Re: Topband: Fw: Re: Bouvet Island DX-pedition
Hi Lastest newscan be monitored here: https://www.dx-world.net/3y0j-bouvet-island/ Info fraom 7 feb. We all know that lasetest ant to go up will be for 160m ant the first to taken down ! 73 Boye OZ7C On 08-02-2023 01:46, Jim Brown wrote: On 2/7/2023 4:12 PM, Henry Pfizenmayer via Topband wrote: You know -- In these days with the technology available -I see no real reason why ARRL DXCC should not allow valid DXCC contacts from a boat or whatever that is absolutely located within XX feet of an entity - hell you can know where something is within a foot or less anymore . Its not like someone claiming to be somewhere they really are not as in the past. I hope nobody is lost in this mess. (Last night I listened to 30M for hours and at 0751 they were really strong but guess what "3Y0J JA up " three times and they never worked a JA and quit -I was thinking they would say 3Y0J up and take off the JA like most but they apparently quit. Oh well.(Of course it could have been a pirate - the ND7K RBN out in Wickenburg had them same time . ) Bouvet would be a great candidate for AA7JV's Radio In A Box. And as remote as they are, and as lightweight as they are (100W, very limited antenna), they ought to be doing only CW and FT8. Thiery did a great job lighting up Crozet with similar limitations with FT8 -- in addition to its signal-to-noise advantages, there were no cops! 73, Jim K9YC _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Shape and height of K9AY loops
Hi Larger is better. I have a K9AY 50% higher and wider. Better signal on 160/80m ! Don't forget to make four wires on the ground connected to shield to ground on the box.. 73 OZ7C Boye On 20-01-2023 22:45, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote: I don't think I've ever read anything about this. Just rechecked the Array Solutions manual and found nothing. Reason for asking is that I have to replace my fiberglass mast, and while the old one was about 25 feet tall, the new one is 31. That raises the possibility that I can put the bottom of the loops 5 feet higher, or change the shape of the loops, which currently have their bottom legs more or less parallel to the ground. Diagrams I have seen generally show included angles at the outer points of each loop to be well under 90 degrees, and the lower segments almost parallel to the ground. Has anyone experimented with this? What about the usual shape, but higher off the ground? I have 4X30' radials plus a ground rod, with the radials laid under and in line with the elements _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: How to RFI Proofing a Home Thermostat?
Hi It look more like it is in the end where the wires go into the controller where it need chokes ? but the correct way will be in both ends ! 73 Boye HNY On 30-12-2022 02:26, George Collins wrote: Hello all, I have a problem when transmitting on 80 and 160: At power levels over about 100 W it causes my heating thermostat to change its setting. Sometimes it goes up and other times it goes down. There isn't enough wire coming out of the wall to put a reasonably sized toroid on and much of the wire running to the heating system is buried in the walls, so shielding would be very difficult. I would welcome any suggestions. Oh, I do shut the thermostat off while on 80 or 160 and that works okay until the XYL starts asking why the heat won't come on! hi hi TIA and 73, George, KC1V FN31 _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Kites?
Hi Keep in mind a 1/2 wave vertical feeding inpedance 1-3 Kohm this means high voltage ? ON4UN tried on his isolated tover for 164m 40m high to do so on 80 m, and only worked on low power ? Ended up with 4 1/4 wave slopers on the top 80m the best vertical will be a 3/8 wave concerning feeding impedance 73 Boye On 20-12-2022 21:23, Cecil acuff wrote: Keep in mind…FAA requires anything over 200’ be registered with them and have obstruction lighting. If near an airport that elevation may be much lower or even not allowed. 1/2 wave on 160m…260’+. Cecil K5DL Sent from my iPhone On Dec 20, 2022, at 1:39 PM, Chris Maness wrote: I am wondering what type of kite would produce the most consistent result for a 1/2 wave vertical. I am thinking 1/2 lamda so that I don't have to fuss with a radial field. -- Thanks, Chris Maness _ 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
Re: Topband: Antennas and saltwater
Don't forget to add a resistor, to avoid stadic building charge: 10Mohm or so 73 Boye On 20-12-2022 03:17, GEORGE WALLNER wrote: On boat you need to put a capacitor (22 nF or greater) in series with the GND connection. That will stop DC from "melting" your sacrificial anodes. GW On Mon, 19 Dec 2022 17:27:59 -0700 Mark Schoonover wrote: I did the same thing unfortunately all the sacrificial zincs disappeared in a few months. On Mon, Dec 19, 2022, 16:18 W7TMT - Patrick wrote: I run an 80' high vertical on 160M from my sailboat in the saltwater of Puget Sound/Salish Sea near Seattle. After experimenting with a number of different saltwater connections I've simplified it to a single piece of 1/2" dia. copper pipe 10' long and tapped in the middle. I hang it horizontally over the side just below the water surface. Works great. I recently ran across a post by SE0X running an 160/80M vertical on a floating dock who uses two lengths of suspended pipe. His RBN testing suggested that adding a second one made a difference. Details here: http://blog.se0x.info/?p=3442#more-3442 73 Patrick, W7TMT -Original Message- From: Topband On Behalf Of GEORGE WALLNER Sent: Monday, December 19, 2022 14:19 To: Radio KH6O < radio.k...@gmail.com>; topband@contesting.comSubject: Re: Topband: Antennas and saltwater If the antenna stands in the salt-water or if you have a short, low impedance connection to the water, you don't need radials. During the VK9WWI DXpedition to Willis Islets, we installed a vertical on a sand spit that was covered by water most of the time. We had 12 radials of various lengths a couple of feet above the water. The antenna was fed via an antenna coupler (tuner) mounted on its base. Every night during high tide the waves knocked down and washed the radials into a tangled mess. For the first three days we restored the radials every morning. But we never noticed any difference between when the radials were up or when they were in a heap at the base of the antenna. After three days we got rid of the radials. The antenna had a heavy metal base which was always in contact with the water. Ever since then, on various DXpeditions (TX3A, VK9GMW, PT0S, etc.), we always put the antennas into the water (or the very edge of it where we drive into the sand a grounding stake) and never bothered with radials. Years ago I had a vertical at C6AGU standing in the water. During one night a storm knocked it down. I reinstalled it up the beach about 75 feet from the high tide line. I added 16 radials about 3 feet above the sand, I was told that my 160 m signal was down 10 dB. I put the antenna back in the water and had a good signal again. Whether the difference was really 10 dB, I don't know. But it was substantial. (That was before RBN.) 73, George, AA7JV/C6AGU On Mon, 19 Dec 2022 09:23:54 -0800 Radio KH6O wrote: Ideal is if you can run some RG58 out to the beach and plunk it next to thewater. Also use 4 radials there.Enjoy.Ed N1UR _ 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 _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
