Re: Topband: End of Season, Spring Cleaning

[David Olean]

Hello Dave,

Well, I picked a good year to have my woods logged! I had to remove all 
of my beverage wires, so was off the air way back in early December. The 
woods have been logged, but it is a mess and needs some grading before I 
can start re assembling my 160 system.  The ground never froze very 
deep, so the skidder left some pretty mean ruts over 2 ft deep and lots 
of churned up mud. At 79+ years I am hopeful that I can re assemble 
things before I give up the ghost.  The loggers made mince meat of my 
feedlines, so I have to run all new cables. I had some of them in PVC to 
prevent animals from chewing them and that was ripped up too. (and I 
thought 160 would be easy!!)


73

Dave K1WHS

On 5/10/2024 12:00 AM, David Raymond wrote:

Greetings Topbanders. . .

Here at the conclusion of the topband season I have to say it was 
right up there with the worst season I've experienced in my three plus 
decades on Topband.  Propagation to both Europe and Asia was virtually 
non-existent many days.  The only saving grace (at least here in the 
Midwest/Iowa) was some decent propagation with our faithful VK friends 
who hung in there providing us in NA with QSOs during their summer/QRN 
months of the calendar.  Lastly, doing some spring cleaning today I 
realized I have a spare DXEngineering 160m four square relay/phasing 
box tested and returned from DXE still in the sealed shipping box I'd 
like to part with.  If interested please contact me off line.


Hope to see many of you at the Topband Dinner next week.

73. . . Dave, W0FLS



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Re: Topband: Remotes

[David Olean]

Hi Steve,

The horse has left the barn.  I have lost a bit of enthusiasm ever since 
Maine became a hotspot for 160M into Europe a number of years ago.  
There are so many "killer" remote stations in the state now. There is no 
way I can really compete against it and it is very dis heartening to 
hear the W7s using a Maine station and not signing as portable. I have 
heard all the same stuff you were hearing this morning. There is really 
nothing you or I can do about it.  Some follow the rules, and some will 
bend them severely.  As for radio awards, W6PO commented years 
ago"It is just like collecting matchbook covers". I set my own 
internal goals.


Dave K1WHS

On 2/5/2024 11:57 AM, Steve Harrison wrote:

This growing practice of hiring a remote in another call area far from
your own QTH, then working wild and exotic DX wile preventing deserving
locals operating from their home stations from working same DX, is
abominable and just plain unethical. I lost what respect I had for a
couple people I heard work 9M2AX this morning when I heard them do that.
I heard another guy do that last week that I've only just barely heard
on 160 in the past across the country; he was at least two hours beyond
his own sunrise, so obviously hiring a remote, probably that big one up
near Carson City, Nevada, same station these two guys this morning were
probably using. The week before last, there was another east coaster, at
least 2-1/2 hours past his sunrise, who did the same thing at, most
likely, the same station. I bet the owner of the station is advertising
it as "WORK 9M2AX on 160 from here!!! Only $XXX for a half hour!!".

I hope these guys are putting an asterisk on their 9M2 QSL cards to
indicate they didn't work Ross from home; but I won't hold my breath
that they do.

Steve, K0XP



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Re: Topband: Lack of DX CW Activity

[David Olean]

Hello Roger

I took down all of my receiving wires in anticipation of getting my 
property logged of some large trees, both white pine and hardwoods. The 
logging required that I take out all of my nailed on insulators plus the 
beverage wire etc.  So I am QRT on 160.  I have about 50 acres of land 
of which most is woods.  I am hoping that I can open up the woods a bit 
and reduce my wire maintenance as a result.  The bad news is that I am 
off 160 for this winter.


I am not getting any younger. I will celebrate(?) my 79th birthday in 
about a month, but have plans to re install all the beverage wires along 
with a new 8 Circle array. The loggers will clear an opening for 
processing the logs that is the right size to hold my 8 Circle array. 
The ground is pretty flat and I plan to combine the 8 Circle and my 
beverages with another NCC-1 phasing system for diversity reception.   
The two systems will be fairly far apart and I can pair up the 8 Circle 
with my two 1200 ft long EU beverage wires that I have been using the 
past two years or so. That array hears very well.  Possibly  the 
diversity will make it better?   So next spring and summer I have my 
work cut out for me to get it all back up and running. I really do like 
160 meters. It is quite a bit of fun and very similar to VHF dxing on 
144, 222, and 432!



Dave K1WHS

On 1/5/2024 12:01 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Well I've said it before . . . and no doubt I will say it again . . .

But it's a real shame that there is so little CW activity on Top Band at the
moment.

Sure, conditions aren't always that good at the moment on 160m . . . but
often the band IS open (as shown by RBN reports) . . . but there is nobody
on the band to work !

I know some of you only come on Top Band when there is a Contest, or when
there is some DX-pedition to work . . . but given the resources many have
put into a decent 160m Antenna System, it amazes me that's the only time
many people come on the band.

Some of us complain about FT8 reducing the amount of CW activity these days
. . . but if you don't make the effort to come on the band, then all CW
activity will completely disappear . . .
Inactivity breeds Inactivity !

There are several of us Europeans on Top Band most nights, calling CQ DX and
getting no replies. . . I really hope more people will make the effort to
come on Top Band, or else this side of the hobby (that I remain passionate
about) will gradually die.

73 Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: KH8/AA7JV RIB CW Operation -- Low Band Experience Summary

[David Olean]

Hello George

Thanks for the excellent summary. I was only able to listen in on two 
sun rises here in Maine. Nov 8th and 10th.  I had limited time on the 
8th and heard KH8/AA7JV weakly with times that the signal dropped below 
Q5 or disappeared entirely. I called a few times and figured I would not 
make it seeing there were many many callers. I had to leave early for 
some tower work. I used my SW and West beverages for listening. (225 and 
260 degrees) That direction worked on the 8th.  I tried again on the 
10th and found the pile of callers, but could not detect KH8/AA7JV at 
1100 UT.   After a few minutes I could tell that something was there, 
but I was still wondering how my beverage antenna was not working, while 
other NE stations were calling you. I had just spent two weeks working 
in the woods to fix all the chewed RG6 coax and broken bev wires! Then  
I happened to switch to my 330 degree beverage aimed at JA, and you were 
coming in great on that wire!  I was a bit rusty on the 160 game as it 
has been many months since I even listened on the band. I needed to be 
re trained on working the HF rig too. This past summer has been spent on 
amplifier projects and 222 and 432 MHz DXing entirely.


Once I found you, it was easy, but I really need a new call that does 
not have all those dits in it. Everybody can copy the K1W but it ends 
there.  If you are not familiar with my call, the rest of those dits get 
hard to decipher when sigs are weak. I am too old to change it now. The 
change in arrival azimuth was very interesting. Normal heading for me is 
about 270 degrees to American Samoa. The Friday path was heavily skewed 
to the North as I only heard you on a 330 degree beverage. A 290 degree 
beverage azimuth was quiet with no signal detected.  Strength was very 
similar to Nov 8th and on the weak side.  Enough jabbering for now. I 
have more beverage repair issues to attend to. Thanks for taking the 
time and effort to operate from KH8. Good luck down the line.


Dave K1WHS



On 11/11/2023 5:56 AM, GEORGE WALLNER wrote:


Hello TopBanders,
Many thanks for all those who called.

We were on the air 8 nights. We had a good 160/80 m vertical with top 
loading and salt-water ground. Time was split between 80 and 160 
meters. Conditions on 160 were often so poor that time was better 
spent giving out KH8 on 80 meters. Nevertheless, the main effort went 
into 160, with 600 QSO-s (plus dupes), vs 350 on 80.
Conditions were the best the first night. Although we had generator 
noise, the Flex radio's noise blanker dealt with it. Anyway, 
conditions were so good that it mattered little.

 The following is from memory:
I started calling for EU around 0530 (Nov 03) with no signs of EU 
callers. NA started to come in with some strong (S8) signals around 
0600 Z. A short while later JA-s appeared with even better signals 
(S9+), while NA-s were getting weaker. Starting around 1400 Z, eastern 
European stations "R and U" started coming in. Most signals were very 
week but a few were were strong around S5. I have worked  a total of 
34 stations. But nothing further west than the Ukraine.
The weekend nights were very poor. Zero EU either at my SS or SR. Both 
NA and JA-s were weak but plentiful.
Propagation started to improve by Monday night, but there was now a 
lot of TS noise. (It is almost summer here.) Tuesday night (Wed AM in 
EU) around 1650, just before their SR, I listened for and managed to 
work two CT stations. Barely. Their signals popped out of the noise at 
their SR. No EU was worked around my SR (1500 to 1700 Z).
The next night, soon after my SS, I heard one caller form EU for about 
10 minutes with QSB, but it was too weak to work. Then suddenly, 
between 1612 and 1626, I worked four S. EU stations in a row. They had 
suspiciously clear (but not too strong) signals, they all sounded the 
same with the same operator style, and they all showed a strange 
delay, noticeable because it was the same for all four of them. They 
sounded similar to good NA signals. Hmm...
On Thursday night (our last night) conditions were much better. I 
worked one EU at my SS, then the usual NA and JA (plus other far 
east). Starting about three hours before my SR central Siberian 
stations were calling with some very good signals (S6). Later there 
were a few good signals (S4) form the UA3 region, but then almost 
suddenly, any signal coming from further west was much weaker, some at 
ESP level. This was may be all due to the attenuation of signals 
travelling through (or around) the auroral oval. The difference was 
very distinct. (I have spent 6 to 8 hours each of the past 8 nights 
listening to 160 m signals and noise. After a while you get a feel for 
them.)
Summary: EU contacts from KH8 at SS and SR were possible but mostly 
difficult. Some contacts were suspicious but most sounded legit. 
Nothing west of the Ukraine, except S. EU. The entire swath from 
Poland to the UK was missing (polar path). During the 

Re: Topband: George in KH8 Land

[David Olean]

I have been repairing my beverages this fall and listened for AA7JV in 
American Samoa in the morning on Nov 8th. I had a bad birdie on 1822.5 
that sounded liked gurgling Scottish bagpipes. but did hear George 
fairly well with some QSB. I was not getting through and quit right at 
Sunrise as I was off to help with some tower work a few hours away.  
This AM I overslept Sunrise. Five hours on the tower with cold temps and 
a pretty good wind, chilled me through and through. I was exhausted. I 
will try again on Nov 10th at my Sunrise. Signals on the 8th were not so 
good here in New England. (or maybe my beverages are still broken?)


73

Dave K1WHS (The call with all the dits)

On 11/8/2023 4:30 PM, w3...@roadrunner.com wrote:

I heard you this morning between 1145 and 1200z ( in and out.) but a
big improvement over the past two nights when there was no copy. The K
was down to 2 and might be down to 1 by morning. Hope so since there
usually is a correlation between low K and good 160 DX.

So, if things work out and the trend continues, tomorrow will be the
best and you will have saved the best for last. :) I'll be in the Ohio
window from 1130-1215z looking to find out.

Will this be your last stop before heading home, or are more stops
still planned?

Bon voyage

Bob - W3HKK

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Re: Topband: European broadcast stations

[David Olean]

Hello Michael

I have an old Bendix MN-26C Aircraft Navigation receiver and use it in 
my workshop that also doubles as my 160 meter ham shack. Of course, I 
use my Beverage wires on the BC band and have listened to LW broadcasts 
from Europe.  Over the last few years, many of the stations have 
disappeared, but the last time I tried it, I could hear Droitwich in 
England (BBC)  and another station in Iceland. The Icelandic station 
played all sorts of stuff including rock n' roll. Both stations were in 
the 200+ kHz range. I used to hear many more stations around Europe and 
even the middle East and North Africa. Signals vary a lot depending on 
conditions, just like 160 meters! Droitwich and Iceland were quite 
listenable at times.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 4/3/2023 6:56 AM, Michael Rutkaus wrote:

I wonder if you guys with terrific antenna systems ever use them to try to
listen to European broadcast stations in the 100kc to 300kc area? I've
heard just a few weakly a few years ago.
Mike
K4QET


Virus-free.www.avast.com

<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m CW Activity Night

[David Olean]

I was on for EU Sunrise on Monday night/Tuesday morning, and found condx 
excellent.  I got home from a long 12 hour road trip at 05:30 UT and 
found signals were great. I even worked SM4IVE who was one of my 144 MHz 
EME contacts back in the 1980's. It was great to work Lars on 160 
meters. You would expect to hear him on 432 or 1296 with BIG signals, so 
a 160 meter contact was unusual! Almost everyone I worked was between S7 
and S9. That includes a DL station running 40 watts and a dipole.  I 
wish I could have stayed on longer and my Sunrise, but I was exhausted 
after the trip. I will be QRV this evening and  hope that we get a 
repeat of Tuesday morning!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/8/2023 10:49 AM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

I haven't bothered posting reminders for this for a while, as 160m
conditions have been so poor.

But they seem to be fairly good at the moment, so maybe we shall see some
stations on the band tonight.

73 Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: interesting evening 1/27 at N4XD

[David Olean]

Hi Ron.

I got on about when you worked DF2PY.  I thought Wolf was rather loud at 
the time. Earlier, I had tried calling OK1DOT but he could barely copy 
me and fractured my call. I did not see any change in noise level, but I 
was not sitting there and closely listening 100% of the time. I was not 
listening at 0110 UT. I did work OK1CF at 22:00 UT and he was not very 
strong and I was 449 with him.  I used to live in Germany quite near 
where Wolf is. I would drive by his QTH in Ingleheim when I went to 
Wiesbaden.  It is always great to work him.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 1/26/2023 10:33 PM, Ron Spencer via Topband wrote:

Band started out great here in NC. Very quiet. Called CQ and lots of strong EU 
rbn spots which hasn't happened in a long time. OK1CF was quite loud and, 
around 0046 worked him with 5W. Pretty amazing.



Then, around 0110 or so, something happened. The noise floor jumped 10 or 15dB 
across the whole band. A few minutes later it dropped again but still a little 
higher than before. And signals from EU were down. Karel, OK1CF, must have 
dropped at least 10dB, maybe more. Listening now, at 0300, Wolf, DF2PY is 
pretty good copy as are a few other EU signals. But band is not as good as it 
was earlier. CQing brought just one EU rbn spot at 2dB vs 10 to 15 spots around 
2330. Hoping band recovers quickly from whatever caused the issue. Sure was fun 
earlier!



73

Ron

N4XD






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Re: Topband: Bad 160m Conditions

[David Olean]

All the flare action normally happens on the downslope of the cycle.   
Who knows what will happen then!!


Roger, I am still trying to fix my 160 rx antennas


73

Dave K1WHS

On 1/8/2023 2:41 PM, STEVE MCDONALD wrote:

  >(in fact I don't even recall the Cycle affecting Top Band very much, unlike 
the higher bands.

Roger, I somewhat agree that things do seem a little different this time as 
even HF is not reflecting what these high flux numbers should be doing. I may 
be wrong but this present run-up of the cycle seems to have much more flaring 
(sometimes 20-30 per day) than previous cycles have had and these can really 
disrupt even HF propagation on the polar path. If we can see several days of a 
quiet undisturbed field things might improve for a bit.

Steve 73


WEB - "The VE7SL Radio Notebook": http://qsl.net/ve7sl/

VE7SL BLOG - "Homebrewing and Operating Adventures From 2200m to Nanowaves":
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Re: Topband: 1940 kHz intruder WWRU WKDM

[David Olean]

I had a similar situation on VHF. I operate on 222 MHz among other nose 
bleed bands, and was greeted by a very large chunk of RFI in the SSB/CW 
portion of 220. Others in northern New England were hearing it too. It 
was loudest at my QTH. I identified some of the programming as that of 
Channel 11 in Deerfield, NH. So I took to the road with DF gear and 
found the problem was coming from the Channel 9 TX in Goffstown, NH. 
(WMUR) A call to them brought a quick response. We had a meeting on site 
and I demonstrated the problem. They found a bad module in their solid 
state Larcan transmitter. It was causing the intermod. The problem was 
solved quickly and no government agency got involved.


As a side note, when analog TV was phased out, I ended up getting some 
of those same Larcan Hi VHF amplifiers from Channel 9. They make great 
222 amps!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 1/7/2023 12:52 AM, Don Kirk wrote:

Hi Frank and gang,

I might be able to help provide some additional insight/direction.  This is
not necessarily a case of having to show harmful interference, as the AM
Broadcasters are held to some very stringent spurious emission limits and
the stations actually go through a periodic inspection to show compliance.
If the IMD is being generated within their hardware and they exceed the
emission limits as stated in section 73 of the FCC rules then the station
must address the problem (no need to prove harmful interference to anyone
for it to be a problem that needs to be fixed).  If I were in the area I
would try and confirm the IMD is originating from the property of the
transmitter site, and then make an attempt to measure the spurious emission
signal strength relative to the carrier frequency signal strength (an
approximation is fine) to show that the spurious emission likely exceeds
the allowable limits.  After achieving this I would then contact the
station general manager to explain the situation including the fact that
ham radio operators over a pretty large geographic area are hearing their
out of band spurious emissions and then have him put you in direct contact
with the chief engineer of the station to look into the problem (this
sometimes requires a lot of digging before you are able to make contact
with the right people).

I have dealt with a few AM broadcast station as well as TV station problems
and the biggest hurdle is getting in contact with the chief engineer, but
after getting in contact with the chief engineer the problem gets addressed
but maybe not at the speed of light as many AM broadcast stations are in
dire financial times and they often don't even have a full time chief
engineer and the chief engineer most likely will not have the skill set to
fix the problem and he will likely need to call in a RF consultant .  I
would certainly avoid getting the FCC involved as a first step unless
working directly with the station general manager and chief engineer fail.
This normally does not need to be a confrontational situation as the chief
engineer wants to make sure his station is in compliance.  In a recent AM
broadcast station case I was involved with both the part time chief
engineer and RF consultant were hams which made life easy.

Just my opinion based on some past experience.
Don (wd8dsb)

On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 10:07 PM Frank W3LPL  wrote:


Hello AJ,

Topbanders have done an excellent job of precisely identifying the source
of the 1940 kHz intermod.

I don't think its helpful for those of who are not being harmed to lodge
a complaint with the FCC. Its the responsibility of those being
harmed t file a complaint. Those being interfered with also have a knob
on their radios that allow them to avoid interference.

American amateurs suffering harm can file a complaint to the FCC.

Canadian amateurs can lodge a complaint to their regulatory authority,
that authority can then file a complaint to the U.S. government. It's
a routine process used often.

73
Frank
W3LPL


From: "A J" 
To: "Frank W3LPL" 
Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 1:39:11 AM
Subject: Re: 1940 kHz intruder WWRU WKMD



Hi Frank

How do we define harmful interference?




I know some of the guy's that talk on 1940 and at times it makes it
impossible for them to talk.

One of the gents is located near Barrie Ontario (480 miles) and at times
he can not even hear others he is talking to. Others near Buffalo others in
north west Pennsylvania.

About 380 miles to my location. I had a friend near North Bay Ontario
listen when I was trying to figure out where it was coming from or what
stations it was he is 500 miles away and it is heard there.


I hear it before ~1hr sundown and hear it about 45 minutes after sun rise.


Other times I have heard it mid morning.( signal level from S3 to S9+10
with ~12 db attn)


Is it possible it is re-radiating from some other structure?




Cheers AJ___ VE3HJ


On 1/6/23 19:40, Frank W3LPL wrote:



Hi AJ

In my opinion, the next step is to determine if this intruder is causing
harmful 

Re: Topband: 1940Hz Intruder

[David Olean]

I am hearing three different stations here in Maine on 1610 KHz during 
the day. One is the Maine turnpike public service station, but another 
seems to be a Spanish speaking station out to the West. The 3rd 1610 
station is SW and might be a NJ county emergency station.  I have heard 
it in the past quite well during the day.  I also hear a very weak 
carrier on 1940 kHz in the middle of the afternoon. I will try to 
identify something this evening. I have beverages at 180, 220, 260, 290, 
and 330 degrees. The noise at night is loudest at 220 degrees, but is 
almost as loud at 260 degr. so I would bet it is around 230 degrees.


On 1/5/2023 12:41 PM, Ian Fugler wrote:

I was wondering whether it might be a Traveller's Info Station on 1610 Hz?
There is one listed in Westchester, NY and several in NJ on 1610.  I have no
knowledge of them, but they sound like the sort of stations that are only
established at certain times and under particular conditions, which might
explain why it's just appeared.  It might also be co-located with a more
permanent AM station providing the inter-mod?

  


Sorry if this is a red herring!

  


73 and HNY,

  


Ian G4IIY

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Re: Topband: 1940 kHz Intruder

[David Olean]

I listened this evening at 2345 UT Jan 4, and hear the best strength 
with a southwest beverage. I live in Southern Maine. Signal was about S9 
and sounded distorted with possibly two station audio streams.  I hope 
this helps. My beverages were really messed up (destroyed is more like 
it) from the last cyclone around christmas. My EU and East wires are 
dead at the moment. I have all the others working again.


Dave K1WHS

On 1/3/2023 5:56 PM, Frank W3LPL wrote:

The 1940 kHz broadcast station is audible now (2245Z Tuesday)
Its roughly northeast of Maryland, perhaps in New England

I did not hear it yesterday

73
Frank
W3LPL
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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m CW Activity Night

[David Olean]

I am starting to feel "shell- shocked".   I had two storms come through 
here in rapid succession. Storm #1 produced incredibly heavy wet snow. 
It caused many trees to suffer with large broken limbs. The snow depth 
was 13.5 inches. It really stuck to the trees. All of my eight beverage 
antennas were damaged as they run though the woods and had all sorts of 
large branches fall on them, dropping the wires.  Then the XYL and I 
both got Covid and were sick in bed for a week or so. This past Friday, 
a large rain/ windstorm wiped everything out. We lost power for a few 
days and the temps dropped to single digits for a few days.  Everything 
froze up solid. Many of the beverage wires managed to get frozen to the 
ground. (Not fun) My internet connection was out for almost five days. 
The damage is quite bad to many of the trees and the typical scene is a 
24" tree trunk (White Pine) snapped in half about 25 ft up off the 
ground. The top part then falls and takes out many trees around it as it 
comes down. I counted six big trees down across the beverages and many 
of the wires have snapped. I spent a day chain sawing and then followed 
up with another day repairing the beverage wire with home made splices. 
I use aluminum wire and the splices are aluminum barrels with four sets 
of 8-32 s.s. set screws. The high winds combined with huge amounts of 
water and the melting snow plus rain managed to wash out the road that 
goes up to my VHF hamshack. I had just paid to have the road repaired 
about a month ago and all the stone they put down is now gone or in the 
wrong place!


After two days of working in the woods, I have some of the wires fixed. 
I figure another two days and I will have the 160 receive antennas 
working again. I m  not sure what to do about the road.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 12/27/2022 4:46 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Sorry to see that so many of you in North America are suffering with
horrendous winter weather at the moment.

For those of you who can sill get on 160m, hope to see some of you on the
band this week.

73 Roger G3YRO




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Re: Topband: Beverage upgrade question

[David Olean]

Hello Kenny

I have been playing around with antennas and feedlines over many years 
and have found that your ears cannot immediately tell the difference 
between a 1 dB change due to fading, atmospheric noise variations, QRN 
etc. I have had scalar and vector analyzers over that time to determine 
gain and loss improvements with some accuracy.   A 1 dB change is very 
hard to nail down with a quick A-B test. If you listen over a week or 
so, you can tell that a 1 dB change in your system made a difference. If 
you have a 2 dB change, it is immediately noticeable with A-B 
comparisons.  That does not mean that you should not worry about any 
losses in your system. Get rid of any loss.  They do add up.


One thing I noticed was that hanging ferrites all over my beverage 
feedlines was a huge help in keeping noise low in your system. You would 
be surprised at how much noise comes in your receiver from the wrong 
place!  I put two ground rods at the transformer end of the beverage 
separated by about 25 ft and outfitted with plastic boxes with toroids 
and the feedline wrapped around it for each spot. I also put more 
toroids and ground rods where the feed lines enter the building.  There 
are toroids all over the place and I live out in the country!  See 
ON4UN's Low Band DXing  5th edition.  Joel is right in that you must 
install the beverage properly.  I am no expert on 160 meters, but Joel 
sure is!!


Dave K1WHS

On 8/24/2022 9:03 AM, w...@w5zn.org wrote:

Hi Kenny,

Over the past 12 or more years I've conducted numerous comparisons of 
different receive antennas on the low bands. I'm fortunate to have 
enough land to lay all of them out with adequate spacing and perform 
A/B comparisons. I am in a rural area that is relatively quite 
although over those 12 years I have seen the noise floor gradually 
increase up to 5 dB in a couple of directions! A battle I continually 
fight!!


One thing I have emphasized over the years is the realized performance 
of any antenna will be different depending on the geographical 
location. Another point is most times radio amateurs have unrealistic 
expectations of what the performance of a specific antenna will be.


With that said, I have compared the antenna you are considering at 
your QTH here at W5ZN with a single Beverage that you currently use. I 
could not document any noticeable improvement between the two. That's 
not to say there wasn't any improvement, it just was not noticeable.


I begin to notice a difference when the RDF is increased by more than 
1.5dB. I realize this is splitting hairs when we're claiming only a 
few tenths of a dB difference but that is based on my real world 
documented comparison.


The most significant improvement I have documented is moving from a 
Beverage to a phased vertical array. The Hi-Z and BSEF 8 vertical 
arrays are the top, with the HiZ outperforming the BSEF by just a tad 
due to the HiZ-8's improved F/B and F/S performance. The YCCC-9 is 
also an excellent performer. My measurements have also confirmed the 
modeling data for all of the arrays. I presented this data at Contest 
University - Dayton this year.


So my recommendation is to erect the new Beverage and give it a try. 
You may very well notice a improvement. If constructed correctly, it 
should be an improvement even if only a few tenths of a dB RDF and it 
won't be a loss !


73 Joel W5ZN





On 2022-08-23 14:07, Kenny Silverman wrote:

In a rural area with no significant man made noise, if you redesign a
beverage for better RDF when do you start to notice a difference?

I’m considering upgrading my single EU beverage at 625’ (190m) to a
pair in echelon where will each be 550’ (168m) with 20’ (6m) spacing
. The increase in RDF is 0.8 dB - will it be noticeable?

I realize if there’s noise in a direction where you reduce the energy
you will better hear the difference , but my EU beverage is quiet.
Though the F/B change will help with thunder storms off the back.

Overall I tend to receive better than I transmit to EU.

73 , Kenny K2KW
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Re: Topband: Surprise! Spring Stew is here

[David Olean]

Hi Wes

That is a good idea to contact Susan Collins office. My approach is that 
our resources include land, water, air, and the electromagnetic 
spectrum. Everybody gets their undies in a knot when someone pollutes a 
stream or dumps oil on the land. Preserving the electromagnetic spectrum 
is just about the same thing.  and I am the canary in the coal mine as 
far as these grow lights go. That is the message I want to convey . 
maybe she will listen, but I doubt it.


There is a ton of 144 activity but it is all digital. I do not do much 
with it now. After my 144 tower came down last year, I am currently 
QRT.   I have a killer setup on 222 that I am running. I had a second CW 
EME contact with KL6M this past fall. I am going to stay on 222 and hope 
that we can build up some activity on the band.


Dave

On 3/12/2022 12:47 PM, Wes wrote:
I'd be contacting Susan Collins. Probably pointless considering the 
world situation, but marijuana growing is still a federal crime and 
RFI is an FCC concern.


On anther note, a divorce caused me to abandon 2-meter EME about a 
year after our QSO in 1982.  Is there enough 2-meter EME activity 
these days to justify building a station to seek my 10th band DXCC?


Wes  N7WS

 On 3/12/2022 8:02 AM, David Olean wrote:
I have to reluctantly miss the Spring Stew. All of my gear is 
operational, but but I have huge amounts of RFI from grow lights. One 
source is 0.75 miles South of me, while source #2 is 1.08 miles NE of 
me and in line with Europe. My noise floor has increased by 22-35 dB 
depending on how may grow lights are on at any given time. I can only 
work very strong and loud stations. IT is so frustrating knowing that 
all of my efforts to build an effective receiving setup has been 
thwarted by a number of related actions. Just listening to the 
cacophony of square waves is enough to give anyone a headache in just 
a few minutes.


The grow lights have been a disaster for me, and, with marijuana 
legalized in my state, there are new sources popping up all the time.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 3/12/2022 9:42 AM, Tree wrote:

Starts in about 19 minutes in fact.

73 Tree N6TR
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Re: Topband: Surprise! Spring Stew is here

[David Olean]

I have to reluctantly miss the Spring Stew. All of my gear is 
operational, but but I have huge amounts of RFI from grow lights. One 
source is 0.75 miles South of me, while source #2 is 1.08 miles NE of me 
and in line with Europe. My noise floor has increased by 22-35 dB 
depending on how may grow lights are on at any given time. I can only 
work very strong and loud stations. IT is so frustrating knowing that 
all of my efforts to build an effective receiving setup has been 
thwarted by a number of related actions. Just listening to the cacophony 
of square waves is enough to give anyone a headache in just a few minutes.


The grow lights have been a disaster for me, and, with marijuana 
legalized in my state, there are new sources popping up all the time.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 3/12/2022 9:42 AM, Tree wrote:

Starts in about 19 minutes in fact.

73 Tree N6TR
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Re: Topband: 8Q7WM Z-22 in VE6

[David Olean]

Wow! That is quite an impressive contact and you managed to copy it all 
in some audio files. How often does that happen?  Those audio files are 
great!


Congratulations, Steve.  I am always amazed at how well you do in the 
over-the -pole mode.  I just do not seem to be able to do that from my 
spot here in Maine. Maybe 8Q7 wasn't over the pole, but it is a huge 
event in any case.


I have become enamored with 160 meters and had all sorts of plans to 
keep improving my station, but many things beyond my control have 
recently surfaced. I have laid out the area for an 8 circle array to go 
along with my array of beverages, and I have re furbished 120 ft of Rohn 
25 tower sections for a second phased TX antenna. Those plans have now 
been put on hold as the area around my house has become an RF 
battleground and I am being overcome by marijuana grow lights.  Maine is 
a rural state that is largely conservative with the exception of the 
City of Portland and Bangor. In 2018, the legislature legalized personal 
use of marijuana. That change has turned things upside down here. I live 
in a border town, and now many people are coming here to buy drugs from 
retail pot stores. The state highway that runs thru Lebanon, now is 
bristling with marijuana stores.  There are many grow houses now being 
used to supply these stores. In addition, individuals are allowed to 
grow the plants, and many of them are growing huge illegal amounts of 
the drug with no prospect of any repercussions.  I have been fighting to 
get one "home" grower to cease using his grow lights that wipe out my 
160 meter reception. He lives 3/4 mile away but has 6000 watts worth of 
the lights and the RFI is tremendous. I have had some success with an 
NCC-1 phasing unit to cancel much of the noise, but this past weekend, 
two new sources came on line in different directions, and there is 
nothing that I can do to cancel the noise.  I did locate the new 
sources, but my past history with asking for FCC help tells me that I am 
in for a long duration event and much of my time will be spent playing 
Whack-a Mole as new sources come on line. In the meantime, my 160 meter 
activity has been ruined. If the grow lights are running, I am off the 
air!  I have decided to stop using 160 meters in any serious fashion as 
I just turned 77 yrs old and my life is too short to be fighting with 
pot growers for many years. I wish it were not so. I am initiating a 
complaint, but am not expecting any neat solution.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/28/2022 3:14 PM, VE6WZ_Steve wrote:

Well, today a miracle happened.
I worked 8Q7WM on 160m CW for a new DXCC and Z-22.
His signal peaked at about 1415 z or so.  My SR at 1430z.

First of all, I owe thanks to Bob W7RH for spotting 8Q7WM this morning on 160m.
For the last few months, I have been lazy and sleeping in.  This morning I got 
up about 25 min before my sunrise and checked the band.
I saw Bob's spot for the 8Q7 on 1821, and thought, “well, I will never hear 
him, but I my as well check”

I was so shocked when I heard his CQ that I almost fell out of my chair.
His signal was arriving at the usual skew path that most of SE Asia arrives, 
somewhere between Japan path at 320 deg. and direct west at 270 deg.
The direct path to 8Q7 from VE6 is virtually straight north polar at 352 deg.

Here are a few recordings I made of his signal.
If you decide to listen to these, don't even bother without headphones, he is 
weak. Really weak.
These recordings are in stereo diversity, in the Left ear is the phased 
Beverage pair, in the Right ear is the 9 circle .
Both RX are set direct west, although he was also copyable on the JA rx too.

While the amp was warming up I recorded this CQ:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fHNBaTs-JDKPTLHDuhRtRAxWrEpMYvzj/view?usp=sharing 


Next Kevin VK6LW called, and I recorded his 2-way QSO:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EaHEhGU3UQk9YwGpmawdFBjC1b23aPKn/view?usp=sharing 


After Kevin finished, the amp was warm so I called.
I am actually embarrassed about my calling.  I was so stunned that I could copy 
him, I was messing up my reports, and sending my call way too many times.
I think it's clear that I was doubling with him, and I almost ruined my own QSO.
He went into a QSB fade right when I called, so I wasn't sure he had my call 
correct, so I think he was unsure I had confirmed.
AT 2:05 he sends VE6WZ?
I resend my call and report,
At 2:40 he sends VE6WZ 5NN,
I CFM and at 3:05 8Q7 sends CFM.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eibREmwj9BzNH2I-gPa14rTdOqMLlorV/view?usp=sharing 


Here he is QRZ? with Dennis, ZL1AZ and JI1DCW calling:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nz6GX62Ba1gw22R__jpcjbHHnb8QGoNt/view?usp=sharing 

Re: Topband: F connector how-to video

[David Olean]

I was happy to see this video. I have put on hundreds of these 
connectors, but was unsure of the proper method. I used the brute force 
method and usually found myself pushing the connector against a tree and 
ramming the cable in as hard as I could.  And, yes, all my antenna work 
is done in winter, in the dark, when it is snowing and my boots are 
wet..  I got lots of good pointers for sure. Thanks


Dave K1WHS

On 2/4/2022 12:12 AM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:


On 2/3/2022 7:29 PM, VE6WZ_Steve wrote:

“Why the “F” won’t it go on ?”
https://youtu.be/pE04tDpdhRA 
73, de steve ve6wz
_


YMMV, but what I do is actually use the conical spreading tool you 
show on the video (that you say doesn't work) and it works perfectly 
for me every time.  I only use Belden connectors, like the ones you 
show but
don't use.  I prefer the yellow Palladin stripper and the Platinum 
Tools Copper Clad Steel Coax Cutters available at Tech Tool Supply.


You are correct that heat is magic for making them go on
easily.  Same as putting hoses on hose barbs (or removing them). For
hoses I use boiling water.

73
Rick N6RK
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Re: Topband: Wednesday CW DX Activity Night

[David Olean]

Hello Roger

Well, Monday night had very good conditions. There were hardly any 
stations on, but those that were  sounded great. I worked a DL station 
who was QRP, and he was peaking at 559. Then ON4WW called me and said he 
was running 1 watt. He was 559 also! He was over S9 when he ran his KW!  
G3PQA was also there on Monday, and we both went down to 1 watt and 
actually heard each other pretty well, maybe not Q5 all the time, but Q4 
with a bit of fading.  That has not happened in quite awhile.This all 
happened right after the K index went to 5!! Things degraded a bit since 
then.  I hope to be on for Wednesday. I am making another beverage wire 
for Bouvet and possible long path attempts to the SE.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 1/18/2022 8:26 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

I gather there's been a lot QRN across North America over the past week . .
.

But from QSOs and RBN reports it seems that conditions on 160 have improved
the last few days.

So hopefully we will see a lot more QSOs tomorrow night !

73 Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: RFI powerline ?

[David Olean]

Hello Andy,

It looks like some form of man made QRM, and not power line noise. I am 
very familiar with powerline noise, but our noise is at 120 Hz and yours 
will be at 100 Hz, 60 vs 50 Hz) so it should sound a lower pitch than 
what I am used to, but the waterfall display shows those evenly spaced 
groups of noise and that does not look like power line noise.


Dave K1WHS

On 1/11/2022 4:37 AM, Karel Matousek wrote:

Hi Andy.

I do have the same noises problem over here as you have.

I found that it isn’t a 110 KV powerline noise, but probably a 
broadband noise is coming from the direction 10 ° here in JO60OK. It's 
very annoying. On the 800 meters US beverage (300°) the noise is S4, 
but on my second stateside 4 EL bidirectional (330°/150°) broadside 
K9AY array 84 meters apart uses the 0° hybrid combiners it is very 
strong. It interrupts all night. At first, I thought it was a local 
noise made by switching power supply. I’m so sorry, but I do not have 
the beverage pointing directly to the north. During the day, the band 
is clean, without noise, but when getting dark, the noise begins to be 
heard and after midnight it is then very strong.


https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DhkrxjaX0Mv171psVF4F_cfOHFB7hEX9

Karel OK1CF
__

Od: "Andree DL8LAS via Topband" 
Komu: "topband@contesting.com" 
Datum: 11.01.2022 09:21
Předmět: Topband: RFI powerline ?


Hey gentlemen,
I have a powerline 110KV nearby my beveragesthis is the sound in 
AM, not strong but  also not good.Is this RFI normal from the line  or 
is this  an insulator or another problem?Here you can see a short 
video and hear the signal  from today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oue6JGBKzgg 


73 Andy DL8LAS


www.dl8las.com
www.swing-company-bigband.de/
www.uni-big-band-kiel.de/
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Re: Topband: Wednesday Night Activity

[David Olean]

Hello Cecil

I'll bet you had a rough time with the QRN between you and the DX!!

I wonder if the QRN dropped off between  and 05;30 UT?  When I was 
on, it was bad, but I could get calls after maybe 2 or three repeats of 
just the call.  The noise was low in between crashes, so maybe things 
had improved. Looking at the Lightning website, the line of storms 
looked pretty bad after midnight.  I was not there earlier to compare 
things.


Looking at tonight, the storms are centered in GA and SC, so things will 
be bad tonite as well. I will be on again for a bit after about 03:00.


On 12/30/2021 4:30 PM, Cecil acuff wrote:


I listened around at 00:00 UT up around 1830 and the static crashes from the 
storms in the upper Midwest was covering anything that might have been on the 
band. S9+10 on my RX loop.

Cecil
K5DL

Sent from my iPad


On Dec 30, 2021, at 3:16 PM, David Olean  wrote:

I managed to get on 160  CW starting at 05:30 UT and figured I might catch a few early 
risers on the "Continent".   I was quite surprised at the level of activity. I 
did not hear many stateside callers, but I was busy for a few hours up until just about 
Sunrise in Europe. No exotic DX worked, but I managed a number of contacts with new 
stations for me.  As I was getting close to EU Sunrise, I also got a call from ZL1AZ. He 
was good copy on my Europe beverage wire, and was 579 when I picked a wire that was aimed 
the other way.  He peaked at 290 degrees, so the path was skewed northward a bit.

I tried a little FT8 near EU Sunrise and set power at 5 watts. I worked two 
stations in Spain. That was not much fun, so back on CW after only a few 
minutes, and worked a few more in Britain, Norway and Sweden as daylight was 
spreading across the mainland.  I managed to not work G3YRO, but I wanted to 
let him know that I did make an appearance on the Wednesday Activity Night!  I 
had lots of QRN nearby, which made copy poor as I would miss several letters at 
a time. I am also finding that my CW is getting worse as my hands suffer from 
tremors. It is starting to ruin my already bad fist!!

73

Dave K1WHS

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Topband: Wednesday Night Activity

[David Olean]

I managed to get on 160  CW starting at 05:30 UT and figured I might 
catch a few early risers on the "Continent".   I was quite surprised at 
the level of activity. I did not hear many stateside callers, but I was 
busy for a few hours up until just about Sunrise in Europe. No exotic DX 
worked, but I managed a number of contacts with new stations for me.  As 
I was getting close to EU Sunrise, I also got a call from ZL1AZ. He was 
good copy on my Europe beverage wire, and was 579 when I picked a wire 
that was aimed the other way.  He peaked at 290 degrees, so the path was 
skewed northward a bit.


I tried a little FT8 near EU Sunrise and set power at 5 watts. I worked 
two stations in Spain. That was not much fun, so back on CW after only a 
few minutes, and worked a few more in Britain, Norway and Sweden as 
daylight was spreading across the mainland.  I managed to not work 
G3YRO, but I wanted to let him know that I did make an appearance on the 
Wednesday Activity Night!  I had lots of QRN nearby, which made copy 
poor as I would miss several letters at a time. I am also finding that 
my CW is getting worse as my hands suffer from tremors. It is starting 
to ruin my already bad fist!!


73

Dave K1WHS

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Re: Topband: 160m today in DL

[David Olean]

Hello Andy,

I am sorry that I missed you, but I was busy with a 5 watt QRP 160 meter 
operating event last night.  I was way down on about 1.810 looking for 
weak 5 watt signals. I called "CQ FOX"and was answered by John G3PQA! I 
had to look at my RF output settings again to make sure I was really 
running 5 watts. When I switched to my Europe beverage, he was very loud 
and was hearing me very well, even with my QRP! I know that we have had 
some great QRP QSOs also, but they do not happen every day!  Yesterday 
was a good night for 160!


I closed up my VHF shack on the hill yesterday. It is difficult to use 
in winter with cold & snow. So now I have more time to spend on 160 meters!


73

Dave K1WHS

21 2:56 AM, Andree DL8LAS via Topband wrote:


Hey gentlemen,
  after many weeks with very poor condx here in DLtoday was a good morning with 
any NA QSO's.N1PGA was really 559 with only 100 Watts, first time workedMatt 
NU4E with also a good signal.Dave W0FLS called me with 100 Watt  and had a big 
signal too.Than Jeff TZ4AM came on my NW beverage very weak, I switched to the 
SW BOG andwe had a good 559 QSO.I worked 11x NA today, not bad .Now I wish you 
all a Merry Christmas and hope for many NA QSO's next days  and next year.
73 Andy DL8LAS

www.dl8las.com
www.swing-company-bigband.de/
www.uni-big-band-kiel.de/
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Re: Topband: 160m today in DL

[David Olean]

Hello Andy,

I am sorry that I missed you, but I was busy with a 5 watt QRP 160 meter 
operating event last night.  I was way down on about 1.810 looking for 
weak 5 watt signals. I called "CQ FOX"and was answered by John G3PQA! I 
had to look at my RF output settings again to make sure I was really 
running 5 watts. When I switched to my Europe beverage, he was very loud 
and was hearing me very well, even with my QRP! I know that we have had 
some great QRP QSOs also, but they do not happen every day!  Yesterday 
was a good night for 160!


I closed up my VHF shack on the hill yesterday. It is difficult to use 
in winter with cold & snow. So now I have more time to spend on 160 meters!


73

Dave K1WHS

21 2:56 AM, Andree DL8LAS via Topband wrote:


Hey gentlemen,
  after many weeks with very poor condx here in DLtoday was a good morning with 
any NA QSO's.N1PGA was really 559 with only 100 Watts, first time workedMatt 
NU4E with also a good signal.Dave W0FLS called me with 100 Watt  and had a big 
signal too.Than Jeff TZ4AM came on my NW beverage very weak, I switched to the 
SW BOG andwe had a good 559 QSO.I worked 11x NA today, not bad .Now I wish you 
all a Merry Christmas and hope for many NA QSO's next days  and next year.
73 Andy DL8LAS

www.dl8las.com
www.swing-company-bigband.de/
www.uni-big-band-kiel.de/
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Re: Topband: CQ WW CW2021

[David Olean]

Hello Nick,

You were my contact #2 on 160. Vy FB signals!  I had much trouble being 
heard in EU both nights.  I called many weak and strong stations and got 
no replies.  After awhile I quit.  It was like my TX antenna fell down!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 11/30/2021 11:05 AM, uy0zg wrote:

Hi

It was raining and foggy all weekend in southern Ukraine. There was a 
lot of noise. I suggest listening to some sound recordings:


http://www.topband.in.ua/2021/11/30/sound-recordings-qsos-in-cq-ww-cw-2021-band-160-m/ 


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Re: Topband: Preliminary PreStew / Lowband Jack scores

[David Olean]

It looks like the Summer Stew scores duplicated. (?) OOPS!

Dave K1WHS

On 10/29/2021 11:37 AM, Tree wrote:

Sorry for the delay with this - but the preliminary scores for the recent
Stew Perry are now posted.

www.kkn.net/stew

73 Tree N6TR
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Re: Topband: Saga of NP2J (very long)

[David Olean]

Hello Dan,

I love reading these stories. I guess I like it when man overcomes 
adversity! It is amazing the mistakes that are made when you are also 
tired and "rotten, reeling, and rolling in the gutter" (To paraphrase 
Steve Allen) The good news is that you finally got it working.


I spent a fair amount of time last night calling 7P8RU on 160 with my 
amplifier in standby. I had all of 35 watts output. I was wondering why 
I wasn't having much luck!  (I was also tired!)


73

Dave K1WHS


On 10/26/2021 11:20 AM, Dan Flaig NP2J wrote:


"SAGA OF NP2J"

(apologies to CE0XA: see 1965 QST: "Saga of CE0XA" )
(My "Elmer" was W8ZCT (later W8ON) Gene Liggett (SK), a member of 
CE0XA, First San Felix Operation)


    or

"What a week of Screw ups!"

**

Well,this story is the kind that you usually keep to yourself.

Who wants everyone to know all the dumb stuff you did in order to 
sooth a case of Contest withdrawals

 and chill a 105 degree fever of "Topband Disease"



I run a pair of phased Inverted L's each about 60 or so feet high.
One of the two verticals is near edge of the hillside I am on and it 
catches a lot of wind so I take it down for Hurricane season.

(See May 2021 CQ magazine page 18 for picture of vertical)
Most of the bad Tropical storms we get are late in the year; September 
thru early November.

So I was waiting as long as possible to put the vertical back up.



The Saga begins:

Monday:

I had a 70 foot mast built up laying on the ground, with the 1000+ 
feet of rope for guy wires ready to go!

The bottom of the mast is 2.5" thick wall tubing, tapers down to 1.25"
Uses 4 sets of four guy ropes.


Tuesday:

The big day: Time to raise the mast up in the air!

I decided to use a falling derrick approach to raising the mast.
I use 30 feet of old 3" Telrex Boom material for either a gin pole or 
pole for falling derrick method.


I am on a hillside so the guy wires are at different elevations.
So when raising a mast you have to constantly be adjusting guy lengths 
as the mast is raised.


Well, I raised the mast about half way up and I didn't have a guy 
tightened up properly (Big Mistake #1)


So, a gust of wind swung the mast side ways and the mast fell into the 
"Bush" that covers most of my lot.


So much for all that work.

Went inside, grabbed the Rolling stones "Some Girls" disk and fired 
up: "WHEN THE WHIP COMES DOWN"



BTW during this time frame the weather was horribly hot and muggy.
It had been raining off and on,
just often enough that the humidity was horrible.
15 minutes outside working and you are soaked with sweat.
After an hour or two you are just completely drained and exhausted,

Wednesday and Thursday:

Both days were spent untangling the mess of rope and wire tangled in 
the 15 foot high bush.

Sweat. Sunburn. More Sweat. Even more sweat.
Go inside and jump in cold shower. Remove small Tan-tan leaves stuck 
all over sweaty body.

Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Fun.

Friday:

OK, ready to try again!

Learning from big mistake #1, I kept the guy wires tight as I raised 
the mast

Got the mast up about 80% of the way up.

BAM Mast broke in half and came crashing down.

Back inside Jam to "THE WHIP COMES DOWN".again


Analyzing what happened, I had mistakenly used a piece of 2" tubing in 
the middle of the mast
 that was a piece from an old HyGain beam and it was not standard 
.058" wall thickness.
There was a critcal guy attachment point where this thin walled tubing 
was used.


 SNAP!!! (Big Mistake #2)


Now around about this time I am questioning my sanity.
Is it really worth it?
What a crazy hobby...

Time for another Stones tune: "Shattered".


But, My Elmer, Gene W8ZCT's favorite saying was:

"Keep plugging away"

His other favorite saying was:

"A BIG SIGNAL is a LOT of work"

(Back in 1971 when I was 13 years old,
 I helped Gene put up a full size rotary 80 meter dipole up 135 feet.
He knew a thing or two about big signals)


Saturday (Contest Day):

At this point was about to say the Hell with it
I must be crazy (XYL probably thinks so, but she is keeps it to 
herself, hi!)


I haven't gotten this thing up all week... how can I get it up now?
And if I do, I'll probably be too tired to operate...hi!

But,the weather was getting better, the rain had stopped and the air 
wasn't so thick.

The Gods were cooperating, weather wise!

W8ZCT's words haunted me:

"Keep plugging away"
"A big signal is a lot of work"

So I decided not to give up after so much effort.

Why quit when this close to finishing??
(Even if you are totally exhausted, dehydrated and delerious)

"Keep plugging away"
"A big signal is a lot of work"

Mast got up in the air at 5PM local time (2100z)

Quickly put up the elevated radial, hooked up the coax cables and 
phasing line to the switch box.

( Big Mistake #3: Biggest mistake of them all!!!
 Didn't check one 

Re: Topband: Interesting observation and comment (Skewed Path Vs. Horizontal/Vertical Polarization)

[David Olean]

I was QRV one morning when W1FV was working JAs on a skewed path. At 
that time, he mentioned he was hearing them skewed to the west.  When he 
was seeing a skewed path, I was seeing a direct path here about 125 
miles NE from his QTH. I have long beverages aimed at 260, 290 and 330 
degrees. I was seeing the best signals on the 330 degree beverage. The 
others were much weaker. I don't know how to evaluate that.  At the 
time, I was too busy to worry about where the signals were arriving 
from. I was just happy to finally hear some JA stations that were loud!


Dave K1WHS


On 6/3/2021 2:21 PM, Don Kirk wrote:

Hi John,

Hard for me to argue your purely vertical antenna system skewed
observations.

Thanks as always.
Don (wd8dsb)

On Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 2:06 PM John Kaufmann 
wrote:


On 160 and 80, I have an 8-circle vertical receiving array.  On very long
paths, it is not uncommon to see skewing.  The most common example is the
path to JA, where the direct path heading should be about 330 degrees from
my QTH in New England.  However, for the last couple winter seasons, when
the path has been open, it has almost always been skewed to the west or
west
northwest.  It has been quite rare to have a true direct path to JA on
either 160 or 80 from here.  Because my array is strictly vertically
polarized with no horizontal component, the skewing appears to be occurring
in the vertical polarization dimension.  I don't have a directional
horizontal antenna to compare here.

Coinciding with this skewing to JA has been the almost complete absence of
a
true northerly path over the pole into Asia, primarily zone 18.  In other
solar cycles, the over-the-pole path has opened for at least one or two
seasons at the bottom of the cycle, but not this most recent cycle.

I might suspect there is some local source of skewing at my QTH that is
deflecting signals from the direct path heading, yet from time to time my
array does receive DX signals over the true short path to the northwest.
In
particular, KL7's are sometimes received from the correct NNW heading on
160
and 80.  For that reason, I tend to discount the possibility of locally
generated skewing.

73, John W1FV



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Re: Topband: Interesting observation and comment (Skewed Path Vs. Horizontal/Vertical Polarization)

[David Olean]

I saw the same thing all the time on 144 MHz using my horizontal yagis, 
while trying to work vertically polarized stations. (usually mobiles 
with vertical whips.)  My yagis would always peak up the vertically 
polarized stations well off the correct heading.  The effect was more 
noticeable when the mobile was close by.  Over paths longer than say 150 
miles, the error was not visible. Headings tended to be correct.


Dave K1WHS

On 6/3/2021 9:09 AM, Don Kirk wrote:

While playing around with my portable flag that I designed for MF/HF radio
direction finding, I noticed something that confused me for about a year,
and I finally figured out what's going on which led me to think about the
160 meter skewed path comments I've seen over the years and wonder if some
of the observed phenomena is really Vertical versus Horizontal polarization
of the received signal and not really a skewed path.

There is a local 10 meter beacon that uses an attic dipole and my portable
flag as well as my tuned and untuned direction finding loops always
indicate the signal is located approximately 350 degrees from my QTH
whereas I know this is not correct.   The beacon WA4OTD is actually located
8.6 miles away at a heading of 267 degrees (I'm almost 90 degrees off from
the correct herading).

Then a few weeks ago I noticed that when my good friend Jay (W9TC) was
operating on 20 meters that my portable flag did not point in the correct
direction of his house, and he's located 2.8 miles from my QTH and he uses
horizontal beams on 20 meters.  I then orientated my portable flag so it
was horizontal versus the normal vertical orientation that I use, and
"bingo" the portable flag now indicated the correct direction.  I then went
back and obtained a heading on the WA4OTD beacon on 10 meters with the
portable flag orientated horizontal, and now it points the correct
direction (mystery solved).

I then went and looked at various antenna models using 4NEC2 in which I
looked at the vertical gain versus horizontal gain of the antennas when
mounted in their normal orientation, and this explained what I was seeing.
Small loop antennas mounted vertical have a maximum horizontal gain that's
shifted 90 degrees from the maximum vertical gain direction.  I then
modeled beverage antennas and their maximum horizontal gain is shifted 45
degrees from their maximum vertical gain direction.

I suspect the polarization of received signals on 160 meters is constantly
changing, but wonder if the skewed path observations over the years
indicates the polarization of the received signal has shifted to
predominantly horizontal versus vertical or a mix of both?  Maybe a crazy
thought, but thought I should share my observations with the topband group.

I've not really had a problem tracking down typical local noise sources on
MF/HF using my portable DF antennas orientated for vertical polarization,
and that confirms the many comments that local noise on MF/HF are typically
propagated vertically, but thought my observation was very interesting and
it unlocked a year long mystery about the local signals that were
intentionally transmitted using horizontal polarization that did not track
well with DF gear that normally does a phenomenal job.

P.S. it took me a while to figure out how to look at vertical gain versus
horizontal gain using 4NEC2, but it was sure worth the effort.  Normally
4NEC2 displays total gain.

Just FYI, and can't wait for the comments to come flooding in about my
crazy idea :)
73,
Don (wd8dsb)
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Re: Topband: I4EAT Fausto SK

[David Olean]

Very sad to hear of Fausto's passing.  I worked I4EAT on the VHF bands, 
My first QSO with him was in early 1979 on 144 MHz moonbounce. We had 
many QSOs on 144 and also 50 MHz E Skip.   I treasure those early 144 
MHz EME QSOs.  Fausto will be dearly missed but not forgotten.


Dave K1WHS



  On Wednesday, March 31, 2021, 01:51:57 PM EDT, Paolo Zaffi 
 wrote:
  
  Guys,


with great sadness I must inform you that Fausto I4EAT passed away today
due to COVID.  He was a good friend and great DX'er not only on low
bands but also on VHF.

We will miss him.

Regards.

Paolo I4EWH


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Re: Topband: Ahem!!!

[David Olean]

Gee, all I wanted was a few pointers in hopes of knocking off a couple 
of CQ zones!   I also discovered that many of my e mail replies went 
into a junque mail folder for some unknown reason. Thanks to all who 
responded. You gave me a lot of good information that I can pursue.  
Along those lines, I sold enuf debris on EBay so I have enough to get my 
8 circle array project going again. I try to finance my ham radio habit 
with selling off old stuff to keep my retirement savings intact for 
living expenses. So I was cleaning out my basement after replacing an 
old electric water heater and found two boxes of old vacuum tubes. I 
looked thru the pile and found a few Western Electric 244 and 247 tubes. 
I sold em on EBay and can now get the 8 Circle array with the proceeds. 
I even sold three bad ones for $30. Two had open filaments. The third 
was dead.  Thank god for the audiophyles (phools).


My plan is to keep all of my beverages intact as they seem to work 
really well. The Europe one in particular, works well, and is a pair of 
1100+ ft wires spaced 370 ft apart. The two feedlines come into the 
shack to an NCC-1 phasing box.  If and when I get the 8 circle array 
running,  I will use NCC-1 #2 to phase the 8 circle output with the 
bevs, or run the two systems into my 2nd receiver port on the K3 for 
diversity.  As the experts always say, the more knobs, the merrier!


Dave K1WHS

On 3/9/2021 11:52 AM, Tree wrote:

Why is it that this has to turn into an FT8 debate AGAIN???

This is not a productive use of this channel.

Some people like FT8, some people don't.  To each their own.

This is not the channel to discuss that.  OK1RR - this means you.

Tree
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Topband: CQ Zones

[David Olean]

I am not a certificate hunter, but I was curious to see how many CQ 
zones I had worked on 160 meters.  Getting all 40 zones on 160 is a 
challenge. My list includes 38 of the 40 CQ zones,  and only zones 23 
and 24 are still unworked.. My question is how to nab these last two?  
Part of my problem is the lack of stations available in those two spots. 
A few weeks ago I was CQing in the early evening and worked R8WF on CW. 
He is located in Zone 18 and just north of eastern Mongolia. (North of 
Beijing)  I was very surprised at that QSO, as the band was empty with 
few signals audible on CW. Shortly after we worked, he called again much 
louder. It must have been right after his sun rise and he was a good S7 
or so. The direct path is 360 degrees here and directly over the North 
Pole. I was using my 45 degree beverage. I was stunned at how strong  
R8WF was.


So what are the station call signs active in zones 23 and 24? Being a 
relative newcomer to 160 and HF in general, I am not so familiar with 
active DX call signs from around the world. I would suspect that China 
is possible to work at my sun rise, but I have yet to hear anything from 
there. Mongolia seems like another difficult nut to crack, hence my note 
on who and what to look for!  Any help with call signs would be appreciated.


After the R8WF QSO, I am convinced that an antenna aimed due North is a 
necessity in case that path decides to open. I am also going to make a 
SE beverage, as I have been told that SE is a good direction for LP QSOs 
on 160. I have no antenna for between 90 and 180 degrees azimuth.


Thank you

Dave K1WHS


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Re: Topband: CQWW 160 SSB

[David Olean]

Hello Roger

The CQ 160 SSB Contest was difficult as I was not very interested in 
working USA stations  just east of the Mississippi River. DX stations 
were all under a few layers of US stations calling CQ, and they did not 
appreciate other calls for stations on THEIR frequency. I did a bit of 
listening and I heard a lot of signals but not much from across the 
pond. I worked seven EU stations and heard numerous others when they 
answered other USA stations.  Then there were those that did not even 
know I was calling them. Most fell in that category as the QRM in EU 
must have been much worse than here in New England.


Friday evening was the worst. Shortly after the start, I heard several 
EU stations in there, but as the night wore on they disappeared. 
Saturday was better and all of my Qs occurred then. I worked no Europe 
on Friday.  Some signals on Saturday were quite good approaching or 
clearing the S-9 mark. That had little bearing on whether they would 
hear me. Some of my easiest contacts were with the weaker stations.  
HG8DX was very difficult, and they were quite loud on QSB peaks. I had 
three distinct sessions before they got my call!  In did not try around 
my sun rise time at all.   I like CW much better than SSB!  I think I 
worked a total of 26 stations all weekend.


Dave K1WHS

On 3/1/2021 6:00 AM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Regarding mentioning Callsigns of stations on here during Contests, it's not
something I would normally do. However, I hadn't really considered it a
problem, firstly because I'm not interested in entering . . . but mainly
because lots of stations are posted on the DX Cluster anyway - not just
their Callsigns, but their exact frequency too!

I think the fact that it's so easy for people to cheat these days is one of
the reasons I'm not interested in entering Contests . . . I just use them as
an opportunity to work lots of DX stations on Top Band that sadly don't
normally come on the band.

But coming back to Conditions . . . I couldn't copy a single NA station on
Saturday night either.

I also then realised that even the Europeans were way down on normal . . .
Big signals from Germany, the Baltic States, etc, are normally peaking 40dB
over S9 with me . . . but nobody was over +20dB ! That really is a LONG way
down.

Shame that propagation was so poor.

Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: ARRL 160m

[David Olean]

I missed you, Roger, I tried to get on Saturday and everything was 
working great, but a bad storm was coming through with heavy wet snow. 
There was all sorts of static and my TX antenna VSWR was going up fast. 
The amplifier was not happy. I quit for dinner and then lost AC power. 
It was off for a few days. When it came back, all my beverage receiving 
antennas did not work. I went out to look them all over and they are all 
broken with the wires under 10 or 11 inches of frozen snow that acts 
like cement. There are so many trees down that I can not move around 
easily. The roads are all blocked. I had 8 receiving wires and all of 
them are wrecked. My TX antenna is loaded with frozen snow and ice. It 
has not gone above freezing since.  I am QRT for awhile.


Dave K1WHS

On 12/6/2020 5:46 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

I thought conditions were fairly good, especially on Friday Night.  The big
NA signals were peaking over S9 here in NorthEast England.

I spent about 3 hours in total on the band, and managed to work around 70
North American stations, including across to Florida, Virgin Islands,
Colorado and Texas.

I heard dozens more NA stations . . . but couldn't call them as they were
working other NA stations on their frequency.

Generally I was pretty pleased how well I was being received through the
local QRM. I think every station I called bar one came back to me.

73 Roger G3YRO

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Re: Topband: VK6LR Kevin sigs 559-569 from 1111z-1145z this morning on 1821.4 (cw)

[David Olean]

Wow! All this juicy DX makes me want to steal the exciter out of my 
remote VHF shack and bring it back to the house so I can get in on some 
160 meter fun!  I have rigs set up on 6, 2, and 222 MHz. The 160 rig 
ended up on 2 meters for the summer.  I miss the DX on 160!


I have been out in the woods looking over my receiving wires and fixing 
things as I see them. I have two wires down at the moment, both victims 
to dead falling trees.  I use thick aluminum fence wire. If it breaks, I 
make splices with aluminum rod drilled with #8-32 s.s. hex screws to 
hold the aluminum wire.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 10/4/2020 8:34 AM, Joe Galicic wrote:

I worked VK6LW with 100 watts at 11:33 Z this morning.  He was peaking nicely 
here at SC sunrise.  WOW, that was fun !

I'm in the process of putting up antennas for 160 at my South Carolina QTH.  
Inverted L with apex at 50 feet with 14 longish (75-100 feet) radials so far.  
No RX antennas yet.  No amplifier at this QTH yet either.

I heard other VK's over the past couple of mornings as well as JH1HDT this 
morning, I was surprised how strong HL5IVL was yesterday morning. I called 
several times but he did not hear me.  VK2WF got a partial call sign for me but 
we didn't make the QSO. He was very strong at my sunrise each morning I heard 
him.

Getting ready for the upcoming 160 contest season.

Fun stuff !!

Joe
N3hEE



On 10/04/2020 8:10 AM w3...@roadrunner.com wrote:

  
worked Kevin on first call, simplex. He was in there pretty well from

-1145z, although qsb at times took him into the noise, here in
central Ohio.

Our Twilight-SR times today were 7:03 local- 7:30 local. or
1103-1130z.

A second VK6 was spotted but I never heard him.

But those SR tables really work! His strongest sigs peaked right at SR
and were about the same for 19 mins before and 15 mins after SR.

Heard a very faint JA but not well enough to call. Think it was HDT

-From:
topband-requ...@contesting.com
To: topband@contesting.com
Cc:
Sent: Saturday October 3 2020 12:06:06PM
Subject: Topband Digest, Vol 214, Issue 2

Send Topband mailing list submissions to
  topband@contesting.com

  To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit

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Re: Topband: [bevantennas] Ground screen under beverage....

[David Olean]

Frank,

That is one of the best e mails about beverages I have seen!! Thanks.  I 
have been toying with making a long Europe beverage along my rocky 
ridgeline. It is solid rock with no way to apply a conventional ground. 
My towers up there have no grounding at the base but utilize multiple #6 
copper wires that extend out about 100-150 ft downhill until they get 
into some dirt. Then they are grounded.  Now to stock up on chicken wire!!


The ground mat under the sloping wire reminds me of G-line that was used 
at L band.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 10/2/2020 1:53 AM, donov...@erols.com wrote:

Many years ago I was involved -- peripherally -- with very large phased arrays
of Beverage antennas installed over very poorly conducting soil (almost
solid rock) in which ground rods were completely impractical and
ineffective. The design of these arrays predated the availability of
general purpose computer-based antenna modelling; however, the designers
did develop custom method-of-moments software models of the array.
Importantly their design also involved extensive measurements of
individual Beverage antenna patterns and Beverage array patterns
by use of sophisticated airborne sensors.


Both ends of every Beverage in the array used fifty foot sloping wires over
conductive ground mats. Each mat consisted of chicken wire fencing
material about sixty feet long and ten feet wide. The mats extended about
ten feet beyond the feed point and termination connections to the mats.
The mats did NOT extend under the horizontal portion (the antenna portion)
of each Beverage antenna.


The entire array was installed in a secure fenced area with no possibility of
human or wildlife intrusion. Among other things that allowed antenna
height of only four feet which resulted in improved front to back ratio and
reduced sidelobes especially at higher frequencies.


The engineer who lead development, testing and evaluation of the array
explained that the ground mats served two purposes:


- substituted for ground rods that couldn't be used in mostly solid rock


- almost completely suppressed signals received by the sloping ends of the
Beverages by making them into efficient transmission lines with very low
spurious signal leakage compared to a sloping wires over poorly conducting
soil or vertical wires at each end of a Beverage.


73
Frank
W3LPL




- Original Message -

From: "Jim Brown" 
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Friday, October 2, 2020 3:46:56 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: [bevantennas] Ground screen under beverage

On 10/1/2020 5:03 PM, Grant Saviers wrote:

Worse than "not the best" or "not a good idea" from prior experimentation.

And a clear indicator that whoever proposed it failed to learn how
Beverages work! It all goes back to Mr. Beverage's original patent more
than a century ago.

Beverages DEPEND on lossy earth beneath them, and DXpeditioners who have
tried them over high conductivity ground near the sea quickly learned
that they don't work.

73, Jim K9YC
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Re: Topband: 160m this morning in EU

[David Olean]

Hello Andy

I will try to get on in the morning. I have been very busy repairing my 
VHF ham shack and have little time for anything else.  I have done 
almost no trout fishing this summer, but spend my time replacing rotten 
wood in walls and floors! Two days ago, I drove back up the hill and 
found my EU beverage hanging down in the road, About 30 minutes earlier, 
it had been up and in place! I took a walk in the woods and found a big 
dead tree had fallen and broke the wire next to the 450 ohm termination. 
I hope I can get to make a splice today in betwen the shack construction 
projects!


Good luck on TB!

73

Dave K1WHS

On 8/27/2020 12:37 AM, Andree DL8LAS via Topband wrote:

  What a nice topband opening this morning to NA,worked:
K4IQJ,K2MQJ,WC4X,K4WMS,NO3M and finally VE6WZ.
All stations received on my summer BOG with good signals.
Band was in good shape today.I will listen tomorrow morning again for NA from 
02 to 03.30 Z
73 Andy DL8LAS
  
www.dl8las.com

www.swing-company-bigband.de/
www.uni-big-band-kiel.de/
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Re: Topband: QSL from 5I4ZZ

[David Olean]

Hello Merv

I received a card here for a 160 QSO from  5I5TT. Not sure when it 
arrived, but it must have been in the last 2 weeks or so.  I may have 
sent them a contribution to provoke an early card?  My QSL records are 
non existent. I don't chase awards.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 8/4/2020 1:31 PM, K9FD wrote:

Maybe its to early but has any one received QSL from 5I4ZZ?

Worked them for one of my last zones on 160 so anxious for a 
confirmation.

Did OQRS etc.

73 Merv K9FD   Molokai Island Hawaii
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Re: Topband: (no subject)

[David Olean]

Hello Andy,

I was on for a very short time. I worked a few EU stations with 
incredible signals, 599 with preamp off, on my K3 S-meter. Then the 
noise built up and static crashes became long and loud. The 6Y5 called 
me forever and I could not get his call even though I could tell he was 
loud. The QRN just covered him up so all I got were parts of letters! I 
turned the rig off when I saw the huge line of storms just to my south.  
I had every intention of making a night of it, but the weather (and 
lightning) got in the way!


I looked at ur QTH on QRZ.com, and saw the farm field used for RX 
antennas. UFB!  You have fantastic hearing on 160.


73

Dave  K1WHS

On 3/27/2020 5:49 AM, Andree DL8LAS via Topband wrote:

hey topbanders,

condx were not bad this morning in EU, worked some NA and a new DXCC 6Y5.
Band was very quiet, but not much activity. 160m season is not finished.

73 Andy DL8LAS


www.dl8las.com
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Re: Topband: Spurious transmissions on 1830 khz by CKTB (610 kHz), St. Catharines ON

[David Olean]

Good question Roy

I was hearing the St Catherine station very loud on 1830, but with 
intermittent periods where it would dropout. This was at a time with 
high winds in the NE.  I suspected that it might be a problem at my 
shack, so I tried to find CKTB and it is on the same frequency as a 
local station in NH on 610.  I can hardly hear it on my radio due to 
interference from that local station. It was about S9 or -70 dBm as near 
as I could tell with a beverage receiving antenna, but there are many 
more stations that are at -40 or even -30 dBm coming in at the same 
time. There is a local station in the next town, 8 miles distant that is 
on 930 MHz. I do hear a very weak 2nd harmonic of it on 1860. It is not 
much of a problem compared to the station in Canada many hundreds of 
miles away. If I had a local rectification problem, it would involve the 
strongest local stations and not something I can hardly copy. Still, I 
wondered at first and then made some measurements looking for other 
distortion/rectification problems. All I see is the 3rd harmonic of the 
610 Canadian station.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 3/26/2020 4:36 PM, Roy Morgan wrote:

Is it possible that the interference is being generated not by the transmitter 
but rather by bad connections in power lines or utility pole guy wires nearer 
to you?

Some driving around with a portable radio with loop stick antenna might reveal 
or confirm the location of the signals.

Hams in the past have discovered that TVI was caused not by their transmitter 
but rather by their own gutters, downspouts or wire yard fences.

Roy Morgan
K1LKY Western Mass


On Mar 26, 2020, at 12:04 PM, Rick ve3mm  wrote:
The spurious signal on 1830 khz seems to occur when
it is windy in the area and appears to becoming more frequent.

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Re: Topband: Last night on 160

[David Olean]

Hello 160 ops,

I tried a telephone call to all the numbers for CKTB, but there is no 
way to leave a messagee unless you know the name of someone there on the 
directory list. There is no receptionist to answer the phone during the 
day. I left my second e mail with contact information, but have yet to 
get any response. I'll try the FCC if I do not hear from them in a day 
or two.


Dave  K1WHS

On 3/26/2020 2:07 PM, Don Kirk wrote:

Hi Dave and gang,

Here is a link to a youtube video from last nights reception of the 
610 KHz AM broadcast station in Canada that was causing RFI on 1.830 
KHz. https://youtu.be/SeL4TcnkWN8


I have now encountered this interference 3 nights this week, always 
around 10:30 PM EDT (0230 UTC).  I will also try contacting this 
station to file a complaint as my recording provides enough evidence 
that it's indeed CKTB (recorded the announcers name and their 
frequency, etc.).  This station is 413 miles from my location.


73,
Don (wd8dsb)



On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 10:44 PM David Olean <mailto:k1...@metrocast.net>> wrote:


That is good. I will see what happens when I call them. I suspect
they will do nothing as there is probably no engineer on staff.  
A  VE3 ham told me that this station is notorious in that area!

Thanks again

Dave K1WHS

On 3/26/2020 2:39 AM, Don Kirk wrote:

Hi Dave,

I’m copying phone station again on 1830.0 KHz and tonight the
audio is good copy (not distorted tonight).  Station
advertisements are Canadian and they did say they are on 610. 
Time once again is 10:30 EDT 0230 UTC, and I once again recorded it.

Don (wd8dsb)

On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 10:33 PM Don Kirk mailto:wd8...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Hi Dave,

I’m hearing bursts of distorted audio right now on 1830.0 KHZ
(it comes and goes).  Bursts peak about 10db over my noise floor.

I’m hearing it on my pennant pointing 40 degrees from near
Indianapolis (02:30UTC).

Don

On Sat, Mar 21, 2020 at 6:43 PM David Olean
mailto:k1...@metrocast.net>> wrote:

I turned on my 160 meter radio around 0100 UT on the
21st, and was
greeted by a huge level of noise on 1830. It wasn't too
long before I
realized that I was listening to an AM BC station. Audio
was distorted,
but I could copy the ads and they all referred to Buffalo
and St.
Catherines, Canada.  They finally identified as CKTB AM
610, so I was
hearing the third harmonic and it was over S9 on my west
and NW
beverages! It also was cutting in and out, no doubt from
the high winds
near Toronto.

I tuned it in on my BC band aircraft receiver and the 
main signal on
610 kHz was loud, but being interfered with by other
stations on that
frequency. It was not a bodacious signal by any means, so
I do not
suspect a problem in my back yard. There are plenty of
louder stations
that I did not hear. Being a third harmonic, the signal
was wide at 1830
and quite distorted. It covered 20 to 30 kHz of
bandwidth.  I e mailed
the station but have heard nothing back. I tried calling
but the offices
were closed when I called last night.  Did anyone else
hear this?

Dave K1WHS


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Re: Topband: Last night on 160

[David Olean]

That is good. I will see what happens when I call them. I suspect they 
will do nothing as there is probably no engineer on staff. A  VE3 ham 
told me that this station is notorious in that area!


Thanks again

Dave K1WHS

On 3/26/2020 2:39 AM, Don Kirk wrote:

Hi Dave,

I’m copying phone station again on 1830.0 KHz and tonight the audio is 
good copy (not distorted tonight).  Station advertisements are 
Canadian and they did say they are on 610. Time once again is 10:30 
EDT 0230 UTC, and I once again recorded it.


Don (wd8dsb)

On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 10:33 PM Don Kirk <mailto:wd8...@gmail.com>> wrote:


Hi Dave,

I’m hearing bursts of distorted audio right now on 1830.0 KHZ (it
comes and goes).  Bursts peak about 10db over my noise floor.

I’m hearing it on my pennant pointing 40 degrees from near
Indianapolis (02:30UTC).

Don

On Sat, Mar 21, 2020 at 6:43 PM David Olean mailto:k1...@metrocast.net>> wrote:

I turned on my 160 meter radio around 0100 UT on the 21st, and
was
greeted by a huge level of noise on 1830. It wasn't too long
before I
realized that I was listening to an AM BC station. Audio was
distorted,
but I could copy the ads and they all referred to Buffalo and St.
Catherines, Canada.  They finally identified as CKTB AM 610,
so I was
hearing the third harmonic and it was over S9 on my west and NW
beverages! It also was cutting in and out, no doubt from the
high winds
near Toronto.

I tuned it in on my BC band aircraft receiver and the main
signal on
610 kHz was loud, but being interfered with by other stations
on that
frequency. It was not a bodacious signal by any means, so I do
not
suspect a problem in my back yard. There are plenty of louder
stations
that I did not hear. Being a third harmonic, the signal was
wide at 1830
and quite distorted. It covered 20 to 30 kHz of bandwidth.  I
e mailed
the station but have heard nothing back. I tried calling but
the offices
were closed when I called last night.  Did anyone else hear this?

Dave K1WHS


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Topband: Last night on 160

[David Olean]

I turned on my 160 meter radio around 0100 UT on the 21st, and was 
greeted by a huge level of noise on 1830. It wasn't too long before I 
realized that I was listening to an AM BC station. Audio was distorted, 
but I could copy the ads and they all referred to Buffalo and St. 
Catherines, Canada.  They finally identified as CKTB AM 610, so I was 
hearing the third harmonic and it was over S9 on my west and NW 
beverages! It also was cutting in and out, no doubt from the high winds 
near Toronto.


I tuned it in on my BC band aircraft receiver and the  main signal on 
610 kHz was loud, but being interfered with by other stations on that 
frequency. It was not a bodacious signal by any means, so I do not 
suspect a problem in my back yard. There are plenty of louder stations 
that I did not hear. Being a third harmonic, the signal was wide at 1830 
and quite distorted. It covered 20 to 30 kHz of bandwidth.  I e mailed 
the station but have heard nothing back. I tried calling but the offices 
were closed when I called last night.  Did anyone else hear this?


Dave K1WHS


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Re: Topband: No NA Activity

[David Olean]

I was on around 0300 UT. I found condx to be pretty good. There was 
significant lightning QRN which made copy difficult on weak stations. I 
lost a DL2 or DK2 station for that reason.  I never did get the full 
call before he went away.  I worked DL8LAS with my TX turned down to 5 
watts QRP.  He was peaking over S9!  I could not stay awake and quit 
before EU sunrise.  I tried calling D2EB in Angola at his sunrise, but 
could not get his attention. Many EU stations were also calling with not 
much luck. D2EB was only good copy at his sunrise.


I have been fighting a problem with my South beverage. For some reason 
it is picking up lots of signals even when the coax is disconnected at 
the far end at the transformer.   I have ferrite coax chokes and ground 
rods at each end, and it used to be fine, but now is all messed up. I 
checked the feedline for VSWR, and it looks terrible. I think a rodent 
has eaten it and common mode noise is entering it there.  I will have to 
wait for the snow and ice to melt.  That makes feedline #2 that has been 
destroyed this winter.   I  can still hear the VP8 dxpedition on it, but 
I think the pattern is messed up.


Dave K1WHS

On 3/5/2020 4:05 PM, daraym...@iowatelecom.net wrote:
I was QRV for a short time last night and started CQing around 0340z 
and worked seven EU stations in about 30 minutes.  Conditions were 
average it seemed.  With warmer atmospheric temps we're starting to 
see the usual springtime QRN here in the Midwest.  It's not severe yet 
but getting underway.  With lightning season approaching I will be 
decommissioning some of the 160m antenna systems after the VU4 
op.  73. . . Dave, W0FLS


-Original Message- From: Roger Kennedy
Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2020 6:56 AM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: No NA Activity


Well I came on for a few hours last night . . .

Conditions were good, as my RBN reports with NA sites were between 20 
and 35

dB over the noise.

But I only worked a handful of NA stations !  (there were several other
European and Russian stations on too)

It's a real shame there's so little CW activity . . . this Season will be
over soon !

Roger G3YRO




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Re: Topband: Phasing lines

[David Olean]

Hi Clive,

i have used chunks of LDF cable for phasing lines and my impression is 
that on VHF, you could trim them by the book and be well close enough. 
My impression is that they are very consistent from piece to piece.  
That being said, I always tested my lengths after cutting a bit long and 
then trimmed them to the actual phase length. (It is more fun to play 
with the test equipment!)


73

Dave K1WHS

On 3/3/2020 3:39 PM, dj...@t-online.de wrote:

I have used LDF4-50 and LDF 4-75 by RFS for phasing lines on HF bands.
They did as expected with 88%, however on VHF/UHF I would measure how they
behave.

73
Peter


-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces+dj7ww=t-online...@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of cl...@gm3poi.com
Sent: Dienstag, 3. März 2020 16:30
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: Phasing lines

Hi all,

I wonder whether anyone has used LDF4-50A for phasing lines and verified the
VF as being 88%. If not have you an idea of any spread on the VF.

I want to use some where it could make the difference to cable length.
However nothing will be assumed it will be measured. I note from the spec
that

they give a tolerance of 5% but I doubt some how that the VF varies that
much.  73 Clive GM3POI

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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX CW Activity Night

[David Olean]

 Roger,

Sorry I missed you. I think I was QRV when you were not. After some 
quality time with the XYL, I got on about 0200 UT and went until sunrise 
in Europe. Signals were certainly good, and I worked a few all time new 
stations as well, so that was nice.


I listened for VP8PJ for quite awhile, but heard almost nothing. Then I 
figured out that my South beverage is broken. It produces band noise, 
but no signals. It's always something. Today is pouring rain, so I doubt 
that i will fix it today.


I listened a bit on FT-8 at my sunset as well as CW, but nothing unusual 
there. I could not hear HL5IVL nor any JA stations. Still, the path 
between NA and EU was very good last night. Too bad it was so lightly 
utilized. :<(


73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/27/2020 12:47 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Well I came on a couple of times last night, but gave up after an hour each
time.

The band was certainly open as my RBN reports were good.

There were other Europeans on Calling CQ too . . . but very few NA stations
on. I only worked a handful, and reports were good both ways.

It saddens me the lack of CW activity on 160 !

Roger G3YRO

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Re: Topband: 160m VP8PJ

[David Olean]

Hi Gary,

I was out of the house early in the evening on Sunday, but started 
listening a little before 10 PM local time.  VP8 was very weak and 
mostly in the noise. They would peak up and be readable for short 
periods of 15 seconds or so. Over the next half hour the signal started 
building here. and by 10:30 they were good copy most of the time for me. 
I am 30 miles inland, so no salt water effect. W7RH said they had good 
ears and to call them even if they were weak. I took his advice and they 
came back right away as soon as I called! I was so surprised I sent my 
call again to make sure I was not imagining things! It really took me by 
surprise.  They peaked up 5 hours after sunset here. By 0500 UT they 
were getting sorta loud at times!


I am not sure, but I think many areas had no propagation as there were 
few callers most of the time. I listened up until about 0600 UT (1 AM 
here) It was getting close to EU sunrise but very few European callers, 
and they would call sporadically.  There were not so many NA callers 
either, although VP8PJ was making a steady run of contacts.  Back at 
0300 UT I did hear a good pile of EU callers calling VP8 when he was 
impossible copy here.  Later on, there were fewer EU callers.  If it is 
a new country, I doubt people would quit for a nap! I heard a few 
comment that VP8 was impossible copy later on.


Then again, maybe everyone was exhausted from the CQ 160 SSB weekend.  
It was fun to listen as the night progressed, and I was amazed at how 
well VP8PJ was hearing; better than the callers almost all the time!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/24/2020 6:04 AM, Gary Smith wrote:

VP8PJ, in South Orkney is a 559 here
tonight. A new one on 160 & my only other
S. Orkney Q was on 15M in 1990.

Amazingly it took two calls and he came
back so N/S propagation is excellent right
now.

73,

Gary
KA1J
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Re: Topband: 160m activity and propagation

[David Olean]

Years ago, I think the correction was more like 17 degrees in New 
England.  I did some work on the geomagnetic field some years ago, and 
remembered getting magnetic variations for London, England over the last 
few  centuries. The pole really does move.


YEAR   DECL.

1600  8E
1650  1E
1700  7W
1750  18W
1800  24W
1850  22W
1900  16W
1950   8W
1970  7W

73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/21/2020 2:05 PM, Roy Morgan wrote:

Hello Frantisek and others,

I wonder how much the magnetic pole has shifted.

I have been reviewing the operation of the Brunton Pocket Transit here. It has 
an adjustment for declination - the angular difference between the magnetic 
North Pole and the true rotational axis North Pole.

Here in Western Massachusetts it has been about 15 degrees East for a very long 
time. I wonder if that is changing.

Roy Morgan
K1LKY Western Mass


On Feb 21, 2020, at 4:59 AM, Frantisek Mikulenka 
 wrote:

Hi Bob,

did you take in mind  increasing magnetic  pole (and accompanied  aurora oval) 
eastern shift  from Canada towards Siberia ?

73
Frantisek OK2BUZ

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Re: Topband: 160m activity and propagation

[David Olean]

Hello Bob,

I have no experience from the last solar minimum, but I heard plenty of 
stories! I was really looking forward to this minimum to see the 
improvements in 160 propagation. I was hoping to knock off some 
countries in deep Asia. (Yeah, right!) So far I am not impressed. That 
being said, there are openings, but they are few and far between and 
easily missed unless you are nailed to the floor in front of the radio.


The best JA opening I ever heard was a few years ago before the minimum. 
In the past season, I have worked a few JAs and UA0, but with weak signals.


The path to Europe, for me, seems about the same as it always is. Some 
nights are awful, while others are pretty good. The same stations for 
the most part, are in evidence.  I did manage to hear HL5IVL once while 
aimed at Europe. I have not heard any JAs at my sunset. Last fall, I had 
a few LP VK6 QSOS. There was V84SAA too which was great.


European Russia is well represented here. I am also hearing some new 
calls, which is good. I think the new calls are ops trying 160 at solar 
minimum in hopes of working some unusual DX.


I look at FT-8 occasionally and did see a Chinese station recently at my 
sunset. That mode can be a killer, but, oftentimes on 160,many stations 
are "hard of hearing" and results are not too spectacular.


I wish there was more regular CW activity. With the contests, it is 
either feast or famine. (Too many signals vs. too few signals or none at 
all)


73

Dave K1WHS


On 2/20/2020 3:01 PM, W7RH wrote:

Greeting all,

This season has been interesting not because of highlights but because 
of a noticeable change in propagation at least from my Arizona QTH. I 
will note from my perspective highlights have been few.


Yesterday Dave W0FLS was holding court calling CQ. I could just barely 
hear the DX in EU he was working.


To Roger G3YRO congrats but no QSO. You had a good 579 signal calling 
CQ at 0100 hours UTC. You had a break through the aurora wall and I 
did not!


In other news HL5IVL Kim, had a true 599 plus 20 signal calling CQ in 
the early morning here. Not another signal on the band.


In solar cycle 23 even though I was working full time on weird shifts 
I managed EU contacts almost daily with only a few periods of black 
outs. My operating habits have changed a bit to early morning through 
sunrise and sunset through sunrise in European Russia and Eastern EU. 
I stay up for Western EU if conditions appear to be good which for the 
most part they have not.


Missing this season has been European Russians. Where did they all go? 
Perhaps to another band? On the other hand there were many stations 
worked in Zone 15 primarily in southern end. With the exception of EA 
and CT zone 14 was a flop except for a couple big openings. SM5EDX was 
an exception.


Has anyone else noticed a change in propagation patterns? I'd like 
some input here with a focus and western US but midwest and eastern US 
welcome as well.


73

Bob, W7RH




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Topband: Wednesday activity nite.

[David Olean]

Hello Roger & topbanders,

I took a nap in the early evening, then was out on 160 a bit after 0300 
UT. Activity was steady and the QRN level was pretty low. The QSB was in 
evidence, as usual, but I thought condx were pretty nice. I worked 56 
stations in between making a sliding shelf for my relay rack. I am 
trying to install an old 1955 era Collins R-392/URR receiver there, and 
it needs a shelf.  The shelf came out fine and the activity time on 160 
M came out fine too.


I noted a few NA stations, but not too many. W2RE was in the Caribbean 
and had a small pileup. I think W0FLS was on along with a few others.  I 
only had one NA station call me, but that is to be expected. Still, it 
seems that NA activity is pretty low compared to Europe. Here is my list 
with calls and distances listed.


I detected one caller but could not make a QSO. Their call had BL or BN 
in it. It was very weak and I could only copy on the QSB peaks. They did 
not stick around for too long.



03:10 SM5NZY  100watts  5865
03:12 RA3QTT   7563
03:15 ON8BE 5521+-
03:18 LY5W    100 watts    6389+-
03:20 DL2OE   6095+-
03:24 SP5INQ 6533
03:27 RA4FW 7638+-
03:29 RZ3MM    7025
03:33 OK1CF     6113
03:37 OZ1NF     5767
03:44 KV5V   2714
04:23 UR4MKK 7320+-
04:28 DK6WH    5927
04:34 S57IPA 6407+-
04:37 UA6AIR   7949
04:40 G4UFK    4901+-
04:43 OK2SG    6378+-
04:44 HA5MA  6625
04:47 OH2MAS   6223+-
04:49 UY5VA   7693+-
04:54 DL2RTJ 500w   5999
04:54 LY4A   6425
04:58 OK1ATH    6289
04:59 SM6CPY   5742+-
05:02 YU5W  6883+-
05:06 UT3QU    7508+-
05:07 RA2FV   6351
05:21 FJ/W2RE  2912+-
05:26 SP9NLX    6453
05:29 OK8AU 6188+-
05:30 OK1DOT  6289
05:31 IKØAGU   6550+-
05:33 IK7JTF  6882
05:34 HA6PC 6645
05:36 IL4LAM    6550+-
05:37 ON6MH   5564+-
05:40 YL2BJ   6375
05:43 G3OQT    5098+-
05:49 S54X    6421+-
05:56 DL3RAU   5689+-
06:00 PA3FQA   5605+-
06:01 LA7KJ    5520+-
06:05 OZ4MM    5696
06:08 SP9FOW   6444+-
06:15 HB9BIN 5908
06:29 ON5FP  5414
06:30 PE5T 5389
06:47 G3YRO 5033+-
06:55 ON7PQ  his sunrise 5434+-
07:01 F8ALX   5499
07:04 F6DXE   5078
07:10 G3OLB  5057
07:11 G3XHZ  5057
07:13 EA1ALE 5250
07:16 ON5CT  5476
07:45 G3WZT  5169+-

Thanks Roger for suggesting CW activity on Wednesday nights.

73

Dave K1WHS

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Re: Topband: ARRL CW Contest

[David Olean]

I think they might mean 1000, as in resistor or cap values now... 1R5. 
4R7. Just a guess.


On 2/18/2020 2:43 PM, Wes wrote:
I want to know what a power level of "ARK" is.  Copied this from two 
different stations.


Wes  N7WS


On 2/18/2020 7:09 AM, Sam Josuweit wrote:
I totally agree. With some of the abbreviations used for this contest 
it can be even more confusing.


Sam(N3XZ)





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Re: Topband: ARRL CW Contest

[David Olean]

Fred

I was not able to be on much Friday evening because of other pressing 
priorities, but I did note that signals seemed great from my location in 
southern Maine. Signals from Europe were way up and about as good as you 
might typically see for a good night. I tuned around for about 1/2 hour 
and worked a few stations. No real exotic DX but the signals were strong 
here. I wish I could have spent the evening working stations when things 
were so good!


I think much depends on where you are at any given time. In the CQ 160, 
I thought condx were not good, but fellows farther South had great fun 
and thought otherwise.


I hope to make a few QSOs this evening. I have permission to stay up late!

73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/15/2020 6:13 PM, Fred Moeves wrote:

Roger,

I stayed on 160 for the evening.

I just didn't feel like battling it out with the big guns.

I had a laid back fun time working Eu and Caribbean stations.

Conditions here in Kentucky were not very good deep QSB but I did work 
maybe 20 stations.


It was tough to work every one of them...


Been having lots of rain here it finally got cold and was able to do 
some antenna maintenance.


Also was able to install two common mode chokes on RX antennas.

I hope condx are better tonight...I wonder how others found conditions 
last night??



73

Fred KB4QZH


On 2/15/2020 10:52 AM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Very curious . . .

I came on 160m last night to see what NA stations I could work in the
contest . . . spent half an hour tuning around and only heard 12 
stations

calling CQ, all of which I worked.

I then figured it might be worth calling CQ, as hopefully Europeans 
wouldn't
call me, as they only get points for working NA stations (unlike the 
CQ WW)


And in just over half an hour I was called by 50 stations !  (I 
stopped when

signals started dropping out after our sunrise)

I was just surprised that there weren't more big NA signals on 160 
calling

CQ, like there is in the CQ WW - is there a reason for this?

Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: Inquiring minds want to know....

[David Olean]

Hello Carl

    All very interesting! I still see a huge increase in distances as 
nightfall moves in, but all of the extremely distant stations are picked 
up at the upper end of the NDB allocation close to 400 kHz. During the 
day a good haul is Schenectady, NY to the west. For 25 watts that is a 
good overland distance. At night I hear maybe another 200 miles into 
Ontario. Once you go above 400 kHz, things change and I start hearing 
stations much farther away at night. IY in Iowa also with 25 watts at 
417 kHz has a pretty fair signal at night and is in audible during the 
day.  I will do some more listening in the 200 khz range to see if I can 
hear more distant stations during daylight. DIW in Dixon NC is on 198 
kHz, but it is running QRO so that can be heard a long way off. Thanks 
for the information. This sure is fun.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/8/2020 8:19 PM, Carl Luetzelschwab wrote:

What the heck happened that I could hear a
long wave signal over 2000 miles away at mid day?

For a given electron density profile, the amount of refraction incurred by
an electromagnetic wave is inversely proportional to the square of the
frequency.

The result of that is the lower the frequency, the less high the wave gets
into the ionosphere. LF hardly reaches the absorbing region (the D region
during the day), and thus LF suffers minimal ionospheric absorption. The
wave refracts between the lower ionosphere and Earth - also known as the
Earth-ionosphere wave guide.

NO3M has heard VK4YB on 2200m (137 KHz) many times. I'm sure there are
other examples like that out there.

Carl K9LA
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Topband: Inquiring minds want to know....

[David Olean]

Hello Topband propagation experts,

I have been messing around with listening to low frequency navigation 
beacons and wondering how reception on 200 kHz relates to 160 meters.  
Not sure there is a correlation.  I have been listening on my 1942 
Bendix aircraft radio, an MN-26C, which covers 150 to 1500 KHz. Well it 
is amazing how many NDBs I can identify. I found about 85 beacons in two 
nights of haphazard listening.  I also located a bunch of them that I 
could hear during the daytime. The daytime stations are close by for the 
most part, although there is a 25 watt beacon in Yarmouth, NS that comes 
in great over a distance  of several hundred miles.


So I was tuning around at 1 PM local time and picked up a fairly weak 
station that signed "OJ" on 239 kHz. I looked it up and it is located in 
northern Alberta and runs 500 watts. I was amazed that I could hear it 
over a 2000 mile path at almost mid day.  I noted that it peaked up best 
on my 330 degree beverage wire. It was also audible on my 290 degree 
beverage wire, but noticeably weaker.  I checked again at 4 PM to see if 
"OJ" was getting any louder. I could not detect it. (?)  I checked again 
as the night progressed and never heard it again.   I began to doubt 
what I had heard. There is another beacon signing "OW" about 3 kHz below 
239 kHz, and located in Ottawa, ON. I had already located it and logged 
it. I wondered if I had miscopied them and got confused, but I cannot 
get OW to peak up at 330 degrees. I do hear OW during the day, but it is 
3 kHz below, and peaks west or NW, but is not audible at 330 degrees 
where OJ was peaking.  I also am pretty sure I was copying OJ as I 
listened to it for about ten minutes and there was no QRM from other 
stations.  If you have ever listened to these beacons, you will note 
that mistakes are very possible as several beacons can be on the same 
frequency at night and tend to make copy problematic as the MCW signals 
combine to produce strange Morse characters. At 1 PM, that was not 
happening. OJ was in the clear and easy copy. Weak, but easy copy.


All this reminds me of the discussions about Marconi's first 
transatlantic transmissions and how many people think it was a fluke or 
maybe "smoke and mirrors".   What the heck happened that I could hear a 
long wave signal over 2000 miles away at mid day?


73

Dave K1WHS

ps. If anyone is interested in my Beacon list, I have a WORD document 
with all these NDBs listed that are audible here in Maine. Typical DX at 
night are 25 watt stations in Iowa and Georgia. I also hear a big NDB 
station in the Caymans.  With so many beacons sharing frequencies, it is 
hard to copy stations beyond about 1000 miles due to QRM.  Sometimes QSB 
can be your friend and you can copy other stations when a closer one 
fades out.




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Re: Topband: . Re: PTFE wire supplier

[David Olean]

This is one reason that I am crying over the recent closing of ESS 
Surplus in Manchester, NH. They had surplus wire at $3 per pound, and 
they would take into account the weight of the spool, so the real price 
was more like $2.50 per pound. If I saw teflon wire, I would buy it. 
They would get the wire from excess stock from defense contractors in 
the area. I know that BAE Systems sold their scrap to them.  I bought 
all 15,000 ft of my 160 meter vertical radial wire from them.  Years 
ago, before BAE Systems, and Lockheed ran the plant, the place in Nashua 
NH was Sanders Associates and I would go to their sealed bid surplus 
auctions. It was so much of a hassle for them to document and keep track 
of wire spools that they did not even bother to put it up for auction. I 
remember one day going over to pick up some old surplus test gear that I 
won at auction. The warehouse guy showed me a huge pile of wire and said 
to help myself. I went through and picked up spools of different color 
teflon wire. I was not greedy and left plenty for others. Some reels 
were full. Others were partially or mostly used. I did get one new and 
full reel of 1500 ft of RG-316 small teflon double shielded silver braid 
coax. I looked up the price then, and it was well over $2000 for the 
roll, and it was being thrown out. He also offered me any relay rack 
that I wanted as they could not get rid of them, so it was all going in 
the dump! Some of the racks were very nice.


I sure miss those days!

Dave K1WHS

On 2/7/2020 8:56 PM, Kriss Alan Kliegle KA1GJU wrote:

Welcome to the world of aviation prices!
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/unshieldlwire.php?clickkey=3524

They have other wire available too.

73 Kriss KA1GJU


Sent from Mail for Windows 10

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Re: Topband: CQ WW Contest

[David Olean]

I think a lot depends on where you were located.  I am in southern Maine 
about 30 miles from salt water. I did a fair amount of listening for DX 
stations. I did not call CQ except for two brief periods late at night. 
My impression was that signals were not as good as many recent nights 
that I would call "excellent". Many big stations that are 599 on my K3 S 
meter on good evenings were hovering around S5 or maybe a bit better. 
Other stations that are normally good, were drifting down into my noise 
level with QSB.  I also noted that many EU stations did not answer me 
when  I called. After 5 or 6 tries, I would press ALT-W and go on up the 
band.  That could be the high QRM level in Europe as well as conditions. 
I just had the feeling that i was weak on the path to Europe. It 
happened all the time.  In my listening, I heard many stations farther 
south (W4 & W5) calling stations and I was surprised that they could 
hear them at all, seeing how weak they were here.  I began to think that 
something broke here!  K1DG was on in Maine from his island in the 
middle of salt water, and he seemed to do very well. I don't know what 
to say as I do not have the experience to adequately explain what 
happened.  Maybe if I called CQ for more than 45 minutes total I would 
have a different feel for how condx were. My take is that absorption can 
be quite variable over a fairly narrow geographical area, say a few 
hundred miles.


Dave K1WHS


On 1/29/2020 10:29 AM, Clive GM3POI wrote:

Guy you only have to look at the past results for CQ160 to know that this
year's conditions were not anywhere near as good as 2009. Then I worked
around 700 US stations including all States and 57 St/Prov.
Although last weekend weren't by the recent past bad, and hopefully just a
stepping stone to better in the future. 73 Clive GM3POI

-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces+clive=gm3poi@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Guy Olinger K2AV
Sent: 29 January 2020 03:11
To: Roger Kennedy
Cc: TopBand List
Subject: Re: Topband: CQ WW Contest

Hi Roger,

Just want to be sure we are both talking about the weekend of 25, 26
January, 2020, the weekend of the 2020 CQ 160 CW contest. If so, I must
register my decidedly firm impression that was the best 160 meter weekend of
my lifetime, what has to be a counterpoint of the amazing 1958 sunspot
maximum.

In the contest I worked 1349 stations including 339 10 pointers (almost all
the 10 pointers were European), let's just say 300+ European stations. In
all of that I worked a 160 meter worked all states (48 CONUS + AK & HI),
plus 9 Canadian provinces, 78 countries ("country" per the contest rules).
That was a claimed score from the southeast USA (decidedly not the
EU-advantaged northeast US) of 752,780.

It was, by an enormous margin, my personal lifetime best for any 160 meter
contest. The antenna did work very well, but, seriously, could not possibly
have accounted for that bump up, nor for sure could my personal operating
skills.

Just think we need to leave room for the idea that maybe the band was a bit
better than "open".

Station here K3 + KPA1500, Inverted L over FCP, no RX antennas (working on
that), NOT a superstation.

Wowser, I wonder if we'll get that again before the sunspots start in
again. I can hope.

73, Guy K2AV

On Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 3:27 PM Roger Kennedy

wrote:


Well conditions were reasonable over the weekend . . .

I spent a total of about 3 hours on the band, and managed to work 48 NA
stations through all the European QRM.

I'm sure I would have worked a lot more, as I heard many others calling
stations that were calling CQ . . . but I'm reluctant to put out a CQ call
in a contest, as I don't want to work hundreds of Europeans (I'm up in the
middle of the night to work some DX !)

As I say, I wouldn't say conditions were particularly good, but the band
was
open.


Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX CW Activity Night

[David Olean]

I seem to have missed you last night, Roger. I was QRV, but took time 
out to work on an old boat anchor receiver. It has a very obtuse problem 
and it took awhile to figure out. I was on early, around  UT and 
then later on the two hours before your sun rise. All signals were down 
from what I would call "good". Still there were stations to work.  I 
worked a few Gs, SM, F, and others.  Early in the evening there were a 
few UA stations on and they were calling KK1CWO on Cape Cod.   The 
signals were generally weak last night. QSB would take some stations 
down into the noise.  Stations that might go over S9 on a good night, 
were running S6 or S7 at best. The good news was that I found a pesky 
problem in the receiver. It was a bad silver mica capacitor in one of 
the rf coil sections.


Dave K1WHS

On 1/16/2020 4:00 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Well sadly conditions seemed very poor last night . . .

My own signals were 20 to 30dB down on what I would normally see on NA RBN
sites

I managed just 4 NA QSOs . . . but heard several other people calling me
that were way down in the noise.

Not sure how many stations were on across the pond, but heard lots of other
EU stations calling CQ, but getting few replies.

Thanks to all those that made the effort to come on the band . . . let's
hope conditions are better next Wednesday !

73 Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: Topband resource vertical vs. horizontal

[David Olean]

I was always intrigued by the success of our "Down Under" friends in 
VK6. They tried vertical polarization and it was horrible. They had much 
better luck with horizontal wires.  I think this had much to do with the 
gyro frequency.  It depends on where you are in the world.  I am about 
30 miles away from salt water. My ground is poor with hills and rocky 
soil.  The tops of the local hills are solid rock.   I tried an inverted 
vee antenna for 160. It worked, but not very well.  My signal was sort 
of like chopped liver. No one would answer me when I called!  I did 
catch an opening, however, where it worked very well and I nabbed two JA 
stations. I have a recording of one of the  QSOs , and my signal got 
very loud in JA at times. Switching to a vertical here, there was no 
comparison. I went from chopped liver to meat loaf and gravy. Still it 
was a long time before I worked another JA, and when I did, it was a 
squeaker!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 1/15/2020 4:17 PM, donov...@starpower.net wrote:

Roger has 27 topband QSOs in my log since February 1993,
well done!


Its interesting how our transmitting antenna experiences are exactly
opposite on both 160 and 80 meters. I've had little success with
160 meter horizontal dipoles 100 to 200 feet high compared to
my 4-square vertical array which always perform superbly.


I use only vertically polarized antennas f or topband receiving ,
a 350 foot diameter W8JI/W5ZN/N4HY passive 8-circle array,
580 foot Beverages and my transmitting 4-square array. All
receive 6 to 10 dB better for DX than horizontal dipoles at my QTH.
Many easily copied DX signals on the verticals are completely
inaudible on the horizontal dipoles.



On 80 meters I use only horizontally polarized 2 element quads
170 feet high for transmitting which are far superior to any verticals
I've tried although I've never tried anything more sophisticated than
a 4-square transmitting array.


My 80 meter quads perform very well as receiving antennas, on
some -- but not all -- very weak signals they outperform the
175 foot diameter passive 8-circle array and 580 foot Beverages.


You can never have too many antennas...
Unless they interfere with each other, a non-trivial issue.


73
Frank
W3LPL

- Original Message -

From: "Roger Kennedy" 
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2020 10:48:51 PM
Subject: Topband: Topband resource


"However, 160 needs vertical polarization for consistent long DX."

So how is it that I consistently work all over the world on 160m with my
horizontal dipole at 50ft?! (and my signals seem to often be pretty
comparable with other Brits using verticals}

You certainly need a Vertical to work DX on 80m . . . but in my experience
160m propagation is very different . . . I'm guessing it's often quite high
angle due to multi-hop or ducting.

Also, I don't understand why on the Web page they are talking about NA
stations coming on Top Band at 1730 UTC to work Europe . . . I don't find
the band opens to NA until at least 2200 . . . and for me signals are always
much better after midnight.

Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX CW Activity Night

[David Olean]

Hello Roger,

You had a great signal last night. At one point you called CQ and I 
answered with 5 watts, but you did not hear me. I did work I think two 
stations while running 5 watts here. One was HA0NAR. This morning was a 
big ZERO. I was up at 1000 UT and called CQ but had no QSOs and heard no 
DX. I did go and check out FT-8. RA0FF and RA0CY were both on FT8 as 
were  afew KL7 stations.  That was a bit of a bummer for me.


I am having a problem with creeping SWR that climbs up to over 2:1 if I 
am doing a lot of QRO calling.  At first, I thought it was my really bad 
temporary installation with a vise clamp holding the N connector bracket 
to the tower base and the series doorknob capacitor sitting out in the 
weather and snow. During the Stew, the SWR got so high I had to go out 
and shovel the snow and ice away from it.  I figured the snow and water 
was making the SWR bad. I built a suitable wx proof enclosure with a 
nice porcelain insulator and the type N connector input, but the heating 
is more pronounced. Apparently the ice was keeping the cap cooler! So 
now I am looking for another cap that will not overheat.


On 1/9/2020 9:56 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Well sadly conditions were rather poor last night . . .

Also I wasn't sure how many stations made it on the band, as I had
torrential rain all night, and with the 400kV power lines a mile away that
caused a high noise level, so could only copy stations above S7.

Oh well . . . perhaps it will be better next Wednesday !

73 Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: de n7dd

[David Olean]

Hello Paul,

I am dealing with the same overheating problem. I need a 475 pf 
capacitor to shunt feed my 160 tower. I just happened to have a 500 pf 
15 KV doorknob almost the size of my fist. It did work for awhile, 
(several years) but now seems to heat up and the VSWR climbs to 2:1.  
The unit is definitely heating. I measured about 95 degrees when the 
outside air temp was 12 F.  I tried a single red Sprague plastic 
doorknob and it starts to run away with 500 watts of power. My next plan 
was to put four NEC caps together to get 475 pf: 2X 200 PF, 1X 50 PF, 
and 1X 25 PF.  It sounds like maybe this is not going to work either.  I 
guess I need a bigger box and a vacuum capacitor.  My amplifier is 
capable of 1500 watts output.  There is not a lot of voltage as it is a 
50 ohm input.  6 amps at 300 volts RMS would be 1800 watts at 50 ohms.  
What about an air variable in a wx proof box?


Dave K1WHS

On 1/9/2020 3:24 PM, Paul Christensen wrote:

does anyone know of a HV (20KV) capacitor with a value of approximately

500 pf that has a NPO value?

Once you get above about 100pF, NP0 options are very limited.  Be mindful of
the RF current magnitude in the application.  Small doorknobs can heat and
change in value.  In fact, I am dealing with this issue now on a 160m T
vertical.   My hope was that a paralleled pair of HEC doorknobs would work
in a NEMA 4x4x2 enclosure at the base.  The fit is fine, but the caps are
overheating in FT8/RTTY modes.  The fix will involve replacement with a
vacuum cap in a larger enclosure.

MaxGain Systems has a surplus Jennngs 500pF/20KV cap for about $350.  Also
consider transmitting mica capacitors.  Both will be quite large but will
meet your NP0 requirement.  Kintronic Labs sells a new 500pF/20KV mica for
about $650.  These are typically used in AM broadcast installations.  In
time, you can likely find these at lower prices.  The most common used mica
will be manufactured by Sangamo.  If you're in a rush, be prepared to pay
more.

Paul, W9AC

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Re: Topband: Interference on 1.821 From WRCR

[David Olean]

I think I did. I could hear voices and a broad peak of crud around 1820 
that was several kHz wide. I did not try to identify it. I just grumbled 
and went away and did something else.  I heard it after sunset last 
night, the 18th.  Normally, if I hear any BCB crud it will be much later 
when signals are horrendously loud.  I have a BCB filter, and it is 
effective with late night signals. I normally do not hear any BCB stuff 
other than weak birdies on 1800, 1810, 1820 etc.  I live in SW Maine.


I answered a few 160 CQs last night. Both were OZ signals. The first 
station had trouble hearing me. He was 559. Station #2 was louder and I 
gave him 579. I received a 339.  Maybe I had the amplifier plugged into 
the dummy load instead of the 160 feedline.


I went back to my workbench and got back at working on an old R-392 
receiver. When I was a young guy just out of school, I was in the Army 
and we had Collins R-392 receivers in our unit. It was similar to an 
R-390, but was re packaged to fit in a jeep and be out in the mud and 
dirt. It had a hermetically sealed case and ran with 28 volts on all the 
tubes.  My receiver had been "worked on" and the result was a basket 
case with all of the cams out of sync. There were missing slug racks and 
slugs. The main tuning dial did not cover the entire range. It was an 
interesting night working on putting it all back together and trying to 
get it to work. The PTO needed work too. I stayed up past 1:30 local 
time, so missed my sunrise. :-(



Dave K1WHS

On 12/18/2019 1:16 PM, rgarre...@comcast.net wrote:

Greetings,

Strange happenings this AM.  I heard a lot of hash on 1.821 and listened on AM 
to hear radio station WRCR.  They were commenting on
the tower being covered in ice and other references to the FCC.  Did anyone 
else here this spurious signal?  73, Bob K3UL

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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX CW Activity Night

[David Olean]

I heard G4EIM/QRP  calling AA1K and the signal was very Q5 and pretty 
impressive at about 22:00 UT.  I tried calling a bunch of CQs up 2 khz, 
but had no takers. I'll be on tonight a bit more.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 12/11/2019 10:48 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Not sure what conditions are like, but I hope we'll get a few stations on
tonight !

73 Roger G3YRO

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Re: Topband: AS / EU QRM - The Cocktail Party Effect

[David Olean]

OK I guess the problem is QRM levels in EU.  The CQ WW weekend is a big 
difference from a typical Wednesday or Thursday evening. I was just 
getting paranoid when many stations in a row could not copy me while I 
was hearing them with great signals and 559 to 589.  I am thinking that 
maybe my Europe beverage is working very well. It is long at about 
1100-1200 ft (350M) and consists of two sets of wires spaced 400 ft 
apart. (120M)  We had terrific winds on Friday night and I was not QRV 
but wondered if any trees had fallen in the woods due to the high winds. 
I had just fixed all my receive wires two weeks ago. I walked along my 
beverage wires today, and found a huge tree had fallen across my South 
beverage and broken the wire. It also ripped the termination off the far 
end.  Next I found another tree that managed to fall across both the 
South beverage as well as one of my Europe beverages. I had to get the 
chainsaw out and now I have a full pickup truck load of firewood and the 
two antennas are working well again. I also had a tree across the JA 
beverage.  My East, Southwest, and West wires all were OK. There are a 
few more I have not gotten to yet. Maintaining wires in the woods is 
never ending!


On Saturday night, I saw no problem with the EU wires or the JA wire (It 
works well towards Hawaii and CA) even though they had problems. I did 
sense that my South wire was not so hot. No wonder, it was broken in 
half and laying on the ground with no termination on the southern end.  
The EU wire seemed OK to me even with a tree across it. Same with the JA 
wire.  Oh well, at least I got some firewood out of the deal.


73

Dave K1WHS

On 11/25/2019 3:08 PM, Fred Kleber wrote:


Hi Top Banders,
Having operated from the other end on a number of continents, I offer the 
following explanations of why NA hams may wonder why they can't work distant 
stations:
SE Asia - The amount of non-ham QRM in the ham bands is unbelievable.  Most 
notable are the Indonesian (and probably other countries) fisherman who 
populate wide swaths of spectrum and have little to no regard for spectrum 
allocations.  They just go buy a cheap ham rig, make it general coverage, and 
off they go.  Additionally the beacons on fishing nets can also create quite a 
racket.  Oh yes, the commercial power suppliers in poorer countries most likely 
don't even care about repairing line nose.  One other challenge is the echo 
from NA stations which is frequently present on the low bands.  Pileups 
particularly exacerbate this phenomenon.
Europe - Here's the cocktail party analogy.  When a cocktail party starts, a 
few people come in the door, grab a drink and start talking to each other.  As 
more people join the party, the room fills up and the ambient noise (QRM) 
rises.  In order to be communicate, guests talk louder.  More people join the 
party and the audible QRM noise floor rises.  In the radio world parallel, 
equate guest's speech with RF and talking louder with running more power.  Then 
consider that many countries don't effectively regulate TX power output, and 
you have a real mess.  Most north american's can't understand when I tell them 
that if you're not at least S-9 on 80-20 meters, you're most likely not going 
to be heard.
I hope you find this information useful.
73 & good DX,Fred, NP2X / K9VV et al.
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Topband: Saturday night

[David Olean]

Hi Top Banders

I was dabbling in the CQ WW contest last night (Nov 24 UT) and noted a 
few things that seemed quite different to me here in NE USA. The normal 
situation at my sunset occurred. I could hear many many EU stations but 
almost none of them could hear me. I am used to that. I quit and had 
dinner and spent some quality time with the XYL for the evening. At 
about 0300 UT I was QRV again.  A storm was blowing through New England 
and There was a fair amount of lightning static, but I was able to call 
many stations who were very good copy, but almost always got the 
impression that I was barely audible with them. I am running 1300-1400 
watts output. Most stations took three or four calls to get my call 
correct. A few gave up and had my call wrong but went on to other 
callers. Other loud stations CQed in my face. This was very different 
from many of my past experiences. I actually went and checked the 
electrical passband of my TX antenna to make sure it was performing 
normally. (It was) I also kept looking at the wattmeter to make sure 
that I was transmitting into the antenna!


I did note that there was deep and rapid QSB over a 30 second period. I 
am wondering what the hearing conditions were in Europe Saturday night 
on 1.8 MHz. I suspect that noise was a big problem.


Around 1000 UT until my sunrise arpund 1200, I did a fair amount of 
listening but heard very little in the way of Pacific DX.  I was 
operating un assisted so do not know who was QRV, but tuning across the 
band produced only two HI stations heard from the Pacific. No KL7, no 
islands, and no VK/ZL. A few CQs produced no QSOs for points.  Very 
disappointing morning.


73

Dave K1WHS

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Re: Topband: 160m Conditions Last Night

[David Olean]

Funny, but I was QRV on 160 and found conditions rather poor here in 
Maine. Very few signals heard and what I did hear seemed a bit on the 
weak side. (SM4CAN and DL8DAS among others.)  I heard Joel W5ZN work 
Europe and I swear he was hearing better than I was. His 579 was a 
stretch here with the SM4. I sent 549 when I worked Kent and I had to 
repeat my call a second time so he got it correctly. I heard VE6WZ 
calling the same stations and was amazed that he had good conditions 
while I was struggling with sub par condx. I think my receive setup is 
all working OK.  The South was definitely the place to be.  A was 3 and 
K was 1 so things should have been good here, but you never can tell 
until you start calling!  I use a single vertical and a bunch of 
beverages in the woods.


Very interesting evening.  I QSYed up to the dreaded FT8 part of the 
band afterward, and heard much activity. I worked a few stations then 
went QRT.


Dave K1WHS

On 11/12/2019 2:09 PM, Artek Manuals wrote:
Here in the deep south we generally don't get the kind of 160M 
openings to EU that you enjoy up north, the price we pay for not 
freezing to death when the lights go out and being able to work on our 
antennas year round, I lived in NH and MN� for 15 years before moving 
back to FL so I know first hand the joy of shoveling snow and being 
able to work EU when your 1000 miles closer to them than we are down 
south. Down here we are lucky� hear 3 or 4 EU stations on a good night 
regardless of the mode.


Then last night something extraordinary ( the night after Doug's 
report) . I went out to the shack @0200Z� to turn things off before 
going to bed . There was HA7TM calling CQ and the computer reminded me 
that while I had worked him on many bands but that I needed him on 
160M to fill out my dance card. A few minutes later he was in the log 
and no other� EU stations were copied (YAWN)� .. then as I reached for 
the big switch I was called by R6YY. What happened next I suspect is 
what if sometimes referred to as� "pipeline propagation" . Stations 
from NW Russia lined up and started calling me sometimes 3 stations 
deep. When the dust settled I had worked 15 Russians, 2- SM's, an OH 
and a SP, all in the span of about 30 minutes. You would think my call 
sign was VP6R . During this mini pile up NO OTHER EU stations were 
heard. No DL's, no F's, no G's no I's . just UA's . One of the 3rd 
most memorable nights in my TOP-Band life-time spanning nearly 50 years


To fill in the scenario for the curious, I was running about 800 watts 
to a 60' T wire vertical, with three 90' above ground radials. And a 
200' BOG to the NE on receive. Modes used were both CW and FT8


Dave NR1DX
dit dit

On 11/11/2019 12:37 PM, Doug Renwick wrote:
Very good over the pole real ham radio (cw) conditions from Northern 
Europe

last night in west NA. Some stations had amazing signals; a few of the
strongest were LY7M, YL2SM and LA1MFA.

Doug

Canada; the ship of fools where corruption and politics are synonymous

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Re: Topband: Desiccant in Beverage Boxes

[David Olean]

Hi Mike

I would think that you would waste ur time unless the box was rather 
airtight. (As in hermetically sealed)  If moisture can get in, it will 
and negate any desiccant in rapid order. Just my opinion.


Dave

On 10/29/2019 7:28 PM, Mike & Becca Krzystyniak wrote:

 I went to put my beverages back up for this winter.  On a whim I opened
each connection box and found a fair amount of a white powderish condensate
inside the diecast housings. Mostly on the housing surfaces.  Wires and
cores were clean.  Is it worth putting a desisscant bag inside to help
minimize this or don't fix what isn't broken?

Thanks...  Mike K9MK




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Re: Topband: PreStew coming next weekend

[David Olean]

I had a bad time with the Pre Stew. My station was all ripped apart and 
the rig stored in boxes! It took me until about 0200 UT to get things 
working and my receive seemed poor. I ran QRP just to see if I could be 
heard. (Not too many heard me)  I did not work Europe or the West Coast. 
I could tell that my Europe beverage wire was NG.


The next day , I walked along the wires in the woods and it was a huge 
mess with trees all down across the wires and insulators pulled out of 
trees that did not fall down!!  I spent the better part of a day fixing 
and testing things. i finished up on Monday and now have the Europe 
beverage working as it should.  I will try out my receiving wires over 
the next few days. I hope they are working OK with DX signals!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 10/21/2019 6:32 PM, uy0zg wrote:

Hi

In southern Ukraine it was very weak with North America.

None of the NA answered my CQ TEST.

All QSOs are the result of my search.

Many quickly disassembled my signal.

Super RX - K1KI, NO3M.

Doesn't hear anyone K3CCR.

CX6VM I listened only to the vertical!

After sunrise, the XE2X heard me.

_

I am very pleased - good Contest.

---
Nick, UY0ZG
http://www.topband.in.ua

Tree писал 2019-10-13 19:12:
The popular PreStew event is coming on Oct 19/20th next weekend 
starting at

1500Z and running for 24 hours.

The band has been improving with good signals from Europe into West 
coats

of North America and daily openings from VK to North America and Europe.

Full rules and previous results available at http://www.kkn.net/stew

Tree N6TR
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Re: Topband: Circle arrays

[David Olean]

TNX Mike

That is the crux of the situation.  I am not so interested in other 
bands but was wondering how much I would lose on 160 with a multi band 
design.  I don't want to lose much at all!


My brother who is a ham thinks I am crazy to even contemplate a circle 
array.  My goal is to use the circle array as a diversity antenna with 
my beverages used on the other receive channel.  I believe it will be a 
good choice. He thinks my beverages are just fine, but I believe that a 
diversity setup will be a big jump in performance.  I sure hope I am 
right!! It is a lot of work.


Dave K1WHS

On 10/15/2019 6:51 PM, W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote:
If your joy is 160 then go with the array that will maximize the 
results. Multiband arrays are going to be compromise and degrade your 
160 performance.  You need to determine what is more important.  You 
still might be able to use a 160 array on the other bands but not 
optimally.


W0MU

On 10/14/2019 8:34 AM, David Olean wrote:
I am pondering an eight circle array.  At present my only ham band 
that I am QRV on is 160 meters. A few years ago I had 28 thru 24 GHz 
all percolating, but the maintenance was killing me. i was a slave to 
the station. Now I am having fun! Rather than tweaking with noise 
figure meters and VNAs, I now do all my work with wrenches and chainsaw.


There are several choices for 8 circle arrays.  My question is how 
much benefit would I get from the single band version as opposed to a 
dual or three band choice?  Reading the hype is always fraught with 
danger.  Practical experience is always better.  My thinking is that 
if there is a distinct advantage, I would go with a 160 only setup 
and forego the other bands.  I can carve out a 200 ft circle with a 
little chainsaw action. I have about 180 ft of field available now, 
so can get the room with not too much trouble.


I also better hook up my 160 transceiver quick. It is still packed 
away from Field Day!!


Comments?


Dave K1WHS

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Re: Topband: Remote operation

[David Olean]

Joel,

Have another Margarita. Things will improve greatly.

Jacques

On 10/13/2019 6:15 PM, w...@w5zn.org wrote:
OK I'm confused..was it remotes or FT8 that killed amateur radio?? 
Or maybe the 50 other chicken little proclamations that did?


I need professional help to sort this all out (that's a given, so 
please don't comment on that condition!)


73 Joel W5ZN
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Re: Topband: Fw: Speaking of phased beverages...

[David Olean]

I tried a phased beverage array. I assume that it is working, but have 
nothing to compare it to directly. I live in hilly terrain. In fact, the 
phased beverage is on the side of "my" hill.  The two wires are spaced 
about 360 to 380 ft apart and both are around 1100 ft long. Both are 
aimed at northern Europe. They do take up a lot of room. I figured about 
10-11 acres! I have two separate feedlines that are quite long, 1000 and 
1400 ft long.  Beverage #1 is on flat ground at the base of a ridgeline 
that is 200 ft higher. Beverage #2 is on top or on the slope of that 
ridge running parallel to #1. The interesting fact that I have observed 
is that beverage #2 (the higher one) hears quite a bit better than 
beverage #1. I use an NCC-1 box to combine both wires. If both are in 
phase, the signal gets stronger, so I know it is adding properly. I can 
also null out stuff in other directions, but it takes some finesse and 
gain adjustments to achieve good nulls.


So why is the higher beverage working better? I assume it is the local 
terrain. My next plan is to assemble a third wire up on top of the ridge 
to check out my theory, but the feedline will be 1800 ft long! I need a 
better way to get the signals back home!


Dave K1WHS

On 4/14/2019 9:27 PM, daraym...@iowatelecom.net wrote:

Phased Bevs are great. . .if you have the room and not have to take them down 
seasonally for crop work, etc.  I put up the Hi-Z 8 circle/160 array about 
seven years ago, have not put up a Beverage since. . .and not looked back.
YMMV. . .73. . . Dave, W0FLS

From: Peter Meyer
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2019 3:05 PM
To: Brian Campbell ; John Harden, D.M.D. ; daraym...@iowatelecom.net ; 
w...@w5zn.org ; uy0zg ; l...@k7tjr.com
Subject: Re: Topband: NA activity CW topband 

My RX is up 24/7.  I eliminated the Hi-Z-8-Pro a few years ago because of all 
the lightning/static issues.  Now running phased beverages in 7 directions. I 
haven't really looked back.

Nick - I am QRV 160m all summer.  Just when my SS
gets so late, it gets harder to stay up later for the EU SR.

73/DX - Pete N0FW

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Re: Topband: NA activity CW topband ....................

[David Olean]

Hello Nick,

I was not operating last night.  I have other activities besides ham 
radio and 160M. It was guitar playing last night, and soon it will be 
fly fishing for trout up at my camp away from the radio. Winter has been 
long this year and the snow and ice are still a problem. All of my 
receive antennas are beverages and they are running through the forest. 
I remove the transformers and terminations to protect them from 
lightning most years. I am QRV through May usually. I have had lightning 
damage in the past and it can be very bad!!


Soon I will be making another beverage for Bouvet Island and LP QSOs.

73

Dave K1WHS

On 4/13/2019 2:34 PM, uy0zg wrote:

Hi Joel

I'm curious to hear American stations in April.


At least east.

This season I did not have a QSOs with many - K1FZ, K1GUN, K1HTV, 
KA1J, N2MF, N4IS, W1MK, W3GH, WX3B +

and many, many others


---
Nick, UY0ZG
http://www.topband.in.ua

w...@w5zn.org писал 2019-04-13 16:38:

Greetings Nick,

With spring here in the south I have begun taking down all of my  RX
antennas in preparation for hay cutting in the fields plus the severe
lightning we have from spring and summer storms pretty much destroys
the RX antenna components if left out through summer. The QRN/noise
level is high on the TX antenna so my focus has moved to other
bands/activity.

I'm sure that's probably the case with a few other "regulars" on the
band as well.

73 Joel W5ZN

On 2019-04-13 03:31, uy0zg wrote:

Hi


What happened ?


One NV3N from all over America.


No electricity?

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Re: Topband: VI9NI

[David Olean]

I would echo ur comments, Bob. I had to scrape the XYL's car windows 
early this morning, as we have had two days of snow and ice. So after 
finishing the ice removal, I went and checked 160 M before sunrise. The 
band was a tad noisy and I started CQing on 1822 and went on for awhile 
with no answers.  AA1K was calling CQ as well. I even tuned up to the 
FT-8 segment to see who and what was going on.  Back to calling CQ on CW 
on 1822.5 and VI9NI answered my CQ.  I almost fell over. We exchanged 
reports and a few FBs then they went up to 1825.5. I stayed on 1822 and 
then VK6VZ in Perth showed up right after! Both stations peaked up 
really loud. VI9NI hit S9 for a few minutes and was good copy for about 
15 minutes after my sunrise at 10:11UT. All this with the K index at 
four! Nothing heard on northern paths.  No JAs and no HL5IVL.  VK6VZ was 
good copy on a skewed path aimed west. Normal direct path is about 330 
degrees for me and thru the AU belt.


A number of us East Coast stations worked VI9NI and many midwestern 
stations made the grade. They must have had fun on Norfolk Island!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 4/10/2019 1:24 PM, Chortek, Robert L. wrote:

VK9NI had a very nice signal on the West Coast today and lots of stations made 
it into the log on 160.

Very good propagation this morning.

73,

Bob AA6VB

Sent from my iPhone
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Re: Topband: XR0ZRC?

[David Olean]

Herb,

I have a dedicated beverage aimed at 180 degrees and it works great. 
Nice and quiet and about 900 ft long. I do not have anything for Bouvet 
at 140 degrees or so. I better get to work!


Dave

On 3/26/2019 2:32 PM, Herbert Schoenbohm wrote:

David,  You would need a Beverage for XR0WRC favoring the south to SSW from
your location.

Herb, KV4FZ

On Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 11:00 AM David Olean  wrote:


I am a bit puzzled by XR0ZRC.  I thought they were going to have a major
effort on 80 and 160, but so far I have heard from little to none from
them on 160. (I am not on 80 M) Last night, 26th UTC, I did hear them
but their signal was quite weak and the heavy QRN was making copy almost
impossible. I think this was the first time I heard them.  It was hard
for me to copy much of anything between static crashes.  On other days,
I saw many spots from hams showing that they are on 160M but I hear nil
and a check on the Reverse Beacon Network shows no spots for them. (?)
(Pirates?) Last night, a few stations mentioned that XR0ZRC was loud in
the SE. VA2WA, who is a couple hundred miles north of me, said something
like "booming " to describe their signal last night. Not sure of the
strength required for "booming", but it must be similar to "wall to
wall, and treetop tall".  At my shack I could not tell who they were
working between  the static crashes! I copied fragments between crashes.
I know my receiving setup is working. Just a few hours later near my
sunrise I worked VK6 and JA from here in Maine.

I have read a few notes on DX sites (many days old) explaining that they
are plagued by high noise levels and have poor internet accessibility. I
understand that, but I am still concerned that I almost never hear them
QRV on 160. Maybe it is just my turn to be in the barrel? I just wonder
what is going on. I am curious. I hope no one takes this as a complaint
about a DXpedition. It is not.

My task for the day is to lay out another RX wire for 140 degrees and
Bouvet! Unfortunately, all of my wooden stakes with insulators attached
to them are stored in a shed and the ice around it is so thick, deep,
and hard, that I cannot get to them!


Dave K1WHS

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Topband: XR0ZRC?

[David Olean]

I am a bit puzzled by XR0ZRC.  I thought they were going to have a major 
effort on 80 and 160, but so far I have heard from little to none from 
them on 160. (I am not on 80 M) Last night, 26th UTC, I did hear them 
but their signal was quite weak and the heavy QRN was making copy almost 
impossible. I think this was the first time I heard them.  It was hard 
for me to copy much of anything between static crashes.  On other days, 
I saw many spots from hams showing that they are on 160M but I hear nil 
and a check on the Reverse Beacon Network shows no spots for them. (?)  
(Pirates?) Last night, a few stations mentioned that XR0ZRC was loud in 
the SE. VA2WA, who is a couple hundred miles north of me, said something 
like "booming " to describe their signal last night. Not sure of the 
strength required for "booming", but it must be similar to "wall to 
wall, and treetop tall".  At my shack I could not tell who they were 
working between  the static crashes! I copied fragments between crashes. 
I know my receiving setup is working. Just a few hours later near my 
sunrise I worked VK6 and JA from here in Maine.


I have read a few notes on DX sites (many days old) explaining that they 
are plagued by high noise levels and have poor internet accessibility. I 
understand that, but I am still concerned that I almost never hear them 
QRV on 160. Maybe it is just my turn to be in the barrel? I just wonder 
what is going on. I am curious. I hope no one takes this as a complaint 
about a DXpedition. It is not.


My task for the day is to lay out another RX wire for 140 degrees and 
Bouvet! Unfortunately, all of my wooden stakes with insulators attached 
to them are stored in a shed and the ice around it is so thick, deep, 
and hard, that I cannot get to them!



Dave K1WHS

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Re: Topband: Great moments in Top Band History - 7P8LB

[David Olean]

Hello Tree

Very fine writeup of the evening.  I heard 7P8LB all night in varying 
stages of copyability. At no time did I hear any evidence that I was 
being heard. I suspect that the spotlight effect did not favor the 
northeast and eastern Canada.  Most times, 7P peaked at about S-3 with 
an occasional strong peak to maybe S-5.  There was a sunrise peak, but 
not as drastic as others heard. It was exciting to monitor the chat page 
and just feel the adrenaline in the air! It was heartening to see that a 
goodly number of stations made it into their log.


I still do not understand 160 propagation, and that is the reason I love 
the band so much! I heard the KY7M QSO right at the end. That was a 
squeaker and one to remember for life! Wow, what a night!


Dave K1WHS

On 3/16/2019 2:44 PM, Tree wrote:

Last night - 1824.5 kHz - 7P8LB was calling CQ for perhaps 30 minutes -
working nobody.  This was their last sunrise before taking down their
antennas.  The previous night was disappointing and there were so many
people in North America wanting to work them.



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Re: Topband: 7P8LB Last night on TB

[David Olean]

Hello Rune,

There were piles and piles of  W stations calling for about 1 1/2 hours 
before your sunrise here on the east coast USA last night. I was calling 
too and was amazed that you could not hear us. You were a good S-5 on 
peaks and very easy copy.  At one time you sent K1?? that was as close 
as I got, but I was just sure that you would pick someone up here on CW 
and many contacts would be made. I called until after you quit at ur 
sunrise. I live in Maine in the northeast, and suspect that stations 
farther south of me were hearing you better. (K index was 3) Signals 
were very poor before ur sunrise peak. I could copy bits and parts of 
calls only after my sunset. You were better copy just after my sunset 
(22:50 UT), but faded down until ur sunrise peak -1.5 hrs.   When 7P8LB 
peaked up here you were working many Russian stations probably close to 
their sunrise as well.


    I will be in there calling tonight!!

Dave K1WHS

On 3/15/2019 2:46 PM, Rune Øye wrote:

All,

Copy and paste from my face book account.

Went to bed around 0200 local when LA3BO came to the shack. I was
disapointed that only one NA east coast was in the log etc. We will pay
attention to JA and NA for the last night and also try to be on the ON4KST
lowband chat.

73 Rune LA7THA / 7P8LB team leader.

Hi All, Last night was good on TB to EU however we worked only one NA East
Coast and nil JA`s. QSO count last night was approx, 260 and total count is
416 on TB. We will start disassembling the HEX beams and one vertikal for
30/40 meter band this evening before SS. One antenna for 30/40, 80 and the
160 antenna will be taken down just after SR tomorrow Saturday 16th. The
"new" BEV antenna was installed approx 45 meter from the powerline then the
wire was just laid on top of the cornfield and terminated at the opposite
end with a 270ohm resistor. This performed very well and the powerline
noise is gone. Many challenges at this location in terms of weather and
lightning. It has really been only two good days on TB however I am happy
with the result so far. Lets hope for good proppagation to JA and NA
tonight and we will do our outmost to get more qso`s from this part of the
world. Tomorrow we tear down the last antennas and then 6-7 hrs bus ride to
Johannesburg then back home on Sunday. Thanks to the team, LA9VPA, HA5AO,
ZS4TX and F5JTV for info and help during the planning and to LADXG for good
support.

73 Rune LA7THA
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Re: Topband: V84SAA 2019

[David Olean]

There is something magic that happens on any of the ham bands at any 
given time.  Hearing weak signals that should not be there is what gets 
my heart pumping.  Hearing watery signals on 160 meters from the 
opposite end of the world is about as exciting as it gets.  Thank you to 
all the members of the V84SAA crew for such an outstanding effort on 80 
and 160 meters.  You made the magic.


Dave K1WHS

On 2/17/2019 12:05 PM, John K9UWA wrote:

A great big THANKS to Jeff, Krassy and all the other ops as well for doing one
super job of putting V84SAA into many many logs throughout the World. This in a
winter season when low band propagation hasn't been all that good was one
super DX-Pedition.
73
John k9uwa


  GA All
Teardown has been achieved and we will have a group dinner to celebrate tonight
at 7:30PM
JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM

John Goller, K9UWA & Jean Goller, N9PXF
Antique Radio Restorations
k9...@arrl.net
Visit our Web Site at:
http://www.JohnJeanAntiqueRadio.com
4836 Ranch Road
Leo, IN 46765
USA
1-260-637-6426

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Re: Topband: Guatemala TG on TopBand

[David Olean]

Hello Juan

 Please look for me on 160 meter CW.   I am glad you are going to be 
QRV  on 160. What is ur antenna?  I made a note to look for you on 16 
Feb. I will be on 160 meters during the ARRL contest as 1.8 MHz is my 
only band.


Welcome!

Dave K1WHS

On 2/14/2019 10:55 PM, TG9AJR Juan Munoz wrote:

Hello everyone, first message here and greetings from Guatemala.

I am finishing installing a 160m antenna and I am planning to be around
160m FT8 or perhaps CW with around 500W, on 16 February from around 
until 1200Z so if anyone needs TG let me know and we try to be on the look.
I will try on other days as well but for now this is the best day.

I will also be looking for V84SSA (fingers crossed) for an ATNO !

73

Juan
TG9AJR
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Re: Topband: BOG near noisy powerline on 160

[David Olean]

Are you sure that you are hearing power line noise from the antenna, or 
possibly you are hearing a common mode signal that has bullied its way 
into your antenna system by getting on the outside of your feedline.  Is 
your feed line decoupled at each end with ferrite coax chokes?  The 
choke must be installed about 20-25 ft from the antenna transformer and 
have its own ground rod. There should be another ground rod and choke 
where the coax enters your building.  You might also have energy getting 
into the BOG system from another feeder or wire antenna that may be 
picking up noise and coupling it into the BOG system.   Why do I say 
this? (Been there, done that!) Most of my power line noise was common 
mode energy picked up from other places.


Dave K1WHS

On 2/8/2019 4:31 PM, N4ZR wrote:
Recently I put down a 220' BOG, using the KD9SV hardware, including 
the preamp. Because of my yard's layout, the forward end of the BOG 
fell within about 20 feet of what the power company has identified 
(but not fixed yet), a noisy line with a number of broken insulators.


I came in to listen to the antenna, and was surprised to note that my 
noise (mostly from the powerline, by ear) is worse on the BOG than on 
my jury-rigged sloper transmit antenna.  It is much (maybe 20 dB) 
worse in the direction toward the power line than in the opposite.  
While I take this as encouraging evidence that the BOG has some 
directivity, I don't think I'm even hearing any atmospheric noise that 
may be present, because of the power line.


So now I'm wondering, is the BOG in this position worth keeping, even 
assuming that I can eventually get the power company to fix the line. 
Or should I look at another type of receiving antenna, such as a K9AY 
loop or SAL, which can be placed much farther from the power line?



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Re: Topband: VK6-Stateside LP today

[David Olean]

Phil was great copy here and I heard the K1CP QSO very well around 2150 
UT with signals peaking loud at 559 or maybe even better on peaks.  N1UR 
was also calling but an EA1 station was calling VK6GX incessantly and 
covered up VK6GX. Then we had a "tuner" from Europe somewhere who put a 
carrier directly on Phil's frequency, making copy impossible. Both N1UR 
and I quit calling. Eventually the carrier stopped and the EA1 lost 
interest. I QSYed 150 Hz off frequency and called and was surprised to 
hear my call come back, as the signals were fading fast. I think I 
squeaked in just under the wire! The log entry shows 2206 UT. My sunset 
was about 2200 UT. What a fantastic contact. My 2nd LP QSO this season 
with VK6.  I used my Europe beverage aimed at 45 degrees. It consists of 
two 1100 ft wires spaced  about 400 ft apart and phased together with an 
NCC-1 phasing box.  Now, if I could just manage to get out of bed for 
sunrise here. I keep oversleeping!


73

Dave K1WHS

On 2/6/2019 2:10 AM, Phil Hartwell via Topband wrote:

G'day All,

Good propagation two days running to W1 land on the long path and to EU.

I worked K1KI, K1CP and K1WHS between 12 and 24 minutes past my SR 
(2142z) today, on 1822.5kHz and I'm pretty sure there was at least 
another W amongst the EU's I was also hearing.


Some southern summer QRN on an otherwise very quiet band here.

Back at 2130z tomorrow, 73, Phil VK6GX.



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Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question - Part 2

[David Olean]

Hello Guy,

a very interesting evaluation of the 1000MP.  Your diagnosis coincides 
with my observations with the K3. I did not own an FT-1000MP, but I was 
using my K3 for listening on the very crowded 160 meter band in the CQ 
160 Contest a few years ago and noted the same thing.  I was playing 
around and tuned right next to KC1XX trying to see how close I could get 
and still copy weak DX.  (I am a newbie to HF and was curious) I was 
playing with the variable bandwidth and noted that, as the 400 Hz filter 
got switched in, the noise floor dropped and other signals appeared 
where noise and crud was only audible before. My wider filter was a 1 
kHz filter bandwidth.  I tried it again and again on different 
frequencies, switching in the 400 Hz filter, and saw the same effect 
more or less. I figured that the crud and junk in the noise floor were 
IMD products generated within the receiver. It was weak, but it was 
there. The 400 Hz filter eliminated much of it and I wondered if a 200 
or 250 Hz filter would be better?  I immediately ordered some narrow 
filters from the good folks at Aptos!


I have a small collection of boat anchor radios. Small as in a 51J4, 
75A4, and a 1946 Hallicrafters S-40.  I recently re capped the 75A4 and 
just for kicks tried it out on 160 meters, listening on my beverages. 
This radio is so highly modified that I hesitate to even call it a 75A4. 
It has a new front end tube, new mixers, a second 2 kHz mechanical 
filter in the IF stage, a re vamped AVC system, and a 300 Hz Collins 
crystal filter in position 3 of the mech filter bank. Other than the 
rapid tuning rate, it is a top notch performer and sounds real sweet on 
160. I listened to it for awhile in the Stew Perry with all the QRM. I 
did test the 2 kHz dynamic range and came up with 89 dB which is pretty 
good. The only problem is that BC stations seem to get in and overload 
it. It needs a BC band filter all the time at night. The K3 does not 
except occasionally, when things are really hot.


I am going to use the 75A4 on 160 for SKN along with my trusty Central 
Electronics 20A. I hope I can work NO3M with his 1930's MOPA rig!


Dave K1WHS

On 12/31/2018 4:31 AM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:

Hi Chet,

Before we start, a disclaimer: I still have my MP, maybe I'm a radio
hoarder. I do have a 75A3 and a Johnson Ranger and Courier and an FT 101ZD.
The only long used radios I don't still have are my SB300 and SB400, and I
wish I hadn't sold those. So my MP bashing is technical and proven, and I
still love my MP enough to keep it. I hope its feelings aren't hurt by lack
of use since the K3.

Back in the heyday of FT1000MP, when that was one of the best contest
radios available (IF you fixed the clicks), I used to take mine out to N4AF
for the multi-op DX wars as NY4A. I used my MP on 40 meters out there,
which at that time was listening to a 5 element quad stretched out on 190
feet of catenary between towers, end-on to 45 degrees. Loads of incoming RF
off the big quad.

With the MP, the bottom layer of signals was usually all the DL/OK basement
noodle antenna QRP signals. When the K3 showed up, the DL/OK basement
noodle QRP crowd became essentially workable and the new bottom layer of
signals was all the European Russians running 100 watts to a dipole up 20
feet on the southeast side of a big hill.  Goaded by the astonishing
improvement, some K3 to MP comparisons showed very convincingly that what
we always thought was the bottom atmospheric level in the MP was actually
being generated IN the MP, because it was absent in the K3. A/B there, not
there, couldn't possibly be that much. Repeat test 50 times at least,
there, not there. After a half hour of doing the same test over and over,
with exact same result over and over, "Gee, guess the K3 has improved a
lot."

N4AF switched to K3's, and very quickly all the "drug-in-with" radios were
K3's, except for one Orion I. Within a couple years, 11 FT1000MP's in the
NY4A crowd morphed into 14 K3's.

There definitely WERE some separate sensitivity issues in the MP, a bunch
caused by too much RF coming in the line in RX mode. Your deaf as a
door-nail kind of spot reports screams as a repeat of one of those MP
insensitivities.

There is a little itty-bitty choke in the RX on TX antenna circuit, which
can burn but NOT GO OPEN. It goes resistive because what's left over after
the wire burn is still conductive. The DEGREE of resistive is unpredictable
and can change. I know because over the years I've replaced a half dozen of
them. You can find them in the schematic. The quick no-solder,
no-disassembly fix to get around the problem and listen on the TX antenna
with full sensitivity is 1) on the back panel patch the RX OUT RCA jack
(connected to TX ant when not transmitting) to RX IN RCA jack right next to
it, and 2) on the front panel use ANT RX. The coil is not in the RX ANT
circuit. If you suddenly hear better, you know what to do. If you never do
SO2R or operate the MP at a multi 

Re: Topband: Inverted L improvement question

[David Olean]

Hello Wes,

    I tried 160 back in the early 70's when my brother was active from 
CO and we skedded on weekends. I used a long wire about 650 ft long for 
both TX and RX.  Working Europe was special with that setup.  I had a 
75A4 RX and a t-368 RF deck with 1000 volts on the 4-400 to net me 80 
watts output! LORAN was a big problem then. Things were dormant here on 
160 for years until recently when I resurrected the long wire. It stunk, 
so I put up an inverted VEE with the apex at 80 ft and the ends at about 
25 or 30 ft. I worked about 90 countries with that setup but I had to 
work at it. I did nab VK, ZL, UA0 and JA with that antenna but it was a 
struggle. In all my time on 160 I was never spotted on DX Summit.  I 
think I had the vee up for two winters and I am sure, I could easily 
work 100 countries with it if I were more active. Still I was at the 
bottom of any pileup.


So I determined that my inverted VEE was not so hot and I desired 
something better.  I ripped apart an old Rohn 25 80 ft tower removing 
all the VHF feedlines etc and loaded it as a gamma matched vertical for 
160 with top loading. I remember trying to tune it up during CQ WW CW 
and I had the SWR at about 3:1 as it got dark.  I had a BC band variable 
across it for tuning, and when I listened, I heard HK2NA way over S9. I 
figured the cap might withstand about ten or fifteen watts, so called 
him with low power in a pileup and he came right back! Instantly I knew 
that the vertical was the way to go.  The next day, I got the VSWR flat 
at 1810 and I was off to the races! I started to see that I was being 
spotted on DX Summit quite often. I have a quiet location with night 
time noise on the vertical at about -113 dBm typically.  I could tell I 
needed better hearing, so made a beverage, but the wire went rather 
close to one of my guy anchors and I did not think that the beverage was 
working all that well. I remember asking about it as I did not detect 
any huge drop in noise and the S/N ratio was not much better than with 
the vertical.


I discovered the guy anchor problem and its solution while driving down 
the hill from my VHF shack on the top of my little hilltop. I have a 130 
ft Rohn 45 up there for 144 MHz and a guy anchor is set right next to my 
woods road.  As I drove by it in my truck, I had the AM radio on and 
tuned to WABC in NYC a few hundred miles away. This was at noontime and 
I did not realize the radio was even turned on, but when driving by the 
guy anchor, WABC peaked up out of the noise and was good copy on the car 
radio. The proverbial lightbulb went on in my brain as I figured that 
all the noise from my tower was getting into that beverage wire that ran 
right past the guy wire. I left that beverage in place, then made an 
exact duplicate to it but located it about 400 ft away from my tower. I 
could switch between the two antennas. What a difference! Not only was 
the new wire very quiet at better than -130 dBm, but the signals from EU 
were about 5 dB better on it on an absolute basis. In short, the S/N 
ratio difference was earth shaking!  I ripped out the old beverage and 
have been having fun ever since.


Bottom line is that an active array,  a beverage, or other directional 
array is the best way to hear things no matter how quiet your QTH is.  
See the following article by K9LA:


https://k9la.us/May16_Notes_on_Low-Noise_Receive_Antennas.pdf

I have been playing with about seven beverages and my worst one 
typically is the SW wire. I see a -120 dBm noise level on my P3 at the 
narrowest span during evening hours after sunset. I had to invest in a 
BC band filter to get rid of strong BC stations as well as install 
ferrites on everything here to make the beverages behave. All have 
contributed to better receiving.



Dave K1WHS


On 12/22/2018 8:20 PM, Mike Waters wrote:

Hi Wes,

Once you try a Beverage, you'll realize that those antennas weren't hearing
the weak ones that called you. ;-) See
http://www.w0btu.com/Beverage_antennas.html.

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

On Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 8:05 AM Wes Stewart  wrote:


Although licensed for 60 years I'm a relative newby on topband.  (I did
work VE7
in 1959 but that's another story).  I decided to semi-seriously take up
the band
to acquire my 9th DXCC band award.

As I've described before, pardon the redundancy, I worked my first 70
entities
using an inverted-vee dipole with the apex at about 45 feet and the ends
down
around six feet.  Of course conventional wisdom says that this couldn't
possibly
work for anything but local contacts.  A year ago, I replaced the dipole
with an
inverted-L, 55 feet vertical, the rest horizontal, over a skimpy radial
field of
about (so far) 20 insulated radials each 55 feet long laying on the desert
dirt.  I both transmit and receive on this antenna, as I did the dipole
before
it.  I've since worked 40+ stations, completing DXCC plus a few.

Perhaps I'm blessed with a relatively quiet location, although unlike 

Re: Topband: Updated Beverage antenna notes

[David Olean]

I would echo the comments about running an RG-6 feedline across a radial 
field. I picked up huge amounts of common mode noise that got into 
everything. (even other beverage wires!) I had to move the feedline to 
cure it.  Ferrites were not effective by simply decoupling each end of 
the feedline.


Dave K1WHS

On 12/22/2018 8:10 PM, Mike Waters wrote:

Well-written, Bruce! :-)

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

On Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 12:14 PM F Z_Bruce  wrote:


https://www.qsl.net/k1fz/beverage_antenna.html

73
Bruce-k1fz
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Re: Topband: JAs on TopBand

[David Olean]

Hello Mark,

Glad you caught it! That is a wonderful day for the northeast! I was up 
at 1115UT this AM,  as the dog wanted to go out, and I pondered whether 
to trudge out to my barn and get on 160. I had been up until 1 AM re 
working an old 75A4 and a PTO and was exhausted. I decided to go back to 
bed. Darn!  I had a similar experience about a week or so ago. I worked 
8 JAs in the morning. I was on cloud 9 all day. Like you, I was pulling 
out weak signals. At other times I have noticed that the JA and UA0 
signals might be louder but they don't hear me. Must be a polarization 
thing!


Congratulations to you, and raspberries for me as I went back to bed!

Dave K1WHS

On 12/22/2018 4:57 PM, Mark K3MSB wrote:

This morning was surreal.

I couldn't sleep so I got up around 0900Z, had a cup of coffee, read for a
while, then went down to the shack.  I worked 3D2AG on 80M CW and was
listening to him put in a very nice signal to the east coast while I did
some email correspondence.  I QSY'd to 160M around 1145Z.

I worked JH1HDT, JA7BXS, and JA0MVW between 1202Z and 1216Z. 3 JA's!!!
Wow!!!

My SR is around 0723Z.  I figured what the heck, parked on 1823 and called
CQ DX.  This is where it gets surreal.  I worked JH7PFD, JO1WXO,
JH2FXK, and JA2ZL between 1222 and 1234Z -- They called me!  I had to dig
to get some of them, but we made it.

I was going to shut down and noticed BG2AUE was spotted on 80M.  I went to
80M and oh my God I'm hearing him.   Coffee flying,  I quickly
changed feedlines and turned the linear so the knobs would match my red
electrical tape marks.  Squirted some RF  He was 20 KHz down from where
I had worked 3D2AG and the SWR was higher than I'd like. but 3500Z are
forgiving so more RF was squirted.He came back to me!  Well, I'm pretty
sure he did as he was weak as water,  when I worked him at 1259Z, which is
my SR + 35 minutes or so.  I have an email out to him and I am checking
LoTW periodically well,  more than periodically..

I'm waiting for Rod Serling to walk around the corner.. "Here we have
one Mark K3MSB, an unknowing visitor to the Twilight Zone..."

Days like this are what make all the days upon days of crappy propagation
worth it!   As my TopBand Elmer Glenn K3SWZ always tells me -- "you have to
put in the seat time and be there when "it" happens. "

73 Mark K3MSB
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Re: Topband: ARRL DXCC - 160 Meters & Daytime 40-meter DX

[David Olean]

I worked a UA station in Vladivostok on 160 meters and it was two hours 
after his sunrise. This was in winter, so his Sun never got up very 
high.  At the time I did not pay attention to the contact as I was 
rather clueless about 160 prop.  Later on, I started wondering about it. 
Was it real?  The QSO was confirmed on LOTW. I guess it was.


Dave K1WHS


On 11/20/2018 9:43 PM, Kenneth Grimm wrote:

I hasten to point out the obvious, that 40 meters and 160 meters are two
different kettles of fish! Lots of DX on 40 at mid-day doesn't translate
too well to 160.  And while I agree with Clive, GM3POI, that one should
probably not say "never" when talking about propagation, if something
looks, walks and acts like a duck, it is probably a duckin other words,
don't overthink the obvious.

Daytime DX on 40 can sometimes be a nuisance.  For instance I had to give
up my run frequency during SSB Sweepstakes this past weekend due to QRM
from stations in Portugal. 8*)

73,

Ken - K4XL

On Tue, Nov 20, 2018 at 3:26 PM Lloyd - N9LB  wrote:


Just FYI...

I'm hearing the following DX on 40m between 1 and 2 PM CST, November
20th.

Dipole antenna at 60' running E-W, obviously hearing well over the North
Pole.

EA5XC, HA1RB, CO2VK, EA4GJP, ON1AEY, EA1IMP, DF8KI, PD2HAB, EA4GJP, I0WBX,
DJ0FX, CU8FN, EB1BVP, EA4AQQ, SP6IXF, PC5W, TF1A, OK1ZVP, IK1BQD, R6JY,
JH1AJT, F4EMG, ON3AD, SP6IXF, DL2VPO, A45XR, F5ADE,   SV2AEL,   JH1AJT,
IK1BQD, I0OSI, UR5RGS, VK7BBB, YO9HP, SP5EAF, 5T2AI, and all of Canada.

73

Lloyd - N9LB in snowy and cold Wisconsin.

-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Wes
Stewart
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2018 1:56 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: ARRL DXCC - 160 Meters

One of our SADXA members just wrote a paper about the possibility of
daytime 40-meter DX during mid-December.

But on this subject I would like to know who made the ONE 160-meter SSB
QSO with VP6D.

Wes  N7WS

On 11/20/2018 11:57 AM, Clive GM3POI wrote:

JC I think you have to be careful about saying this daytime or that
qso could not have happened. "It entirely depends where the station is

located."

An example, I have a QSL with three QSOS between me and a JD1 station
all within about 15 mins of each other, on different dates and centred
on midday here on 40m.  Stations in Northerly location will have a
high degree of probability for midwinter daytime DX contacts. They
will at other parts of the cycle, have a similar type of opening to
the Pacific either side of mid night on the higher HF bands.
I agree the OK stuff stinks and considering the previous qsl printing
that went on, you cannot believe any of the data for certain.
73 Clive GM3POI


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Re: Topband: Propagation improves from VK6 into Europe

[David Olean]

Hi Steve

I missed my sunset as I had a doctor's appt. I had a bad case of Lyme 
Disease in 2017, and am still taking meds. The doctor was thrilled with 
my recent bloodwork and figures that I have an almost clean slate.  I am 
feeling great for the first time since 2016!  The bad news was the 
appointment was right at sunset so no listening for LP.   I am 
contemplating a low wire antenna. I just need to find a good spot away 
from all the beverages.  You can't have too many antennas.


Dave K1WHS


On 11/16/2018 2:56 AM, Dennis Egan wrote:

Steve

I did hear you but you couldn’t hear me.  Big European pileup on you.

Dennis W1UE

Sent from my iPhone


On Nov 15, 2018, at 20:31, Steve Ireland  wrote:

G’day

Although there was no LP prop into NA today, I had the best European 
propagation since 1 November, working 12 Europeans.

The prop was very much spotlight, favouring Italy, Serbia, Hungary and Greece 
(SV1EOG/7 was a genuine 589), but I did work R8, OH and SM as well.

Let’s hope 160m can surprise us in the next few days.

Vy 73

Steve, VK6VZ

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Re: Topband: Conditions and Activity

[David Olean]

I missed you last night, Roger

I did try listening on the band 2 hours before my sunset and was 
surprised to hear a DL1 station at S7 or S8. It was an amazing signal at 
19:42 UT.  I just happened to be in the 160 shack working on some 
shelves for a test equipment bench.   At my sunset, I heard VK6VZ on 
long path with a great real 559 signal. He was in for a tad over 15 
minutes, but too much EU QRM to get through. That was my first long path 
signal heard on 160.  I have also heard JA stations at my sunrise three 
days in a row. That is a normally impossible path!


I promise to be more active in hopes of working plenty of rare DX as 
well as talk to the many friends I am making on 160! What a great band!  
In a weak moment, I even tried some FT8 but had a miserable time as the 
software seemed all screwed up. I could not send RR to answering 
stations, and it took me a few minutes to realize that the FOX/HOUND 
push buttons had been activated!  What a dope I am at times.  The FT-8 
adventure was short lived and back on CW I found a station in Andorra 
for a new country! I am up to 193 now.  I will try to get on for EU 
sunrise in the coming days too.


I am so happy that 160 condx are getting so FB.  I hope to make the most 
of them. Thanks for all of your efforts.


Dave K1WHS



On 11/2/2018 1:10 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Good to hear the band open most nights this week, and a reasonable number of
NA stations coming on CW!   Worked my old friend Dave, AA0RS for the first
time in ages.

And I had a great chat on SSB with Jeff VY2ZM last night . . . he's always
such a great signal over here, and was peaking S9 +20dB !  (shame there
weren't any other NA stations calling in)

Hope there will be a lot more NA stations on 160m on CW and SSB over the
weekend.

Roger G3YRO


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Re: Topband: VP6D

[David Olean]

I am not an expert on DX peditions, coming late to HF and 160 meters in 
my life, but I could not get over the operator at VP6D this morning on 
1.826.  Whoever it was, he was flying and getting the call correct the 
first time every time.  I was amazed at how well they were doing racking 
up the Qs.  There was plenty of QSB here in Maine with the signal going 
from S 0.2 to about S6  on the S meter. At minimum, they were barely 
copyable.  At best, they were loud. I used my Europe beverage and found 
that it was a tad better than my SW beverage. I am not sure what was 
going on there. The Europe wires is a pair of 1150 ft bevs, and the SW 
wire is shorter at about 800 ft. After making a contact, I experimented 
with diversity on the K3 and had the SW wire in my right ear and the 45 
degree wire in my left ear.  Copy was better with diversity, but I think 
I need to check my beverage terminations!! Maybe it was an arrival angle 
situation that favored the longer wire's pattern.  I learn something 
every day.


Dave K1WHS


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Re: Topband: Gamma match success

[David Olean]

I would echo Tim's remarks. I bought a bunch of Russian caps on EPAY for 
a 160 meter amplifier and they overheated and changed value.  One blew 
up. They were horrible as a plate coupling cap. The seller advised me 
that they were only good for uncritical bypassing chores.  Now I have a 
pile of caps that are only good for target practice.


Dave K1WHS


On 10/16/2018 5:55 PM, Tim Shoppa wrote:

I would caution against using Russian military surplus doorknobs, or
Chinese doorknobs, in a tuned circuit without understanding their
dielectrics.  I tried a couple and was very disappointed.

With HEC 7.5kV doorknobs, you would want to make it out of values of 170pF
or below. Below 170pF they have NPO characteristics.

Tim N3QE

On Tue, Oct 16, 2018 at 1:46 PM Herbert Schoenbohm <
herbert.schoenb...@gmail.com> wrote:


Unless you use LMR 600 or Andrew heliax a cap made from standard RG-8 or
213 has its limitations. eBay has a ton of high current fixed caps very
close to the value you need.  Some are from Ukraine (Russian military
surplus) and are very inexpensive.  You might also consider a home-brewed
sandwich cap made from aluminum plates and Teflon insulation between them.
This method of heavy duty fixed caps seems to be the vogue of many present
amplifiers and tuners.  Another alternative is to get a handful of 5KV
doorknob caps at 100pf and add them in parallel or series until you come up
with the value you need.

Good luck

Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ

On Mon, Oct 15, 2018 at 5:18 PM Richard (Rick) Karlquist <
rich...@karlquist.com> wrote:



On 10/15/2018 10:43 AM, Tree wrote:


I replaced the variable cap with a home made cap using RG8.  I had one

Sometimes, capacitors made from coax are lossy.  I modeled your
coaxial capacitor using Simsmith (very easy to do) and the Q turns out
to be 340, if I did it correctly.  So the coaxial capacitor gets a clean
bill of health and probably doesn't have anything to do with
your broad bandwidth.

Rick N6RK
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Re: Topband: cutting coax stubs for 80 meter 4-square

[David Olean]

I used a return loss bridge and measured a TEE fitting with a good 50 
ohm load on one port the length of cable on the other side. The antenna 
analyzer will read a perfect 50 ohm match when the cable is 1/2 
wavelength long. If the cable is an open quarter wave, your analyzer 
will show high VSWR or low return loss. keep in mind that you will see 
many bumps as you increase frequency and you get multiples of half waves 
and quarter waves. You want the lowest frequency VSWR null and that is a 
single half wave at that frequency.  A half wave repeats the impedance, 
so an open half wave in coax will also look like a open at the TEE 
fitting and it is across the 50 ohm load so it still looks like a 50 ohm 
load. (low VSWR) Every open quarter wave coax reflects back as a short, 
and that makes the VSWR very poor.


Dave K1wHS


On 6/9/2018 7:55 PM, terry burge wrote:

Hi guys and gals,


I have got DX Engineering 75 ohm foam coax to make the stubs/feeders for my 
Comtek 80 meter 4-Square and am finding some difficulty. Neither my MFJ-259B 
nor my Rig Experts AA-170 seem to indicate a 1/2 WL at 7500 KHz or a 1/4 WL at 
3750 KHz? Or any frequency up or down from there. Seems to me the last time I 
did this a few years ago I didn't have a problem getting a 1/2 WL dip 
indicating a resonance location. But now I just don't get any indication of a 
resonance.


DX Engineering said they had got some 75 ohm foam coax that instead of 0.84 VF 
was more like 0.80 down to 0.76 VF. But checking all the way down to 6000 KHz 
on 40 meters or 2500 KHz on 80 meters fails.


  My test is to use either antenna analyzer with a PL-259 installed at one end and 
an open or a short at the other. I started with 57'7" of coax. Tried both with 
the coax in a roll and strung out. What am I doing wrong?


Terry

KI7M


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Re: Topband: Biodegradable staples

[David Olean]

Hi Larry

I would vote for the 600 ft beverage and put it about 6 ft above the 
ground. I added ferrite chokes to all my feedlines to remove any common 
mode noise. I had chokes at the transformer end with its own ground rod 
about 20 ft from the transformer and its ground rod. I had a second 
choke located at the shack end before it went into the house. I had 
another ground rod there. All well worth it.  The added chokes reduced 
noise significantly. I used FT140-77 cores with 20 turns of 75 ohm 
teflon coax to make each choke. Two 140-77 cores stacked with 16 turns 
of coax worked even better.  31 material works great too.


Dave K1WHS


On 6/8/2018 1:53 AM, Larry via Topband wrote:

hi all,


living in Tucson where the ground conductivity is 15 (?) which would be the 
better receiving antenna?


300 foot BOG
300 foot BOG elevated 3-4 inches above earth
600 foot beverage 6 feet above ground


note that i don't know what a lawn mower is either.


73,
larry
n7dd



-Original Message-
From: Rick Stealey 
To: Wes Stewart ; topband 
Sent: Fri, Jun 8, 2018 12:31 am
Subject: Re: Topband: Biodegradable staples

Oh, cactus plants, huh?  Your situation is simple - just tie the radial off to 
the cactus.

Problem solved.  Simple!


Rick  K2XT


From: Topband  on behalf of Wes Stewart 

Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2018 10:23:33 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Biodegradable staples

I want to see a barefoot child running around my cactus patch.  And what, pray
tell, is a lawnmower?

Wes  N7WS

qrz.com/db/n7ws

On 6/7/2018 1:29 PM, Rick Stealey wrote:

You should never use steel staples in the ground.  Think for a minute. They are 
sharp, rusty objects that stay a long time.  Imagine a barefoot child playing 
in the area (after you are SK possibly).  Imagine a lawn mower grabs a piece of 
radial wire and jerks it out of the ground with wire staples attached.

All you need to do is buy or make wooden dowels, drill a hole and string them 
along the radial and pound down in.  Only need to be 4 inches long.  Simple, 
cheap, safe.



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Re: Topband: Propagation on 160

[David Olean]

Hello Ashraf,

I am afraid that NA activity has gone down to almost no activity at all! 
It is also true that signals have been weak when there at all. Don't 
touch your beverage. It is working fine!  Raising wire from 1 to 2 
meters will not change much.  All my beverages are at 2 meters.


Dave K1WHS


On 5/30/2018 8:59 AM, Ashraf Chaabane wrote:

Hi All,

I set up a 260m long beverage beaming NA back in March. The height from
ground was 1m. It performed well (RBN spots of US stations). I dismantled
it then re-installed it two weeks ago at 2m high. But I almost can't have
any US station reported. Is it a matter of poor propagation these days?
(Sorry, I can't monitor the band for entire nights). Does this have to do
with my beverage height?

When I filter NA/EU RBN sport, I don't find many spots.

Beverage details: http://www.kf5eyy.info/technical.htm

73


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Re: Topband: FT8 Observations

[David Olean]

  Hi Mike and all who responded.

    I guess I was just underwhelmed at what I could accomplish on FT8 
vs CW on 160.  I figured it would open up a whole new level of rare 
countries and places that were now workable to me. Working Kazakhstan on 
160 CW from my location is difficult, but doable on some nights in the 
winter. On FT8 I hear UN1L often, but I can never work him after many 
days of trying. I started out with 90 watts and ended up with 900 watts 
output, but never a response from him. I guess 160 is a special case 
where achieving a good receive noise level is very difficult.  FT8 must 
be a huge improvement for those, as you said, with few radials and 
smallish vertical radiators as their sole antenna. The extra 5 or 6 dB 
must be the difference of night and day for limited space or limited 
antennas in general.  It sure has fostered much activity on 160 with 
calls that are mostly unfamiliar to me.  I have worked a few regulars on 
FT8, like YO3APJ, and they seem to hear just fine. Unfortunately I am 
not QRV on other HF bands to try out FT8 there! I suspect the ALLIGATOR 
SYNDROME is not as evident on the higher HF bands.


On another subject, I ran out of room on my six position receive 
beverage coaxial switch. I had seven beverages, and one was not hooked 
up as a result.  I also have not been using diversity reception even 
though I am using a K3. So I finally worked out a plan to make a new 
switching box. It consists of two Grayhill 12 position rotary switches.  
The two switches have a set of the 12 positions wired in parallel 
between the two switches and each position connects to a rx input jack 
on the back, while the common terminal for each switch goes to the main 
rx jack or the diversity rx jack on the K3.  The 12 inputs are "F" 
fittings on the back of the switch box. I worried that the isolation 
would be poor, but it checks out at 55 to 65 dB on 160 and 80 meters. 
VSWR is pretty good too even with all the insulated wire used. I did not 
even try wiring it with coax! One switch selects any of 12 beverage 
antennas for the main receiver, while the second switch selects any of 
the beverages for the diversity receiver. It works very well and I 
wonder why I did not do this a long time ago. In the first evening I saw 
a huge improvement using diversity and it was nice having all the wires 
available too!  Too bad it won't get much use until next fall and winter!


73

Dave K1WHS


On 4/23/2018 3:50 PM, Mike Waters wrote:

Hi Dave,

I think it's safe to say that you're running Beverages in a very quiet 
location, and the hams that can't hear you are not. What is more, they 
might have a 20 over 9 noise level and are running non-directional 
antennas (such as verticals with no radials or low dipoles).


73, Mike
www.w0btu.com <http://www.w0btu.com>


On Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 10:36 AM David Olean <k1...@metrocast.net 
<mailto:k1...@metrocast.net>> wrote:


I have been playing around with FT8 on 160M and am a bit puzzled.
I have
made plenty of contacts, but with many stations, it seems to
require an
inordinate amount of power to get their attention, or they do not
respond at all. I also have noted that I can hear in a 2.8 kHz
passband,
signals that register from -12 to -17 dB. About the weakest that I
see
is a bit more than -20 dB. Does this mean that FT8 is only a few dB
better than CW?  I have my time set accurately and I try to place
my TX
signal away from whomever I am calling on a clear spot on my
waterfall.

Some stations are easy to work, and I have worked across the country
(FN43 to a CM grid) running just 1 watt. It just seems that there are
many stations that are not hearing much, but are making plenty of
noise.  Am I wrong?

I am working on cleaning up my 160 setup and have 8 beverages running
and they are all pretty quiet now that I installed plenty of ferrite
chokes around on the RG-6 feed lines.  I am looking forward to
next fall
and winter.

73

Dave K1WHS

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Topband: FT8 Observations

[David Olean]

I have been playing around with FT8 on 160M and am a bit puzzled. I have 
made plenty of contacts, but with many stations, it seems to require an 
inordinate amount of power to get their attention, or they do not 
respond at all. I also have noted that I can hear in a 2.8 kHz passband, 
signals that register from -12 to -17 dB. About the weakest that I see 
is a bit more than -20 dB. Does this mean that FT8 is only a few dB 
better than CW?  I have my time set accurately and I try to place my TX 
signal away from whomever I am calling on a clear spot on my waterfall.


Some stations are easy to work, and I have worked across the country 
(FN43 to a CM grid) running just 1 watt. It just seems that there are 
many stations that are not hearing much, but are making plenty of 
noise.  Am I wrong?


I am working on cleaning up my 160 setup and have 8 beverages running 
and they are all pretty quiet now that I installed plenty of ferrite 
chokes around on the RG-6 feed lines.  I am looking forward to next fall 
and winter.


73

Dave K1WHS

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Topband: Wednesday Activity night

[David Olean]

I thought that conditions on Wednesday evening were pretty darn good at 
times, but some strange things were going on.  Roger G3YRO, was good 
copy running between S7 and S9, which is a great signal. I think the K3 
was showing S3 with background noise.  I noted that the RBN was 
providing some pretty loud spots from Europe around  0100 UT and much 
weaker spots after 0200 UT, and then nothing later on.  I also worked 
G3JMJ with loud signals. I really enjoyed the fact that any T-storm 
noise was not too loud. I can deal with 10-20 dB but 40 to 50 dB crashes 
cause me to spill my drink every time.  I have been trying to evaluate 
my enlarged Europe beverage. It was put together at the end of the DX 
season for most folks and activity is way down.  I am thinking that it 
is working great. I am combining two rather long wires that are spaced 
380 feet apart. The separate feed lines are combined in an NCC-1 phasing 
box. Either antenna when added to the other causes a slight increase in 
noise. The addition is the same for either wire. I can null most signals 
and then add 180 degrees and the signals get really loud.  Over the last 
few weeks I must say that signals from Europe have been better than 
normal for me. That is a good sign. It is so hard to evaluate antennas 
without a reference.



73

Dave K1WHS

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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX Activity Night

[David Olean]

I thought of that, Lee.  I think I was at least 1 kHz below wherever 
TJ2TT showed up, and I asked if the freq was in use twice, before I 
called CQ.  (I think they were spotted on 26 or 26.5 after I was on 
making calls. I never heard them )  The obvious solution is to ask me to 
QSY.   You don't start jamming me. (?) I really got confused and upset.


The static is getting quite pronounced some nights, although other nites 
are quiet. I'll be around on 160 for awhile yet.  At least until I get 
all the new coax chokes installed out in the woods near the beverages. I 
have about a foot of ice and snow yet so finding the coax cables 
underneath is a problem. My goal is to get common mode noise off all of 
my rx antennas.  Then I go play on VHF and fly fish all summer.


73

Dave K1WHS


On 3/29/2018 3:52 PM, Lee. KX4TT wrote:

I suspect it's because someone thought you were QRMing TJ2TT; He was pretty 
much QSA0 for me. Local QRN/QRM has made 160 very tough for me; I could barely 
hear Roger and he is usually fairly easy copy.

73 de Lee KX4TT
Tampa, FL


-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of David Olean
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2018 11:31
To: Roger Kennedy <ro...@wessexproductions.co.uk>; topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX Activity Night

Roger,

I was QRV for awhile, but seem to have attracted someone who hated my guts. I was QRMed 
while trying to work stations. they put a carrier on top of the stations I tried to work. 
They QRMed the dx station and were sending false signal reports in hopes of confusing me. 
  Then they came on and sent me disparaging remarks and called me a "bone 
head".  I went QRT. I know I am not a great operator, and make mistakes, but who 
needs that when you are trying to relax and have some innocent fun?   I am starting to 
sour on the Gentlemen's band moniker. It was quite upsetting.

We had a fair amount of lightning static here, but conditions seemed pretty 
fair otherwise.  You peaked up pretty loud at times.  I could barely detect 
4K6FO last night. He was good copy the night before.  I did not hear any SA 
stations and I think they were QRV. Each nite is different!

K1WHS


On 3/29/2018 9:55 AM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Well conditions seemed pretty good last night . . . my RBN reports
were certainly encouraging from several NA stations - one was even 49
dB over the noise !

However, there was a distinct lack of activity - I stayed on from
0100Z for nearly 2 hours, but only worked 9 NA stations.

Nothing like the dozens of stations that came on a few weeks ago when
we started these Wednesdays . . .

Come on guys !

73 Roger G3YRO

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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX Activity Night

[David Olean]

Roger,

I was QRV for awhile, but seem to have attracted someone who hated my 
guts. I was QRMed while trying to work stations. they put a carrier on 
top of the stations I tried to work. They QRMed the dx station and were 
sending false signal reports in hopes of confusing me.   Then they came 
on and sent me disparaging remarks and called me a "bone head".  I went 
QRT. I know I am not a great operator, and make mistakes, but who needs 
that when you are trying to relax and have some innocent fun?   I am 
starting to sour on the Gentlemen's band moniker. It was quite upsetting.


We had a fair amount of lightning static here, but conditions seemed 
pretty fair otherwise.  You peaked up pretty loud at times.  I could 
barely detect 4K6FO last night. He was good copy the night before.  I 
did not hear any SA stations and I think they were QRV. Each nite is 
different!


K1WHS


On 3/29/2018 9:55 AM, Roger Kennedy wrote:

Well conditions seemed pretty good last night . . . my RBN reports were
certainly encouraging from several NA stations - one was even 49 dB over the
noise !

However, there was a distinct lack of activity - I stayed on from 0100Z for
nearly 2 hours, but only worked 9 NA stations.

Nothing like the dozens of stations that came on a few weeks ago when we
started these Wednesdays . . .

Come on guys !

73 Roger G3YRO

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Re: Topband: Anyone else hearing broadband digital signal intruder from 1905 to 1925 kHz?

[David Olean]

I am hearing it here in Maine and it is very loud, peaking at -75 dBm on 
my East and NE beverages, and -65 dBm on my vertical. It seems to be 
East or NE from me. I had just installed some coax 1:1 baluns on some 
beveerages where they come into the house, and wondered if I had 
aggravated something in the neighborhood. It is at about 1904 to 1927 
kHz and has somewhat of a "beat" to it.


Dave K1WHS


On 3/24/2018 11:53 PM, donov...@starpower.net wrote:

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Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX Activity Night

[David Olean]

Hi Wes,

I got home late (0100 UT) from a school band performance (grandkids!) 
and found no activity to speak of. I hoped to find G3YRO but no luck.  
QRN levels from lightning had dropped towards Europe but there was zilch 
for activity. My fault that I did not stick around after 0230UT.   I 
suspect that condx were not so good that way.  I would agree on the 500 
watts. On 160, you need all the goo you can muster for the DX.  I love 
playing with QRP on 160 and I can reach out maybe 800 or 900 miles on a 
good night, but, when calling stations across the Carib, Atlantic or way 
out in the Pacific, even 500 watts is "iffy".  So many times I hear loud 
DX stations and I try to call at the 100 watt level to no avail.  It is 
so easy to have 10 dB of extra noise on your receiver and that prevents 
you from hearing anything other than the loudest signals.  The nights 
that are truly quiet and with the band open, are few and far between. I 
run 1500 watts out and feel that I hear much better than I can transmit 
as well.  It is difficult.  I guess that is why I love 160!


I am winding a bunch of coax chokes today to help my 160 noise 
problems.  I am also going out to get about 80 lbs of ground rods for 
the same project. :-)


Dave K1WHS

(another 160 newbie!)


On 3/22/2018 2:49 PM, Wes Stewart wrote:
Worked PJ5/SP2GCJ @0315 for a new one for me.  OA4TT would have been a 
new one too  (I'm a newby).  He was quite strong but the one time he 
replied to me he didn't have my complete call, missing the "s", and he 
gave up and went back to CQ very quickly (I thought).


HC2AO was ESP, at best.

It's interesting that I seem to hear better than I get out, even using 
the inverted-L on RX. 500W doesn't seem to cut it.


Wes  N7WS


On 3/22/2018 6:36 AM, Lee. KX4TT via Topband wrote:
Hmmm - local QRM (lights from nearby baseball field) made early 
evening copy tough on CW, so I booted up WSJT-X and saw some EU 
stations there (5B4AIF was steady copy, and some other EU stations 
would show up from time to time), from 0100-0200. Not the best 
conditions, but also not the worst. Worked OA4TT about 0400; Jack was 
QSA4-5 copy between some nasty static crashes. That's what I get for 
not wanting to shovel snow -) .


73 de Lee KX4TT
Tampa, FL


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Topband: excessive noise on beverages

[David Olean]

 I made many changes to some of my noisy beverages and have dropped the 
noise level by a large amount. I saw an improvement last night and this 
morning of around 27 dB from where I started, which is huge in my book! 
The two previously unusable beverages are now  effective.  Today I ran 
some measurements with a vector network analyzer to get a feel for the 
isolation between my 1/4 wave vertical and the beverages, which criss 
cross my property. The numbers include feeder loss on both the TX and 
the RX antennas.


  The two noisy beverages were quite close to the vertical antenna. 
After moving the wire endpoints away from the vertical, I saw the 
following isolation:


Southwest beverage 50 ft to 150 ft separation  -39.8 dB  Was very 
noisy B4


West beverage   moved from 50 to about 150 ft    -41.8db   Was very noisy B4

290 degree beverage    
-56.4 dB


330 degree beverage -58.5dB

45 degree Europe beverage -52.8dB

90 degree beverage -43.5dB* jumped around up to -52 dB..not sure why?

180 degree beverage -52.5dB

These numbers make me think that I might need more isolation on the SW 
and the West beverages.  One interesting factor affects the Europe 
beverage. It consists of a pair of 1200 ft long wires parallel to each 
other and 380 ft apart.  The -52.8 dB isolation is measured with both 
wires adjusted for maximum gain (in phase). The farther 45 degree 
beverage showed -62 dB while the closer one was at about -52 dB.   I can 
vary the phase between the wires and adjust the input levels with an 
NCC-1 phasing box. By tweaking the NCC-1 I could get close to -100 dB 
isolation apparently by moving the sidelobes and putting a null in the 
direction of the vertical radiator. I wish I had a couple of those NCC-1s!


It is snowing heavily, but as soon as the snow stops and I get things 
plowed out, I will rig up a decent relay to short out the gamma match 
cage feed. I made some isolation measurements on the SW beverage with 
the gamma match shorted and open. Isolation went from -39.8 dB to -60.7 
dB so it does help, although I could not see any change in noise whether 
open or shorted. Possibly a shorted gamma connection is not a good 
indicator for isolation?


73

Dave K1WHS

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