Topband: Excellent conditions 08-09 Jan
Worked into Ukraine with 40 watts on FT8. Heard lots of EU and Russian callsigns very strong around 0430 UTC, well before sunrise for several of them. It has been awhile for me since hearing signals that strong. Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4...@arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com SKCC #16439 FISTS #17972 _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night
Sorry about that Steve . . I heard a few people calling that I couldn't quite pull out of the noise - there was a lot of QSB on signals. 73 Roger G3YRO -Original Message- From: VE6WZ Steve [mailto:ve...@shaw.ca] Sent: 08 January 2018 16:46 To: Roger Kennedy Cc: daraym...@iowatelecom.net; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night Roger, Last night you had a very solid signal (579) on qsb peaks but you could not copy my calling. Here at Ve6wz conditions were excellent last night into EU. I worked 46 EU, some with exceptionally strong signals. Solar wind below 350 km/s still seems to be a good proxy for trans-polar openings from these parts. KW to shunt fed tower, and diversity RX with 9 circle array and 1000' Beverage. 73, de Steve ve6wz >From Babcocks iPhone > On Jan 8, 2018, at 3:11 AM, Roger Kennedy wrote: > > Yes good to work you on Saturday night Dave . . . > > And heard you again last night too, working a few stations. Some of > the Eastern European guys calling you weren't that strong, so you did > well to pull them through! > > 73 Roger G3YRO > > -Original Message- > From: daraym...@iowatelecom.net [mailto:daraym...@iowatelecom.net] > Sent: 08 January 2018 06:18 > To: Roger Kennedy; topband@contesting.com > Subject: Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night > > Just shut down but conditions were go to EU from here in the US > Midwest > (Iowa) again this evening. . .but not as good as Saturday evening. > > 73 . . .Dave, W0FLS > > -Original Message- > From: Roger Kennedy > Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2018 5:49 PM > To: topband@contesting.com > Subject: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night > > > Great to hear the band open from Europe into the Midwest USA last night . . > . > > Managed to work a number of stations, including Texas, Arizona, > Colorado, etc. > > Will be on again tonight to see what conditions are like. > > 73 Roger G3YRO > > > _ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband > > _ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Antenna at a sea cliff
Hello, To take leverage of the location and direction at which the cliff faces, what kind of antenna would you set up in a place where the TRX would be on the top of a cliff, 50 to 80m above sea level? 73, Felipe CT7ANO, PY1NB _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line
Vic, sounds like you have what you need for your open wire line support, so this is an FYI: In the UK WD1A is called D10 field telephone cable. It's getting harder to find surplus, but is still made by Lacey: http://www.klaceycables.co.uk/shop/product/12/d10-field-telephone-cable The steel strands tend to rust out easily so it's worth dipping the ends of open wire or radial runs in Liquid Tape or similar. I have a few reels here for beverages, but your posting has reminded me of using it for long feeder runs too. 73, David G3WGN M6O -Original Message- From: Vic Lindgren [mailto:g4...@lindgren1.karoo.co.uk] Sent: 08 January 2018 15:48 To: jeremy maris Cc: Jim Garland <4cx2...@miamioh.edu>; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line Thank you everyone for your contributions regarding my questions re Ladder Line. We will try a test run of the RG6U as suggested by Jeremy. Mainly because we already have a source on site of the cable he suggested. The WD1A telephone wire does not appear available in the UK. You all appear to agree that it matters not whether supported vertically or horizontally,as long as a twist is made to help maintain both balance and wind survival. All great info folks. Will let the group know our progress with the project shortly. 73 Vic G4BYG (G6M) > On 7 Jan 2018, at 10:28, jeremy maris wrote: > > Hi Vic, > > I’ve done something similar to Jim with two paralleled runs of WD1A for a > bi-directional Beverage and it worked very well. > > According to the specifications, WD1A is made up of two 0.85mm diameter > conductors separated by 0.85mm between the inner surface of the conductors. > I took the effective diameter of two paralleled strands of WD1A to be 2mm. > Two lines spaced apart by 50mm gives about 450 ohms impedance. > > Paralleled strands of WD1A at 450/600 ohms are OK for RX but you want to use > the line for feeding QRO to a transmit antenna, so loss matters. > > I’ve considered using RG6U spaced apart by 150mm for 450 ohm TX transmission > line but think that I’d need too many poles to support it with acceptable sag. > Aluminium wire or copperweld would be much better - it would be lighter and > hold more tension so less sag, fewer supports needed and more consistent > impedance. > > Re horizontal versus vertical spacing, don’t think it will make much > difference on taught lines raised above head height. > > 73 Jeremy G3XDK / G4AQG > >> On 6 Jan 2018, at 21:05, Vic wrote: >> >> Thanks for that Jim, >> >> Well we plan on using some on site "Shot Gun" coax (about 8 gauge diam) as >> the ladder line conductors with a 6 inch spacing. Which on a test length >> gave us around the 450 ohm impedance we require. >> >> I dont know the diameter of that WD1a wire but suspect it is quite small >> which would make home made 450 ohm line spacing very small indeed. >> >> Your method of supporting using the wood clamps sounds a good idea as we >> were concerned about the plastic clamps breaking due to flexing and UV >> deterioration. >> >> If our conductors fail through the flexing then we may bite the bullet and >> buy some Aluminium wire as Rik N6RK uses. >> >> All useful info though and thanks again Jim. >> >> 73 >> >> >>> On 06-Jan-18 20:38, Jim Garland wrote: >>> Vic, I've had nothing but bad luck in trying to support long horizontal >>> lengths of ladder line. In my case, I have two 720 ft bidirectional >>> beverages, which I initially made of heavy duty commercial ladder line. I >>> supported the line with wood 4"x4" posts, spaced sixty feet apart, using >>> the little plastic ladder line clamps, sold in the US by DX Engineering. >>> >>> After only a month or so, the plastic clamps broke apart because of the >>> repetitive flexing of the ladder line in breezes. I replaced the clamps >>> with wood clamps, screwed into the top of the posts. These survived with no >>> problem, but the ladder didn't. After six months or so, I started having >>> breaks in the line from the flexing, and after spending two years >>> repeatedly repairing the line, I gave up and threw away all 1500 feet of >>> the stuff. >>> >>> Finally, I settled on WD1a military surplus field telephone wire, available >>> from many sources for about $50 USD in half mile lengths. I use two >>> parallel lengths of the wire, threaded through twin ceramic insulators >>> screwed into each 4x4 wood support (available from a farm supply store), >>> with a pulley at the far end to equalize tension in the two lengths. In >>> three years, it has worked perfectly, with no problems at all. >>> >>> I'm not disparaging ladder line (or the plastic clamps) at all. The >>> commercial stuff just isn't designed for long horizontal lengths. >>> >>> 73, >>> Jim W8ZR >>> -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Vic Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2018 01:17 PM To: topban
Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line
A reversible Beverage or BOG can be constructed out of a single run of RG-6, there's no need to form an open wire line out of two runs of RG-6, See ON4UN's Low Band DXing, Volume 5, page 7-88 and fig. 7-118 73 Frank W3LPL - Original Message - From: "Vic Lindgren" To: "jeremy maris" Cc: topband@contesting.com, "Jim Garland" <4cx2...@miamioh.edu> Sent: Monday, January 8, 2018 3:47:52 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line Thank you everyone for your contributions regarding my questions re Ladder Line. We will try a test run of the RG6U as suggested by Jeremy. Mainly because we already have a source on site of the cable he suggested. The WD1A telephone wire does not appear available in the UK. You all appear to agree that it matters not whether supported vertically or horizontally,as long as a twist is made to help maintain both balance and wind survival. All great info folks. Will let the group know our progress with the project shortly. 73 Vic G4BYG (G6M) > On 7 Jan 2018, at 10:28, jeremy maris wrote: > > Hi Vic, > > I’ve done something similar to Jim with two paralleled runs of WD1A for a > bi-directional Beverage and it worked very well. > > According to the specifications, WD1A is made up of two 0.85mm diameter > conductors separated by 0.85mm between the inner surface of the conductors. > I took the effective diameter of two paralleled strands of WD1A to be 2mm. > Two lines spaced apart by 50mm gives about 450 ohms impedance. > > Paralleled strands of WD1A at 450/600 ohms are OK for RX but you want to use > the line for feeding QRO to a transmit antenna, so loss matters. > > I’ve considered using RG6U spaced apart by 150mm for 450 ohm TX transmission > line but think that I’d need too many poles to support it with acceptable > sag. > Aluminium wire or copperweld would be much better - it would be lighter and > hold more tension so less sag, fewer supports needed and more consistent > impedance. > > Re horizontal versus vertical spacing, don’t think it will make much > difference on taught lines raised above head height. > > 73 Jeremy G3XDK / G4AQG > >> On 6 Jan 2018, at 21:05, Vic wrote: >> >> Thanks for that Jim, >> >> Well we plan on using some on site "Shot Gun" coax (about 8 gauge diam) as >> the ladder line conductors with a 6 inch spacing. Which on a test length >> gave us around the 450 ohm impedance we require. >> >> I dont know the diameter of that WD1a wire but suspect it is quite small >> which would make home made 450 ohm line spacing very small indeed. >> >> Your method of supporting using the wood clamps sounds a good idea as we >> were concerned about the plastic clamps breaking due to flexing and UV >> deterioration. >> >> If our conductors fail through the flexing then we may bite the bullet and >> buy some Aluminium wire as Rik N6RK uses. >> >> All useful info though and thanks again Jim. >> >> 73 >> >> >>> On 06-Jan-18 20:38, Jim Garland wrote: >>> Vic, I've had nothing but bad luck in trying to support long horizontal >>> lengths of ladder line. In my case, I have two 720 ft bidirectional >>> beverages, which I initially made of heavy duty commercial ladder line. I >>> supported the line with wood 4"x4" posts, spaced sixty feet apart, using >>> the little plastic ladder line clamps, sold in the US by DX Engineering. >>> >>> After only a month or so, the plastic clamps broke apart because of the >>> repetitive flexing of the ladder line in breezes. I replaced the clamps >>> with wood clamps, screwed into the top of the posts. These survived with no >>> problem, but the ladder didn't. After six months or so, I started having >>> breaks in the line from the flexing, and after spending two years >>> repeatedly repairing the line, I gave up and threw away all 1500 feet of >>> the stuff. >>> >>> Finally, I settled on WD1a military surplus field telephone wire, available >>> from many sources for about $50 USD in half mile lengths. I use two >>> parallel lengths of the wire, threaded through twin ceramic insulators >>> screwed into each 4x4 wood support (available from a farm supply store), >>> with a pulley at the far end to equalize tension in the two lengths. In >>> three years, it has worked perfectly, with no problems at all. >>> >>> I'm not disparaging ladder line (or the plastic clamps) at all. The >>> commercial stuff just isn't designed for long horizontal lengths. >>> >>> 73, >>> Jim W8ZR >>> -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Vic Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2018 01:17 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: Supporting Ladder line Has anyone idea's of how to support a long (750 ft) length of home made 450 ohm ladder line ? Is it possible to use it supported from posts in a vertical orientation or will that introduce
Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night
Здравствуйте, MU. Вы писали Monday, January 8, 2018, 18:30:14: > Roger, > You had a solid 569 signal into New Mexico last night, despite > frequent static crashes. Wonder what your power and antenna(s) were? > Here, I was running 1500W into a 26m vertical (w/top capacity hat) and > sixty 1/4-wave radials. Listening on 720 ft beverage. > Signals during the hour-long opening were up and down, but worked > several EU stations and Ukraine. Fun! > 73, > Jim w8zr > Sent from my iPhone > _ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband I have logged about 100 NAs station including WC last two morning. They have huge levels. -- С уважением, ur0mc73 mailto:ur0m...@gmail.com _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night
I worked a few stations on FT8 in Colorado and the PJ7. I did not hear too much on CW when I listened. Nice to see the band open at least for a bit to EU! On 1/7/2018 4:49 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote: Great to hear the band open from Europe into the Midwest USA last night . . . Managed to work a number of stations, including Texas, Arizona, Colorado, etc. Will be on again tonight to see what conditions are like. 73 Roger G3YRO _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night
Roger, Last night you had a very solid signal (579) on qsb peaks but you could not copy my calling. Here at Ve6wz conditions were excellent last night into EU. I worked 46 EU, some with exceptionally strong signals. Solar wind below 350 km/s still seems to be a good proxy for trans-polar openings from these parts. KW to shunt fed tower, and diversity RX with 9 circle array and 1000’ Beverage. 73, de Steve ve6wz From Babcocks iPhone > On Jan 8, 2018, at 3:11 AM, Roger Kennedy > wrote: > > Yes good to work you on Saturday night Dave . . . > > And heard you again last night too, working a few stations. Some of the > Eastern European guys calling you weren't that strong, so you did well to > pull them through! > > 73 Roger G3YRO > > -Original Message- > From: daraym...@iowatelecom.net [mailto:daraym...@iowatelecom.net] > Sent: 08 January 2018 06:18 > To: Roger Kennedy; topband@contesting.com > Subject: Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night > > Just shut down but conditions were go to EU from here in the US Midwest > (Iowa) again this evening. . .but not as good as Saturday evening. > > 73 . . .Dave, W0FLS > > -Original Message- > From: Roger Kennedy > Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2018 5:49 PM > To: topband@contesting.com > Subject: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night > > > Great to hear the band open from Europe into the Midwest USA last night . . > . > > Managed to work a number of stations, including Texas, Arizona, Colorado, > etc. > > Will be on again tonight to see what conditions are like. > > 73 Roger G3YRO > > > _ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband > > _ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night
Roger, You had a solid 569 signal into New Mexico last night, despite frequent static crashes. Wonder what your power and antenna(s) were? Here, I was running 1500W into a 26m vertical (w/top capacity hat) and sixty 1/4-wave radials. Listening on 720 ft beverage. Signals during the hour-long opening were up and down, but worked several EU stations and Ukraine. Fun! 73, Jim w8zr Sent from my iPhone _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line
One more thing...if you are supporting ladder line with the recommended twist, you could actually run the paracord through the holes in the ladder line. I don't think it would have any impact on the performance of the ladder line. 73 Dave, KD9VT It's a Belville thing and you wouldn't understand. -- Original Message -- From: "Vic Lindgren" To: "jeremy maris" Cc: topband@contesting.com; "Jim Garland" <4cx2...@miamioh.edu> Sent: 1/8/2018 9:47:52 AM Subject: Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line Thank you everyone for your contributions regarding my questions re Ladder Line. We will try a test run of the RG6U as suggested by Jeremy. Mainly because we already have a source on site of the cable he suggested. The WD1A telephone wire does not appear available in the UK. You all appear to agree that it matters not whether supported vertically or horizontally,as long as a twist is made to help maintain both balance and wind survival. All great info folks. Will let the group know our progress with the project shortly. 73 Vic G4BYG (G6M) On 7 Jan 2018, at 10:28, jeremy maris wrote: Hi Vic, I’ve done something similar to Jim with two paralleled runs of WD1A for a bi-directional Beverage and it worked very well. According to the specifications, WD1A is made up of two 0.85mm diameter conductors separated by 0.85mm between the inner surface of the conductors. I took the effective diameter of two paralleled strands of WD1A to be 2mm. Two lines spaced apart by 50mm gives about 450 ohms impedance. Paralleled strands of WD1A at 450/600 ohms are OK for RX but you want to use the line for feeding QRO to a transmit antenna, so loss matters. I’ve considered using RG6U spaced apart by 150mm for 450 ohm TX transmission line but think that I’d need too many poles to support it with acceptable sag. Aluminium wire or copperweld would be much better - it would be lighter and hold more tension so less sag, fewer supports needed and more consistent impedance. Re horizontal versus vertical spacing, don’t think it will make much difference on taught lines raised above head height. 73 Jeremy G3XDK / G4AQG On 6 Jan 2018, at 21:05, Vic wrote: Thanks for that Jim, Well we plan on using some on site "Shot Gun" coax (about 8 gauge diam) as the ladder line conductors with a 6 inch spacing. Which on a test length gave us around the 450 ohm impedance we require. I dont know the diameter of that WD1a wire but suspect it is quite small which would make home made 450 ohm line spacing very small indeed. Your method of supporting using the wood clamps sounds a good idea as we were concerned about the plastic clamps breaking due to flexing and UV deterioration. If our conductors fail through the flexing then we may bite the bullet and buy some Aluminium wire as Rik N6RK uses. All useful info though and thanks again Jim. 73 On 06-Jan-18 20:38, Jim Garland wrote: Vic, I've had nothing but bad luck in trying to support long horizontal lengths of ladder line. In my case, I have two 720 ft bidirectional beverages, which I initially made of heavy duty commercial ladder line. I supported the line with wood 4"x4" posts, spaced sixty feet apart, using the little plastic ladder line clamps, sold in the US by DX Engineering. After only a month or so, the plastic clamps broke apart because of the repetitive flexing of the ladder line in breezes. I replaced the clamps with wood clamps, screwed into the top of the posts. These survived with no problem, but the ladder didn't. After six months or so, I started having breaks in the line from the flexing, and after spending two years repeatedly repairing the line, I gave up and threw away all 1500 feet of the stuff. Finally, I settled on WD1a military surplus field telephone wire, available from many sources for about $50 USD in half mile lengths. I use two parallel lengths of the wire, threaded through twin ceramic insulators screwed into each 4x4 wood support (available from a farm supply store), with a pulley at the far end to equalize tension in the two lengths. In three years, it has worked perfectly, with no problems at all. I'm not disparaging ladder line (or the plastic clamps) at all. The commercial stuff just isn't designed for long horizontal lengths. 73, Jim W8ZR -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Vic Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2018 01:17 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: Supporting Ladder line Has anyone idea's of how to support a long (750 ft) length of home made 450 ohm ladder line ? Is it possible to use it supported from posts in a vertical orientation or will that introduce imbalance. I would prefer not to have it supported horizontally due to added cross arms being required. Have scoured internet sources but their appears little information available on the subject. I plan to feed a Marconi Tee Vertical (Hairpin Ma
Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line
Vic, I know I am a little late with this response but one way I support wire, coax, etc. Is with paracord. If you use the 550 or better cord and stretch it tight between you 4x4's, it will support wire very well. I do it that way a lot. I have a 134' inverted as well as a 124' EF and I just tie them to the paracord and stretch it tight. The end fen is on a 200' stretch and it stays up fine. We had ice storms yesterday so I looked at it and it was fine. A 200' stretch with ice and AWG 14 THHN wire was a lot heavier in the middle tha, 60' of wire would be. Using the paracord as a support will allow you to use cheaper wire too. I also supported a 100' run (supported by a tree at 50') of RG213 with no problems using 550 paracord for two years and it was still fine. I use the black UV resistant type at $50 for 500'. 73 Dave, KD9VT It's a Belville thing and you wouldn't understand. -- Original Message -- From: "Vic Lindgren" To: "jeremy maris" Cc: topband@contesting.com; "Jim Garland" <4cx2...@miamioh.edu> Sent: 1/8/2018 9:47:52 AM Subject: Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line Thank you everyone for your contributions regarding my questions re Ladder Line. We will try a test run of the RG6U as suggested by Jeremy. Mainly because we already have a source on site of the cable he suggested. The WD1A telephone wire does not appear available in the UK. You all appear to agree that it matters not whether supported vertically or horizontally,as long as a twist is made to help maintain both balance and wind survival. All great info folks. Will let the group know our progress with the project shortly. 73 Vic G4BYG (G6M) On 7 Jan 2018, at 10:28, jeremy maris wrote: Hi Vic, I’ve done something similar to Jim with two paralleled runs of WD1A for a bi-directional Beverage and it worked very well. According to the specifications, WD1A is made up of two 0.85mm diameter conductors separated by 0.85mm between the inner surface of the conductors. I took the effective diameter of two paralleled strands of WD1A to be 2mm. Two lines spaced apart by 50mm gives about 450 ohms impedance. Paralleled strands of WD1A at 450/600 ohms are OK for RX but you want to use the line for feeding QRO to a transmit antenna, so loss matters. I’ve considered using RG6U spaced apart by 150mm for 450 ohm TX transmission line but think that I’d need too many poles to support it with acceptable sag. Aluminium wire or copperweld would be much better - it would be lighter and hold more tension so less sag, fewer supports needed and more consistent impedance. Re horizontal versus vertical spacing, don’t think it will make much difference on taught lines raised above head height. 73 Jeremy G3XDK / G4AQG On 6 Jan 2018, at 21:05, Vic wrote: Thanks for that Jim, Well we plan on using some on site "Shot Gun" coax (about 8 gauge diam) as the ladder line conductors with a 6 inch spacing. Which on a test length gave us around the 450 ohm impedance we require. I dont know the diameter of that WD1a wire but suspect it is quite small which would make home made 450 ohm line spacing very small indeed. Your method of supporting using the wood clamps sounds a good idea as we were concerned about the plastic clamps breaking due to flexing and UV deterioration. If our conductors fail through the flexing then we may bite the bullet and buy some Aluminium wire as Rik N6RK uses. All useful info though and thanks again Jim. 73 On 06-Jan-18 20:38, Jim Garland wrote: Vic, I've had nothing but bad luck in trying to support long horizontal lengths of ladder line. In my case, I have two 720 ft bidirectional beverages, which I initially made of heavy duty commercial ladder line. I supported the line with wood 4"x4" posts, spaced sixty feet apart, using the little plastic ladder line clamps, sold in the US by DX Engineering. After only a month or so, the plastic clamps broke apart because of the repetitive flexing of the ladder line in breezes. I replaced the clamps with wood clamps, screwed into the top of the posts. These survived with no problem, but the ladder didn't. After six months or so, I started having breaks in the line from the flexing, and after spending two years repeatedly repairing the line, I gave up and threw away all 1500 feet of the stuff. Finally, I settled on WD1a military surplus field telephone wire, available from many sources for about $50 USD in half mile lengths. I use two parallel lengths of the wire, threaded through twin ceramic insulators screwed into each 4x4 wood support (available from a farm supply store), with a pulley at the far end to equalize tension in the two lengths. In three years, it has worked perfectly, with no problems at all. I'm not disparaging ladder line (or the plastic clamps) at all. The commercial stuff just isn't designed for long horizontal lengths. 73, Jim W8ZR -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-bo
Re: Topband: Supporting Ladder line
Thank you everyone for your contributions regarding my questions re Ladder Line. We will try a test run of the RG6U as suggested by Jeremy. Mainly because we already have a source on site of the cable he suggested. The WD1A telephone wire does not appear available in the UK. You all appear to agree that it matters not whether supported vertically or horizontally,as long as a twist is made to help maintain both balance and wind survival. All great info folks. Will let the group know our progress with the project shortly. 73 Vic G4BYG (G6M) > On 7 Jan 2018, at 10:28, jeremy maris wrote: > > Hi Vic, > > I’ve done something similar to Jim with two paralleled runs of WD1A for a > bi-directional Beverage and it worked very well. > > According to the specifications, WD1A is made up of two 0.85mm diameter > conductors separated by 0.85mm between the inner surface of the conductors. > I took the effective diameter of two paralleled strands of WD1A to be 2mm. > Two lines spaced apart by 50mm gives about 450 ohms impedance. > > Paralleled strands of WD1A at 450/600 ohms are OK for RX but you want to use > the line for feeding QRO to a transmit antenna, so loss matters. > > I’ve considered using RG6U spaced apart by 150mm for 450 ohm TX transmission > line but think that I’d need too many poles to support it with acceptable sag. > Aluminium wire or copperweld would be much better - it would be lighter and > hold more tension so less sag, fewer supports needed and more consistent > impedance. > > Re horizontal versus vertical spacing, don’t think it will make much > difference on taught lines raised above head height. > > 73 Jeremy G3XDK / G4AQG > >> On 6 Jan 2018, at 21:05, Vic wrote: >> >> Thanks for that Jim, >> >> Well we plan on using some on site "Shot Gun" coax (about 8 gauge diam) as >> the ladder line conductors with a 6 inch spacing. Which on a test length >> gave us around the 450 ohm impedance we require. >> >> I dont know the diameter of that WD1a wire but suspect it is quite small >> which would make home made 450 ohm line spacing very small indeed. >> >> Your method of supporting using the wood clamps sounds a good idea as we >> were concerned about the plastic clamps breaking due to flexing and UV >> deterioration. >> >> If our conductors fail through the flexing then we may bite the bullet and >> buy some Aluminium wire as Rik N6RK uses. >> >> All useful info though and thanks again Jim. >> >> 73 >> >> >>> On 06-Jan-18 20:38, Jim Garland wrote: >>> Vic, I've had nothing but bad luck in trying to support long horizontal >>> lengths of ladder line. In my case, I have two 720 ft bidirectional >>> beverages, which I initially made of heavy duty commercial ladder line. I >>> supported the line with wood 4"x4" posts, spaced sixty feet apart, using >>> the little plastic ladder line clamps, sold in the US by DX Engineering. >>> >>> After only a month or so, the plastic clamps broke apart because of the >>> repetitive flexing of the ladder line in breezes. I replaced the clamps >>> with wood clamps, screwed into the top of the posts. These survived with no >>> problem, but the ladder didn't. After six months or so, I started having >>> breaks in the line from the flexing, and after spending two years >>> repeatedly repairing the line, I gave up and threw away all 1500 feet of >>> the stuff. >>> >>> Finally, I settled on WD1a military surplus field telephone wire, available >>> from many sources for about $50 USD in half mile lengths. I use two >>> parallel lengths of the wire, threaded through twin ceramic insulators >>> screwed into each 4x4 wood support (available from a farm supply store), >>> with a pulley at the far end to equalize tension in the two lengths. In >>> three years, it has worked perfectly, with no problems at all. >>> >>> I'm not disparaging ladder line (or the plastic clamps) at all. The >>> commercial stuff just isn't designed for long horizontal lengths. >>> >>> 73, >>> Jim W8ZR >>> -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Vic Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2018 01:17 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: Supporting Ladder line Has anyone idea's of how to support a long (750 ft) length of home made 450 ohm ladder line ? Is it possible to use it supported from posts in a vertical orientation or will that introduce imbalance. I would prefer not to have it supported horizontally due to added cross arms being required. Have scoured internet sources but their appears little information available on the subject. I plan to feed a Marconi Tee Vertical (Hairpin Matching) with 9:1 transformers at each end of the ladder line enabling use of 50 ohm coax at each end for convenience. 73 Vic G4BYG (G6M)
Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night
Yes good to work you on Saturday night Dave . . . And heard you again last night too, working a few stations. Some of the Eastern European guys calling you weren't that strong, so you did well to pull them through! 73 Roger G3YRO -Original Message- From: daraym...@iowatelecom.net [mailto:daraym...@iowatelecom.net] Sent: 08 January 2018 06:18 To: Roger Kennedy; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night Just shut down but conditions were go to EU from here in the US Midwest (Iowa) again this evening. . .but not as good as Saturday evening. 73 . . .Dave, W0FLS -Original Message- From: Roger Kennedy Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2018 5:49 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: DX Conditions Last Night Great to hear the band open from Europe into the Midwest USA last night . . . Managed to work a number of stations, including Texas, Arizona, Colorado, etc. Will be on again tonight to see what conditions are like. 73 Roger G3YRO _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
