SE. Heard and worked many JA stations on it. 73/Jon AA1K Jon P. Zaimes, AA1K Tower climber for hire http://www.aa1k.us/ Cell: 302-632-2353

Re: Topband: 1809.2 kHz constant dashes

Hearing it at 1157z. Peaks on 280-degree Beverage from central Delaware. S5 on my K3 meter. 73/Jon AA1K -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Don Kirk Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2016 5:30 AM To: topband Subject: Re:

Re: Topband: Strange resistance between Beverage ground rods

As I recall mine are typically in the hundreds of ohms or low thousands, never as high as 20k, even on a 950 ft wire. I do see large variations of these across my 12 acres, even significantly different readings on each wire in a staggered phased pair. We have two different soil types, which

Re: Topband: 160M Four Square array phasing lines

Al, I have two 160m transmit arrays, one a modified K3LR style parasitic and another a BS/EF array. The K3LR was installed in 1998 and I buried the feedline through conduit (about 100 feet of corrugated black 4" drainage pipe buried about 6 inches) before laying down the radials across lawn and

Topband: Delaware report

Friday morning at 1041z, about 10 minutes before sunrise, JA9FHB called in for our first JA QSO of the season. Another JA9 called right after but unfortunately we did not complete that QSO. Nice to hear the band alive! 73/Jon AA1K _ Topband Reflector Archives -

Topband: Sad news N5IA SK

N5IA's son posted this on Milt's QRZ.com page: "Hello to all of Milt's Amatuer contact, friends, acquaintances and others, "I am Milt's oldest son Jason, some of you know me, most of you probably don't. I have been with him for 47 years, he was my hero. Today, June 9, 2016. Milt was on was

Re: Topband: Inverted L off tower?

Jim, Why not just shunt feed the tower? 70 feet with that beam for top-loading is a good height for 160. If it will be a guyed tower these would need to be insulated, and run all cabling from the bottom and inside the tower whether guyed or self-supporting. Based on some discussion on the

Re: Topband: FT4JA easy copy tonite

They also peaked from the northeast here (so much for the two new 92-degree Beverages I put up this week!). Here's one of the recordings I made of last night's great opening (but not great enough for me to work yet): http://aa1k.us/listen-to-loud-ft4ja-signal-as-heard-at-aa1k/ 73/Jon AA1K

Topband: New Year and band opens

The New Year has quickly brought us some nice openings to Asia, with numerous JA stations worked the past few days in the hour before our 1221z sunrise. Nice too that some of these were first-time contacts. JD1BMH and HL5IVL also worked. This seems about a week later than the December Doldrums

Re: Topband: beverage layout

An alternative to Bill's "stacked" wires is to use a single wire, with feedlines to both ends, and a SPDT relay at each end to either connect the Beverage wire to the feedline transformer or to ground it through a terminating resistor. The relay voltage may be piggy-backed on the feedline, with

Re: Topband: beverage layout

h it would be fine, if there was no other place to run it. Or maybe with enough common-mode chokes. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com <http://www.w0btu.com> On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 10:01 AM, Jon Zaimes <j...@verizon.net <mailto:j...@verizon.net> > wrote: An alternative to Bill's &qu

Topband: Delaware DX report

The weeks approaching the equinox have brought steady VK/ZL/KH6 openings before sunrise. This morning we had a pleasant surprise with JH1HDT calling in at 10:30z for our first JA of the season. A bit later than in many years, but always a nice benchmark. Signal was skewed a bit, peaking on the

Re: Topband: Top Band Antenna

My most recent method of connecting radials at the base of a vertical is to drive in a short copper pipe ground rod and use an all-stainless hose clamp to attach the wires to it. But in some portable operations I have dispensed with any ground rod, and the antenna still seems to work fine.

Topband: T88 opportunity

Still needing T88 on 160, I noticed this this: http://www.palauislandhome.com/index.html If a ham lands the job, I'll mail some wire for Topband :) 73/Jon AA1K _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband

Re: Topband: radial wire size

Loads around here too, some still in use. Some laying around on original spools, rusting away. Have pondered hooking up for Beverages. I think I can beat his price :-) 73/Jon AA1K -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jorge Diez - CX6VM

Topband: Full disclosure

I awoke well before sunrise as usual today and, before I had 2 sips from my coffee, found K1N on 40 CW and started calling. Moments later I realized I had neglected to hit the SPLIT button! My apologies to all for this transgression, which I'm sure was not the first time. My fitting punishment

Re: Topband: VK3ZL SK

My favorite memory of Bob -- among many -- is a mobile one too. It was about 9 years ago on a Friday and I had just installed a new screwdriver on my VW Jetta that covered 160-6 meters. Didn't have time to try it that night, but my son Adam N3TTT and I were up early Saturday, heading for the

Re: Topband: Deployable radials for 80/160M

The wire size is not critical. In laying down four x 120 radials (each about 130 ft long) for a new BS/EF array here three years ago, I used whatever I could scrounge from local salvage yards, flea markets, yard sales, Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores and other thrift stores. Old telephone

Re: Topband: Suggestions for a tower?

Jaan, Before replacing the guys, you might consider trying a gamma match at the bottom end of one of the top guy wires to load the tower and guys as-is. I did something similar on a sailboat for 80 meters (gamma matching the rigging on a 35-foot-high mast) and it worked OK. 73/Jon AA1K

Re: Topband: Short receiving verticals question

Thanks Tom and others for detailed comments on this issue. I understand the focus on bandwidth, presumably to keep the phasing constant across 100 kHz or less of 160 meters, and see how that would be important with fixed phasing. But in my bs/ef, the two forward elements are fed in phase

Re: Topband: Bad tower shunt capacitor

Look closely and you may see a hairline crack on the bad one. Also look for other possibilities. A number of times I've swapped out bad matching capacitors without solving the problem, only to find later it was simply an oxidized connection that needed to be cleaned up and tightened down.

Topband: Short receiving verticals question

Recent success here with 23-foot-high W8JI-style short receiving verticals in a 4-element broadside/endfire array using variable phasing has led me to make plans for other sets to cover additional directions. To maximize distance from existing and potential noise sources, and to allow for

Topband: Delaware report

The band is perking up on the East Coast too. After a couple of weeks of doldrums, VK3IO called in today at 1055z, peaking 579 though with some deep fades. Then from 1156z-1219z (our SR) four JAs went into the log. I was still hearing a couple of these 20 minutes past sunrise, as well as

Re: Topband: N1MM and 3830 (160m Contest)

Brian, In N1MM, under View select Statistics and then select row=Points and Column=Mult 1. The third column produced, labeled True, gives the sections (on the first line, which lists 2-point QSOs) and countries (on the second line, which lists 5-point QSOs). Not at all intuitive. Would be

Re: Topband: NOISE CANCELLERS

Carsten, I use one of mine with a pair of the W8JI style short verticals -- 22 feet high with four 22-foot top-loading wires, and 16 radials each 25 feet long. There is a series inductor and resistor at the feedpoint. These are in a line to make them endfire NE/SW and spaced about 1/8 wave

Re: Topband: Detuning/Grounding Xmit Antenna while on RX

Hi Bob, You could use a vacuum relay and key it from the keyer or rig line that is timed keying (such as for an amp). You want it open when transmitting of course. Might even be able to use a smaller non-vacuum relay such as the PC ones used in Top Ten and other relay boxes. Also can put

Re: Topband: NOISE CANCELLERS

DX Engineering NCC-1 tops both. 73/Jon AA1K On 11/16/2013 8:49 AM, Marcelo Chrispin wrote: Good morning, Dears TopBanders I need some opinions, What is the best acquisition between Timewave ANC-4 or MFJ-1025? Thanks for help me! 73s Marcelo Chrispin - PY5MC

Re: Topband: Need Help with First 80M 4-Square Tower Location

ON4UN built such a wire 80m vertical 4-square around his full-size 160m vertical. The 80m array was 20 meters on a side and used a single elevated radial elevated under each element. It is described in detail in his book, Low Band DXing (including the latest, 5th edition). 73/Jon AA1K On

Topband: The best ears ...

A few days ago I finally got around to resurrecting my screwdriver antenna that had met its demise many months back when a 7-year-old stainless steel mounting bolt suffered metal fatigue.. I was 5 miles down the road before a passing motorist brought it to my attention, and there was serious

Topband: trees and antennas

My QTH in central Delaware is about 12 acres with most of it a young forest of loblolly pines, oak and maple that top out around 80-90 feet tall. Prior to 1978 or so most of this was cleared farmland. In 1998 I erected a 100-foot tower that became the (series-fed) driven element for a

Re: Topband: PHASING SHUNT FED TOWERS

On 5/31/2013 12:43 AM, Tree wrote: K6SE was the first guy I saw doing this - with much shorter towers than mine. Somewhere in my files I have a copy of a four-page letter Earl sent to K2UU describing in detail the K6SE phased towers -- one of the few multielement transmit arrays in use on

Re: Topband: VK6HD SK

Very sad to hear of Mike's passing. Flipping back through my old logs, handwritten on something called paper, it appears our first QSO with Mike was on 40 meter CW in January of 1980. But it is the second QSO I recall most, on 80 CW on the last day of that month. We had had several exchanges

Topband: Delaware report

Saturday morning JR7VHZ called in 10 minutes past sunrise for our first JA QSO of the season. Previous recent years this has happened as early as late August or mid-September. Although this year my work schedule has me leaving the shack well before sunrise one or two days a week, so I may

Re: Topband: ARRL 160 contest

Tim, I use a very cumbersome combination of switch boxes. One of the things on my list to improve. The primary selector is a BW 3-position switch which in turn selects three other six-position BW switches. (I have about 18 Bevs in use!). The 3-position switch is marked for W, S, NE. The

Re: Topband: DX WINDOW

So if the League is going to persist with this antiquated rule is someone at HQ writing down the calls of all the violators? Will there be disqualifications? 73/Jon AA1K On 12/1/2012 3:20 PM, Missouri Guy wrote: Carol, N2MM Rule 6.1 for the ARRL 160... The segment 1.830 to 1.835 should

Re: Topband: detuning shunt fed tower

On 11/29/2012 8:42 AM, N1BUG wrote: Often, while listening to such a noise on one Beverage, switching from the vertical to a different transmit antenna (thus leaving the ~250 feet of coax feeding the vertical open at the shack end), there will be a dramatic change in noise on the Beverage,

Re: Topband: corona noise

Tom, What is a lot taller? Would an aluminum or steel (or combination) mast extension with pointed tip, extending say 10-20 feet above the top beam -- let's say one for 20m -- help to reduce corona discharge noise in the top beam? 73/Jon AA1K On 11/16/2012 6:58 PM, Tom W8JI wrote: Hi would

Re: Topband: W4OWJ - Jack Matthews- SK

Link to his obituary: http://www.tributes.com/show/94530342?active_tab=obituary Jack's efforts on the Topband need list -- on paper and sent via snail mail -- helped me and others work many new ones on the band in the '80s and '90s. The telephone alerts were a valuable tool and we had many

Re: Topband: 2012/13 season opening up?

I'm vacationing in coastal Maine and playing a bit of radio. Worked ZL3IX this morning, 15 minutes past sunrise. Greg was 579 on a couple of pieces of wire I'm phasing with the NCC-1 box and not quite as good on the TX antenna. Using a tree-supported Inverted L with six 1/4 wave on-the-rock

Re: Topband: Radials over a stone wall

Tony, If snaking one or more wires under the fence isn't feasible, I would simply run a buss wire around the base of the stone wall to the nearest opening and then back down the other side. Attach your radials to this buss wire on the tower side, and the continuation of these radials from the

Topband: 7O6T audio recording

7O6T was really loud here on Topband last night. Congrats to all who worked and to Jeff K1ZM for doing such a great job at the key. I made a few recordings and posted one at www.aa1k.us under DX News. Or use this link: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7hjw3/id9.html. You can hear Jeff working

Re: Topband: Parasitic Elements with 160m Verticals (was radals fer 160m vertcal)

Have Topbanders used parasitic elements? Yes, there are several parasitic arrays in use on the band. Mine started out in 1998 as a K3LR array (described in ON4UN's Low band antennas book) with a central tower as the driven element and four sloping t-shaped parasitic wire elements giving

Re: Topband: Fwd: radals fer 160m vertcal

Perhaps a case of need vs. want. If you want zero db power loss vs. perfect ground, then the far-right column in that chart applies -- which is pretty close to LaPort's finding (.4 vs. .5 wavelength). 73/Jon AA1K On 5/3/2012 10:30 PM, Mike Waters wrote: You don't need 120 radials. The optimum

Topband: Delaware report

After a long dry spell we had a nice JA opening this morning, with five in the log from 1042-1053z. Signals were strong and peaking on the direct path (NNW). This was our best JA run of the season. Best RX antenna was a pair of broadside phased Beverages, 935 feet long spaced 175 feet, aimed

Re: Topband: metal enclosure

A large mailbox will often work (or even a small one, depending on what components you need to cover. 73/Jon AA1K On 1/21/2012 9:24 AM, Roy wrote: I am totally reworking the feed system on my Inv-L... I have decided that I would like to use a large metal enclosure depending on cost. I need

Topband: Another good LP day on Top

The December Doldrums are officially over. For the second day we had good long path/skewed path conditions in the pre-dawn hours. This morning's excitement started with VK3IO (579) calling in at 1018z and VK3ZL (599!) at 1037z. Often when the VK's are this loud it's a sign the band will be

Topband: fyi 1820 harmonic

fyi hopefully this took care of the harmonic QRM we had this week on 1820 (WDOR;'s second harmonic). On 12/24/2011 3:20 PM, Eddy Allen wrote: Steve (engineer) found a faulty capacitor. That should have solved it. Please let me know if it did or did not. thanks for your input

Re: Topband: Noise problem question

Dave, I use my mobile rig to track down such noises (an IC-706Mk2G with a KJ7U 160-6m screwdriver antenna and 2/440 whip). I also have a couple of small AM and VHF-AM (aircraft band) portable radios when needed. The closer you get to the noise, the higher in frequency you should be be able to

Re: Topband: Receive ant question

for the years I used a TS-940S, which was prone to picking up RF on a Beverage plugged into the RX-only input, I used a simple $2.00 Radio Shack SPST reed relay to short out the coax at the back of the radio, through a 47-ohm resistor to ground. this solved the RF problems. the 940 was one of

Re: Topband: PL 259 for RG6

I've used lots of RG-6 over the years for transmitting. It handles full power fine, even through F connectors (got that tip years ago from KM1H) for various antennas 160-10m. Though most of mine is hard-wired. Mine wasn't new either -- most scrounged from dumpster at local CATV company in the

Re: Topband: soldering radials

Jorge, Perhaps your friend's concern was that the solder joints would corrode with time and galvanic action. Some have suggested using silver solder to avoid this problem. I used just regular solder when doing radials on my 160-meter parasitic array a dozen years ago and haven't observed any

Re: Topband: Web SDR's and 'Cheating'

absolutely an ethical violation! in a contest of course most rules forbid it. perhaps that's a different game, with different rules like talking on the telephone. 73/Jon AA1K www.aa1k.us On 2/10/2011 15:38 PM, Brendan Minish wrote: It turns out that the connected user was a DX station