Re: Topband: Rx splinter
Some cable tv splitters will work below 2mhz. You’ll need to test it to be sure. Mike va3mw Sent from my iPad > On Feb 2, 2019, at 4:42 PM, George Dubovsky wrote: > > Shameless plug: if anyone needs a new Mini-Circuits ZSC-2-1-75 (different > package, still BNC connectors), I have a bunch of them for $15 each plus > shipping. Change one internal chip resistor, and it's a very good 50 Ohm > splitter/combiner too. > > 73, > > geo - n4ua > >> On Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 4:35 PM Phil Duff wrote: >> >> Fred KE7X’s K3 book (pg 162) suggests the Mini-Circuits ZFSC-2-1-75 so I >> picked up a couple used ones on eBay some years ago. These have some >> isolation between output ports. >> >> Have been to be working fine for me. >> >> 73 Phil NA4M >> >> 73 >>> On Feb 2, 2019, at 2:04 PM, Rudy Bakalov via Topband < >> topband@contesting.com> wrote: >>> >>> I use Mini-Circuits Z99SC-62 >>> >>> https://www.minicircuits.com/pdfs/Z99SC-62-S+.pdf >>> >>> Rudy N2WQ >>> >>> Sent using a tiny keyboard. Please excuse brevity, typos, or >> inappropriate autocorrect. >>> _ >>> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband >> Reflector >> >> -. .- ….- -- >> Phil Duff na4m[at]suddenlink[dot]net >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _ >> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband >> Reflector >> > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: JW5E/Svalbard Experience and CQ 160m contest comments
Hi There Miriam and I just returned home to Cape Cod and are re-packing for our trip out to V84SAA on Tuesday. I thought I might pen a few lines about what it was like to visit Svalbard for the past 6 days - and to operate at JW5E. First - perhaps I did not enough homework about the place - but in my "mind's eye" I was assuming some quanset huts and a very primitive and spartan lifestyle on Svalbard. Boy was I ever wrong!!! Here is a quick summary: 1) The place is at almost 79 degrees North but it is warmer than VY2ZM at this time of year 2) It is a thriving city of some 2200 residents who basically want for almost nothing - except for daylight during this time of polar night up there 2a) I was amazed to spot a TOYOTA automobile dealership - never expected to see that up there 2b) We went to a bank and the ATM said "Welcome to the northernmost ATM machine in the WORLD!!!" WOW! 3) There were at least 7 really fine restaurants, many very high end boutique shops for the XYL to browse and spend some money at 4) There was a hospital, school, museum and a university to explore 5) On Thursday night we went to the Performing Arts Center - with seating for about 500 - and saw some wonderful musical entertainment consisting of rock, broadway type show songs, dancing and vocal ensembles that were first rate. The sound system was impressive and the feel of the place as well. 6) The burgers,pizza and fine dining was superb. 7) The locals are among the friendliest people you ever want to meet 8) We saw some great aurora, had a dinner at a trapper's lodge, visited with the huskies, went into a coal mine one afternoon and spent lots of time walking up and down the main street walker's mall where autos are not allowed 9) Anyone can live there (which is a bit different than many places where more formal arrangements are necessary) as the place is loosely affiliated with Norway. Bear Island is also part of Svalbard but JAN MAYEN (JX) is a true part of Norway. 10) As such immigrant Svalbard residents cannot vote in Norwegian elections - native Norwegian citizens may (I think) where the rules are more well defined 11) Polar night is a bit weird - it was always dark but from 10-13 hours local time one could see the "white nights" type of sky to the South that we saw in Helsinki during WRTC 2002 in July. The sun will soon show its face again in about a month's time in JW land. As such the place is lit up all 24 hours of the day by man-made lighting - with coal providing the electric power and heat for the whole town. 12) There were some gradations in houses and neighborhoods - the upper crust lives on a ridge aptly named "BEVERLY HILLS"!!! 13) There was little snowfall while we were there - some drifting along the permafrost roadways - and spiked tires are "de-rigeur" in winter in JW land. 14) There is an outpost to the North that is Russian occupied - two in fact - not all that far from Longyearbyn either. We heard about Isiford Radio where JW7QIA often operates but it was closed at this time of year. One gets there either by 3.5 hours on a skidoo or by zodiac boats in summer - where there is a fine hotel and a 5 star restaurant for those who go there. This is worth the effort to visit for sure - it is quite special. 15) Condx in the contest were total polar propagation - I could never hear the BIG GUNS I was expecting - meaning W2GD/K3ZM/N5DX/K1DG/AA1K/N4IS - it was a total wipeout along the entire USA east coast. nothing heard at all even though I kept checking the spots - but signals just were not there I did work NO3M and N0FW around 0700z - and VE3EJ had the most consistent signal for a couple of hours.549/559 - which is a solid signal considering that no one else could be copied at that time. I also heard KV0Q Bill in Colo and worked N9RV Pat in Montana who was LOUD for about 90 seconds and then went POOF. UA4M and UA1OMS were the most consistent "local" signals - but there would be 30-40 minute periods when NO SIGNALS were present on the band. I did alot of tuning and managed to work 31 stations in 12 DXCC entities - 6 of which were the NA stations noted above. This was in 14 hours - which came out to about $4 per qso - since JW5E rental is about $110 per day - hi. But the experience was well worth it! ON BALANCE - this was a really neat place to visit - even in Winter - in summer it tops out at about 50F in the high season and of course, that is when the tour ships all go to JW when there is perpetual summer daylight in the place. Gotta close now - lots of things to do before we make the long trip out to Borneo! Hope to work as many as possible from NA this time out - we surely are going to do our best to hear and work you guys and gals! 73 JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Radio Society of Great Britain, & Amazon _
Re: Topband: Rx splinter
Shameless plug: if anyone needs a new Mini-Circuits ZSC-2-1-75 (different package, still BNC connectors), I have a bunch of them for $15 each plus shipping. Change one internal chip resistor, and it's a very good 50 Ohm splitter/combiner too. 73, geo - n4ua On Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 4:35 PM Phil Duff wrote: > Fred KE7X’s K3 book (pg 162) suggests the Mini-Circuits ZFSC-2-1-75 so I > picked up a couple used ones on eBay some years ago. These have some > isolation between output ports. > > Have been to be working fine for me. > > 73 Phil NA4M > > 73 > > On Feb 2, 2019, at 2:04 PM, Rudy Bakalov via Topband < > topband@contesting.com> wrote: > > > > I use Mini-Circuits Z99SC-62 > > > > https://www.minicircuits.com/pdfs/Z99SC-62-S+.pdf > > > > Rudy N2WQ > > > > Sent using a tiny keyboard. Please excuse brevity, typos, or > inappropriate autocorrect. > > _ > > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > > -. .- ….- -- > Phil Duff na4m[at]suddenlink[dot]net > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Rx splinter
Fred KE7X’s K3 book (pg 162) suggests the Mini-Circuits ZFSC-2-1-75 so I picked up a couple used ones on eBay some years ago. These have some isolation between output ports. Have been to be working fine for me. 73 Phil NA4M 73 > On Feb 2, 2019, at 2:04 PM, Rudy Bakalov via Topband > wrote: > > I use Mini-Circuits Z99SC-62 > > https://www.minicircuits.com/pdfs/Z99SC-62-S+.pdf > > Rudy N2WQ > > Sent using a tiny keyboard. Please excuse brevity, typos, or inappropriate > autocorrect. > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector -. .- ….- -- Phil Duff na4m[at]suddenlink[dot]net _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Rx splinter
I built a Magic T to connect my RX loop to both my Elecraft K3's RX only input and to the Sub RX AUX input to facilitate diversity receive. When the sub RX is turned on in the K3 there is already a 3 dB drop that you can hear in the main RX with the sub is connected to the main antenna. The Magic T behaves the same way. After exchanges with several other K3 users I changed to a wired-or of both the RX only and Sub RX AUX input. IE no splitter. It's been this way for a long time. And diversity RX works just as it should. Wire-or might be worth a try. Your mileage will vary. Please, no lectures on impedance mismatches. 73 - Steve WB6RSE _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Rx splinter
I use Mini-Circuits Z99SC-62 https://www.minicircuits.com/pdfs/Z99SC-62-S+.pdf Rudy N2WQ Sent using a tiny keyboard. Please excuse brevity, typos, or inappropriate autocorrect. _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Rx splinter
It just realized that the number of turns I specified (in my post below) to use on the Fair-Rite binocular core will be a tight fit inside the core. The number should be scaled down as follows: 5 turns of 28 AWG magnet wire on the source side and 7 turns center-tapped on the load side. That will work. 73, John W1FV -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of John Kaufmann Sent: Saturday, February 2, 2019 11:56 AM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: Rx splinter The BCC splitter design suggested by PC2A is based on the "magic tee" splitter. An excellent tutorial on magic tee splitters can be found on W8JI's Web site:https://www.w8ji.com/combiner_and_splitters.htm. These splitters are very easy and inexpensive to build. A 1:2 splitter design using a single ferrite core can be found here: http://michaelgellis.tripod.com/magict.html. See Figure 7. There is -3 dB throughput from the source to each load port. This splitter introduces a 180 degree phase shift between the two output ports but this is irrelevant for splitting a receive antenna between two receivers. I have built many of these using Fair-Rite 2873000202 cores. For a 50 ohm system, change the 37.5 ohm resistance to 25 ohms. Use 7 turns (28 AWG magnet wire is suggested) through the binocular core on the source side and 10 turns center-tapped on the load side. This will provide a 50-ohm input impedance on all ports and excellent isolation (>25 dB) between the two load ports. 73, John W1FV _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: FT8 vs other modes - my numbers
FT8 was not created to be a rate mode. It is a weak signal mode. For those of us a long way from the East Coast and salt it allows us to work stations that we probably had very little shot of working without FT8. Productive in what way? To work new ones? Check! DXing is not necessarily about rate, I thought that is what contests were for. How many countries did you work on FT8 that you did not or could not work on any other mode. That would be my definition of productive. Productive to me is working new ones with the least amount of time expended. W0MU On 2/1/2019 9:12 AM, Tim Shoppa wrote: There are some untrue things being assumed here, as if they are advantages to FT8 that make FT8 be a more productive mode for DX'ing. In fact FT8 is the least productive of all modes I used in 2018. And I was on FT8 a lot in 2018. I tried hard to be productive in FT8 - measured in Q's per hour, or DXCC , or any other quantitative measure. And FT8 was far and away the least productive mode for me. You will note I am no stranger to digital modes - I am often in top 3 of CQ WW RTTY in USA SO HP(A). So please take for granted that I am competent at digital modes and my poor FT8 results are not because I'm a poor digital mode operator. In below calculations I use "half hour off time" calculations, in calculating on time for each mode. "Half hour off time" calculations are super commonly done in contests. In 2018 I was on CW for 481 hours. I made 32610 QSO's for a rate of 68 per hour and worked 185 DXCC. In 2018 I was on SSB for 107 hours. I made 7344 QSO's for a rate of 69 per hour and worked 104 DXCC. In 2018 I was on RTTY for 250 hours. I made 13319 QSO's for a rate of 53 per hour and worked 117 DXCC's. In 2018 I was on FT8 for 376 hours. I made 6460 QSO's for a rate of 17 per hour and worked 110 DXCC's. BY ANY QUANTITATIVE MEASURE, FT8 was my least productive mode by far. I DO NOT HAVE A SUPERSTATION. In fact I just have a single wire antenna. But I have worked hard on developing my operating skills in all modes in my 40 years of being a ham. If I had to choose one mode in 2019 to exercise and improve my skills, it would be phone. I can get on for a half hour in Tuesday night phone fray with 100W and make Q's at a rate of 40-60Q's an hour (rates completely unachievable with FT8). While I have greatly improved my phone skills in the past couple years, I still think there's lots of room for improvement! Tim N3QE _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Rx splinter
For a cheap and dirty 6 dB splitter, you can use a resistive splitter. https://www.highfrequencyelectronics.com/Dec10/HFE1210_Adams.pdf Jim - KR9U _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Rx splinter
The BCC splitter design suggested by PC2A is based on the "magic tee" splitter. An excellent tutorial on magic tee splitters can be found on W8JI's Web site: https://www.w8ji.com/combiner_and_splitters.htm. These splitters are very easy and inexpensive to build. A 1:2 splitter design using a single ferrite core can be found here: http://michaelgellis.tripod.com/magict.html. See Figure 7. There is -3 dB throughput from the source to each load port. This splitter introduces a 180 degree phase shift between the two output ports but this is irrelevant for splitting a receive antenna between two receivers. I have built many of these using Fair-Rite 2873000202 cores. For a 50 ohm system, change the 37.5 ohm resistance to 25 ohms. Use 7 turns (28 AWG magnet wire is suggested) through the binocular core on the source side and 10 turns center-tapped on the load side. This will provide a 50-ohm input impedance on all ports and excellent isolation (>25 dB) between the two load ports. 73, John W1FV -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Peter Sent: Friday, February 1, 2019 4:29 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: Rx splinter Hi May I throw up the BCC splitter? http://www.bavarian-contest-club.de/projects/misc_projects/splitter.pdf Peter PC2A 9 circle RX array PCB's https://www.pi4cc.nl/tech-info/rx-array/ _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
