Re: Topband: Plasma TV noise

[Garry Shapiro]

Will,

You are fortunate to afford such an approach. In my own experience, it 
has been a challenge even to get a neighbor to replace a noisy variable 
light switch--even if I did the work and supplied the replacement..


Garry, NI6T


On 11/18/2016 6:09 AM, Will Angenent wrote:

Yes I did
I bought my neighbor a new TV

Will
K6ND

Sent from my iPhone


On Nov 18, 2016, at 6:59 AM, William Hill  wrote:

Hello: Has anyone successfully solved this problem? 73,

Bill/W3WH

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Re: Topband: Tuner

[Garry Shapiro]

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Re: Topband: I got my comments in regarding Radio Buoy Beacons on 1900-2000

[Garry Shapiro]

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Re: Topband: [Bulk] Best wire antenna for roof top location

[Garry Shapiro]

And Bob Brown used a monograph by J.A. Ratcliffe--"The Magneto-Ionic 
Theory and its Application to the Ionosphere" which says the same thing. 
It has to do with the angle between the E vector and the Earth's 
Geomagnetic Field, which is horizontal at the geomagnetic equator. Bob 
borrowed my copy of the book when he was writing the Big Gun's Guide.


Garry, NI6T

On 8/7/2015 6:24 PM, Greg - ZL3IX wrote:
Careful Mike! Jakarta is close to the equator, and power coupling is 
likely to be better from a horizontally polarised antenna, especially 
in an E-W direction.  Ref The Big Gun's Guide to Low-Band Propagation 
by Bob Brown, NM7M (SK)


On 2015-08-08 12:40 p.m., Mike Waters wrote:
For 160 DX, a vertically-polarized antenna (fed against a proper 
ground) is

best.
http://www.w0btu.com/160_meters.html

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com



On 8/7/2015 16:52 PM, Nuradi wrote:


I plan to install wire antenna on a roof top of a 33rd story building
(about 110 metres above the ground) for operating on the 160M, 80M 
and  40M
band. ... Preferable wire antenna is lazy 'laying'H or quad, 
dipole, slope..



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Re: Topband: looking at the ionosphere

[Garry Shapiro]

And Ms. Loi is only an  undergraduate! Big career ahead for her!

Garry, NI6T

On 6/2/2015 5:05 PM, N7DF via Topband wrote:

  The VKs seem to be on the ball againActually looking at propagation as it 
is happening
http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/aussie-student-proves-existence-of-plasma-tubes-floating-above-earth/story-fnjwlcze-1227379756018
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Re: Topband: Yikes

[Garry Shapiro]

Tonight K6MM told the NCDXC that LOTW is a few months down the road.

Garry, NI6T

On 2/19/2015 6:08 PM, Larry via Topband wrote:

Ham radio is sure changing and not for the better. $6 for a QSL card is 
outrageous. are they posting the logs on LOTW?


i wonder if those who kindly contributed to the expedition will have to pay for 
their cards?


larry
n7dd



-Original Message-
From: Doug Renwick 
To: topband 
Sent: Fri, Feb 20, 2015 1:47 am
Subject: Topband: Yikes


K1N club log is now up.  First QSO costs $6.00 USD.  That's got to be the
most expensive I have seen.  Anyone top that one.  I am not complaining!

Doug

"There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual or lawyer could
believe them." - George Orwell, 1984



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Re: Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M

[Garry Shapiro]

Alaska is definitely a very special case

Garry

On 2/17/2015 7:52 PM, KL7RA wrote:

I logged K1N from W6 early in the expedition at 0857Z on 3 February for
my first QSO with K1N. The absence of Euros made it a relatively easy QSO.

But not for all of North America. I also waited until Europe was shut
off but before the path to Asia started but no luck. K1N could get well
above the noise for many hours but Alaska is in a bad spot on the planet
for these DXpeditions on topband. Payback is stuff in the Pacific.

I didn't start hearing them at all until much later in the trip but had a few
days where I could copy them from their sunset to sunrise but that's no
surprise as we work CO2/KP4 every contest and they can be very
loud on Top here once we get dark soaked.

Their best signal by far was right at their sunset one evening then faded
away and I never heard them again that night.

Finally at their sunrise last Friday early morning when they went QRT
they had a lot of USA and JA's calling. Not a few but a lot and for
sure for me not a relatively easy QSO.

Sorry I never made it but if this band was easy I wouldn't do it.

73 Rich KL7RA
  


- Original Message -
From: "Garry Shapiro" 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M



George is spot-on with his comments.

I logged K1N from W6 early in the expedition at 0857Z on 3 February for
my first QSO with K1N. The absence of Euros made it a relatively easy QSO.

Garry, NI6T

On 2/17/2015 6:28 PM, GeorgeWallner wrote:

Jon,

I was one of the 160 m operators.

NA callers were thick during the evening hours when they were
competing with EU, making for some difficult pile-ups, but after
midnight (and EU sunrise), often there were very few NA callers.

George
AA7JV


On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:57:38 +
  jon jones  wrote:

I consider VP6DX to be one of the top all time 160 meter DX
operations. Despite being thousands of miles from North America, they
worked many small stations including me (at the time had just moved
so a random wire thrown over the house and 100 watts).

K1N had a great signal on 160, well over S-9 most nights - but seemed
to be having difficulty hearing callers. Despite a full size inverted
L, I was not QSO 5,400...

- Jon N0JK


IMHO the operations at 5A7A, K5D, K1N, R1MVW, HK0NA, TS7C,and TX5K
did an
extremely
good job and were able to take advantage of the proximity to major
population areas.  They
had to have a good station and great operators, and had to be on the
ground long enough
to take make the large amount of Qs.

But, and again IMHO, the operations at VP6DX, T32C, and ZL8X are
OUTSTANDING because
they had to overcome the big one;  DISTANCE, for nearly 100% of
their Qs.

Now to separate those three just a bit.

ZL8X did 4,206 Qs with a crew of 14 operators and 18 days of operation.

T32C did 4,985 Qs with a crew of 41 operators and 32 days of operation.

VP6DX did 6,671 Qs with a crew of 13 operators and 17 days of
operation.
73 de Milt, N5IA

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Re: Topband: K1N 5,399 q's on 160 M

[Garry Shapiro]

George is spot-on with his comments.

I logged K1N from W6 early in the expedition at 0857Z on 3 February for 
my first QSO with K1N. The absence of Euros made it a relatively easy QSO.


Garry, NI6T

On 2/17/2015 6:28 PM, GeorgeWallner wrote:

Jon,

I was one of the 160 m operators.

NA callers were thick during the evening hours when they were 
competing with EU, making for some difficult pile-ups, but after 
midnight (and EU sunrise), often there were very few NA callers.


George
AA7JV


On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:57:38 +
 jon jones  wrote:
I consider VP6DX to be one of the top all time 160 meter DX 
operations. Despite being thousands of miles from North America, they 
worked many small stations including me (at the time had just moved 
so a random wire thrown over the house and 100 watts).


K1N had a great signal on 160, well over S-9 most nights - but seemed 
to be having difficulty hearing callers. Despite a full size inverted 
L, I was not QSO 5,400...


- Jon N0JK

IMHO the operations at 5A7A, K5D, K1N, R1MVW, HK0NA, TS7C,and TX5K 
did an

extremely
good job and were able to take advantage of the proximity to major
population areas.  They
had to have a good station and great operators, and had to be on the
ground long enough
to take make the large amount of Qs.

But, and again IMHO, the operations at VP6DX, T32C, and ZL8X are
OUTSTANDING because
they had to overcome the big one;  DISTANCE, for nearly 100% of 
their Qs.


Now to separate those three just a bit.

ZL8X did 4,206 Qs with a crew of 14 operators and 18 days of operation.

T32C did 4,985 Qs with a crew of 41 operators and 32 days of operation.

VP6DX did 6,671 Qs with a crew of 13 operators and 17 days of 
operation.

73 de Milt, N5IA


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Re: Topband: K1N 5000q's on 160

[Garry Shapiro]

Jim,

What do you mean by FT5ZM being "nowhere near the sea"?

Garry

On 2/14/2015 10:00 PM, Jim Brown wrote:

On Sat,2/14/2015 8:45 PM, Milt -- N5IA wrote:
With a bit of time on my hands, and using some information and links 
sent to me by persons responding to my post earlier today, I have 
compiled the following list of All Time Topband DXpedition leaders 
for total 160 Meter Qs. 


This is one of those achievements were simple numbers don't tell the 
whole story. Considering their location, special mention ought to be 
made of FT5ZM (3,578 Qs, 789 of them to North America, halfway round 
the world and nowhere near the sea), of PT0S (3,027 Qs from four 
operators on some rocks in the South Atlantic), and of the several 
other two-man expeditions by George and Tomi for which statistics are 
not on ClubLog.


73, Jim K9YC


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Re: Topband: K1N 5000q's on 160

[Garry Shapiro]

Milt,

One factor influencing the results is that topband has not been a focus 
for DXpeds for all that long. Time was that 2000 Q's was considered a 
major achievement and that was not so long ago. Pretty much the same for 
RTTY. Operating time used to be assigned grudgingly. The numbers have 
gone up due to audience demand.


Garry, NI6T

On 2/14/2015 8:45 PM, Milt -- N5IA wrote:
With a bit of time on my hands, and using some information and links 
sent to me by persons responding to my post earlier today, I have 
compiled the following list of All Time Topband DXpedition leaders for 
total 160 Meter Qs.


The following list of 7 DXpeditions are head and shoulders above the 
rest of the pack, so far as I have been able to discover in the records.


Most other major DXpedtions list total Topband Qs in the 2,500 to 
3,500 range.  Very interesting.


Enjoy, and if anyone has further information, please forward it to me. 
Thanks, and have a great, leisurely weekend now that you don't have to 
pursue K1N.


73 de Milt, N5IA

=== 



#1

5A7A, Libya, near Tripoli, with the entire European continent less 
than 4,000 KM distant.


  CW  SSB  RTTYPSK   Total
160 M   6344 928  283   987653
=== 



#2

K5D, Desecheo, Caribbean, with the entire USA and most of Canada less 
than 5,600 KM distant.


  SSB  CWRTTY Total
   160 M   19835213 0 7196
=== 



#3

VP6DX, Ducie Atoll, from the middle of the south Pacific in the 
southern hemisphere summer.
There was strong QRN and somewhat shorter nights (operating periods on 
Topband).


ZL = 5,400+ KM;  VK = 8,000 to 11,700 KM;  KH6 = 5,800+ KM;  JA = 
11,900+ KM;

west coast of South America = 5,000+ KM;  Rio de Janeiro = 8,100 KM;
San Diego, USA = 6,400 KM;  NYC, USA = 8,900 KM;
and in EU -- Madrid = 14,200 KM;  London = 14,400 KM;  Berlin = 15,200 
KM;

Rome = 15,690 KM;  Moscow = 16,100 KM;  Athens = 16,600 KM.

   CWSSBRTTY Total
   160 M 5097 1574  06671
=== 



#4

K1N, Navassa, Carribean, with the entire USA and most of Canada less 
than 5,600 KM distant.


   CWSSB   RTTYTotal
   160 M5399005399plus what is worked 
the last night, 15 Feb 15.
== 



#5

T32C, Kiritimati Island, from near the center of the Pacific Ocean, 
200 KM north of the Equator.


ZL = 5,100+ KM;  VK = 6,200 to 10,000 KM;  KH6 = 1,900+ KM;  JA = 
7,400+ KM;

west coast of South America = 8,500+ KM;  Rio de Janeiro = 12,600 KM;
San Diego, USA = 5,400 KM;  NYC, USA = 9,300 KM;
and in EU -- Madrid = 14,600 KM;  London = 13,700 KM;  Berlin = 13,900 
KM;

Rome = 15,050 KM;  Moscow = 13,460 KM;  Athens = 15,580 KM.

 SSBCWPSKRTTYPSK63FTotal
   160 M   91735734   449 414984
== 



#6

HK0NA, Malpelo, off SW coast of Central America, with the entire USA 
and most of Canada less

than 7,000 KM distant.

  SSBCWRTTY Total
   160 M8024138 04940
== 



#7

TX5K, Clipperton Island, off SW coast of Mexico, with the entire USA 
and most of Canada less

than 6,000 KM distant.

  SSB CWRTTY   Total
   160 M4233662  0  4085





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Re: Topband: Beverage guidance needed

[Garry Shapiro]

I live in a redwood forest and canyon and run two relatively short 
2-wire Beverages through the thick woods. In fact I have never had any 
better situation to contend with. Not only do the wires hang on trees 
but they change altitude over rough terrain over their lengths. There is 
no room for a radial field for a TX vertical and not much separation 
between antennas. One Bev even includes a dogleg from having to reroute 
it over a neighbor's property. "Effective" is a judgment word and in the 
eye of the beholder, but I have 231 counters in the log on  160. Don't 
get me wrong, it has taken over 20 years to get there, but I got there.


I have always believed any Beverage was better than no Beverage--a truth 
imparted to me two decades ago by KN6J, an early local achiever of 
topband DXCC. Bevs are cheap to construct and easy to repair, which is a 
good thing because the forest kills them frequently. Yes, try it---what 
is there to lose?


I believe K9YC has had a similar experience.

Garry, NI6T

On 2/14/2015 9:35 AM, Charles Yahrling wrote:

Hey guys,

I'm doing some winter antenna daydreaming based on Low Band DXing and other
sources.   Is
it safe to say that an E-W  Beverage or a BOG would be ineffective if the
wire were run through a wooded area,
with or without a narrow lane cut for it? or is "try it and find out" the
favored approach?

My only semi site would be N-S along a property line along a road, directly
across from power lines on conventional poles.

E-W,  reversible, would favor western europe and western US.  My lot is a 5
acre wooded trapezoid so 500-600 feet would be
max practical length.

tnx in advance

73, chuck



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Re: Topband: Out-of-Turn Callers DX Expedition finances

[Garry Shapiro]

Dado,

When you go to see a film, do you expect your neighbor to buy your 
ticket? Do you complain when you do not like the film?


When you buy a car, do you expect your neighbor to pay the dealer? Do 
you complain when the car is not perfect?


When you go to a restaurant, do you expect your neighbor to buy you 
dinner? Do you complain if you do not like the food?


If you do, and get away with it, then you go right ahead and let your 
fellow hams pay for your DXing. You are obviously an important person 
and deserve such consideration. ;-)
It therefore must be a privilege for me to support your hobby for you, 
and thank you.


Back during the Arab oil embargo in 1973, there was a very popular 
bumper sticker in the US which said:


"Gas, grass or a**: nobody rides free."  That is American slang, but I 
think you can figure it out.


Garry, NI6T


On 2/6/2015 3:55 AM, Dragoslav Balaban wrote:

It appears to be the case that NA finances the big trips and EU gets the

Q's. That needs to be ironed out.


Garry
  


while EU hams are very demanding, they don't do much to contribute to the

cost.


73, Jim K9YC
  


Funny that there is no comment abt this???

I also don't think something like that deserve any comment, but cant hold...

  


I suggest that for those, who support this Opinion,

that DX Mart or DX Supermarket  should be started, so only one who pay get
QSO, its a true HAM spirit.  and then pay again for QSL...

  


Maybe expedition even need not to go to the entity at all, why make cost,
waste time and money, etc???

  


also, who pay more should get QSO first, and/or more QSO, maye to charge by
Band / Mode...

and maybe, as Premium service, no need to work DX Exped at all, QSO would be
entered in LOG automatically,

and VIP QSL send, plus  LoTW confirmation and eQSL as free Bonus

  


I promise, will not call such Expedition ever, and I will not be angry and
make DQRM for sure...

I also promise, I will not charge for any QSO with E74AW, or QSL , except
usual practice, and will work as good DX Operating practice demand,

mean,  will not wait for daylight in NA, to call NA, and will not call EU in
my SR when is time to work NA, or will not work EU when is JA SR etc...

  


Its just my humble opinion, I do not ask anyone to agree or disagree with
me...

And Im not angry to anyone, ...

  


gl to all who think this kind of HAM radio should be

  


73 dado E74AW

  


-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Larry
Sent: Friday, 06 February, 2015 04:28
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Out-of-Turn Callers

  


Someone did a more extensive analysis of several DXpeditions maybe 2 or 3
years ago. Basically the same conclusion. Typically  NA puts up the largest
percentage of the funds but doesn't get that percentage in Q's. I forget
which group it was posted in.

  


73, Larry  W6NWS

  


-Original Message-

From: Garry Shapiro

Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 8:43 PM

To:  <mailto:topband@contesting.com> topband@contesting.com

Subject: Re: Topband: Out-of-Turn Callers

  


It appears to be the case that NA finances the big trips and EU gets the
Q's. That needs to be ironed out.

  


Garry

  


On 2/5/2015 11:32 AM, Jim Brown wrote:


On Thu,2/5/2015 8:29 AM, Fortra wrote:

jeez those numbers are worrying.

So are the numbers for contributions to the cost of DX trips that have
gotten increasingly expensive. The only way to get on the island is
via a helicopter, and they have had to make many trips.
Some of my friends go on these trips (three are on Navassa), and all
of them complain that while EU hams are very demanding, they don't do
much to contribute to the cost. Take a look at the "News" tab on this
link, then the "Our Sponsors" tab, noting the breakdown by continent
for contributions from Clubs and individual hams.
  <http://www.navassadx.com/> http://www.navassadx.com/
All of that notwithstanding, some of the key players on this
expedition were also part of FT5ZM, which did a spectacular job of
filling logs everywhere, taking advantage of propagation and great station

engineering.


AA7JV and HA7RY are part of this trip. Their topband record is excellent.
And they're not the only guys who know how to work topband.
73, Jim K9YC
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Re: Topband: Out-of-Turn Callers

[Garry Shapiro]

It appears to be the case that NA finances the big trips and EU gets the 
Q's. That needs to be ironed out.


Garry

On 2/5/2015 11:32 AM, Jim Brown wrote:

On Thu,2/5/2015 8:29 AM, Fortra wrote:
jeez those numbers are worrying. 


So are the numbers for contributions to the cost of DX trips that have 
gotten increasingly expensive. The only way to get on the island is 
via a helicopter, and they have had to make many trips.


Some of my friends go on these trips (three are on Navassa), and all 
of them complain that while EU hams are very demanding, they don't do 
much to contribute to the cost. Take a look at the "News" tab on this 
link, then the "Our Sponsors" tab, noting the breakdown by continent 
for contributions from Clubs and individual hams.


http://www.navassadx.com/

All of that notwithstanding, some of the key players on this 
expedition were also part of FT5ZM, which did a spectacular job of 
filling logs everywhere, taking advantage of propagation and great 
station engineering. AA7JV and HA7RY are part of this trip. Their 
topband record is excellent. And they're not the only guys who know 
how to work topband.


73, Jim K9YC

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Re: Topband: 160 Worked All States

[Garry Shapiro]

N6TR and K7RAT --both are Tree-- reside in Boring, Oregon.

Garry

On 1/9/2015 11:46 AM, Jim Brown wrote:

On Fri,1/9/2015 11:32 AM, KE1F Lou wrote:

KE1F need one more state, WASHINGTON. Any top bander in
Washington and using LOTW? 


N6TR and K7RAT are active in contests, and have great ears.

73, Jim K9YC
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Re: Topband: New RF interference killing RX at my QTH

[Garry Shapiro]

I bought a surplus LORAN square loop years ago. Designed for 100 kHz, it 
was easily converted to 1.83 MHz with a single capacitor. I mounted it 
to an old car's roof using ski racks and 2x4's and it has a very deep 
null perpendicular to the plane of the antenna. The loop is about a 
meter on a side. It draws stares but it works well. Dunno where you 
might find one but you can search for LORAN loop or similar.


Garry, NI6T

On 11/8/2014 9:33 AM, Goldtr8 (KD8NNU) wrote:

Dear Topband Group,

I need to make a noise finding antenna that I can take in my vehicle to look 
for a source of noise on 160m and 80m bands.  My google searches have not 
yielded much information on something I can use on these bands or what I found 
was not clear to me on how to make one.  My plan would be to make something and 
then use my mobile setup to drive and try to find the source.

Please any recommendations will be highly welcome.

What I do believe is that its something that gets turned on in the night hours 
as its not there during the day and there are times at night when it goes away.

Thank in advance for your help.

Cheers
Don


~73
Don
KD8NNU
2014 3905CC Top Gun :-)
-.- -.. ---.. -. -. ..-
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Re: Topband: WATCH OUT !!Did you get a new cable modem from Comcast? Arris Modem equal lots of QRM

[Garry Shapiro]

What is the model number of the offending modem?

Garry, NI6T

On 10/23/2014 3:33 PM, JC wrote:

Hi guys

I would like to share with you what NX4D just found out. Doug has
experiencing a strong noise on top band for almost a year. He did try to
find it everywhere, disconnected all appliances in the house and the noise
was still roaring.

For some coincidence Dug removed the cable from the modem and the noise
quit. The issue is that the Arris modem has an internal battery to work
without AC power and when you remove it from the AC line the modem is still
generating noise and you can come up into a conclusion the modem is clean.

It is not, actually there are  several reports of RFI going on for several
years and FCC is doing nothing to stop it.

Here another source of information about that modem

http://forums.comcast.com/t5/Voice-Service-and-Equipment/RFI-Caused-by-Arris
-Modem/td-p/548591

Doug also found many complaints about Cisco Modems too, especially the
switching supply wall warts.

So watch out  is you have Comcast cable modem, it is necessary to choke the
cable and the AC cord with FT240 # 31. With this fix ,the noise dropped from
s8 to s0 but still audible at Doug receiver.

Regards
JC
N4IS


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Re: Topband: FT5ZM

[Garry Shapiro]

I just worked him at 1455. He popped up to copiable and a minute later 
was in the log. I am a happy boy. Still there, still not loud but easy copy.


Garry


On 2/4/2014 6:55 AM, Milt -- N5IA wrote:

Good morning Garry,

Well, all the tea leaves lined up here this AM.

He was first discernable at 1348.

Heard a good CQ & call sign at :50.

I started calling at :52.

I made it into his log, on the hour, at 1400.

He was wall to wall speaker quality for 10 minutes.

He faded out at 1425, a full 10 minutes after my sunrise.  His signal 
was audible here in SW NM, DM52lq for a total of 37 minutes.


And this morning's op was NOT interleaving VK stations with NA. So the 
note to the pilot may have helped on that account.


Good luck with your situation.

73 de Milt, N5IA


-Original Message----- From: Garry Shapiro
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 9:56 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: FT5ZM

The west coast depends upon the morning bump and the only window is
between their sunset around 14Z and our sunrise around 1515 and
shrinking; the actual sunrise bump is, of course, short. Some areas east
of the Sierra in the Mountain time zone apparently have no mutual
darkness and therefore no opening at all, similar to what happened at
VK0IR in  1997.

Many west coast stations made good topband Q's over the weekend. Alas, I
was plagued with a powerline arc exactly in line with Amsterdam SP and a
deer took out my NW/SE Beverage. Now we are about to be clobbered by a
CME--the high SFI of the past week heralded its arrival and I join those
who are SOL. The prop gods are chortling.

Garry, NI6T


On 2/3/2014 6:45 PM, Les Kalmus wrote:
They were on top band tonight but really weak at best. I heard them 
better on the inverted L than the beverage which is really weird. 
They didn't start calling until around 2330Z.


The ditter was a pita.

73, Les W2LK

On 2/3/2014 6:33 PM, Gary Smith wrote:

Well, it's academic for tonight because the only signals on frequency
I've heard all night were the buzzards throwing out carriers & the
occasional dits so to let us know they're there, waiting.

Band condx or local issues there keeping them off 160 it seems.

Gary, KA1J


Gary,

I know I worked them on 40 SSB last night, and I do not appear in 
the log.
  So, I checked about a dozen other guys in the spots for 40 SSB 
last night
who supposedly worked them after I did.  None of them appear in the 
log

either.  Methinks there are some bands missing in today's upload!

73, Tony K4QE


On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 5:18 PM, Gary Smith  wrote:


Rats, back in the chase, must have been a slim. Just checked clublogs
FT5ZM log and the 160M Q didn't show up but my 17M contact an hour &
a half later did. I know I heard them come back to me so it must have
been a slim but geez with the signals like they were, it sure sounded
like their signal.

Ugh...

Gary
KA1J


Fingers crossed it wasn't a slim I worked. The signals were in & out
but for 4-5 minutes I could hear them clearly. Time'll tell.

If I did get him it was greatly because the kiddies weren't playing
so hard today.

73,
Gary
KA1J


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Re: Topband: FT5ZM

[Garry Shapiro]

The west coast depends upon the morning bump and the only window is 
between their sunset around 14Z and our sunrise around 1515 and 
shrinking; the actual sunrise bump is, of course, short. Some areas east 
of the Sierra in the Mountain time zone apparently have no mutual 
darkness and therefore no opening at all, similar to what happened at 
VK0IR in  1997.


Many west coast stations made good topband Q's over the weekend. Alas, I 
was plagued with a powerline arc exactly in line with Amsterdam SP and a 
deer took out my NW/SE Beverage. Now we are about to be clobbered by a 
CME--the high SFI of the past week heralded its arrival and I join those 
who are SOL. The prop gods are chortling.


Garry, NI6T


On 2/3/2014 6:45 PM, Les Kalmus wrote:
They were on top band tonight but really weak at best. I heard them 
better on the inverted L than the beverage which is really weird. They 
didn't start calling until around 2330Z.


The ditter was a pita.

73, Les W2LK

On 2/3/2014 6:33 PM, Gary Smith wrote:

Well, it's academic for tonight because the only signals on frequency
I've heard all night were the buzzards throwing out carriers & the
occasional dits so to let us know they're there, waiting.

Band condx or local issues there keeping them off 160 it seems.

Gary, KA1J


Gary,

I know I worked them on 40 SSB last night, and I do not appear in 
the log.
  So, I checked about a dozen other guys in the spots for 40 SSB 
last night

who supposedly worked them after I did.  None of them appear in the log
either.  Methinks there are some bands missing in today's upload!

73, Tony K4QE


On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 5:18 PM, Gary Smith  wrote:


Rats, back in the chase, must have been a slim. Just checked clublogs
FT5ZM log and the 160M Q didn't show up but my 17M contact an hour &
a half later did. I know I heard them come back to me so it must have
been a slim but geez with the signals like they were, it sure sounded
like their signal.

Ugh...

Gary
KA1J


Fingers crossed it wasn't a slim I worked. The signals were in & out
but for 4-5 minutes I could hear them clearly. Time'll tell.

If I did get him it was greatly because the kiddies weren't playing
so hard today.

73,
Gary
KA1J


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Re: Topband: FT5ZM confusion this morning

[Garry Shapiro]

Damn--fooled me coming and going. I came late to the party and could not 
figure out why he was not where he might have been. But I did the same 
reversal on Kure in '95.



On 2/2/2014 6:52 AM, Merv Schweigert wrote:

Yes he did not have the split button pushed for about 10 mins or so.
He was cqing on 22.5 and saying dn 4  but was actually listening
on 22.5 also..he found the mistake and moved to the normal
26.5   qsx dn 4.Good signal and still cqing as of 1500Z.   not
many callers at all,  slow deep qsb..

73 Merv K9FD/KH6

woke up late this morning, about 15 minutes before SR. quickly checked
1826.5 for FT5ZM but nothing heard.
  JA5BIN was calling CQ on 21.5 and gave Hiro a quick call. he told 
me that

FT5ZM was on 1822.65. i listened there and they were loud, around 589
announcing  that they were listening down 4. next thing that i heard 
was a big

pile up on  22.6 calling the FT5. did he change to his normal frequency
realizing his  mistake?
  never heard the FT5 again as SR approached, either on 22.6 or 26.5 
but be

assured that my original cluster spot was correct.
  good luck.
  73
larry
n7dd
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Re: Topband: Coax rodent protection

[Garry Shapiro]

Too high a population density here for casual plinking--might hurt 
someone. Besides, I am a lousy shot.


On 11/12/2013 8:03 PM, Charlie Cunningham wrote:

A .22 with 'scope mounted on it works pretty well on squirrels. The scope
helps a lot if you're old like me, and have gotten to be too farsighted to
get a decent sight-picture with iron sights.

Lots of folks don't appreciate how destructive those little "tree rats" can
be!

Charlie, K4OTV

-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Garry
Shapiro
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 10:02 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Coax rodent protection

My squirrels were gnawing the top rail of my redwood deck and where they
urinated it bleached the wood. I chose a more final solution--an
efficient killer trap from Forest Supply, ordered on the internet. 1 jar
of cheap peanut butter will provide bait for probably 100 squirrels.
Those (#($((%) squirrels  --eastern Grays, which are an invasive species
here in CA--are very aggressive and push out the native squirrels,

After 20 years of no problems, they chewed up my rotator loops on my
treetop array, which eventually caused me to replace everything, at
enormous cost. I have no empathy or sympathy for them.

The deer mostly break my Beverages.

Garry, NI6T

On 11/12/2013 6:13 PM, Gary Smith wrote:

My primary vermin are deer and the YL had issues with squirrels
digging up her plants on the deck. She helps out at a Nursery and
they sell fox & Coyote urine. A little vial of the stuff lasts a long
time and one tube of the Fox version & the squirrels vacated the
deck. Made her happy so I bought the Coyote & put a couple vials
around the HI-Z triangle & another around my remote coax switch
box/radial plate & antenna jumpers. So far no issues and I haven't
seen any of those !@#$ deer in the back yard since I started doing
this.

They sell Fox, Coyote, Wolf & Mountain Lion.

http://www.legupenterprises.com/

Gary
KA1J

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Re: Topband: Coax rodent protection

[Garry Shapiro]

My squirrels were gnawing the top rail of my redwood deck and where they 
urinated it bleached the wood. I chose a more final solution--an 
efficient killer trap from Forest Supply, ordered on the internet. 1 jar 
of cheap peanut butter will provide bait for probably 100 squirrels. 
Those (#($((%) squirrels  --eastern Grays, which are an invasive species 
here in CA--are very aggressive and push out the native squirrels,


After 20 years of no problems, they chewed up my rotator loops on my 
treetop array, which eventually caused me to replace everything, at 
enormous cost. I have no empathy or sympathy for them.


The deer mostly break my Beverages.

Garry, NI6T

On 11/12/2013 6:13 PM, Gary Smith wrote:

My primary vermin are deer and the YL had issues with squirrels
digging up her plants on the deck. She helps out at a Nursery and
they sell fox & Coyote urine. A little vial of the stuff lasts a long
time and one tube of the Fox version & the squirrels vacated the
deck. Made her happy so I bought the Coyote & put a couple vials
around the HI-Z triangle & another around my remote coax switch
box/radial plate & antenna jumpers. So far no issues and I haven't
seen any of those !@#$ deer in the back yard since I started doing
this.

They sell Fox, Coyote, Wolf & Mountain Lion.

http://www.legupenterprises.com/

Gary
KA1J

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Re: Topband: AutoEZ

[Garry Shapiro]

Over the years, I ---and I am sure many others-- have pleaded with 
Llewellyn to add an optimizer to EZNEC, a la the routine incorporated in 
NEC Wires (and YO?) by Beezley years ago. Roy has categorically refused. 
So I am thrilled to learn that someone else has stepped up and written 
one. I have not yet seen it, but I am sure to try it.


Garry, NI6T

On 9/20/2013 10:26 AM, Rudy Severns wrote:
I've had the privilege to beta test the latest version of AutoEZ with 
the optimizer.  It's really a neat piece of software for antenna 
modeling.


73, Rudy N6LF

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Re: Topband: 3B9EME

[Garry Shapiro]

You did not say exactly how many years ago you worked Jacky on 160. In 
1999, after a DXpedition to 3B9 in which Jacky was a participant, the 
homeward-bound DXpeditioners (including myself) were at Jacky's house in 
Mauritius, standing on his roof and enjoying a beer. Jacky pointed to 
the house and lot next door and related how, before the lot was 
developed, he had used it for 160m. I don't think he has replaced that 
long-last antenna. I, already a rabid topbander, was of course 
disappointed by that turn of events.


As 3B9R, we had  erected a Titanex with 60 radials on a soccer pitch and 
had a kW. We worked lots of Europe, but only a handful of NA stations on 
the east coast, on one evening. No west coast at all.


Garry, NI6T

On 9/9/2013 6:39 PM, Charlie Cunningham wrote:

Wow!  That's a good one!!  I worked Jacky, 3B8CF many years ago on 160, but
never 3B9!  Lowest bands I've ever worked 3B9 were 40 and 30 m.   I worked
Jacky just before sunset here in Raleigh NC!  Worked him with the FT-757 GX
that I had back then, with a GG 4-400A afterburner doing the best it could -
about 450 W to my inverted L with the submerged radials in the lake! :-)

Charlie, K4OTV


-Original Message-
From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike
Waters
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 9:30 PM
To: topband
Subject: Topband: 3B9EME

3B9EME has been calling CQ (listening up ~1) on 1822 for over an hour. But
they can't seem to hear very well.

At one time, they were S7 here in SW Missouri. Someone tell them to put up
a Beverage antenna. :-)

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com
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Re: Topband: Wall warts

[Garry Shapiro]

This thread is a perfect indicator that 160 propagation currently sucks. 
Threads like these are like the RTTY diddle--a signal that carries no 
new information.


Not that I don't like single-malt...

Garry, NI6T


On 5/8/2013 9:00 AM, Keith Jillings (G3OIT) wrote:

On 08/05/2013 15:40, John Harden, D.M.D. wrote:

I am not offended at all relative to the "fine whiskey" deal.


I hate to say this, but "whiskey" is Irish or US.

The real water of life, from Scotland, is "whisky".
I love the subtle flavours of the many varieties, from the smooth 
gentle Speyside stuff and the Northern Islands such as Highland Park, 
to the peaty throat-grabbers such as Laphroaig.


There's always one beside me when I'm operating.
Maybe that's the problem!


Keith
All good topband ops know how to put up a beverage at night.
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Re: Topband: PT0S QSL

[Garry Shapiro]

Those of us who supported the expedition before it embarked for the 
Rocks had real QSL's rather soon after the expedition. (I contributed as 
soon as I learned George and Tomi were major participants.)


Garry, NI6T


On 5/2/2013 8:31 AM, Jim Brown wrote:

On 5/2/2013 5:34 AM, cris blak wrote:

After one year, here it its. I receive the QSL from PT0S.
Thanks to all DXpedition members who made this possible.


Those of us on LOTW had confirmations before they left the island, 
often the same day as the QSO!


73, Jim K9YC
All good topband ops know fine whiskey is a daylight beverage.
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Topband: 2012 Topband Most Wanted Survey

[Garry Shapiro]

*Introduction*

Several DX Most Wanted Surveys are available worldwide. However, to our 
knowledge, there exists a need for a Most Wanted Survey for 160 meters 
ONLY. Such a survey will be useful to DXpedition planners in selecting 
DXpedition destinations. This in turn will eventually provide you with 
opportunities to add new entities to your log.

*2012 Survey*

The 2012 Survey is at http://survey.hamdocs.com/?sid=11389

We (Garry, NI6T and Larry, K8UT) initiated this survey for the 2011-2012 
season and received submittals from several hundred North American and 
European topbanders, but relatively few from the other continental 
areas. Last year's results can be found at the link listed below.Several 
DXpedition planners have already incorporated these results in their 
planning.

For the 2012-2013 season, we expect increased participation by stations 
in Japan and other Asian entities. We shall continue to seek submittals 
from other continental areas as this survey becomes more established.

*You can help expand the scope of this survey!* The addressee list above 
is our initial target group and is by no means complete. If you can 
provide email addresses for additional national amateur organizations, 
DX clubs and DX publications, we can spread the word and produce a more 
complete survey. Particularly needed are South America, VK/ZL, Africa 
and Asia. Send your info to Garry, NI6T, (ga...@ni6t.com) and don't 
worry about dupes. 

*How to use the Topband Most Wanted Survey*

The Topband Most Wanted Survey provides 160m DXers worldwide the 
opportunity to specify which DXCC countries they "need". For the 
purposes of this survey, "need" is defined by you, the DXer. Please fill 
out both Part I - /Ham Contact Information/ and Part II - /Most Wanted 
Entities/. Then press the Submit button. Your personal information will 
NOT be shared with anyone. Please enter ONLY entities needed on 160 meters.

Please submit your needs list between now and August 31, 2012. 
Modifications submitted after August 31, 2012 will be used for the 
following year's survey. The results for 2012-2013 will be available in 
September, 2012.

Thank you for your participation and Good DX on Topband!

Garry, NI6T and Larry, K8UT

/Link to Topband Most Wanted Survey 2011 results:/

http://www.k8ut.com/tiki-list_file_gallery.php?galleryId= 

___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: RI1ANF

[Garry Shapiro]

George,

VP8CTR was very available in 1997/98. QTH was Vernadsky Base on Galindez 
Island, AN-006. The operator was the much-traveled Roman Bratchik, 
UX1KA, EM1KA, EM1U, UA1OT, 4K2OT, XY0RR, 3W/4K2OT.

Garry, NI6T

On 6/6/2012 7:36 PM, George wrote:
>
> Antarctic Continent is a bit difficult these days.  I have a few contacts in
> the 80s - 90's,  but pretty skimpy from year 2K.
>
> I did work VP8CTR in Feb 1998 but didn't note the QTH.  I never sent for the
> card.  Any ideas on the QTH?
>
> 73  George  W8UVZ
>
> I'm pretty sure DP1POL was active on TB in 2010. I worked him on 80, 40 and
> 30m and seem to remember he had 100w on TB?
> Jeff W7JW
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Herb Schoenbohm
> Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 4:55 PM
> To: g...@ka1j.com
> Cc: Topband@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: Topband: RI1ANF
>
> You have me excited for a moment as I need Antarctica on 160. I have
> already worked South Orkney, South Shetland, Falklands, Bouvet and Peter
> I on TB but for some reason Antarctica has just not been there for me
> even though there are always active hams there.  Maybe I worked some
> other operation there years ago but never entered the call as a new
> onebut there must be some operation on TB from Antarcticalike I
> mean just tie some insulated wire on a snow cat and lay it on the snow.
> Drive north for a half a mile.and put in a 600 ohm non inductive
> resistor and drive another 135 feet for a Beverage self termination
> without a ground connection and you should be able to hear everything
> that comes on the band from NA during the long periods of darkness when
> they go into real winter.
>
> Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
>
>
>
>
> 5/31/2012 12:18 PM, Gary Smith wrote:
>> Thanks to some off list replies My logging program (which means me as
>> well) is apparently incorrect and this is a south shetland Q. Though
>> I liked the idea of it being Antarctica as my father as a young ham
>> made contact with Byrds expedition. However, I also need South
>> Shetlands on TB so I'm still most happy.
>>
>> Thank you for the correction!
>>
>> Gary
>> KA1J
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> What a surprise to hear Antarctica last night. Apparently the band
>>> has some nice unexpected gems to be found on it here in Connecticut.
>>>
>>> Gary
>>> KA1J
>>> ___
>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>
>>
>> ___
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
> ___
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>
> ___
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>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: Topband Digest, Vol 113, Issue 46

[Garry Shapiro]

It indeed is "whispering gallery mode", but I think you have mixed 
characters, times and places. I don't believe Franklin ever served in 
Congress--about the only thing he did /not/ do in his long and amazing 
life--and of course the modern Capitol was built long after he passed on 
in 1790. However, guided tours of the modern Capitol in DC often point 
out the whispering gallery spots under the main rotunda. And, as Rick 
points out, the phenomenon is quite general, and is responsible for the 
great acoustics of many of the ancient Greek amphitheaters.

Garry, NI6T

On 5/31/2012 4:59 PM, Rick Karlquist wrote:
> wa3...@comcast.net wrote:
>> I think there is a more comon name for
>> this mode but cant remember what is is now.. and there have been several
> Whispering gallery mode.  The classic whispering gallery room is
> in the shape of an ellipse, where people at one focus can hear
> the people at the other focus, but it is on only 1 hop.
>
> Antipodal mode involves multiple hops.
>
> Rick N6RK
>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
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Re: Topband: 160 meter DXing

[Garry Shapiro]

Bruce,

A few points re frequency cops

  * One guy sending "up" once is not a problem. The problem is that this
does not occur reliably, and acts as a trigger.
  * If no one tells callers "up"--a highly unlikely event in this
contentious DX milieu--the erring operator continues to annoy for a
while, but eventually realizes his error. The longer he goes on
before realizing his error, the more chastened and self-conscious he
is likely to be for a while. I have erred like everyone else, and I
find that to be true. One guy sending his call on the wrong QRG is
more tolerable than five guys insulting him and each other.
  * Transmitting on the DX frequency--whether well-intentioned or
not--further QRM's the DX, excites others to respond aggressively,
and quickly leads to chaos and name-calling. Frequently the erring
station and the would-be white knight(s) double each other,
exacerbating the situation.
  * We all know that challenging a deliberate QRMer quickly spirals out
of control.

IMHO, better to grind your teeth and refrain from adding to the problem 
by deluding yourself that you are solving it by intervening.

There is a great old saying, attributed, I think, to Will Rogers: "Never 
miss a good opportunity to shut up."

Garry, NI6T


On 5/8/2012 5:32 PM, Bruce wrote:
>
> Then there are the "Frequency policemen" that we dislike, but if on one tells 
> callers "up", how deep would callers be on the DX station frequency?
>
> If everyone gets along, remembering that it's a hobby, then we are OK
>
> 73
> Bruce-K1FZ
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: Home Depot LED bulb interference.

[Garry Shapiro]

It is quite possible that the products--while claimed to meet Part 
15--actually do not, either on some lots or all of them. The real 
question is whether anyone checks after the original determination.

Garry, NI6T

On 4/5/2012 6:07 PM, Jim F. wrote:
> Hi George,
>   
> I first noticed the problem as a hiss on my favorite FM radio station.
>
>   
> Tod, K0TO had a very good thought, that it may be the dimmable feature.
>   
> To answer your question  George, : Yes... Marked Clearly on the box.
>
>
>> I am wondering the if the LED
>> bulbs bought from Home Depot meet FCC Part 15 specs. Were
>> they marked so?
>> George, AA7JV
>   
> jim / W1FMR
>
>
> --- On Thu, 4/5/12, GeorgeWallner  wrote:
>
>
> From: GeorgeWallner
> Subject: Re: Topband: Home Depot LED bulb interference.
> To: "TOPBAND"
> Date: Thursday, April 5, 2012, 7:10 PM
>
>
> On Thu, 5 Apr 2012 16:01:12 -0400
>"Mike Greenway"  wrote:
>> I wondered how long it would take before they started
>> selling some RFI
>> generating lighting.  Soon we can have a complete
>> neighborhood of RFI
> I have tested compact fluorescent bulbs a couple of years
> ago and found that they were noisy. I have not tried to
> quantify the level of noise emitted, but it was about S5
> on my K3 at a distance of about 4 feet using a one foot
> wire for antenna. I have stayed with incandescent, but my
> neighbor has installed over 50 of them on his house. The
> noise coming from that direction (NW) is significantly
> stronger than what I get from any other direction. Since
> he has installed the CF (and many LED) bulbs, I have not
> made one JA QSO! Fortunately, my DHDL, which looks towards
> EU (NE) completely blocks the noise and I am still able to
> work Europe.
>
> On the other hand, I have LED lights installed on my dock,
> which is only about 20 feet to the East of the RX antenna,
> but these LED lights are driven by well filtered drivers
> in metal boxes. No noise from these lights can be
> detected.
>
> It seems to me that we have a very serious threat from
> noisy "switched" light sources (and other digital noise
> generators, like Variable Frequency Drives) that have not
> been properly filtered. I am wondering the if the LED
> bulbs bought from Home Depot meet FCC Part 15 specs. Were
> they marked so?
>
> George, AA7JV
>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: Home Depot LED bulb interference.

[Garry Shapiro]

George,

I suspect your question at the end was tongue-in-cheek. We know from 
long experience with other notorious consumer noise sources---e.g. 
plasma TV's, cheap dimmers, touch lamps, fish tank heaters, 
thermostats--that the FCC has been neither active nor timely in 
exercising its enforcement prerogatives. Some of this is probably due to 
the disparity between congressional mandate--i.e. "do this"--and 
funding, but we have had little indication of the government's interest 
in pursuing Part 15 violations, especially against imports of dubious 
quality.

I fear we are facing a tsunami of RFI, speeding toward us as a perfect 
storm of "modern" lighting. I have in the past laid in a supply of 
relatively quiet dimmers and replaced many in the neighborhood. But CF 
and LED bulbs will be ubiquitous and it is likely to be impossible to 
deal with this problem---unless we can generate pressure on the FCC to 
enforce Part 15.

Garry, NI6T

On 4/5/2012 4:10 PM, GeorgeWallner wrote:
> On Thu, 5 Apr 2012 16:01:12 -0400
>"Mike Greenway"  wrote:
>> I wondered how long it would take before they started
>> selling some RFI
>> generating lighting.  Soon we can have a complete
>> neighborhood of RFI
> I have tested compact fluorescent bulbs a couple of years
> ago and found that they were noisy. I have not tried to
> quantify the level of noise emitted, but it was about S5
> on my K3 at a distance of about 4 feet using a one foot
> wire for antenna. I have stayed with incandescent, but my
> neighbor has installed over 50 of them on his house. The
> noise coming from that direction (NW) is significantly
> stronger than what I get from any other direction. Since
> he has installed the CF (and many LED) bulbs, I have not
> made one JA QSO! Fortunately, my DHDL, which looks towards
> EU (NE) completely blocks the noise and I am still able to
> work Europe.
>
> On the other hand, I have LED lights installed on my dock,
> which is only about 20 feet to the East of the RX antenna,
> but these LED lights are driven by well filtered drivers
> in metal boxes. No noise from these lights can be
> detected.
>
> It seems to me that we have a very serious threat from
> noisy "switched" light sources (and other digital noise
> generators, like Variable Frequency Drives) that have not
> been properly filtered. I am wondering the if the LED
> bulbs bought from Home Depot meet FCC Part 15 specs. Were
> they marked so?
>
> George, AA7JV
>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: Deterring Critters

[Garry Shapiro]

My five coax loops that were savaged by toothy critters were all Super 
Flex with a PE jacket. I mentioned this to Press Jones at The Wireman 
and he said PE was marginally better than PVC in this regard, not not 
significantly so. OTOH, flooding might be a good idea.

Garry, NI6T

On 3/13/2012 4:01 PM, Bill Wichers wrote:
> You can get coax with a PE outer jacket, although I think they usually
> use MDPE instead of HDPE for coax. All you need to do is order the
> direct-bury type, which should almost always have a PE jacket. Getting
> the flooded kind will also help if you do get any tooth-holes in your
> cable.
>
> BTW, it's surprisingly reliable to test for a PE jacket using the
> "fingernail scratch test". After you've done it enough times you can
> identify a PE jacket by the "feel" when you scratch it. I know it sounds
> goofy, but it's almost 100% reliable after you get the feel for it. PE
> has a unique feel to it when scratched with an edge (like a fingernail
> :-). Try it and you'll know what I mean. This is handy if you have
> mystery wire and want to test it.
>
>  -Bill
>
>> If we could purchase Coax cable and other smaller wires with the HDPE
>> covering,  life could be easier.   (Also less costly)  The 1000 foot
> roll
>> of
>> telephone cable is worth considering, for now.
>>
>> 73
>> Bruce-K1FZ
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: Fw: Deterring Critters was:Re: How Good is Good Enough?

[Garry Shapiro]

The "common wisdom" passed to me is that they don't like PE as well as 
they like PVC. However, all my PE-jacketed coax rotator loops 130' up on 
a redwood tree were munched to oblivion in the past year. They are being 
held together with Scotch 33 until I can pull everything down this 
Spring. And Press of The Wireman told me the varmints like PE only 
slightly less than they like PVC. We are supposedly looking into 
armoring the coax with SS braid!

Most coatings wash off in the rains. I have no idea what the ultimate 
solution might be.

Garry, NI6T

On 3/12/2012 6:21 PM, Bruce wrote:
> Speaking of tongue in cheek, I'll bite.  Has anyone found a wire covering
> that the critters do not like to lunch on, or are they using it for dental
> floss ?
>
> 73
> Bruce
>
> - Original Message -
> From: "Pete Smith N4ZR"
> To:
> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 2:31 PM
> Subject: Re: Topband: Deterring Critters was:Re: How Good is Good Enough?
>
>
>> F'heaven's sake, Garry, I meant naive about how widely they range in the
>> East, and it was all tongue in cheek, from beginning to end.
>>
>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at
>> www.conteststations.com
>> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
>> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
>> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
>> arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>>
>>
>> On 3/12/2012 4:31 PM, Garry Shapiro wrote:
>>> Westerners naive about coyotes? That is an interesting concept. DC and
>>> NYC are within the natural range of coyotes, but I have serious doubts
>>> about England.
>>>
>>> Coyote urine may "work", but it did not keep my feedlines from being
>>> chewed by (eastern) Grey Squirrels that have displaced the native brown
>>> units.
>>>
>>> Garry, NI6T
>>>
>>> On 3/12/2012 1:01 PM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
>>>> Man, you Westerners are naive!  We even have coyotes in downtown
>>>> Washington and New York City.  Ratty looking, but out there hunting.
>>>> Anyhow, the general idea is pick something the the wee beasties don't
>>>> like, and lay it on!
>>>>
>>>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>>>> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at
>>>> www.conteststations.com
>>>> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
>>>> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
>>>> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
>>>> arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 3/12/2012 3:57 PM, Garry Shapiro wrote:
>>>>> My experience with canid (coyote and wolf) urines suggests that if
>>>>> canids are not the local predator of interest--coyotes in England?--it
>>>>> may not work.
>>>>>
>>>>> Garry, NI6T
>>>>>
>>>>> On 3/12/2012 6:15 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
>>>>>> Two words - coyote urine.  Seriously  the local Southern States
>>>>>> sells a critter repellent based on dried coyote urine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In our case, the biggest critter problem with my BOG so far has been
>>>>>> deer - tangle-footed beasts!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>>>>>> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at
>>>>>> www.conteststations.com
>>>>>> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at
>>>>>> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
>>>>>> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
>>>>>> arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 3/12/2012 9:11 AM, Tracey Gardner wrote:
>>>>>>> I'd be interested to  know what "critter/rodent" damage these BOGs
>>>>>>> get?
>>>>>>> My experience, in the UK, of leaving the last 60m of my Beverage
>>>>>>> lying on
>>>>>>> the ground for a few days, is that the insulation got chewed through
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> seven places.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I would be interested in trying a BOG but I have a feeling that it
>>>>>>> wouldn't
>>>>>>> last long here.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 73s Tracey G5VU
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ___
>>>>>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> ___
>>>>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>>>>
>>>>> ___
>>>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>>>
>>>> ___
>>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>>
>>> ___
>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>
>> ___
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: Deterring Critters was:Re: How Good is Good Enough?

[Garry Shapiro]

Westerners naive about coyotes? That is an interesting concept. DC and 
NYC are within the natural range of coyotes, but I have serious doubts 
about England.

Coyote urine may "work", but it did not keep my feedlines from being 
chewed by (eastern) Grey Squirrels that have displaced the native brown 
units.

Garry, NI6T

On 3/12/2012 1:01 PM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
> Man, you Westerners are naive!  We even have coyotes in downtown
> Washington and New York City.  Ratty looking, but out there hunting.
> Anyhow, the general idea is pick something the the wee beasties don't
> like, and lay it on!
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
> arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>
>
> On 3/12/2012 3:57 PM, Garry Shapiro wrote:
>> My experience with canid (coyote and wolf) urines suggests that if
>> canids are not the local predator of interest--coyotes in England?--it
>> may not work.
>>
>> Garry, NI6T
>>
>> On 3/12/2012 6:15 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
>>> Two words - coyote urine.  Seriously  the local Southern States
>>> sells a critter repellent based on dried coyote urine.
>>>
>>> In our case, the biggest critter problem with my BOG so far has been
>>> deer - tangle-footed beasts!
>>>
>>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>>> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
>>> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
>>> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
>>> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
>>> arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/12/2012 9:11 AM, Tracey Gardner wrote:
>>>> I'd be interested to  know what "critter/rodent" damage these BOGs get?
>>>> My experience, in the UK, of leaving the last 60m of my Beverage lying on
>>>> the ground for a few days, is that the insulation got chewed through in
>>>> seven places.
>>>>
>>>> I would be interested in trying a BOG but I have a feeling that it wouldn't
>>>> last long here.
>>>>
>>>> 73s Tracey G5VU
>>>>
>>>> ___
>>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>>
>>> ___
>>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>>
>> ___
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: How Good is Good Enough?

[Garry Shapiro]

My experience with canid (coyote and wolf) urines suggests that if 
canids are not the local predator of interest--coyotes in England?--it 
may not work.

Garry, NI6T

On 3/12/2012 6:15 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
> Two words - coyote urine.  Seriously  the local Southern States
> sells a critter repellent based on dried coyote urine.
>
> In our case, the biggest critter problem with my BOG so far has been
> deer - tangle-footed beasts!
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and
> arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>
>
> On 3/12/2012 9:11 AM, Tracey Gardner wrote:
>> I'd be interested to  know what "critter/rodent" damage these BOGs get?
>> My experience, in the UK, of leaving the last 60m of my Beverage lying on
>> the ground for a few days, is that the insulation got chewed through in
>> seven places.
>>
>> I would be interested in trying a BOG but I have a feeling that it wouldn't
>> last long here.
>>
>> 73s Tracey G5VU
>>
>> ___
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: 49 contest stations caught on tape this AM

[Garry Shapiro]

Tod,

Your reference below to NI6T should be to NI5T. I was never happy about 
their callsign choice for their contest station, for obvious reasons, 
and your observation merely serves to maximize my discomfort. I was not 
QRV in this contest.

Garry, NI6T

On 2/26/2012 9:15 AM, Tod Olson wrote:
> Barry:
>
> I found your tape fascinating. I am very envious of the low noise level
> that was recorded - -  beverages must make a difference. :)
>
> Although I heard, from my Idaho QTH, some of the same signals you
> recorded, the signal levels were considerably different. KG7H, WA7LT, W6YI
> were noticeably louder for me. Even AB5M was louder. NI6T seems to be
> missing from your tape although they were active and loud every time I was
> operating.
>
> The big signals on your tape seem to be from stations that are less than
> 700 miles from you. The DX stations simply did not exist - at least for me
> while I was listening. [I was sleeping at 4:00 AM MST<1100 UTC>]
>
> I managed to hear and work a couple of FL stations, one ME station, and
> one VA station. Only the ME station was comfortably above the noise level.
> This year most of the East Coast stations simply did not seem to be on the
> air. [I am sure that they were on the air but I just could not hear them].
> While it seemed I could fairly easily work stations within 700 miles of my
> QTH, there simply aren't enough of them. Most of the stations I was able
> to work by calling CQ had signals that required a great deal of
> concentration. All in all I found this to be one of the more challenging
> years for this contest. It simply seemed as though the propagation was
> insufficient to overcome the listening challenges of my station on 160m.
> In other years this has not been the case. In fact, it was not the case
> for the ARRL 160 and the CQWW CW 160 earlier in this contest season.
>
> The conditions served to make one appreciate good propagation. And your
> tape, during what I deem to be a poor propagation period, shows how a
> really good station can overcome some of the poor propagation effects.
>
>
> Thanks again for making it available.
>
> 73, Tod, K0TO
>
>
>
>
> On 2/26/12 6:49 AM, "Barry N1EU"  wrote:
>
>> I had the tape running this morning around 1100Z as I scanned the band and
>> I caught 49 stations, and I posted the sound clip to
>>
>> http://n1eu.com/mp3/cq160ssb26Feb12_1100Z.mp3
>>
>> That's what it sounded like in Albany NY on my Orion and Beverage antenna.
>> Unfortunately the stereo diversity was lost in the recording (my bad).
>> Below is the list of stations in order:
>>
>> W0AIH
>> N4HB
>> WW8OH
>> ND8DX
>> K4WW
>> N2EOC
>> WA7LT
>> W8CO
>> NT8Z
>> AB5MM
>> C6ANM
>> W0MR
>> KK1KW
>> NF8J
>> WD5COV
>> N2CW
>> WB9Z
>> VE3MIS
>> N3RR
>> K2GE
>> W8GP
>> W6YI
>> KG7H
>> N9UY
>> W2ID
>> K3STX
>> W2MF
>> W8XXX
>> W5PR
>> AK5DX
>> W3TS
>> AB2DE
>> ZF2AM
>> WA4ZXV
>> N3HBX
>> K1AR
>> W3KL
>> W1XX
>> K1LZ
>> K8PO
>> CO2GG
>> VE3DC
>> WJ2D
>> K9NW
>> N4BCC
>> W0MR
>> KA1IOR
>> AB5MM
>> N2EOC
>>
>>
>> 73,
>> Barry N1EU
>> ___
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: RG-6 CONNECTORS

[Garry Shapiro]

On 12/13/2011 4:53 AM, Bill and Liz McHugh wrote:
> With all the different types of "RG-6" cable out there you sure need to do 
> your homework before buying connectors!
>
> Bill VE3NH
> ___
Ain't THAT the truth? This thread has reminded me of all the times I 
have sat out in the rain and/or dark fixing "RG6"
  coax lines, only to have the connector fall off in my hand because the 
"RG6" and connector did not agree as to diameter.

Garry, NI6T
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: T32C with QRP

[Garry Shapiro]

Human nature: the definition for most of us of a "great DXpedition" is 
one that you just worked.

On 10/3/2011 6:41 AM, N7DF wrote:
> This morning T32C was 25 over 9 on1815 and I tried QRP with 1 watt.  He came 
> right back to my call and said I was a real 599 so I dropped my power to a 
> measured 50 milliwatts output and he was able to get about 30% copy.  This 
> was with my Collins folded cage monopole through 450 feet of RG213.  Looks 
> like the band is opening.  That has to be one of the best DXpeditions in 
> recent history.  Excellent signals on all bands and top flight operators.
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Topband: 2011 Topband most-wanted survey

[Garry Shapiro]

Topbanders

Several months ago, I announced on this reflector a most-wanted DXCC 
country survey for topband only. It directed topbanders to a site 
containing a questionnaire. The survey was driven by myself but 
mechanized by Larry, K8UT from a similar survey he had completed for RTTY.

Over the summer, 257 topbanders filled out the questionnaire. Once the 
responses petered out, the data were analyzed by Larry, K8UT, 
coordinated with me. Nearly all the responses were from North America 
and Europe. We apparently failed to adequately reach JA--something to 
work on for next year-- and participation from South America and Africa, 
as well as the rest of Asia, was statistically insignificant. However, 
the tabulated results for NA and EU should be of interest to many 
subscribers to this reflector. These results are summarized in two .pdf 
documents.

The results are found at http://ni6t.com/survey2011/. Note that the 
survey predated the establishment of the Republic of South Sudan, which 
is not included.

My thanks to Larry, K8UT for his invaluable assistance to create this 
survey. If you find it useful, please credit appropriately.

73,

Garry, NI6T


___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Topband: Topband Most-Wanted Suirvey

[Garry Shapiro]

This is a reminder to presumably the most-dedicated of topband 
DXers---those on this list--- that there is an active new Topband 
Most-Wanted Survey that needs the participation of all serious topband 
DX-chasers.

The survey is at _TopBand2011.hamdocs.com_. All 340 current DXCC 
counters are listed; all that is required is to check the ones you 
consider as "needed". Normally this means you have either not worked or 
not confirmed the counter on 160m.

So far, the heaviest response --unsurprisingly-- has been from North 
America, with Europe a distant second. We need more participation to 
ensure that the survey will accurately reflect the needs of all serious 
and not-so-serious topband DXers. Therefore, submissions from EU and JA, 
as well as SA and VK/ZL are specifically solicited.

Also, if you know of lists/sites in EU/JA/VK/ZL that are relevant, 
please send them along to me, or forward this email to them.

With the close of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere, 
completing this survey just might have a positive effect on your DXCC 
totals for next season. If you have not yet submitted, please go to 
_TopBand2011.hamdocs.com_ at your earliest convenience. Right now would 
be optimal. And repeat announcements in the relevant newsletters and 
topband-specific sites would also be helpful.

End of drum-beating--for now. Results will be published in late summer.

73

Garry, NI6T
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Topband: Status of topband survey data

[Garry Shapiro]

Colleagues,

Larry, K8UT tells me that all data entered to the topband survey that 
were not initially rejected due to the initial server issues are OK. If 
you entered your data and it was not rejected, there is no need to re-enter.

Garry, NI6T
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Topband: Topband Most-Wanted Survey--relocated

[Garry Shapiro]

Fellow Topbanders,

The Topband Most-Wanted Survey has been relocated to:

TopBand2011.hamdocs.com 

The problems experienced by some early users were server-related appear 
to have been solved, and data entry should now be straightforward. My 
apologies to those who had to re-enter their data.

To clarify another user question, this survey was indeed written and 
installed by Larry, K8UT, who first wrote it for RTTY.

73

Garry, NI6T
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: A new 160m-only Most Wanted Survey

[Garry Shapiro]

Colleagues,

On the strength of Jon's report below and several before and since, 
please QRX with the survey until this glitch is ironed out. (The several 
entries to the site before release were smooth, including mine, so this 
is an unwelcome surprise. Never happened to me before during my 
engineering career. Well, maybe once or twice...)

Garry, NI6T

On 4/22/2011 2:30 AM, Jon Zaimes AA1K wrote:
> Hi Garry,
>
> After completing the survey and clicking the "submit" button, I got an 
> error page. So don't know if it took it or not.
>
> The page info:
> Site Logo
>
>
>  An error occured while performing the request.
>
> Things to check:
>
>   1.
>
>  Did you complete the Tiki Installer?
> <http://live.semdxa.org/tiki-install.php>
>
>   2.
>
>  Is your database corrupt? Please see how to repair your database
> <http://doc.tiki.org/Repair+Database>
>
>   3.
>
>  Are your database credentials accurate? (username, database name,
>  etc in db/local.php)
>
> Please see the documentation <http://doc.tiki.org/> for more information.
>
>
> --
>
> 73/Jon AA1K
>
>
> On 4/21/2011 21:49 PM, Garry Shapiro wrote:
>> Fellow Topband DXers,
>>
>> A few years ago at Dayton, Eric K3NA and I discussed doing relatively
>> small-scale lowband trips to counters that perhaps had been well-covered
>> by expeditions on the higher bands, but not on the lowest bands.
>>
>> We would need good data for this, but IMO there were no good
>> topband-only Most-Wanted surveys available, so I decided to create one.
>> Not being even a capable amateur programmer, I turned to my friends.
>> KK6EK said he would do it, but Bob then fell in love, got married, and
>> went off into other things. My second partner was willing, but
>> over-committed and dealing with chronic health problems, so that went
>> nowhere, as well. Meanwhile, Eric went off and did Ducie and now plans
>> Jarvis and South Georgia.
>>
>> Recently, I encountered a RTTY Most-Wanted survey written by Larry
>> Gauthier, K8UT that included everything I wanted, so I asked Larry if he
>> could port it to 160m. He agreed and now, after sufficient testing, it
>> is ready to go. It includes all current DXCC counters, and hopefully
>> will encourage some little pistol operations to reasonably reachable
>> counters as well as provide more data for larger, more ambitious
>> DXpeditions.
>>
>> The survey is up at http://topband2011.semdxa.org and I encourage you to
>> take a look---and to submit your needs. Because there are 340 counters,
>> it will take a little while to complete, but the results should justify
>> the effort.
>>
>> I plan to leave the survey up for most of the summer, and to publish the
>> results before the next lowband season--both online and in the amateur
>> press.
>>
>> The more data received, the more accurate the survey will be. Please
>> feel free to suggest additional ways to put this survey before the
>> world's topband DXers. Unfortunately, I have already found that many DX
>> club websites are in a state of neglect, 404-not found, or have no
>> obvious email contact path to the club leadership.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Garry, NI6T
>> ___
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>>
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Topband: A new 160m-only Most Wanted Survey

[Garry Shapiro]

Fellow Topband DXers,

A few years ago at Dayton, Eric K3NA and I discussed doing relatively 
small-scale lowband trips to counters that perhaps had been well-covered 
by expeditions on the higher bands, but not on the lowest bands.

We would need good data for this, but IMO there were no good 
topband-only Most-Wanted surveys available, so I decided to create one. 
Not being even a capable amateur programmer, I turned to my friends. 
KK6EK said he would do it, but Bob then fell in love, got married, and 
went off into other things. My second partner was willing, but 
over-committed and dealing with chronic health problems, so that went 
nowhere, as well. Meanwhile, Eric went off and did Ducie and now plans 
Jarvis and South Georgia.

Recently, I encountered a RTTY Most-Wanted survey written by Larry 
Gauthier, K8UT that included everything I wanted, so I asked Larry if he 
could port it to 160m. He agreed and now, after sufficient testing, it 
is ready to go. It includes all current DXCC counters, and hopefully 
will encourage some little pistol operations to reasonably reachable 
counters as well as provide more data for larger, more ambitious 
DXpeditions.

The survey is up at http://topband2011.semdxa.org and I encourage you to 
take a look---and to submit your needs. Because there are 340 counters, 
it will take a little while to complete, but the results should justify 
the effort.

I plan to leave the survey up for most of the summer, and to publish the 
results before the next lowband season--both online and in the amateur 
press.

The more data received, the more accurate the survey will be. Please 
feel free to suggest additional ways to put this survey before the 
world's topband DXers. Unfortunately, I have already found that many DX 
club websites are in a state of neglect, 404-not found, or have no 
obvious email contact path to the club leadership.

73,

Garry, NI6T
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Topband: Better F Connectors

[Garry Shapiro]

Pete,

No, not wrong, and the same as most RG8 and RG213! I have several 
cutters/strippers-- including, as it happens, that DataShark model.  
Because the cutter head said "11" and not "8", I had not tried it on RG8 
and just threw it in with the cheap Radio Shack cutter. I just did try 
it with a piece of CommScope RG8-type cable with a solid #10 center 
conductor--and it did a very nice job!

I am kicking myself for doing a recent cable replacement using a 
sheetrock knife (ugly), while that cutter sat on the workbench, But I 
intend to test the unit on a variety of cables, since --according to 
what I see on the web--the center conductor is typically 14AWG for RG11, 
11AWG for RG213 (stranded) and 10AWG for solid RG8 type cables. I am 
curious to see whether the cutter, in RG11 position, may score the 
center conductor a tad on RG8 or 213.

Thanks for inducing me to pursue this. (I had never heard of RG7, which 
appears to be a smaller CATV cable--about .32" O.D.--75 ohm Zo and has a 
messenger wire.)

As for compression F connectors, I fully agree that this is the only way 
to go with RG6 cables. One caveat--match the cable diameter to the 
connector or it won't stay together any better than the cheap crappy 
crimp connectors.

73

Garry, NI6T

On 1/31/2011 2:17 PM, Pete Smith wrote:
> I just did, and according to www.therfc.com, they are both .405.  Is 
> that wrong?
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
>
> On 1/31/2011 4:11 PM, Garry Shapiro wrote:
>> You might check the O.D. of RG11 vs .RG213 before making that statement.
>>
>> On 1/30/2011 9:04 AM, Pete Smith wrote:
>>> I may be the last person on this reflector to catch on to compression F
>>> connectors, but just in case - these things are so much better than the
>>> classical crimp as to defy comparison.  I have never been able to 
>>> make a
>>> good connector installation on quad shield RG-6, but with the Ideal
>>> 33-633 crimper and their connectors, it yields high-confidence
>>> installations with minimum effort.  On the same shelf at Home Depot, I
>>> discovered the DataShark 70029 cutter and stripper - for $9.95 it 
>>> strips
>>> phone cable, Cat5-5e-6, RG6Quad, RG6, RG59, RG7 and RG11 (if the 
>>> latter,
>>> then I suspect RG-213 as well).  It is the perfect complement to the
>>> Ideal compression connectors because it automatically and precisely
>>> trims RG-6 family cables to fit perfectly.
>>>
>>
>>
>
___
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

Re: Topband: Short beverage

[Garry Shapiro]

In the words of Bob, KN6J, one of the first topband DXCC's on the west 
coast, "any Beverage is better than no Beverage". Subscribing to that 
dictum, my first Beverages were 200 ft. long, made of flea-market hookup 
wire, ran through dense forest on a steep hillside--and made a huge 
difference. Bob's ran down a ravine, as you describe yours.

Garry, NI6T

On 1/22/2011 1:11 PM, Chuck Chandler wrote:
> The discussion has got me interested in trying one out.  I thought my lot was 
> too small, but there is a ravine into the neighbors land that might let me 
> put out around 300 feet or so heading towards Europe.  It would run from one 
> corner of my yard all the way across, and into the woods beyond my property.  
> The neighbor is cool, so permission should be possible.
>
> I know I'll need some RG-6, and the DX Engineering feed system seems 
> reasonable.  Just add some wire (already on hand), a ground rod and figure 
> out some supports.  It would need to be temporary so I could take it up when 
> the grass starts to grow again, and so I could try other directions as need 
> might arise.
>
> I guess my real question is if a short beverage is worth the effort.  Right 
> now I am using crossed K9AY loops for recieve, and a 65 foot tall Inverted-L 
> for transmit.  I seem to get out a bit better than I hear, though this winter 
> I've been too busy for much DX.
>
>
> 73 de Chuck, WS1L
>
> Oak Grove, MS - EM51
> w...@comcast.net
> ___
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK