Re: Topband: We need better preamps for 160 because FT8 activity

"Any new ideas on high performance preamps for 160m?? " The only thing I can suggest is to build the front end of the preamp as if it were a JW Miller style crystal radio, followed by the amp itself. Yep, crystal radio. Those sets had a bandwidth of ~10khz. Super selective and, yes, on 160m the

Re: Topband: CQ WW CW 160m Contest 2023

Yes, and I was happy to hear and work W7DRA! Haven't heard him for a long time. Charlie, N0TT On Tue, 31 Jan 2023 08:44:10 -0800 Tree writes: > That's a roger contact!! > > W7DRA will approve of his spotting method. > > Tree N6TR > > On Tue, Jan 31, 2023 at 8:29 AM uy0zg via Topband > >

Re: Topband: Small Loop does not receive weak signal on 160m BOUVET RX SPOILER

I was one of the 160m ops at "nearby" FT5XO. I can tell you that when the WX was good the TX antennas worked very well for receiving. When the WX turned bad, such as during the snow storm we worked through, the 160m TX antennas were very noisyjust as noisy as those anywhere on the planet.

Re: Topband: Radials, EZNEC and far field

>Having walked around on the beach with a battery K2 listening to incoming signals on a short antenna, walking 50 feet from the water drops signals multiple S units." Perhaps the handheld radio has a better ground connection, capacity coupled or not, through you and into the salt water + sand at

Re: Topband: FS: Twin-Ax

The twin-ax has found a new home...thanks to all that responded. 73, Charlie, N0TT On Fri, 29 Jul 2022 23:20:08 + writes: > Fellow Topbanders, > > I have 100ft of Twin-Ax "coax" that is surplus to my needs. > > It has a double shield, tight silver braids, blue and white colored > twisted

Topband: FS: Twin-Ax

Fellow Topbanders, I have 100ft of Twin-Ax "coax" that is surplus to my needs. It has a double shield, tight silver braids, blue and white colored twisted pair #18 solid copper, poly insulation, ~120-Ohms, about 1/2" overall diameter. IIRC, Twin-Ax is very desirable for the Waller Flag and

Re: Topband: W1FV 9-Circle Feedline & control Line Chokes?

Rich, I don't use any chokes on my 160m 9-circle RX arraylocated about 900ft from the shack. Chokes on the lines of your antenna couldn't hurt. Snap-on chokes may not offer worthwhile resistance. 8, 50-ft radials each element. "W8JI" elements. No Hi-Z elements. I used his

Re: Topband: cheap radial wire?

That's right...it's insulated and is used for "invisible" dog fencing. I've used it and it's just fine for radials. It's tinned copper, at least mine was and it came in 500ft spools. I've also used the military "surplus" WD1-A wire. It has steel strands and tinned copper strands in a

Re: Topband: Vertical choke needed?

To offer another view.IMHO Measure the impedance at the base of the antenna without the feedline attached in any way. While watching your instrument (259B, VNA, etc), touch the feedline *shield* to the radials at the base of the antenna. If your instrument shows no change in the impedance,

Re: Topband: Receive ant - binocular cores

Hi Tony, " Just can’t figure out how it blew the ferrite into little pieces..." If it was lightning, it's the pressure of the wires (trying to move away from one another) pressing against the walls of the brittle ferrite core. So, the core just exploded. Electromotive force at work. :O) On

Topband: OT: URGENT...Ham wanted to carry small load of radial wire from South Central PA to Dayton

act me off-list. (Yes, I have tried uship.com, but so far, not much interest.) Thanks, Charlie, N0TT n0tt1 (at) Juno (dot) com _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector

Re: Topband: Ground return wire under a Beverage

Dave, Think of the Beverage as an unbalanced transmission line. Its output is much higher because it is unbalanced with the soil/ground, even one that is two-direction and made with coax, twisted pair, or parallel wires. Placing a return wire under the Beverage will reduce its output because

Re: Topband: Contest conditions

> One problem I frequently encountered was DX stations sending CW way > too > fast. When a station is just out of the noise with fast QSB, as > many > frequently are, they're really hard to copy if they're going 45 > wpm, > especially if they have a short, unusual call, like T5W. > 73, > Jim

Re: Topband: best headphones for cw

I like my QC-15 noise cancelling headphones! Worth the money and they DO cancel-out fan noise from the K3 and my KW amp. I don't have any clacking relays when I key, so I can't comment on that. I use an adapter for the 1/8" plug on the QC's. 73, Charlie, N0TT On Fri, 17 Jun 2016 16:07:33

Re: Topband: Spring Stew Perry

You had a pretty strong signal here for only 11 watts. Thanks for the QSO Eric! Charlie, N0TT OP: W0CW EM29 On Sat, 12 Mar 2016 18:58:40 -0500 Eric NO3M writes: > Hand keying with an old bug oscillator HV supply also rectified > with > a Slop Jar bank (ie. electrolytic

Re: Topband: Termination Transformer

Mike, > A second question, the BN-73-202 cores I use are conductive to a > small extent. I have read it is better to use insulated wire or use > sleeves in the cores. You should use either enameled wire or something like the wire-wrap wire that Radio Shack (used to?) sells. See below on how

Re: Topband: alternative feedpoint capacitor

I know someone who uses aluminum plates with HDPE plastic to make a fixed capacitor. Works great with 1.5kw on Topband. Formulas to get the cap in reasonably close is in most ARRL RA handbooks. Tweek with a capacitance meter. 73, Charlie, N0TT On Sun, 2 Aug 2015 18:10:57 -0600 Steve Flood

Re: Topband: Topband Digest, Vol 146, Issue 47

Heh...heh...I don't normally work phone and I wasn't on the radio last night. Must have been Slim. hi hi 73, Charlie, N0TT On Sat, 28 Feb 2015 13:19:01 -0800 Richard (Rick) Karlquist rich...@karlquist.com writes: I heard KH6LC last night trying to call N0TT unsucessfully, many times,

Re: Topband: HVDC

Skip, I went on a road trip to Northern VE2 some years ago. There was an enormous transmissionline near the road we were on. I tuned in 1710 khz on the truck radio and there was dead silence...NO RFI at all. I really thought the line was maybe under construction but later I found that it was

Re: Topband: K1N DQRM Tracking Project

IIRC, quite some years ago, QST had a photo description of a FCC signal locator (for lack of a better description) consisting of several remote receivers that were linked together. Anyway, these could instantly locate the origin of a skywave signal with a resolution of a city block(!!) using

Topband: W1AW/0

FYI Topbanders...tonight is the last night to get W1AW/0 - Missouri on 160m until October. Freq about 1826, receiving up 1. 0200-0400Z or 9-11pm Central. There's a ton of static this time of year, so turn on those amps if you want to be heard! :D) 73, Charlie, N0TT _ Topband

Re: Topband: Ladder line vs coax loss epiphany

Tim wrote: I made some initial plastic spacers using drill press and saw but for me, the real timesaving breakthrough in making the spacers, was figuring out that snips cut the polycarbonate sheet just fine, and the Roper Whitney #5 does the holes like magic. I love that thing.

Re: Topband: Passive Receive Antenna Splitter

You might find this of interest, the magic-t combiner/splitter: http://www.w8ji.com/combiner_and_splitters.htm 73, Charlie, N0TT On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:13:44 -0500 Gary K9GS garyk...@wi.rr.com writes: Can anyone point me to a design for a splitter for sharing a Beverage antenna between two

Re: Topband: Control cable black conductors

Moisture has gotten to the copper. I've heard white vinegar may work. Its cheap...give it a try Guys, if you use the vinegar or other cleaners, but sure to clean if off with water after it's done it's job. Also, don't let it wick up into the insulation. Spreading the strands and wiping

Re: Topband: Ice

I lost one wire on one of the Beverages (where there was a kink from other damage), but it's a matter of time before a bigger ice storm completely takes down both Beverages. I'm toying with the idea of counterweights at the ends to help protect them. The pulleys are already there. 73,

Re: Topband: Ends for older Phillystran

I'm actually a little surprised a dead end / preform isn't supposed to be used with the straight-strand version of the cable. This discussion really belongs on TowerTalk, but If the straight-strand cable is bent around something, be it an insulator, guy grips, woven in and out of

Re: Topband: 160 Meter Ops

I operate mostly CW and some of these guys are going so fast I have to listen a few times to get their call right - amazingly fast. Yes...and just think of all the miscopied calls and info in the logs that won't be tallied! 73, Charlie, N0TT Maybe I'll see you tonight - have fun and stay

Re: Topband: Connector grease

I would not use petroleum jelly on any electrical connector, especially to flood it. That is bad advice, no matter what source recommends it. I also would not fill or flood a high power transmitting connector with anything, even pure silicon dielectric compounds that are engineered

Re: Topband: Verifying integrity of 75 ohm coax.

FYI Billthe use of medical grade petroleum jelly was recommended in ON4UN's LBDXing book. That doesn't always make it right, but personally, I've been using the jelly for years to keep water out of connectors and it works very well. The tube of the jelly works great as an applicator rather