Re: Topband: John ON4UN silent key -- please copy John's family

I think ON4UN's family would like to see these many messages about how important he's been to so many people and how his legacy will live on. Please be sure to copy the email address in his daughter's message: on4u...@gmail.com -- Art, KB3FJO From: Topband

Re: Topband: Solar Flux Question

Thanks. Very helpful. One question: The attachment says: "The coloured dot within the black square, is an indicator of solar wind density, and is yellow when density exceeds 10 particles per cubic cm, red when density exceeds 15 particles per cubic cm, otherwise green." It wasn't clear to

Re: Topband: Who is ruling DXCC ?

I can't speak to Czech law, but in American law there is a wise maxim: "If you want equity, you must do equity." That is, if you come to court complaining that someone's actions were so unfair that the court should order a remedy, your own actions must be fair beyond reproach. When you

Re: Topband: Topband resource

Back in the late 90s, there were a pair of articles in QST about a receiving antenna for 80 and 160 that rejects local noise. The antenna was low and horizontal, it was exceptionally quiet even in a somewhat noisy location, and it had a very high reception angle. I recall that the authors

Re: Topband: Skip Distance

I certainly remember when I was a kid that we would have deep fades on a.m. BC stations coming from 20 miles away, plus or minus a few. But that was at night. Are you doing your tests in the daytime? Topband and a.m. BC frequencies are so low that I would think they’d reflect off the

Re: Topband: Ticks

After you walk in that area, go over your clothes with one of those sticky-tape clothes rollers. That should pick up any tiny ticks that have latched on. > On Jul 16, 2019, at 9:23 AM, Mike Waters wrote: > > H Bruce, > > Not aware of a drone, but have you considered one of those

Re: Topband: Satisfactory fiberglass pole for K9AY loop

Not sure how much height you need for a K9AY loop. I've used 16-foot Shakespeare fiberglass poles for various antenna supports. Amazon has 10, 13, 16 and 20-foot versions. (Search for Shakespeare fiberglass wonderpole.) Whatever length you buy, note that you probably shouldn't count on the

Re: Topband: FT8 vs other modes - my numbers.

Well said. Thank you. From: Topband on behalf of Cecil Acuff Sent: Sunday, February 3, 2019 7:06 PM To: DXer Cc: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: FT8 vs other modes - my numbers. Yeah the elitist attitude of CW being the only thing that’s real

Re: Topband: Topband Phenomenon

Back in the early 60s, NASA launched a couple of satellites named Echo I and Echo II that were essentially huge reflecting balloons. You could tune to WWV on 20 MHz at a time of day when that was above the MUF. When the Echo satellite came by, WWV would pop up out of nowhere for a few seconds

Re: Topband: 160 conditions

On the NOAA website "Space Weather Enthusiasts," they show, among other things, the solar wind speed and magnetic field details. Reports of great conditions on 160 seem to be most common when the solar wind speed is low -- in the low 300s or high 200s -- and the Bz component of the magnetic

Re: Topband: Topband Digest, Vol 192, Issue 33

> > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2018 10:31:56 -0600 > From: Cecil Acuff > To: n...@n4is.com > Cc: Wes Stewart ,Arthur Delibert > , Jeff Woods , topband > > Subject: Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question > Message-ID: <592429

Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question

You may also want to check out the SAL-12, -20 or -30 antennas from Array Solutions. My yard is pretty small, but I was able to put up a SAL-12, and I love it. (I do mostly 49-, 60- and 90-meter SWBC DX.) I can switch the antenna to any one of 8 different directions, and I'm often surprised

Re: Topband: tennis ball launcher for antennas

BTW, note that if the line is coiled on the tarp in a figure-8 shape, it won't tangle when you fire it. Same trick works when you pack up the headset wire to your smart phone -- when you put it away, coil it around your fingers in a figure-8, and you won't have a tangled mess the next time you

Re: Topband: Common Mode

David -- Suggest you take a look at the attached paper by Jim Brown. I live in a fairly dense suburb where every house (including mine) has all the latest RF noise-makers. Following Brown's suggestions, I've put large 31-material clamp-on ferrites on both ends of my receive antenna feedlines

Re: Topband: Why no NA 160m Activity?

I think in the last few days the lightning has died down a lot. Hurricane Michael seems to have swept a lot of other weather systems away, at least along the U.S. East Coast. The Intellicast map of lightning strikes in the U.S. is almost clear, something we haven’t seen for months! Art

Topband: WWV: Are they testing us?

WWV has been broadcasting an outdated propagation report for several days, giving the solar flux as of September 18 and K Index as of 1200 on September 19. THIS MAY BE A TEST TO SEE IF ANYONE IS LISTENING, and if not, they’ll shut it down. We’ve had similar tests from other SW services prior

Re: Topband: OT - US Hams, WWV closure

Anyone who doesn't want WWV and its sister stations to close down needs to SPEAK UP NOW. Sometimes bureaucrats and politicians faced with demands to shrink their budgets propose things for elimination precisely because they know there's a constituency that will complain loudly and then the

Re: Topband: Beverage construction

Carol – Regarding the use of ferrite chokes to kill common-mode noise coming in on the transmission line, look on the internet for “A Ham's Guide to RFI, Ferrites, Baluns, and Audio Interfacing,” by Jim Brown, K9YC. It’s a very good tutorial on how to construct and use chokes for common-mode

Re: Topband: FT8 - the end of 160m old school DXing? (long)

I’m sure there will be people who say FT8 is just “progress.” But some psychologists divide people according to whether their preferred mode of experience is auditory, visual or kinesthetic (touch). I think most of us who are addicted to radio are primarily auditory – on one level, that’s why

Re: Topband: RF choke/balun

I think that’s right if the only issue is your own transmit signal bouncing back from the antenna junction and traveling along the exterior of the feedline. But for receiving, I think a choke at each end of the feedline is important unless you’re in an exceptionally low noise location. K9YC

Re: Topband: Best 160 antenna

I’ve found it useful to put a ferrite choke balun at each end – one at the antenna and one at the receiver. Jim Brown, K9YC, has some helpful stuff on the internet about this. Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Mike

Re: Topband: Fwd: Echo on 160m yesterday morning

Thanks for these references on magnetospheric ducting. Looks like as good an explanation as any I've seen (and better than most). Art Delibert, KB3FJO From: Topband on behalf of Andy Cook Sent: Monday,

Re: Topband: Echo on 160m yesterday morning

Thanks. Sounds from your description that the interval was very short, so it was not what has been called a "long-delayed" echo. From: on7eh <on...@skynet.be> Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2017 3:46 PM To: Arthur Delibert; topband@contesting

Re: Topband: Echo on 160m yesterday morning

Approximately how much delay was there between your transmission and the echo? --Art Delibert, KB3FJO From: Topband on behalf of on7eh Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2017 4:32 AM To: topband@contesting.com Subject:

Re: Topband: Beverage Feed-line Noise Pickup

them so as to minimize capacitance between the turns, which affects the resonant frequency of the choke. -- Art, KB3FJO From: K1FZ-Bruce <k...@myfairpoint.net> Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2016 11:50 PM To: Arthur Delibert Subject: Re: Topband: Beverage Fee

Re: Topband: Beverage Feed-line Noise Pickup

Herb -- I don't have Beverages, but rather pennant antennas. I think we have potential problems at both ends of the feedline and need protection at both ends. I use Fair-Rite 31-material snap-on cores at both ends, and there's a noticeable difference in the noise level if I remove either

Re: Topband: RF interference from 160m to GE Electric stove

The product that does this is the MFJ Artificial Ground. Costs about $160. Good luck. Art Delibert, KB3FJO From: Topband on behalf of Gary Smith Sent: Sunday, November 6, 2016 1:36 PM To:

Re: Topband: 160 meter starter antennas

I have good luck with a pennant antenna, using a DX Engineering pre-amp at the antenna. I live in a densely populated suburb, where it seems like every neighbor has every RF noise-maker ever invented, and the antenna does a pretty good job except for neighbors that are right off the front end

Re: Topband: The band sans noise

You don't need to be in the sticks to put up one or two pennants and get a lot of mileage out of them. I have a fairly small suburban back yard; the other houses are pretty close, and they seem to have every kind of RF noise-maker imaginable. Based on where the trees are, I put up two

Re: Topband: Fwd: Re: Future propagation ?

In 1969, there was a project called BOMEX, which attempted to study very intensively a segment of the earth's atmosphere in the region of Barbados. One of the things they found was a very fine dust, whose arrival followed -- by the appropriate length of time -- satellite images that showed

Topband: [WARNING: A/V UNSCANNABLE]RE: Waller Flag Question

Tom -- You asked for the source of the statement about a Waller flag needing 40 dB of preamplification. See http://www.kkn.net/dayton2011/N4ISWallerFlag.pdf at pages 6 and 7. -- Art, KB3FJO _ Topband Reflector Archives -

Topband: Waller Flag Question

The on-line materials about Waller Flags says that a modest size WF would need about 40 dB of gain to boost the signal to a usable level. One of the postings says that cascading two preamps of 20 dB each seems to add extra noise, and they talk about developmental work being done on a single

Re: Topband: Compact magnetic loop

I've been playing with an amplified Wellbrook ALA 1530S+ loop antenna for about 10 days now. It does a very good job on both close-in and long-distance signals across the SW spectrum, and its ability to knock down the local noise is a great benefit in my dense suburban location. Compared to

Re: Topband: Unknown Pulse Signal Wiping out 1900-1925 kHz

Is anyone in Europe hearing this, who could get a bearing on it from a very different position? Art Delibert KB3FJO Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2014 19:06:16 -0500 From: wd8...@gmail.com To: g...@ka1j.com CC: Topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: Unknown Pulse Signal Wiping out 1900-1925 kHz

Re: Topband: Inv-L joy

I use an EZ-Hang slingshot to throw rope over the tree limbs, and then use that to pull the wire antenna into place. I remove a length of the outer insulation from an old piece of coax and, once I see where the rope crosses the tree limb, I slide the coax insulation onto that part of the rope.

Re: Topband: Fw: Inv-L joy

Tom -- Try the trick of taking the outer sheath off a few feet of large diameter coax and slipping it over the rope where it crosses the tree limb. (It may require some duct tape to hold it in the right place.) The ones I've done like that have lasted for years. -- Art, KB3FJO From:

Re: Topband: solarwind and 160 prop

Check out this website: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SWN/ --Art Delibert, KB3FJO Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 06:24:17 +0100 From: df...@t-online.de To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: solarwind and 160 prop hi reflectees ! As we all know, the effects of the solar wind are strongly

Re: Topband: Boring moderator message

As last night's primary offender, I apologize to all -- I was in such a hurry to get the news out about the incredible opening that I just forgot to add my callsign and QTH. I hope anyone who was in doubt just flipped on the radio and was amply rewarded with a few rare ones! Merry Christmas

Topband: Good Conditions Tonight on 160?

FYI, this is an unusually good night on the upper end of the AM broadcast band, with a great signal from Kuwait on 1548. Topband afficianados may want to check out conditions. ___ Stew Perry Topband

Re: Topband: Not so Boring report

Interesting to see this report. A few years ago, OH2BO wrote on this reflector that for DX signals traveling through the polar regions, he watches the solar wind, and expects very good conditions when the solar wind speed is below 300 km/sec and the solar wind pressure is less than 0.5 nPa

Re: Topband: Long Daytime Propagation

In the 1960s, when I was studying such things, I saw a paper by some researchers who had set up very low-angle transmitting and receiving antennas on a low frequency and achieved long-distance propagation by way of a signal that was reflected or refracted by the bottom of the D layer, and so

Re: Topband: K6STI low noise receive loop

Maybe I'm the only guy on the list that actually built one of these antennas. I used it for 90-meter BC DX, and the results were spectacular. Background noise dropped to a very low level, and I could get usable audio out of stations that were barely hets on my other antennas. A few

Re: Topband: RX epiphany?

Bob-- Just curious -- How is your reception around sunrise, when most of the thunderstorms in the Americas are in daylight, and therefore their QRN probably isn't reaching you? Art, KB3FJO On Sep 12, 2012, at 11:07 PM, Bob Kupps n...@yahoo.com wrote: Hi well I've only been QRV since

Re: Topband: Receiving loops

but it may not be symetrical or as deep as it should be. Sent from my iPad On Jun 16, 2012, at 10:36, Arthur Delibert radio7...@msn.com wrote: Tim -- If the suggestions from others don't entirely do the trick, here's another thing to consider: The outer conductor on your coax might

Re: Topband: how to hear through static crashes?

Here's an idea that I wonder if anyone has ever tried. Being an impulse, the lightning crash is essentially the same on all nearby frequencies. Would it be possible to tune a second receiver to an empty frequency near 160 and subtract that audio from the audio on the desired frequency, or

Re: Topband: Artificial Propagation...?

As I remember the earlier project, it was an effort in the early or mid 1960s to create perpetual worldwide twilight by shooting millions of tiny copper needles into the upper atmosphere. I remember reading at the time that they became magnetized and stuck together for that reason. In any

Re: Topband: Artificial Propagation...?

://www.damninteresting.com/earths-artificial-ring-project-west-ford/ for more information. 73, John W1FV -Original Message- From: topband-boun...@contesting.com [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Delibert Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 7:59 AM To: n...@cox.net; k

Re: Topband: Flag/Pennant Question

-0500 To: radio7...@msn.com CC: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: Flag/Pennant Question Why would you do that? Sent from my iPhone On Nov 27, 2011, at 8:59 PM, Arthur Delibert radio7...@msn.com wrote: I'm wondering if anyone has ever built or modeled a multi-turn flag

Re: Topband: Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances

I've also seen on the BCB that a very short distance can seem to make a considerable difference. Sometimes one station in France is relatively good here in Maryland, the others very poor. Or London on 1215 is relatively good, but Bordeaux on 1206 is poor. There also seem to be (at least)

Re: Topband: RX Antenna

I'm in the same situation: A small suburban lot, with no room for a beverage, but some trees to support pennants, flags, etc. At the moment, I'm using a pennant to separate Saudi Arabia on 1521 AM from WWKB in Buffalo on 1520. No other antenna I've tried really comes close. Noise in the