Re: Topband: 'Re: fine whiskey is a daylight beverage
On 09/05/2013 2:21 PM, Raoul Coetzee wrote: I always enjoyed the signatures, Tree, keep em coming! 73 Raoul ZS1REC In days of old when ops were bold and sidebands not invented, the word would pass by pounding brass and all were well contended. (author unknown to me? would like to know where it came from) Sounds very much like the writings of the late great Rod Newkirk, W8BRD/VA3ZBB Bert, VE3QAA All good topband ops know how to put up a beverage at night. _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: gentlemen's band
Right on Mike, About two or three years ago there was a distinct deterioration of operational courtesy on what had been known as the Gentleman's Band. This was noted by an number of posts to this reflector. Again, there was an obvious explanation, although I don't recall it being mentioned. The reason for the bad behavior was caused by the immigration of frustrated HF'ers to 160, which was then in great shape for DX. The improvement over the next couple of years coincided with the (anemic) return of sunspots, which encouraged these migrants to return to their home bands. However, there are still occasions of poor behavior. In many cases this is purely accidental , such as this morning when, still half asleep, I sent my call two or three times on the frequency of 9M4SLL. This was answered by a single gentlemanly up, whereupon I 'silently stole away', feeling like a fool. My embarassment was lessened a few minutes later by a much more prominent top-bander making the same mistake with the same courteous result. No cacophony of up lid, idiot, cops QSY, etc. etc. Bert, VE3QAA On 10/03/2013 2:19 PM, Mike Armstrong wrote: Guys, I think the explanation for why 160 (and the dx crowd on 80, too... not necessarily the 75 meter throw a wire in the air rag chew crowd) are more gentlemanly (and ladies, of course) is very simple. It is REALLY simple to explain: To put a decent signal out on those bands takes some very real effort. Generally speaking you cannot buy your way to a great signal on those bands It takes thought and effort to be successful there. Only the most dedicated of hams will even attempt it and those dedicated hams are gentlemen everywhere they operate. Their dedication to the hobby being the thing. The non-dedicated (lazy, if you will) hams don't even try to put a signal there. Thus, those who don't appreciate the hobby (and what it is for or what it can do) are automatically excluded. Those are usually the people whose manners are less than savory. I can hear the cries and gnashing of teeth already starting, so before it does: I AM NOT SAYING that those who only operate the higher bands aren't dedicated or gentlemen! There are numerous reasons for why an individual ham can or simply desires to operate the higher bands exclusively. One being property limitations, obviously! Inability to get sufficient free time, at night, to operate those bands for DX would be another rather obvious reason. Thus, the 160 crowd seems to be a somewhat older group of people (read that: retired). What I AM SAYING IS that those who make the attempt to put good signals on the low bands must be pretty dedicated because it does take such a terrific effort as compared to the higher bands. A natural follow-on conclusion is that the lousy operators are generally lazy, don't appreciate the hobby to begin with and won't put out the effort involved in low band operation. So, as I said above, they are almost always automatically excluded from the low band DX world. It is like a natural filter. But, like I said, that doesn't mean that ALL high band ops aren't gentlemen. It just means that most, if not all, non-gentlemen will almost surely be high band only operators. There are exceptions, but they are exceptions, not the rule. I guess the correlation is that Gentlemen Hams = Dedicated Hams no matter where they operate Same holds true the other way around in that Dedicated Hams = Gentlemen Hams. At least that has been MY experience over the last 50+ years of my personal ham operation. Show me someone who isn't dedicated to this hobby and I can almost invariably count on the fact that they will be the ones who misbehave or don't care about whether they learn proper operating procedures. They just don't care. Again, you CANNOT be a don't care ham AND put out a worthy signal on 160/80 I just don't think it is possible. Well, maybe, but still you know what I mean. When you add in the difficulties involved in just plain DXing on those two bands, the reasons for gentlemanly behavior become critical. Contact throughput is pretty slow on those bands under the best of conditions Deep fades, high noise, you name it.. If you add misbehavior or rudeness to the mix, it is almost impossible to have successful DX contacts there, right? So those who are simply selfish have a reason to display gentlemanly behavior there. If for no other reason. LOL. Lots of words And I said it was simple to explain LOL Sorry about that :) Take care and great DXing, Mike AB7ZU (who ALWAYS aspires to be a gentleman on any band) Kuhi no ka lima, hele no ka maka On Mar 9, 2013, at 19:26, Mark Lunday mlun...@nc.rr.com wrote: Wonderful. It restores my faith in the hobby when I hear this courteous and professional behavior. Mark Lunday, WD4ELG -Original Message- From: Topband
Topband: ROD NEWKIRK, W9BRD/VA3ZBB SK
I have just learned this morning that Rod Newkirk, VA3ZBB/W9BRD died last night. Old time DX'ers will remember the column How's DX - by Rod Newkirk W9BRD which appeared monthly since some time in the 1940's until the 1970's. About 20 years or so ago on 40m CW, Rod, W9BRD worked Betty, VE3ZBB. Skeds followed. Then letters. Then visits. Then marriage, and a move to Ottawa for Rod where he has lived for about 20 years, obtaining the call VA3ZBB. He also retained his old call W9BRD. Rod has been in poor health and living in a constant-care facility for several years, with daily visits by Betty. They were a great couple, and regularly attended our weekly QCWA breakfasts for many years. We will miss him! Bert, VE3QAA ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
Re: Topband: Spurious Signal on 1810.8
On 02/10/2012 7:30 AM, Roger Parsons wrote: For some while I have been hearing a strong spurious signal on about 1810.8 kHz. I thought it was a local SMPS or similar until I started trying to find it. It is not local to me it - I can hear it on several different antenna systems, and also from my remote station 15 km away. It beams south west and is inaudible during the day. This morning it faded out about 30 minutes before my sunrise, so I presume it is somewhere on the US east coast or in the Carribean. Any thoughts? 73 Roger VE3ZI ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK Roger, I have been hearing the same signal. It is quite strong here at the moment , 1.5 h after sr. It is almost due south from the Ottawa area. Bert, VE3QAA ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Spurious Signal on 1810.8
The 1810.8 signal now appears to be at 1810.5, with a peaks about 200 or 300 Hz on either side. I estimate its bearing is just East of South (perhaps 160 degrees), from near Ottawa, FN25. Bert VE3QAA ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Solar cycle 24
At one point this week there were six sunspot groups visible on the sun. Five were in the sun's southern hemisphere! This suggests that we may have reached (or close to) the peak of this cycle. Or at least the first of a double peak. This is ten months or so earlier than predicted. Bring on the next Solar Minimum!! (Sorry about that, Non-Topbanders). Bert, VE3QAA ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Artificial Propagation...?
Hi Eddy, Don't get your hopes up. For one thing, aluminum oxide is a very good insulator - its conductivity is around 10 to the 14th ohm.cm - although it has a high dielectric constant (around 9 to 11, depending on crystal orientation). A cloud of this could affect radio waves, but I wouldn't want to predict the effect. But more importantly, 100 km is too low to provide much help to us Topbanders. This is far below the E and F layers of the ionosphere that we rely on for DX. But I imagine astronomers, professional and amateur, will be up in arms about this idea. 73, Bert On 10/03/2012 12:01 PM, Eddy Swynar wrote: Hi All, An on-line friend recently sent me this timely link re. an upcoming NASA experiment that involves the releasing of an aluminum oxide cloud some 60 miles above earth: http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2012/120308nasa-rockets-spread-ghostly-glow.html?WT.mc_id=120309epilotWT.mc_sect=gan I wonder if the conductivity (if any) of this man-made cloud will have any effect upon radio propagation...? (Heaven only knows that the propagation on Topband this season has been far from stellar---any and all assistance appreciated, Hi). This could be of great benefit to VHF DX'ers, perhaps, if not us denizens of the nether-regions of the frequency spectrum... ~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: 3C6A
What we in NA need is the period from 0500 to 0545 UTC for the dawn enhancement effect. Hope they don't get tired from listening to static for 2 or 3 hours, and go to bed and miss the beautiful sunrise. Bert VE3QAA On 24/02/2012 6:47 AM, Josep Torres wrote: Had a nessage from Elmo and he says they will try 160m on March 2nd 2300z tx 1825. Hope condx are good and many of us can work them..!!! 73, Josep EA6BF Sent from my iPhone 4 ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: LOTW Participation
On 17/02/2012 9:16 AM, Eddy Swynar wrote: ...But what if the ARRL, and others, was to suddenly announce that they'd no longer issue hard copy certificates---virtual awards only, viewable on-line...? I wonder if that might cool one's enthusiasm for ANY paper-chasing. We now have virtual QSL cards---can virtual awards be far behind...? Interesting point Eddy. But I don't think paper QSL's are doomed - at least I hope not. I still have almost a hundred spaces to fill in my Topband QSL album, and LoTW and e-QSL's don't count. ( I wonder if stamp collectors recognize copies of photos of stamps as valid for their collections). I seem to remember Pogo going fishing with a picture of a worm as bait. He caught a picture of a fish. A friend of mine, a keen recreational sailor, once asked me why we Hams still used Morse code, pointing out that the Military got rid of Morse decades ago! I asked him why sailors like himself didn't switch to motor boats, since the world's navies got rid of these sailing ships a hundred years ago. He was not amused. Bert, VE3QAA ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
