Re: Topband: H40TT on 160m
Hi John, Listening with 3 different Rx antennas in CT & no cigar at this QTH. Not the first time, but I usually hear something. Tough Condx I think. Cheers & 73, Gary KA1J > > GM all. At the moment the plan is H40TT Rob will be on 160m around his > sunset 0700z (EU Monday morning). If condx are no good he will switch > to 80m and the same again Tuesday morning. Then they will pack up in > the hope of flying on Thursday. Good luck 73 John G3XHZ > > Sent from my iPhone > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: H40TT on 160m
GM all. At the moment the plan is H40TT Rob will be on 160m around his sunset 0700z (EU Monday morning). If condx are no good he will switch to 80m and the same again Tuesday morning. Then they will pack up in the hope of flying on Thursday. Good luck 73 John G3XHZ Sent from my iPhone _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Saturday night
Same situation here on S.Europe, back home when contest start and hear only EU and Jeff VY2ZM loud i suppose band is on good shape but after all dropping down , wake up on the middle of the night no signal at all from NA or Caribean like the day before contest, very sad, i prefered go on the bed again _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: BOG with variable inductors
Mikek said: "Regarding my planned inductors They would be controlled by current through the antenna wire." You are going to need a current return path somewhere. Are you planning to use the ground for that? That presents some new problems. As I said the last time, another wire close to the wire acting as the antenna will effectively short out the inductors due to wire-to-wire capacitance, so the wire carrying the DC can't be in the same cable as the antenna wire. Mikek said: "I was told if I use a current source, that the impedance looking in would be high," That's a good thought but the solution isn't obvious and the devil is in the details. Most three terminal regulators can be configured as current sources but I doubt that their output impedance will remain high over a 4 MHz range. Normally current sources don't have to work over a frequency range like that but you are trying to use it as a large inductor. Besides you apparently need a voltage compliant range of about 100 volts, so you would need extra circuitry anyway. Since you won't need the accuracy of these three terminal devices, maybe you can design something from scratch using transistors. Simulating the circuit in LTSPICE will save a bunch of time and frustration. Watch out for conditions that cause the circuit to jump into high frequency oscillation. Also since the circuit will be connected directly to the antenna wire, output noise of the current source becomes very important. The impedance of the DC return wire (wherever that is) will be a part of the impedance the current source has to work into. That fact alone will probably kill the whole concept. It doesn't look like an easy design task to me so I didn't spend any time looking at a possible design. A combination consisting of multiple series inductors may be a better solution. The smaller inductors could provide the needed impedance when the larger one becomes low impedance. That also requires a little work. The larger inductor at a frequency above its parallel resonant point looks like a capacitor and adding another inductor in series produces a series resonant point at a different frequency. Some design and testing is required to get the needed impedance over the range. Mikek said: "You ask if I breadboarded the series variable inductor and determined the inductance range needed to cover this frequency range.I don't know how I would breadboard that. I did my best with EZNEC and figured I'd start with a little extra inductance and then I could reduce it as needed. " You have already done some "breadboarding" if you measured the 100 to 17 uH values. That inductance value may vary with frequency when using ferrite material, so keep that in mind. You also need to measure the resistive part of the impedance of that variable inductor. A good antenna analyzer should take care of that. Using NEC to estimate the total inductance needed for each band is about as good as you can do. You will have fun experimentally determining how well it works if you ever get it built. You will need another antenna for comparison. Jerry, K4SAV _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Saturday night
Dave,You have to witness the LF bands from EU, with so many countries in a relatively space, packed on small bands, you don't have a clear frequency. If you have directional receive antennae, that does help. I couldn't raise C6AGU ( eu qrm), HI3CC didn't hear well, nor PJ2T, OR ZW5B. But I'm doing an all band effort, so not dedicated to 160.I did work CX6VM, FY5FJ, KP3DX, KP2M, XE2B, PJ4K JT5DX that come to mind73 Dave G3NKC @MD4K Sent from Samsung tablet Original message From: David Olean Date: 24/11/2019 18:46 (GMT+00:00) To: Topband Reflector Subject: Topband: Saturday night Hi Top BandersI was dabbling in the CQ WW contest last night (Nov 24 UT) and noted a few things that seemed quite different to me here in NE USA. The normal situation at my sunset occurred. I could hear many many EU stations but almost none of them could hear me. I am used to that. I quit and had dinner and spent some quality time with the XYL for the evening. At about 0300 UT I was QRV again. A storm was blowing through New England and There was a fair amount of lightning static, but I was able to call many stations who were very good copy, but almost always got the impression that I was barely audible with them. I am running 1300-1400 watts output. Most stations took three or four calls to get my call correct. A few gave up and had my call wrong but went on to other callers. Other loud stations CQed in my face. This was very different from many of my past experiences. I actually went and checked the electrical passband of my TX antenna to make sure it was performing normally. (It was) I also kept looking at the wattmeter to make sure that I was transmitting into the antenna!I did note that there was deep and rapid QSB over a 30 second period. I am wondering what the hearing conditions were in Europe Saturday night on 1.8 MHz. I suspect that noise was a big problem.Around 1000 UT until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of listening but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX. I was operating un assisted so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the band produced only two HI stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs produced no QSOs for points. Very disappointing morning.73Dave K1WHS_Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Saturday night
David, I was the 160 m operator at C6AGU Saturday night. During the week, ahead of the contest, I was on 160 a few nights and worked 100-s of EU-s under good conditions. But conditions here towards EU on Saturday night were poor: most stations were weak, and the normally strong ones were just OK. Even the Russians and Ukrainians were weak! Sat night was a struggle (until I went to 40). I was surprised because conditions were so good all weak and I was looking forward to having fun on 160. Such is TB! 73, George, AA7JV/C6AGU On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 18:46:56 + David Olean wrote: Hi Top Banders I was dabbling in the CQ WW contest last night (Nov 24 UT) and noted a few things that seemed quite different to me here in NE USA. The normal situation at my sunset occurred. I could hear many many EU stations but almost none of them could hear me. I am used to that. I quit and had dinner and spent some quality time with the XYL for the evening. At about 0300 UT I was QRV again. A storm was blowing through New England and There was a fair amount of lightning static, but I was able to call many stations who were very good copy, but almost always got the impression that I was barely audible with them. I am running 1300-1400 watts output. Most stations took three or four calls to get my call correct. A few gave up and had my call wrong but went on to other callers. Other loud stations CQed in my face. This was very different from many of my past experiences. I actually went and checked the electrical passband of my TX antenna to make sure it was performing normally. (It was) I also kept looking at the wattmeter to make sure that I was transmitting into the antenna! I did note that there was deep and rapid QSB over a 30 second period. I am wondering what the hearing conditions were in Europe Saturday night on 1.8 MHz. I suspect that noise was a big problem. Around 1000 UT until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of listening but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX. I was operating un assisted so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the band produced only two HI stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs produced no QSOs for points. Very disappointing morning. 73 Dave K1WHS _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Saturday night
Dave et all Friday night was better to be sure than Saturday night. Here in the deep south we got no sunset or sunrise bump. In fact early in the evening there were almost no EU to be heard, a few Caribs which were quickly worked through. I gave up around 0200 and set an alarm for 0500. Things had picked considerably. Then this morning there as you noted there was almost no pacific opening at all , one KH6 and not that strong, No JA's which were loud earlier in the week. Friday by comparison EU was loud well above average with many stations registering an honest S5 to S8 on the BOG ! In all I worked a total of 46 countries on both nights (40 of those on Friday/Night Saturday Morn..A personal best) . Funny you should mention QSB there was almost none noted here. The only one I missed that I really wanted was 6V7A, just didn't have the patience for the rude crowd calling on top of each other (please dont hijack this thread to play aint it awful with me... we cant solve that problem here) . The personal best catch for me was OY9JD for an ATNO . I was surprised and disappointed that 5N7Q or the energizer bunny 5T5PA was not in fray at all on any band? Dave NR1DX Florida On 11/24/2019 1:46 PM, David Olean wrote: Hi Top Banders I was dabbling in the CQ WW contest last night (Nov 24 UT) and noted a few things that seemed quite different to me here in NE USA. The normal situation at my sunset occurred. I could hear many many EU stations but almost none of them could hear me. I am used to that. I quit and had dinner and spent some quality time with the XYL for the evening. At about 0300 UT I was QRV again. A storm was blowing through New England and There was a fair amount of lightning static, but I was able to call many stations who were very good copy, but almost always got the impression that I was barely audible with them. I am running 1300-1400 watts output. Most stations took three or four calls to get my call correct. A few gave up and had my call wrong but went on to other callers. Other loud stations CQed in my face. This was very different from many of my past experiences. I actually went and checked the electrical passband of my TX antenna to make sure it was performing normally. (It was) I also kept looking at the wattmeter to make sure that I was transmitting into the antenna! I did note that there was deep and rapid QSB over a 30 second period. I am wondering what the hearing conditions were in Europe Saturday night on 1.8 MHz. I suspect that noise was a big problem. Around 1000 UT until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of listening but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX. I was operating un assisted so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the band produced only two HI stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs produced no QSOs for points. Very disappointing morning. 73 Dave K1WHS _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector -- Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com www.ArtekManuals.com _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Saturday night
Dave I’ll give you some more disappointment. At about 7 PM Saturday night (00Z) an incredible noise came on and wiped out all of bands. Something local and from the SW. Pointed my 10 m Yagi to the source. Killed my interest at that point and went to bed. Got going again at 1130z and the noise was thankfully gone. If it shows again, will have to do some DFing. Thought conditions Saturday night were starting out better than the first night. When you worked UW2M, worked him after but fighting that noise big at the time. PITA Regards, Mark, K1RX > On Nov 24, 2019, at 1:46 PM, David Olean wrote: > > Hi Top Banders > > I was dabbling in the CQ WW contest last night (Nov 24 UT) and noted a few > things that seemed quite different to me here in NE USA. The normal situation > at my sunset occurred. I could hear many many EU stations but almost none of > them could hear me. I am used to that. I quit and had dinner and spent some > quality time with the XYL for the evening. At about 0300 UT I was QRV again. > A storm was blowing through New England and There was a fair amount of > lightning static, but I was able to call many stations who were very good > copy, but almost always got the impression that I was barely audible with > them. I am running 1300-1400 watts output. Most stations took three or four > calls to get my call correct. A few gave up and had my call wrong but went on > to other callers. Other loud stations CQed in my face. This was very > different from many of my past experiences. I actually went and checked the > electrical passband of my TX antenna to make sure it was performing normally. > (It was) I also kept looking at the wattmeter to make sure that I was > transmitting into the antenna! > > I did note that there was deep and rapid QSB over a 30 second period. I am > wondering what the hearing conditions were in Europe Saturday night on 1.8 > MHz. I suspect that noise was a big problem. > > Around 1000 UT until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of listening > but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX. I was operating un assisted > so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the band produced only two HI > stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs > produced no QSOs for points. Very disappointing morning. > > 73 > > Dave K1WHS > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Saturday night
I don’t go in for contests but I did spend some time on top band this morning. From about 0600 to 0830 UTC. I was hearing a lot of E Coast at very good strengths plus several in the Caribbean. Unfortunately because of the universal use of 599 reports to everybody in contests (a practice that I really deplore) I have no idea how I was getting out other than that I was being heard. Last time I was really active this never happened but that is progress and computerised logging I guess. 73 Richard G3OQT > On 24 Nov 2019, at 18:46, David Olean wrote: > > Hi Top Banders > > I was dabbling in the CQ WW contest last night (Nov 24 UT) and noted a few > things that seemed quite different to me here in NE USA. The normal situation > at my sunset occurred. I could hear many many EU stations but almost none of > them could hear me. I am used to that. I quit and had dinner and spent some > quality time with the XYL for the evening. At about 0300 UT I was QRV again. > A storm was blowing through New England and There was a fair amount of > lightning static, but I was able to call many stations who were very good > copy, but almost always got the impression that I was barely audible with > them. I am running 1300-1400 watts output. Most stations took three or four > calls to get my call correct. A few gave up and had my call wrong but went on > to other callers. Other loud stations CQed in my face. This was very > different from many of my past experiences. I actually went and checked the > electrical passband of my TX antenna to make sure it was performing normally. > (It was) I also kept looking at the wattmeter to make sure that I was > transmitting into the antenna! > > I did note that there was deep and rapid QSB over a 30 second period. I am > wondering what the hearing conditions were in Europe Saturday night on 1.8 > MHz. I suspect that noise was a big problem. > > Around 1000 UT until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of listening > but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX. I was operating un assisted > so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the band produced only two HI > stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs > produced no QSOs for points. Very disappointing morning. > > 73 > > Dave K1WHS > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Saturday night
> On Nov 24, 2019, at 10:47 AM, David Olean wrote: > > . until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of > listening but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX. I was > operating un assisted so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the > band produced only two HI stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no > islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs produced no QSOs for points. Very > disappointing morning. I operated S on 80 and 160 from San Jose, CA. 80 was very good to N. Africa , SA, Caribbean, Asia and ZL . Lots of Qs. Great fun. No EU. 160 had “much” less activity (from here)! I worked a bunch of JAs - which was fun - but little else. If I only had a 160 antenna it would have been a sad affair for me. 73, Bob AA6VB _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Saturday night
Hi Top Banders I was dabbling in the CQ WW contest last night (Nov 24 UT) and noted a few things that seemed quite different to me here in NE USA. The normal situation at my sunset occurred. I could hear many many EU stations but almost none of them could hear me. I am used to that. I quit and had dinner and spent some quality time with the XYL for the evening. At about 0300 UT I was QRV again. A storm was blowing through New England and There was a fair amount of lightning static, but I was able to call many stations who were very good copy, but almost always got the impression that I was barely audible with them. I am running 1300-1400 watts output. Most stations took three or four calls to get my call correct. A few gave up and had my call wrong but went on to other callers. Other loud stations CQed in my face. This was very different from many of my past experiences. I actually went and checked the electrical passband of my TX antenna to make sure it was performing normally. (It was) I also kept looking at the wattmeter to make sure that I was transmitting into the antenna! I did note that there was deep and rapid QSB over a 30 second period. I am wondering what the hearing conditions were in Europe Saturday night on 1.8 MHz. I suspect that noise was a big problem. Around 1000 UT until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of listening but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX. I was operating un assisted so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the band produced only two HI stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs produced no QSOs for points. Very disappointing morning. 73 Dave K1WHS _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Proper posting etiquette
Mikek writes: > Could someone send me an email on how to properly respond to someones post. Everyone has their different style - and some put more energy into it than others... and some just rely on the default of the REPLY ALL button which typically puts all of the text down below your addition (where nobody will ever read it). > Do I copy and paste the previous post below mine? If you want - you can copy and paste the relevant questions and put the answers right after them... just as I am doing now. > Is there a line to click that copies the post I want to respond to. I'm missing something. I am not sure how things look on usenet. Typically - there should be a "replay all" or "reply" button. Obviously - use reply if you only want to respond to the author of the message. Tree N6TR On Sun, Nov 24, 2019 at 8:10 AM Mikek wrote: > Could someone send me an email on how to properly respond to someones post. > I'm used to Usenet where I just post my info below the previous response. > But, in that case the text is already there in your response. > Do I copy and paste the previous post below mine? Is there a line to > click > that copies the post I want to respond to. I'm missing something. > >Thanks, Mikek > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Proper posting etiquette
Could someone send me an email on how to properly respond to someones post. I'm used to Usenet where I just post my info below the previous response. But, in that case the text is already there in your response. Do I copy and paste the previous post below mine? Is there a line to click that copies the post I want to respond to. I'm missing something. Thanks, Mikek _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: BOG with variable inductors
Oh, ya, I did run into the choke resonance problem, and haven't solved it. I was told if I use a current source, that the impedance looking in would be high, I'll visit that when I get the variable inductor perfected. Regarding my planned inductors They would be controlled by current through the antenna wire. I expect nine inductors spaced 1/8 wavelength apart (only because W8JI suggested that for Bevearges) My crude model in EZNEC said making each of those 100uH was enough to get a 250ft BOG down to 550kHz. If anyone could take the time to use the NEC 4 engine for the close to ground accuracy, I would appreciate it. It is very sensitive to the inductance so you will need to iterate around a bit. If you find I need something different than a maximum 100uH x 9 inductors, I need to know. Also, would 5 inductors work,? How about 1 inductor? “Position of the wire carrying the current may affect the pattern if it is close. Too close (like in the same cable) and the capacitance between the wires will effectively short out the inductors at RF. My plan is to use Cat 6 cable for my feed line and use the other wires for the DC control of the inductors. I'm not sure I see how the DC control lines would cause a problem on the twisted feedline? I can see a impedance matching problem over the 8 to 1 frequency, I hadn't thought of that.I'm still fussing with my variable inductor, The best I have is 100uH to 17uh with 12v @ 80ma. That's using to small relay coils that were $0.52 ea. I need to buy bigger coils to get a larger Flux, I was trying to make it cheap.You ask if I breadboarded the series variable inductor and determined the inductance range needed to cover this frequency range.I don't know how I would breadboard that. I did my best with EZNEC and figured I'd start with a little extra inductance and then I could reduce it as needed. There are some difficult tasks ahead to make this work over a frequency range of 8 to 1.. One is the RF choke. EZNEC simulations show you need about 1mH or more to get enough impedance at 500 kHz. The problem is that the self resonance of the choke has to be well above 4 MHz. A distributed capacitance of the choke of 1.6 pf would cause the choke to resonant on 4 MHz, so the distributed capacitance must be significantly less than that. It may be possible to build an inductor like that but it will have to be an air wound coil using very small wire and well separated from its surroundings. A ferrite or powder irom core won't work. Accepting some degradation of the pattern at 500 kHz would decrease the choke requirements. Other than that, I don't have a solution for this, other than something complicated, like switching chokes as a function of frequency. Those values of inductance were derived from simulations and there is some possibility the numbers may not agree with experimental results. Position of the wire carrying the current may affect the pattern if it is close. Too close (like in the same cable) and the capacitance between the wires will effectively short out the inductors at RF. The resistive component of the impedance of the series inductors is important. Inductor material is important. If the resistance is too large, it will kill the response of the antenna. DC blocking caps should present no problems. _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
