I never did much on 160, never had the antenna space or a tower. Tried tuning up various things but never heard much, and never made a contact on 160.
My guess would be that low power would not give much joy on 160 except under rare conditions?. 40 meters is the best low power band, with 50 watts, you can often work a bunch of people when they are around. Antenna's are easy to do, band conditions during the day are often good. 80 is good also, when the sunspot cycle changes, 80 or 40 is usually good during the daytime. I think its rolling around to 40 being very good in the daytime in the next few years? I imagine 160 is better at night if you can do it, less of a zoo maybe? Lots of ways to build a rig, low power xtal type, medium power RF driven by some solid state rig, all home brew including the VFO, etc. A single band rig is easy to build, as is something using plug in coils to change bands, or even tapped coils. Regardless of the actual design, the hard part is building something that looks good and works well. Paint, matching meters and knobs, parts layout even and symmetrical layout, no marginal parts or designs, all the metal cutting, it adds up to a lot of work! I have bought 'homebrew' stuff at fests for parts, and could not get over how some stuff was built. Hacked out holes using who knows what tools, nothing marked, all the same color wire, nothing matching, no paint, not one thing in a straight line or right angle, poor solder, etc. These days, many might have to build what they can get parts for, or what parts they have available. What is available can be expensive, mod and other iron, oil filled caps, big air variables, etc. Brett N2DTS > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Wilhite > Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 11:51 AM > To: Discussion of AM Radio in the Amateur Service > Subject: Re: [AMRadio] would like to build a little homebrew project > > Brett is on the right path. I have always heard from all my > old(er) elmers that it takes two things to work on 160. 1. > Power 2 a vertical antenna. > > This is not to say you won't work anyone in your area with > low power, but if you hear someone at a distance, the 200 > Watt + carrier can make the difference. > > There is a guy in AZ who uses a Viking 2 (100 watts) with a > 90 ft. folded unipole and he is as strong in Oklahoma as > garlic breath. > > 75/80 is much the same except a dipole can do a good job for > you. I realize what you are doing, but I do suggest you put > up a very good antenna for 160. It will pay off with the > lower power. > > Jim/W5JO > > > > > > >A collection of old handbooks is a great thing to have, > > both the arrl and the bill orr handbooks. > > > > A 6146 modulated by a pair of 6l6's would be nice, > > 50 watts of carrier, 200 watt pep. > > You can put a xtal in the grid, or build an osc stage > > to isolate things a bit. > > Or buy an old VFO to drive it. > > > > Brett > > N2DTS > > > > >> > >> > >> I'm wanting to build a little homebrew project and build > >> bigger ones > >> based on what I learn from the smaller project. Just > >> wondering if > >> anyone could point me in the right direction for building > >> a nice > >> little AM transmitter, preferably for use on 160 > >> meters... I guess > >> I need to find some really old ARRL handbooks because the > >> ones I have > >> from the late 60s and 70s aren't helping me. > >> > >> thanks > >> > >> -- > >> 73 Jason N1SU > >> http://n1su.com/ > > ______________________________________________________________ > AMRadio mailing list > List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html > List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html > Post: mailto:AMRadio@mailman.qth.net > To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word unsubscribe in the message body. > ______________________________________________________________ AMRadio mailing list List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:AMRadio@mailman.qth.net To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
