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
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)
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/
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
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
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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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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