Topband: Unsubscribing
Hi all, It is with some sadness that I have to tell you that this will be my last post on Topband, after a presence of 24 years, including my activity as ZS5K. My wife and I are relocating back to ZS1 so that she can be with her young family, and we are unlikely to be moving into a property from which Topband operations will be a pleasure. I have had 17 great years enjoying a good station with dedicated Rx antennas, and know that I would be frustrated with 'city lot' type operations. Instead I am in the process of constructing microwave equipment, and have already had my first QSOs on 23 cm and 3 cm. I'm hoping that enjoyment of the weak signal propagation modes on those bands will replace the pleasure I've been fortunate enough to have operating on 160 m. Thank you all for the great QSOs and good luck with your activities on the Gentlemen's Band. 73, Greg, ZL3IX, G3ZZI, ex ZS5K _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: One way prop
So you've never given anyone 5/1 on SSB on a quiet band, Richard? That's possible on 10m on a good day. What you're describing seems to me to be the R value, not the S value. You may have noticed me giving reports of 469 or 479 on 160m when propagation is good but I have a high noise level. 'Knob twiddling' should not affect the S meter in a well designed rig. On my SDR, provided that a signal is strong enough to overcome noise levels on all settings, I can switch attenuators and preamps in and out and it makes not one jot of difference to the S meter reading. S9 is -73 dBm at the antenna connector no matter what. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2021-01-18 08:06, Richard McLachlan wrote: When I started in ham radio 60 years ago, S meters were just a tuning aid. I don’t think in all my experience that I have ever given a signal report based on an S meter reading, in fact I didn’t even realise that my current rig even had one. My reports are always based on a comparison between the background noise and the signal estimated by what is between my ears. Thus S3 is barely audible and anything above 6 or 7 is easy copy. The meter reading can be set to any value you like by knob twiddling. If somebody wants a comparison on different antennas for example then I would use the height of the spike on the panadaptor but I certainly would not rely on its calibration. 73 Richard G3OQT _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: One Way Propagation.
Hi Roger, The experience I share with the few Gs with whom I regularly have QSOs is that the propagation is more often better one way than the other. At my SS, via LP, I hear them better than they me, and vice versa at my SR. It's not always the case, but is more often than not. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2021-01-17 12:20, Roger Kennedy wrote: If you have an efficient transmitting antenna, and an accurately calibrated S Meter, I have found over the decades that most signal reports are pretty Reciprocal. When it comes to 160m DX-ing, I think my own situation is fairly unusual, in that my Receiving Antenna is also my Transmitting Antenna. (being a dipole, it's fairly low noise on Receive) And as a result, 90% of the time I have found that my signal reports on Top Band are pretty much the same both ways . . . and that's whether working stations around Britain, around Europe, across the pond to North or South America (including to the West Coast), even the Far East or VK/ZL. Last night when I worked Jeff VY2ZM he said my signal was peaking S9 +20dB . . . and he was the same strength with me. But what prompted me to start a new discussion was receiving an mail from a station in Arizona who said I was 579 with him last night . . . but I didn't come back to him. Well, my noise level was around S3 last night, and I did hear a couple of stations down in the noise calling me . . . which means that he was far weaker with me than I was with him. And thinking about it, this happens quite often on Top Band. Not only is Propagation often VERY selective (meaning someone 200 miles away may have much better propagation to a particular area than you) . . . but also that sometimes the Propagation is ONE-WAY . . . that you're receiving them far weaker than they're receiving you, or the other way round. I wonder if many DX-ers on here have noticed the same phenomenon . . . particularly those that often work the same stations many times (as I do). 73 Roger G3YRO _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Stew Perry
I agree with Luke. Condx around Australasia were worse than mediocre. I didn't hear any VK6s and only a couple of JAs in the first session. JA4UYB was quite good on peaks of deep QSB, but he never heard me. Only LY7Z from Eu and he kept CQing right through me. In the second session stations from NA were few and far between, and I only put a handful into the log. I must say that just about everyone I called in NA did hear me. Long path to the UK was also mediocre with only GW5R and G3OLB being heard. The GW never copied my call but I did manage a Q with Tom. 73 + HNY, Greg, ZL3IX On 2020-12-28 00:19, List Mail wrote: I had hoped to give a few DX QSO in this SP, but conditions are just horrible. The storm static has been epic all weekend, and signals are pretty ordinary. I did try calling a few stations in NA around our sunset, but had no response. Since sunset, the storm static has increased, and all signals are very difficult copy here. Maybe next time. 73 es HNY, de Luke VK3HJ _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQWW a bust this year
There were very few NA stations audible at my SS on the first evening, although I just managed to scrape a Q with VY2ZM. On the second SS there was nothing at all audible, which is almost unheard of for this test. 73, Greg, ZL3IX _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Herbert Schoenbohm, KV4FZ: Silent Key
Herb was the first real DX I ever heard on Topband. I was a student at Brunel University (G3UBR) back in the early 70s, and KV4FZ had an astounding signal into Eu, both on CW and SSB. 30 years later he gave me my first TB Q with KV4 from ZL. I also remember working him an hour before my sunset a couple of years back. Greg ZL3IX On 2020-04-30 07:56, lennart.michaels...@telia.com wrote: Oh, so sad! During all my years om 160, my favorite band, Herb has been the man behind thosea consistent and loud signals! REST IN PEACE dear Herb Len Michaelsson SM7BIC -Ursprungligt meddelande- Från: Topband För d...@np2j.com Skickat: den 29 april 2020 20:21 Till: topband@contesting.com Ämne: Topband: Herbert Schoenbohm, KV4FZ: Silent Key It is with great regret that I have been informed that Herb Schoenbohm KV4FZ has passed away this morning at his home. Herb was 84 years of age. Herb has been a fixture on Topband since the very beginning, having 160 DXCC #2 (I believe) and has been active in all 160 Meter contests over the years setting many records. I personally have been amazed at his stamina in contests, even recently, he would stay up all night CQing long after this 62 year old called it quits...I hope I live as long as Herbie, and be able to put half the rare ones in the log as he did routinely 73 Herb Best wishes to Herbs wife of over 50 years Monica and Sons Tom, Timmy and Eric _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: haven't seen any post in several days?
You're not unsubscribed, Terry. Your post has arrived here. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2020-04-16 19:28, terry burge wrote: Did I somehow get unsubscribed again? Terry KI7M _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Slightly OT - amplifier noise
I used one of these systems (homebrew WA1ION) for a couple of years in the early 2000s. My problem was a speed-controlled water pump (local water authority) very close to my QTH. The pump was in the same direction as most of the wanted DX, so a nulling loop didn't work. What I did was to erect a sense antenna as close as possible to the noise source and run the noise signal via a coax to the WA1ION box in my shack. Since the sense antenna was close to the noise source, the noise was very loud and could be (had to be ) attenuated before summing with the signal from the main antenna. The wanted signals picked up by the sense antenna were also therefore attenuated, and did not subtract from the wanted signals picked up by the main antenna. I was able to achieve a very useful 10-12 dB of S/N improvement using this technique. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2020-03-15 11:17, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote: I am trying to understand what these noise cancelling schemes do that couldn't be done with a simple loop (rotating the loop until the noise drops into one of the null directions). Rick N6RK _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: 2019 STEW PERRY
I did work US1Q in the SP. He called me after hearing me try another Eu who didn't copy me. This happened way after SR in the USA, so if he was using a remote, it wasn't there. From his strength I would guess that he probably was in Eu, although it could have been JA. I would consider that unlikely, though. I had Qs with some JAs but they did not copy me easily because of local QRM. This guy did copy me easily. Apart from the fact that he may have been genuine, the other possibility is that he had his Tx in Eu or JA and Rx in VK. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2020-01-01 08:29, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote: It's guys in EU using USA remotes that PURPORT to still be in EU. (like this alleged US1Q operator) Or USA guys using a remote in Japan to work Asians, but say they are still in the USA that _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: A Bit of Zone 2 History Was Made Last Week
Well, after nearly 19 years of QRV in ZL, Miriam gave me my first ever zone 02 contact. Thanks Miriam and Jeff! I would imagine that, because of the increased distance from VK, zone 02 would be even more difficult to work from there than from ZL. 73, Greg, ZL3IX WRT to Steve's comments, I am *very* surprised that few VK's have worked Zone 2. _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Blatant cheating using Remote Operation
Guys need to be more discriminatory when discussing remote operation. I use a remote installation, and have for years, but I abide by the DXCC rules which state that the Tx and Rx antennas have to be within 500 m of each other. Furthermore, this installation I designed and built myself, and I maintain myself, with great effort. This practice should NOT be equated with the practice of using a random Rx installation on the Net, probably not even in the same country as the operator using it. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2019-10-13 07:34, WW3S wrote: Good for you Rogeryou always hear about hams using remotes to work the dx, but they don’t usually say much when the dx uses a remote to hear them Sent from my iPad On Oct 12, 2019, at 1:21 PM, Roger D Johnson wrote: There is no way an organization such as the ARRL can prevent cheating in the DXCC program. It has to depend on the honesty of the hams involved. Yes..some people will cheat but I can't see how they can derive any satisfaction from that. Last year I worked VU2GSM on Top Band. I heard rumors that Kanti used remote receiving locations and, when asked, he freely admitted it. He's in my log but I didn't claim credit for that contact. YMMV! 73, Roger N1RJ _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: An oddball question about a BOG.
My own experience is that a fence does not degrade the Bev pattern too much as long as the Bev is sufficiently high above the fence wire. I mount my wires about 3 m above the fence. I have never modelled an inductively-loaded Beverage, but my intuition is that it will not perform any better than an unloaded wire of the same physical length. The pattern of the Bev is generated by virtue of the fact that it is excited by different parts of the wave front, the relative phases of which depend on the direction from which the front arrives. If the wire itself is too short this desirable decorrelation is not achieved. At HF we can inductively load a yagi to make its elements physically shorter at resonance, but we still need the same spacing between the elements if we want to duplicate the radiation pattern of the unloaded yagi. I suspect that the Beverage would behave in a similar fashion. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2019-08-25 05:52 a.m., Mike Waters wrote: As long as the fence is pointed in the right direction. :-) www.w0btu.com/Beverage_antennas.html#Misc_Beverage_antenna_notes On this page, there are some links to ZL3IX (?) experiences with his Beverages mounted at different heights above metal fences. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: BOG near noisy powerline on 160
If I were in your situation I would go for the smaller antenna further away from the line. I would then take a sample of noise from the line using an antenna right under it and use the sample to try and cancel out some of the noise on the Rx antenna, à la WA1ION. See here http://www.pa4tim.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/passive_bb_phasing.pdf 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2019-02-09 05:31 a.m., 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? _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Three Port Rx antenna splitter
Hi Frank, I don't know anything about 3-way splitters, but if I were in your situation I think I would sacrifice 1 dB and make a 4-way splitter using 3x 2-way splitters. 2-way is much more commonly used and documented, and quite probably easier to achieve than 3-way. The 4th port is simply terminated in a load, of course. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2018-12-25 02:00 a.m., Frank VO1HP wrote: Does anyone have a schematic for a 75ohm three port splitter using #73 binocular cores. I have those on hand. Need to feed beverage to two TS590SG’s and Skimmer SDR in CQWW160. 73 Frank VO1HP _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Rather use N-type (was Re: The answer to PL-259 soldering/reliability problems)
I continue to be mystified by the fact that the amateur radio community insists on using PL259 connectors. N-type are much more reliable (used by professional communicators), low cost, can be crimped easily and quickly and have a well-defined impedance right up into GHz frequencies. Back in 2005 I started having contact problems with the connector on my SteppIR 3-element. There was a thin layer of oxide that built up around the centre pin of the PL259. I had had similar problems with other connectors around my shack. I decided to change my entire station, including the SteppIR, to N-type, and have never looked back. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 06.12.2018 13:29, Steve Ireland wrote: > G'day > > About five years I discovered this fool-proof and brilliant way to solder PL-259s invented by Bill Maxon N4AR who taught this to Tim K3LR. Tim uses this method throughout his contest station and did a great job of documenting it - see http://www.k3lr.com/engineering/pl259/ [1] and it has totally changed my angry and worried attitude towards soldering PL-259s. > > The key component is Amphenol 83-1SP connectors. The connector body is silver and the shell is nickel and you can buy them from Mouser or DX Engineering. > > Vy 73 > > Steve, VK6VZ > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus [2] > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband [3] - Topband Reflector Links: -- [1] http://www.k3lr.com/engineering/pl259/ [2] https://www.avast.com/antivirus [3] http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Bad Frequencies and Loop Pre-amps
Hi John, Is that harmonic generated at the Tx site, or in non-linearities close to the victim receivers? Of course, the answer to that question does not affect any recommendation on frequencies to be avoided on TB, but we should be careful about blaming broadcasters for every spurious signal heard on the band. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2018-11-14 03:44 a.m., John Farrer via Topband wrote: Roger As Lee KX4TT stated, a harmonic on 1818kHz is a problem for us in southeast England in the vicinity of the Brookmans Park transmitter for Radio 5 on 909kHz. 73 John G3XHZ Sent from my iPhone On 13 Nov 2018, at 13:24, Roger Kennedy wrote: I have never received ANY harmonics or intermod products from any of our British Medium Wave (AM) broadcast stations. That's at several different QTHs, some of which were quite near the transmitters. (and never heard of anyone else having issues) They have to meet VERY high specs . . . but also, most are less than 1kW ! (one of the stations I worked for had such a good Tx site - a salt marsh - they had to turn the power down to 150 watts!) Even the very big ones are usually only 10kW. So no need to avoid the 9kHz harmonics as far as us Brits are concerned! What IS a problem is all the Russian Navigation Beacons in the Baltic that pretty much wipe out everything between 1810 and 1820 kHz, so please try and avoid that part of the band if you want to work any EU ! (they sometimes turn them all off . . . but they are on most of the time.) The pre-amp I use on my 6ft 160m receiving loop is actually the design MFJ use in their 1026 noise canceller (I have a 1025 but copied their preamp design, as it uses the same pcb) . . . I get no intermod during contests, even though many EU stations are 45dB over S9 ! Roger G3YRO _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Extreme skewing
I thought the group might be interested in the following. For the past 15 years during southern half summer, I have held 160 m skeds at my sunset with my UK friends (and other W Eu). The success rate has varied from year to year, but when a QSO is achieved, the signals almost always pass over the Caribbean. Directional Rx antennas are used at both ends of the path, so the signal arrival azimuth can be determined fairly readily. The GC path is actually over southern South America, so the predominant path is skewed by around 45° at both ends. For the past two evenings the skewing was extreme. John G3XHZ and John G3PQA both reported my signals arriving from the NW, and all G signals were also arriving from the NW at my end. This includes G3OLB, who is currently using an omni Rx antenna, so can't determine the arrival direction at his end. The skewing at my end was so extreme, that I thought we had suddenly switched to short path, which would also be possible in theory, but has never happened before. Normal short path to ZL from the UK is NE, however, so that is not the answer in this case. It appears that signals from the UK were passing over OX, northern VE and then being bent around to appear from W of N in ZL. The trajectory over the middle part of the path is pure conjecture, though. In the 15 years in which I have been taking part in these skeds, I have never previously experienced this phenomenon. 73, Greg, ZL3IX _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Beverage F/B using oscillator
Hi Ashraf, The rule of thumb I use is 2D^2 /lambda, where D is the largest dimension of the antenna. So if your Bev is 320m long you need to be over a km away. If only 160m long you need to be 300 m away. 73, and I hope to work you one of these days at my SR. Greg, ZL3IX On 2018-10-09 09:07 p.m., Ashraf Chaabane wrote: Hi All, I used a 1.843 oscillator to check NA beverage F/B. The mesurements were taken 160m away from each end of the antenna. Noise level was constant. I had 4 dB difference between front and back signals. Is that what I should expect? Is 1 wavelength distance enough to do this experience? This will be repeated with different terminations and I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. It will also be applied on the newly installed BOG to determine optimum length. Tnx and see you on the air! _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Beverage selector switch via IP
Hi Herb, A simple microcontroller equipped with an ethernet phy (such as RasperryPI) is what I use. It needs a bit of coding, but Python is pretty simple for that. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2018-07-10 11:22 a.m., Herbert Schoenbohm wrote: Looked all over for one of these so my Beverages could be selected remotely via an IP address. Is there such a device marketed anywhere? Herb, KV4FZ _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: 160m polarization and elevation angles
Hi Carl, OH8X was active for some months when I was making Qs with Eu, in particular OH. I never heard them at all, although I have no idea of exactly when they were QRV. My guess is that if their monster antenna had produced results, they would have been a lot more active. We can certainly draw inferences from that! In contrast, I have made many Qs with other guys running good stations with vertical Tx, such as OH2MA and OH3XR. In fact if there is any propagation at all between ZL and Eu, OH is often one of the first areas to benefit. Conclusion - OH-ZL is not a particularly difficult path, and if the OH8X antenna had been effective, I would have easily heard them. 73, Greg, ZL3IX It would have been great to have had the OH8X 160m Yagi up for a long time so RBN could have been used to compare it to nearby vertical antennas. It would have shown how much of this theory is applicable in the real world. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Fwd: Re: Belize-VK/ZL possibilities
My point was as follows. Apart from the launch point in V3, the entire path is over salt water. This means that any ground reflections will happen with the minimum loss. Even with several hops, this element of path attenuation will therefore be minimal. My main observation is that QSO success, or otherwise, is likely to depend on Rx capabilities at the V3 end. Since it is a tropical location, QRN is likely to be significant. Directional Rx antennas will be a distinct advantage. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2018-02-08 06:08 a.m., Grant Saviers wrote: One issue is probably the orientation of the Belize beach vs path to VK/ZL. A vertical on the beach within .7 wavelengths of the tide line has pronounced gain seaward. That gain is at the expense of the land side pattern. For an antenna on a pier the pattern doesn't get symmetrical until a wavelength or so from the beach. The seaward pattern has extremely low peak gain angle, great for DX, and the land side about the same peak elevation as over "average ground." So "entirely over the Pacific Ocean" is the wrong way from what I saw when visiting there. Finding some salt water a dozen wavelengths long towards the west might make a huge difference to VK/ZL. See my article in QST June, 2016. Grant KZ1W On 2/6/2018 20:45 PM, Greg - ZL3IX wrote: Having noted that my answer to Iain's post has not appeared on the Reflector, I am trying again. Forwarded Message Subject: Re: Topband: Belize-VK/ZL possibilities Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2018 10:58:31 +1300 From: Greg - ZL3IX To: topband@contesting.com Hi Iain, I worked V31YN in Jan 2007. Is that QSO one of the two in Clublog? No, I don't think it is a tricky path at all, being almost entirely over the Pacific Ocean. Your problem will not be Tx, with an antenna over sea water, but, unless you make a special effort with Rx, you may have a problem hearing in a noisy tropical country like V3. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2018-02-03 09:43 a.m., iain haywood wrote: Hi, I'm off to Belize again for the commonwealth contest in March but after the event I plan to make use of the pier over seawater for top band and some 60M. An inverted-L over seawater is planned. On checking clublog it says there have been only TWO QSO's ever between VK/ZL and V31 on 160M. Is this a tricky path ? I assume its because of high thunderstorm noise in the tropics. What do think of my chances with 100W and CW & some FT8 (shock--horror!) Iain G4SGX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Fwd: Re: Belize-VK/ZL possibilities
Having noted that my answer to Iain's post has not appeared on the Reflector, I am trying again. Forwarded Message Subject:Re: Topband: Belize-VK/ZL possibilities Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2018 10:58:31 +1300 From: Greg - ZL3IX To: topband@contesting.com Hi Iain, I worked V31YN in Jan 2007. Is that QSO one of the two in Clublog? No, I don't think it is a tricky path at all, being almost entirely over the Pacific Ocean. Your problem will not be Tx, with an antenna over sea water, but, unless you make a special effort with Rx, you may have a problem hearing in a noisy tropical country like V3. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2018-02-03 09:43 a.m., iain haywood wrote: Hi, I'm off to Belize again for the commonwealth contest in March but after the event I plan to make use of the pier over seawater for top band and some 60M. An inverted-L over seawater is planned. On checking clublog it says there have been only TWO QSO's ever between VK/ZL and V31 on 160M. Is this a tricky path ? I assume its because of high thunderstorm noise in the tropics. What do think of my chances with 100W and CW & some FT8 (shock--horror!) Iain G4SGX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Stew dates - before Christmas, please!
Unfortunately holding the event before the holiday period means that I will not be able to take part, because it happens mainly on Sunday night in the ZL time zone, and I have to work the Monday. Until I retire I will only be able to take part when it's held during the holiday period. Greg ZL3IX On 2016-12-22 04:39 a.m., Tim Shoppa wrote: Holding the Stew this in a weekend before Christmas, rather than between Christmas and New Years, seems to have substantially boosted EU participation this year. This is over and above the very nice conditions we had to EU. I contrast with some other recent years where the Stew was held between Christmas and New Years and I felt conditions were fine to EU but there were very very few EU callers. I'm not sure that the contesting calendar will always support the choice of a pre-Christmas date. This past weekend the Stew, the Winter RAC, and the OK RTTY contests were all on the same weekend and the Stew seemed to have done just great in terms of turnout. Tim N3QE _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Strange resistance between Beverage ground rods
Hi Herb, I came across this problem when I first started using Beverages in 2008. I have come to the conclusion that the DC resistance measurement is corrupted by electrochemical effects between the grounds, ie potential differences. I then changed to an AC measurement. I made a simple 100-or-so Hz oscillator using an op amp and I put this between the two wires in parallel at the feed and the ground. There is a 100 ohm resistor in series. I measure the AC voltage across the Bev and the voltage across the resistor and thus deduce a loop resistance through the ground. I have been doing this measurement once a month ever since, irrespective of whether I think the performance on 160m has changed or not. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2016-11-16 03:20 a.m., Herbert Schoenbohm wrote: I have reflection transformers at the end of every two wire Beverages which I try to test by measuring the wires on the feed end. I remove the transformer from the two wire WD1-A and check the resistance between the two wires which tells me that through the reflection transformer I have continuity. It measures about 40 ohms wire to wire, this is done when I notice any performance change of the antenna. Now come the next test that baffles me completely. When I measure from either wire to my ground rods alone, to see what the return resistance is, I get reading in the vicinity of 20K across the 900 foot run. I understand that if the reading was very low it would defeat the whole Beverage principle. But is 20K Ohms reasonable, very good, or marginal? I use three foot foot rods at either end and when I pull one out yesterday before moving it the bottom 1/4 was moist and muddy. That Southern end of several reversible Beverages is located about 100 feet or less from a salt marsh or salt pond. I also have to such antennas made up of ladder line a DX Engineering components. They all appear to be working well even though large grass has reach and covered portion of some of them. But my question is what is a reasonable or good return ground resistance for a 600' or 900' Beverage. I haven't found any sources of information expect the saying that the higher Resistance the better. Is this correct? Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: YC0LOW SK
Very sad news, indeed. When I first became interested in 160m as ZS5K back in 1997, Jo was my first ever contact on the band. He put a cracking signal into Durban. Condolences to Jo's family. 73, Greg ZL3IX (ex ZS5K) On 2016-09-29 05:02 a.m., Preston Smith wrote: Very sad news, following from Joz, YD1JZ. Pres/N6SS -Original Message- From: yd1jz@gmail.com Sent: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 22:22:26 +0700 To: n...@inbox.com Subject: YC0LOW SK Hello OM Pres, Hope you are doing fine. Would like to inform that our dear friend OM Jo - YC0LOW has passed away this afternoon in Jakarta at 10:30 hrs UTC. Please kindly inform as well this sad news to Top Banders community as Indonesia amateur radio is really missing one of our good brother who indeed have dedicated his life in 160 M. Thanks for your assistance. Best 73 Joz YD1JZ _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: DXE NCC-1 phasing box
Hi guys, I hope you will forgive me for adding to a thread that the moderator has requested be shut down, but all the traffic on this happened around 2 AM while I was in bed. My own view is that anyone intending to make a business in the field of amateur radio needs to understand the domain and the ethos. In our case part of our 'excuse' for having our licences is that we are carrying out self training in the field of communication. Refusing to supply a schematic for a piece of kit that is intended for ham radio use, is contrary to ham spirit, in my opinion. About a decade ago I designed my own 8-circle system. It was slightly different from the DXE version, in that only four of the elements were active at any one time. The four chosen were the ones giving a broadside-endfire configuration in the desired direction. I published my design in the national journal in NZ, and one of the guys in G-land with a website kindly put the article on his site for all to see (thanks John). In the event that anyone would have wanted to manufacture such a system for sale, I would have allowed this, but I would have insisted that they publish the schematic. There are those who design and build their own kit, those for whom it is too complex and prefer to buy ready-made (this group is the main source of income for the equipment manufacturers), and those in the middle who will buy kit and modify it. Maybe someone in this last group will have a good idea for an improvement and advance the art by doing so. Power to their arm, and please give them the schematic to help them on their way. I have an excellent amplifier from SPE in Italy, and I have had the same argument with SPE. Now, how many hams are going to copy the schematic and make their own SPE amp? Any other organisation wishing to copy the SPE design and reproduce it for profit, will reverse engineer it without the schematic being available. SPE needs to understand the domain in which they choose to engage in business and respect its ethos, and so does DXE. 73 from ZL Greg ZL3IX. On 2016-09-24 01:51 a.m., Rob Atkinson wrote: Hello, I am trying to set up a DX Engineering receiving antenna phasing box but there appears to be something wrong with it and I need to troubleshoot it. The manual I have does not have a schematic for it. If anyone has one I'd appreciate getting a copy. I'll cover postage etc. Thanks 73 Rob K5UJ _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Am I the only one in step?
So far I have remained silent on this topic, although I do have a very strong view, as follows. I can understand the need for SSB operators to 'leak' downwards into the CW exclusive part of the band during a contest. I would even say take over two thirds of the CW only segment and come down as far as 1823. But please leaves us the bottom 10 kHz to use. Anything else is just plain disrespectful and rude. Over the weekend, I was trying to keep my nightly CW sked with G stations. We decided to try 1811, but after a couple of minutes it was taken over by some US SSB contester, and we had to give up. I stayed QRT for the rest of the weekend. 73, Greg, ZL3IX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: [Bulk] Best wire antenna for roof top location
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.. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Use of Remote Receivers During 160 Meter Contests
You are making the assumption that those using remote receivers have not worked hard and long to make them work, Larry. That's untrue in a lot of cases and an unfair judgement as far as many of us are concerned. I have spent many hundreds of hours developing my remote station, not to mention the maintenance. Some guys are lucky enough to have the cash to buy large tracts of real estate, and some of us are not. I am in the latter camp, but I can pay a local farmer a small rent for the privilege of using a part of his land for some Beverages. Do you think you deserve more merit just because you happen to be lucky enough to own your own property? I don't think so. Don't underestimate the ingenuity required to bring the signals back home, either. I use a duplex 70cm FM link to do that, not the internet. An awful lot of work went into designing the link as well. The remote site is solar powered, as there is no AC supply available. I designed the solar charger, and manage the power budget at the site to make sure that it will run a whole night on a charge. A lot of work went into that, too. The day any contest tries to put me into a separate category from you, just because I happen to be using a remote Rx site, will be the day I stop participating in that contest. By all means put users of the subscription sites into a separate category, but not those of us who have put in the effort into building the sites ourselves. Greg ZL3IX On 2015-03-16 08:49 a.m., Larry via Topband wrote: use of remote receivers should be allowed but only in its own class. many of us have worked hard and long to make our present locations into a presentable 160 meter contest site. it would be absolutely unfair to have to compete with remote receivers. why not use "WEBSDR.ORG" and be done with it? larry, n7dd DXCC honor roll #1 (mixed, phone) WAZ 160 meters -Original Message- From: Victor Goncharsky To: Topband Sent: Sun, Mar 15, 2015 7:09 pm Subject: Re: Topband: Use of Remote Receivers During 160 Meter Contests For us, who live in the cities with QRM level S9+20, remote summer house RX site like VO1HP's is a must for low band work. Воскресенье, 15 марта 2015, 15:03 -04:00 от John Crovelli : Mark, Unless others speak up, N2NT is inclined to change the rules and allow remote RX systems. So the time is NOW to make your thoughts known on the reflector. 73, John From: pa...@home.nl To: w...@hotmail.com; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: Use of Remote Receivers During 160 Meter Contests Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2015 19:42:38 +0100 Well said. Thank you! 73 Mark, PA5MW _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Missing K1N 160m QSO records just uploaded to Clublog
A pirate would have done pretty well to work ZL! 73, Greg ZL3IX On 2015-02-07 06:58 a.m., Tree wrote: KV4FZ reported that K1N sounded like K1N during this night - so I am pretty sure it was not a pirate. Hopefully - this will get resolved at some point soon. Just good to know I am not alone. Thanks. Tree N6TR On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 9:53 AM, Art Snapper wrote: Ditto. Wondering about Pirates of the Caribbean. On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 12:52 PM, Bud Semon N7CW wrote: Mine neither. 1027Z on 4 Feb. 73, Bud N7CW On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 10:46 AM, Tree wrote: This is good news - but still not seeing my call or ZL3IX who worked him just before me. QSO was around 0930 on 4 Feb UTC. Others??? Tree N6TR On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 9:40 AM, Lloyd Berg N9LB wrote: All, They just uploaded the missing K1N 160m QSO records to Clublog site a few minutes ago. ~ 7000 entries! ... including my missing 160m QSO :-) 73 Lloyd - N9LB _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: NE7D loaded tower
Well, just to contradict all the nay-sayers who replied to this post, I would like to say that I have been using my SteppIR 3-element as top loading for 11 years without the slightest hint of a problem. I did, however, take the precaution of grounding all the elements to the boom before ever applying any RF. On the parasitic elements I soldered a wire to the mid point of the brush, fed it out through a hole I drilled in the bottom of the motor housing, and connected it to the boom. On the driven element I soldered a wire to the ground connection of the balun, and again fed it through a hole and then on to the boom. I did post some photos of these modifications on the SteppIR user group in 2005, but they have probably been archived by now. There was absolutely no detectable change in the antenna behaviour after these modifications. I checked SWR and observable F/B quite carefully, and there was no discernible difference between before and after. (I was not expecting there to be any). Not only does the antenna add good top loading, but it is quite neat to be able to tune the match to different parts of 160, simply by changing band on the SteppIR. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2015-01-30 06:07 a.m., Tree wrote: I spent yesterday loading NE7D's tower on 160 meters and thought I would share the results here as a data point. His tower is about 75 feet of Rohn-25 with a SteppIR DB18E on top. You can see a picture of it here: http://www.kkn.net/~tree/misc_pictures/NE7D-DB18E.jpg Rocky put down about 15 radials and I spent the afternoon trying different gamma match attach points. We had a 600 pf variable cap at the base. My initial attach point was around 55 feet - which in the end - might have been just fine - but was not producing any good results initially. I moved it down to around 45 feet and still had no luck. My next step was to put a loading wire on top of the tower. I made one about 55 feet long and this did change things. I did find I had a very nice 80 meter antenna now - being able to move the resonant point most anywhere on 80 I wanted. I then increased the length of the loading wire to about 65 feet and put a second one up going the opposite direction. I also put a gamma attach point up around 65 feet and tried that. The results were better - as I was able to get a good match around 2.1 MHz - but not lower. I decided to increase the loading wires out another 12 feet or so - probably bringing them close to 75 feet each - but things were still not very good. Just for fun (or out of desperation) - I hooked up the 45 foot gamma match wire again - and VOILA!! I was able to get a 1.2:1 SWR anywhere I wanted at the bottom of the band. The 1.5:1 SWR points were about 20 or 25 kHz away from the sweet spot. So - my conclusion - even with the SteppIR stretched out to the 20 meter position - it is not offering much in the way of top loading. Perhaps there is a way to modify it to connect the parasitic elements to ground to help with this - but this might be tricky as this model allows any of the 3 elements to be driven. Our gold standard was a wire Rocky had up in the trees that he was using on 160 meters previously. It was actually a pretty good looking antenna - with about 70 feet vertical and then some similar length horizontal.. The new antenna seems to be a couple of S-units better so far - so I think it is working as it should. I hope this information proves to be useful for others. Keep an ear out for an improved signal from NE7D on topband. Tree N6TR _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: EP6T
I have heard them on 160m from ZL, on just one morning. They were only just above the noise, but a QSO would have been possible, maybe with some repeats, in non-expedition conditions. It was early on in their operation, so no chance of getting through the Eu wall. The other mornings they have not even been QRV on 160m in the 2-3 hours between their SS and our SR, and this is in spite of all the hype about being "QRV on the low bands between our sunset and sunrise"! This is the most disappointing part for me. 73, Greg, ZL3IX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: SP test - Awful condx
Hi all, I think we had the worst prop of any SP test since I have been in ZL. In the first darkness period (15z to 1650z there was not a single USA or KH6 station audible. Usually there are several left coasters on around their sunrise. Just 2 JAs, 3 VKs and 2 ZLs in that session. Things improved slightly in the next period, from 08z onwards, and I managed to put just a handful of USA in the log, but it was really hard going, and I decided to throw in the towel at 0945z (Not prepared to give up a night's sleep for that kind of misery!). All signals were down, and the weaker ones were just not audible. An exception was Milt N5IA, who was a genuine 599 when he replied to my call. I did also manage to work KV4FZ at 579, but only after about the 10th pass across the band, and then calling Herb for nearly 10 minutes before he heard me. Only 6 in the log in total, namely K7CA, WA7LNW, N5IA, W1AW/3, KV4FZ, W7RN. Heard, but didn't even pause their CQ's for me, HS0ZIA, WD5R, N3QE, K5MR, K0DI, N2KW, N5OT, K1LT, plus a few others. I won't be putting an entry for this one! (Lew if you want a check log, I can forward it to you, for what it's worth) 73, Greg, ZL3IX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Anyone purchased the ARRL book on Short Antennas for 160???
I think I reviewed it for our national magazine some years back. I don't think you will find much in there that isn't in ON4UN's book. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2014-01-22 04:29 a.m., James Rodenkirch wrote: This is the title, Short Antennas for 160 Meter Radio - anyone read through it? I have ON4UN's book from a couple of years back so wonder if there is anything worthwhile in that ARRL version ... thank you, in advance, for thoughts..Jim Rodenkirch K9JWV _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: [CQ-Contest] Stew Perry Streaming Audio
Hi Steve, I'm afraid that if remote receivers were not allowed, I would not be taking part. That is the only way that I can do ham radio nowadays, due to planning restrictions. I can assure you that, although the technologies are different from those used in the old days, getting a remote station to work properly, requires just as much design skill and ingenuity as the old timers used to set up their stations. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2013-12-29 08:39 a.m., Steve London wrote: Rule 6 of the Stew Perry is a joke in so many ways. "enjoy the contest the way we did back when Stew Perry was around" contradicted by: "We do realize band scopes can show that someone is on 1829.3 - but since they don't tell you who is actually there, that is okay." "Therefore, remote receivers are okay as long as they are not more than 100 kM from your transmitter site." How many remote receivers and band scopes did W1BB use ? 73, Steve, N2IC On 12/28/2013 10:59 AM, Stan Stockton wrote: Hans, First - I know there was no il-intent. Others have done it without public complaints. However, ask yourself how fair it would be for one of the competitors in WRTC to be allowed to announce to the world that their callsign (not operators calls) would be streaming live audio during the IARU next year. Is there a difference? Would it be a stretch to see an advantage over the others ? How is that different? Rules say "Boy and his radio" (!) and also "any communication with humans other than exchanges that take place over the air can be considered assistance". Example of exception for asking wife for sandwich is given. Assuming a sidetone of some sort is audible, would it be any different if the operator were allowed to call people on the phone (one way communication) to tell them he hears them and what report he is sending? I can't see any difference other than a different, non-radio means of communicating. I think we have all gotten to the point of mixing up in our own heads what is radio and what is not. The Internet is a great thing and can be used in conjunction with ham radio to add enjoyment. However, listening to audio via Internet or telephone is not radio. Recording the entire contest with side tone and posting it for everyone to listen to after the contest is over is a fine idea. With no malice but a very strong opinion... 73...Stan, K5GO Sent from Stan's IPhone On Dec 28, 2013, at 11:11 AM, "Radio K0HB" wrote: What a shame that you've abandoned the idea. I'm not 160-equipped in my RV but it would have been fun to listen in on the action, and it's a stretch to see this as an advantage over other competitors. 73, de Hans, K0HB/K7 On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 6:42 AM, Eric NO3M wrote: Since there seems to be too much concern over this, though no ill intent was intended, audio will not be broadcast. GL / 73 Eric NO3M On 12/28/2013 06:23 AM, Stan Stockton wrote: Eric, You made it clear what you were doing, and I am quite sure Clive understood. I think the logic behind his question has to do with whether it is within the spirit of the contest - especially this one. Let's say, as a result of the announcement or advertisement , 15 DX stations and 25 USA stations who are not even going to send in their log called you, just for fun and the novelty of it, so they could listen to their own signal at your end via Internet. What if some have enough QRM or QRN that they could only copy whether you came back to them by listening via internet? Fair to your competitors? It is cool, but I've always had a problem with this, regardless of what contest. 73...Stan, K5GO Sent from my iPad ___ CQ-Contest mailing list cq-cont...@contesting.com http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest ___ CQ-Contest mailing list cq-cont...@contesting.com http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Problem fixed
I decided to take a day off work to see if I could fix my TB Tx before leaving for a week away. I duly bought a length of acetal rod, as suggested here, and had my friend turn it down to size for me. Replacing the old insulator was quite a marathon, for reasons I won't go into here. While reassembling the choke I have wound in the control cable for my SteppIR yagi, I saw what the problem had been all along. I found a scorch mark on the hot side of the control cable where it had obviously touched the cold side of the stub mast. So although the insulator had bubbled quite badly, that was not in fact causing a problem at this stage. So in the end it took me all day, and cost me $150 (I had to replace the stub mast as I could not remove the old insulator) for something that I could have fixed in less than an hour, for nothing! I had been a bit careless when replacing the stub mast after storm damage a couple of months ago. One or two list members have made the assertion that I should abandon this top feed arrangement, and revert to a standard gamma match. One reply was quite emphatic. I am not going to do that, as I have proved by comparitive ground wave tests at 1 km, that the top feed is a couple of dB better. This has been verified over a long period with DX contacts as well. I believe the reason to be that my vertical is quite short, only 65 ft, and I cannot deploy a full set of radials. Feeding the top of the mast reduces the current in the radials, resulting in lower loss. The top feed idea came from a Rad Comm article by G3LNP in 2002. Once again, thanks for all the posts on insulating materials. In spite of the fact that the insulator was not causing my immediate problem the bubbling in the old one cannot be healthy, and I am glad to have replaced it with something better. What's more, I now hope to be on in the Stew, as long as nothing else goes wrong in the next couple of weeks. 73, Greg, ZL3IX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Insulator problems
Many thanks to everyone who commented on the above. The consensus is that nylon is a particularly bad choice of insulator for high field environments, even on Topband. Tomorrow I will be looking for an alternative that is available here in ZL. I think Delrin will be the choice, if available. 73, Greg ZL3IX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Insulator problems - attempt at attachment
_ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Insulator problems
The Tx antenna I have been using very successfully for the last 8+ years, is a top-fed vertical. This feed arrangement requires the yagi used for top loading to be insulated from the mast. I have been using a nylon insert between the two halves of the stub mast as my insulator. This morning I noticed high SWR, firstly only on high power, but then at any power level. Today I brought the mast down for inspection, and the only sign of trouble I can see is in the insulator, which has bubbled visibly. This may (or may not) be the problem, but I propose to change the insulator even if only to eliminate it as the culprit. I have a couple of questions for this group. 1) Does anyone know if I can upload a jpg file to contesting.com, so that guys can see what I am talking about? Tree, I guess I can't attach a photo to a post to the group? 2) I always thought that nylon was a pretty good dielectric, and did not expect problems, especially at 1.8 MHz. The gap in the insulator is 7.5mm, or about 0.3". I estimate that there will be around 2 kV across this gap. Is nylon perhaps not as good as I thought it was? 3) If I replace the nylon with Teflon, will I lose anything in mechanical strength? Unfortunately this problem means that I will not be able to enter the Stew. We are going away for a week for the festive season, next weekend, so won't have time to fix the issue. Comments welcome. 73, Greg, ZL3IX _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Verifying integrity of 75 ohm coax.
Hi Gary, if you have not made up the Time Domain Reflectometer in the ARRL Antenna Book, then now is a good time to do so. Disconnect the coax at the far and and terminate it 75, and then apply the TDR test. You will see not only whether the coax is OK, but if not OK, where the discontinuity is. There is a bit of an investment to make now, as making up the TDR may not be the quickest way to solve your immediate problem, but it will certainly save you time in the event of future occurrences. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2013-11-16 05:58 p.m., Gary Smith wrote: I need to isolate if a problem I am having is in a faulty 75 ohm coax (Remee RG6U flooded variety) where either a critter bit into the coax or a Snap-&-Seal 6QS connector failed, or an electronics issue is the culprit. What's my most expeditious way to prove if it is or is not the Coax? I'm going to hand feel all the coax tomorrow & see if there's any rodent ugly on it. If there's no bites, I'm not sure how to best test that for a defective braid issue. Idears? Thanks! Gary KA1J --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com _ Topband Reflector _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Beverage Woes
Hi Jim, One other effect that fools sensitive DMM's on their resistance scale, is the electrochemical voltage that gets developed between the ground rods used for Beverage antennas. I also experienced gross inconsistencies when trying to check for breaks using DC resistance checks. For the past few years I have been using a little op-amp oscillator, running at about 100 Hz. I put 100 ohms in series with the opamp output, and apply the signal across the terminated Bev. I then measure the AC mV across the Bev, and across the 100 ohm resistor, and calculate the AC resistance from that. This method has proved to be ultra reliable for detecting breaks in the wire. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2013-10-24 02:15 a.m., Jim Garland wrote: I have two bidirectional 720 ft beverages that use 450 ohm ladder line, oriented NE-SW and NW-SE. The ladder line is supported by 4x4 wood posts, about 7 ft above ground, spaced every 60 ft. The antenna works well, but has turned out to be a maintenance nightmare. My first mistake was to anchor the ladder line to the top of each 4x4 post using little plastic clamps (DX Engineering). Those lasted about a week before being pulled apart by the wind. I replaced them with wood pressure plates screwed down over the ladder line with 2" lag screws into the top of the posts. Those lasted about a year before cracking and splitting. The ladder line turned out to be very fragile. The plastic material gets brittle and cracks, and the wind causes metal fatigue and eventual failure of the strands. I've spent the past three afternoons patching up the beverages for the winter DX season and am only about half done.Yesterday, I thought I had everything fixed and only needed to phase the ladder line properly. I left one wire open and grounded the other wire at one end, and then used a DMM to identify the grounded wire. To my dismay I found an open circuit on both wires. A spent a couple of hours with a toner trying to find the break, but to no avail. Then, it occurred to me that my Fluke 87-V DMM may be giving me erroneous readings. I replaced the Fluke with my trusty Simpson 260 and discovered the wire was actually intact. Evidently, the Fluke's sensitive solid state ohmmeter circuit had been overloaded by the inductance/capacitance of the ladderline or possibly RF pickup. I should have known better from the get-go. So now, I've got one of my beverages working and will start repairs on the 2nd one. I've decided ladder line is a terrible choice for a beverage antenna, at least in New Mexico, where there is intense UV sunlight and windy Springtimes. My plan is to replace the ladder line with parallel strands of 12 AWG copperweld wire, with pass-through insulators on each 4x4 post, and the wire anchored at each end. I'll use turnbuckles to adjust the tension. I'm really tired of repairing the damn antennas, and my feet hurt from hiking back and forth to each end. 73, Jim W8ZR _ Topband Reflector _ Topband Reflector
Topband: E-mail for VE1ZZ
Does anyone have Jack's e-mail address - it's not on QRZ? I'm sure he answered my CQ last night, but didn't come back when I replied. Just wondering if he lost me or had a rig problem. If Jack doesn't want his contact details to be known, yet someone knows how to get hold of him, please pass this on if you think appropriate. 73 Greg ZL3IX _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: My Turn For a Brain Pick - Sanity Check
Hi Jim, Have you tried measuring the current in the parasitic when connected? 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2013-06-07 09:29 a.m., Jim Brown wrote: I'm building a simple 2-el vertical array for 40M, with one element driven against radials, and a passive reflector with an equal number of radials. NEC predicts 2.7 dBi over lousy ground at 15 degrees, with peak gain of 3.6 dBi at 25 degrees elevation, and F/B of about 8 dB. We've got this set up in W6GJB's pasture, roughly 5 miles S of me, with me centered on the main lobe, and I'm looking signal strength with my K3 reading relative dB (and with AGC turned off). Our signal is 35 dB above the noise level with Glen's KX3 at 3 watts. Terrain is hilly between us, and we have 16 radials on both elements. We're making three measurements -- with the array as designed, with the reflector shortened by 3 ft (which should make it director) but still connected to the radials, and with the reflector simply insulated from the radial plate. What I hope to see if the antenna has the predicted directivity is 3 dB difference between the designed array and the reflector floating, and 6-8 dB difference between the array as designed and reversed. What I see instead is the same signal strength for all three configurations within 0.2 dB. So the question is, why? A vertical plot in NEC shows the F/B at all elevation angles, all the way down to 1 degree and up to 80 degrees. 73, Jim K9YC All good topband ops know how to put up a beverage at night. _ Topband Reflector All good topband ops know how to put up a beverage at night. _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: New ARRL Book
Hi Eddy, I did buy this book some months back. For some reason I don't find it in my shelf now - must have lent it to someone. I seem to remember I was a bit disappointed, and I think it was because of the lack of treatment of the top-loading options. Top feed, which is what I use, is not mentioned at all. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2013-02-27 01:10 a.m., Eddy Swynar wrote: Hi Guys, I just noticed what is to me a new ARRL book on 160-meters, i.e. "Short Antennas for 160 Meter Radio"... Has anyone purchased & read it yet...? If so, is it a worthwhile acquisition, or merely a re-hash of past articles available in back issues of QST magazine...? The price is certainly right, anyway... Thanks in advance, & my vy ~73~ de Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ _ Topband Reflector _ Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: J6
Hi Carl, I was in e-mail contact with N7QT during his J6 operation, which finished a couple of days ago. You are right, the antenna had to be shared with 160m and 80m, and for some reason could not be switched during the night. Hence, they had to commit to one band or the other before sundown. I found the operation on 160 very spotty, almost not really serious. I guess it was mainly a holiday operation. I had several "skeds" with them. On one occasion the sked didn't happen because the other op decided he wanted 80m that night. On another occasion, they operated on 1837, up in the digital modes segment, and I didn't even tune as high as that. On the last night apparently their antenna fell down, and they found it on the ground in the morning. Apparently they thought the band was a bit quiet - I wondered to myself how it was that they didn't notice something wrong with the SWR! All in all a bit of a non-event from my point of view. 73, Greg ZL3IX On 2012-12-15 12:19 a.m., Carl Jonsson wrote: Anybody hrd J6 /N7QT on 160? Heard him on 80 on Dec 11th, but since then nothing. Any news? 73 Carl SM6CPY ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
Re: Topband: ZS4PB -SK
Sad news Bernie. I remember "Push Button" very well, when I was ZS6BPL and ZS5K. Please pass on my condolences to his family. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2012-11-09 02:28 a.m., Bernie van der Walt wrote: Sad news. Pieter Botha [86] passed away last night 7 Nov 2012 at 18Z ZS4PB, widely known as The African Cowboy, was one of Africa's best known DXer's in the last 60 years. His health deteriorated rapidly in the last few months and he and his family moved to a care centre in Stella, north of Vryburg just two weeks ago. He spent a lot of his radio time on topband so I think it is appropriate to mention his passing here where some of his old friends may still "reside". He will be missed. I will attend his funeral on Saturday at 09Z on the farm. I will relay all messages from his ham radio friends to his wife and children. Regards Bernie, ZS4TX ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
Topband: ZL Digi Now defunct (officially)
Having not heard our digi for a while, I decided to do a licence check on the website of the licensing authority here in ZL. The Digi's licence for 1818.5 kHz was cancelled a few months back. While it was a bit of a nuisance for us here in ZL, I know there were many folks who used it for a propagation check between their own QTH and ZL. 73, Greg, ZL3IX ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
Re: Topband: Antenna analysers in close proximity to BC station.
Hi Tom, I used to have the same problem with my N2PK VNA, but then I put a switchable high pass filter in before the detector - after the reflection bridge that is. Provided that the VNA calibration is done with the filter switch in the same state as you intend to do the measurement, it has no effect on the readings at all. Don't know how easy it is to mess with the insides of the either the MFJ or Palstar, but if you can get at the detector the same solution should work. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2012-11-03 10:21 a.m., Tom Boucher wrote: A ham friend asked me to design a matching network for his 160 metre end fed quarter wave, so I asked him to provide an impedance reading using his MFJ-259B. I would then use the Berkley site (http://bwrc.eecs.berkeley.edu/Research/RF/projects/60GHz/matching/ImpMatch.html ) to provide the necessary values for an 'L' network, as I have done many times at my own station. The readings he provided were total nonsense and quite erratic, so we concluded his MFJ-259B was dead. He assured me that he always does a static discharge before connecting the MFJ. So I paid him a visit, taking along my Palstar Antenna analyser thing, which has always performed well at home, and what-do-you-know, the readings on that were also erratic, total nonsense and it behaved in a way I have never seen before. Than someone suggested the problem may be due to a 50Kw BC station on 909 KHz, situated less than 5 miles away, causing both antenna analysers to misbehave. We ended up with a good old-fashioned link coupled parallel tuned circuit with the antenna tapped a few turns up from the ground end. This works fine but he is power limited due to arcing across the tuning capacitor. So we would ideally like to revert to the 'L' network plan, but how to use the antenna analyser in the presence of a high BC station field. Anyone any ideas? 73 Tom G3OLB ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
Re: Topband: K6STI low noise receive loop
I tried one of these back in the late 90's, while active as ZS5K. Sure it cancelled most of the noise arriving from the horizon, but, then, most of the DX comes from there as well. I never heard anything worthwhile on it, and ditched it after a couple of weeks. 73, Greg, ZL3IX (ex ZS5K) ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: 2 Parallel Beverages
Hi Mike, I have not tried to run two Bevs like that, but I have tried to run one close to a wire fence. The best F/B I achieved was about 8 dB. I would think that the two scenarios would be very similar. 73, Greg ZL3IX On 2012-05-23 06:20 a.m., rfman45 wrote: > > > > For various reasons I am considering two single, parallel but 180deg > opposing direction beverages on the same supports rather than a single > switchable bidirectional beverage. The bevs would be separated by 12 to 18 > inches or so. I've read that parallel bevs present performance degradation > issues but has anyone had any experience with this type of setup versus the > traditional bidirectional beverage? Thanks for reading this and for any > thoughts you could offer. > Mike W2LO > ___ > UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: 9M0L
30 minutes of daylight overlap is not too much, and there should be a really good chance of a contact. I agree with Herb, starting at 1010z instead of bang on their SS at 1033z, would give him a real chance, especially if done over several days. I have had many good DX contacts 20 min before my SS. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2012-04-18 05:34 a.m., Steve London wrote: > Herb, > > You simply have no common darkness with 9M0L this time of year. > > KV4 sunrise: 1002Z > 9M0L sunset: 1033Z > > KV4 sunset: 2236Z > 9M0L sunrise: 2211Z > > What do you want them to do ? Change the declination of the earth's axis ? > > This is no different than the Kerguelen DXpedition a few years back. Those of > us > in New Mexico (and Texas) had no common darkness, and were shut out on 80 and > 160. > > 73, > Steve, N2IC > > On 04/17/2012 11:11 AM, Herb Schoenbohm wrote: >> Great! Yet Another Pacific DX-pedition that comes on TB 30 minutes >> after my sunrise in the Eastern Caribbean. >> >> I lost even a chance for 4 new ones this season because of the operators >> in the Pacific DX-peditions refusal to look at my Grey Line and >> concentrate on NA big guns. Oh well. >> >> Herb, KV4FZ >> St. Croix United States Virgin Islands >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On 4/17/2012 9:37 AM, Mike Greenway wrote: >>> We will pick up NA around 1826 today and will transmit 1811 after our SS >>> 1033U >>> TC. We worked 100 EUs but very few NA. >>> Please forward this message to Top Band Archives for US Top Banders. >>> >>> >>> Joe JA1LZR Spratly >>> >>> >>> ___ >>> 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: Receiver protection using PIN Diode technology
Hi Pete, The lower limit on the operation of a PIN diode, is not arbitrary, it's set by the carrier lifetime of the diode. The carrier lifetime has to be longer than the half cycle time at the frequency of operation, otherwise the diode stops acting like a PIN, and looks more like a regular diode. If that happens, you will thus lose the high IP3 characteristics. There are a few PIN diodes available with really long carrier lifetimes, but they are not very common. It may be easier for you to use a different mechanism for Rx protection, such as reverse biased Schottky diodes. You need to set the reverse biasing as a compromise between IP3, and providing adequate protection for the Rx. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2012-02-02 02:16 a.m., Pete Smith N4ZR wrote: > Quite by accident, in leafing through K9AY's new magazine I ran into a > reference to a surface-mount PIN diode > <http://www.skyworksinc.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=857> designed > specifically for receiver protection. It begins to block signals at +10 > dBM, and works by quite a different mechanism than conventional diode > limiters, resulting in pretty high IP3. The specified lower frequency > limit is 10 MHz, but I wonder if that is arbitrary > > Has anyone tried this approach to receiver protection on Topband? > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Where to place a preamp? Switching Beverages?
Hi Pete, The common mode issue doesn't really affect your decision. You will need to ensure that common mode pickup on the coax doesn't get into the antenna, which ever position you choose for your preamp. This is really important for low output antennas like the Pennant The decision on whether to place it at the Rx and or the antenna end, depends on the expected signal level at the antenna, the loss in the coax, and the sensitivity of your receiver. These are exactly the same parameters as you would use to make the decision at UHF and above. Here is an example. Typical band noise output from a small Rx antenna in a quiet location on 160m might be -127 dBm in a 500 Hz BW. A typical noise figure for an HF preamp might be 6 dB, putting the noise floor at -168 dBm/Hz, or -141 dBm in 500 Hz. With no additional coax loss, your Rx will degrade the available S/N by 0.1 dB. Now with 350 ft of good quality RG6, you can expect around 2 dB loss, dropping your antenna noise down to -129 dBm, still 12 dB above the Rx noise floor. The Rx now degrades the available S/N by 0.3 dB. Provided your coax loss is not much worse than this, I wouldn't worry about it and put the preamp where it's convenient for you, but I advise you to do the maths and insert the actual figures for your own situation. 73, Greg, ZL3IX "My choice is whether to put it at the antenna end, incurring the added complexity of sending 12V DC to it via the coax, or to put it in the shack. " ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: BAD OT:Phase noise *** RE: digital on 1838 +/-
Jeff, I suspect that you mean modern day synthesisers rather than specifically DDS. Actually, the DDS itself has quite low phase noise, better than -130 dBc/Hz with Analog Devices chips, especially if the internal multiplying PLL is not used in the reference path. 73, Greg. ZL3IX On 2011-12-31 06:30 p.m., Jeff Blaine wrote: > Phase noise is generated by the rig's LO and exists as a more broad band low > level signal. Issue is more significant with modern day DDS than with older > analog-type VFO sources. Guys who operate field day can relate... > > 73/jeff/ac0c > www.ac0c.com > alpha-charlie-zero-charlie > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: QSL Manager
Rick, the one guy I know who says that, is Pai, VU2PAI. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2011-12-25 06:19 a.m., rick darwicki wrote: > Anyone know the QSL manager that inserts a note saying he collects stamps? > I've been saving them, but forgot who wants them. > > Thanks > > Rick, N6PE > == > ___ > UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Weatherproof enclosures?
At my remote location, I have to mount direction switching relays in my boxes as well, so I need a bit more than an upturned bottle. I use cheap black plastic boxes, mount the connectors on the bottom, and put a plastic bag over the whole lot. True I have to check the bags every so often, and replace the odd one, but that's easy and they're cheap. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2011-04-24 00:45, Paul Staupe wrote: > I've put up several Beverages this Spring and am looking for suitable > weatherproof UV resistant plastic enclosures to mount the feed and > termination hardware. > > Does anyone have any suggestions? > > Best regards, > > Paul W0AD > ___ > UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Top Band INactivity from KG4
Hi Rag, Yes that would be nice. The other problem with the KG4 club station is that it suffers really high noise from a nearby electrical substation. The last guys to operate from there were hardly hearing US stations, let alone DX. Not sure how big the US area is at Guantanamo, but it would be nice if they could put up some Rx antennas a bit further away from that substation. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2011-03-05 05:57, la...@otterstad.dk wrote: > Many of us need KG4 on low bands, Anybody knows if the current visitors > have any lowband ambitions ? It certainly wouild be very welcome over here ! > > 73 Rag LA5HE > > -- ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Topband INactivity
Hi Eddy, I would say that activity has been fairly normal, but propagation has been above average, especially over the CQ 160 SSB test. My log book has far more entries in it than for any other year since being in ZL (we arrived 10 years ago) Last weekend, John G3XRJ and I even managed an SSB QSO - the first ever. Unfortunately prop seems to be pretty much back to normal now. 73, Greg ZL3IX On 2011-03-02 02:38, Diane and Edward Swynar wrote: > Good Day All, > > Is it just my singular imagination here, or has general activity on > 160-meters declined significantly in the past few weeks...? > > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Web SDR's and 'Cheating'
It seems wrong, and is wrong, Brendan. DXCC rules require the Rx antenna to be in the same country as the Tx antenna. Personally I think that there should also be a requirement that it is owned and maintained by the user. I am also a member of the SDR community (HPSDR) and I have had several disputes with the proponents of remote SDR receivers. I have requested that they put long time delays, say 15s, into the audio path, but they refuse to do so on the grounds that they don't want to "limit technical progress for the sake of a few dishonest operators". I must point out that I do not agree with this position, and would like to dissociate myself from this aspect of HPSDR activities. Are you able to put such a delay into your SDR receiver's audio path? If it runs on a PC you should have enough memory available to do so. This would stymie the cheaters fairly effectively. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2011-02-11 09:38, Brendan Minish wrote: > > What is the ethical position on this, it sure seems wrong to me > > > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Topband: Relays and Beverages
In the discussion during the week, the common wisdom seemed to be that it was better to switch at the transformer secondary, ie the low impedance side. Well, I thought it rather surprising that the isolaton across a relay would be bad enough to cause problems on 160m, so I decided to do a test of my own. I wound a couple of 9:1 impedance transformers on the FairRite binocular cores that I use for all my Bevs, and actually measured the isolation (in a 450 ohm system) across a sample of the relays that I use at my remote site. These relays are nothing special, except that they have gold flashed contacts to avoid the need for wetting current. Using my N2PK VNA, I found the isolation to be 53 dB. Now, in my opinion, that is more than enough, as it is not going to influence the RDF of a Beverage in the slightest. Even for the guys relying on a 30 dB null off the back, to get rid of some particular source of interference, it isn't a problem. As I said in a previous post, the advantage of switching at the high Z side, is that you only need a single ground point at the feed end. Now there could still be problems of interaction between the Bev wires themselves if they have to approach the relay box, but I do not believe that this would be a problem for two wires arriving from opposite directions, and may even be OK for 4 wires arriving at 90 deg to each other. Since I had the VNA out and running, I decided to measure the effect of using a common ground while switching at the transformer secondaries. Note that this is DEFINITELY not recommended practice, and the feed end transformers should be grounded using separate grounds spaced well apart. From experience, a typical single ground rod may exhibit quite a variable impedance to ground depending on soil type and humidity. I decided to assume a value of 100 ohms as a rough average. This particular test required me to wind a third transformer to simulate the feed from the idle antenna. With the secondary of the idle antenna open, the isolation (crosstalk due to common impedance coupling) was only 27 dB, compared with the 53 dB across the relay. If I shorted the secondary of the idle transformer (also "recommended practice" in other applications), the isolation actually dropped to 19 dB. This is because the choking effect of the transformer magnetising reactance had been removed. Now, figures like this will DEFINITELY affect the performance of the antenna. My conclusions are as follows:- 1) For just two antennas arriving from opposite directions, one can safely switch at the high Z point, and enjoy the advantage of only having to insert a single ground rod. 2) This MAY be true for 4 wires arriving at 90 deg to each other. 3) More wires would need investigation 3) If you MUST switch at the low Z point, you MUST use a separate ground for each antenna. I am not sure if the contesting.com site has a space for file uploads. If so I would be more than happy to post pdf's of my VNA traces. Can someone tell me? 73, Greg, ZL3IX ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: Switching Beverages
Hi Pete, As long as your relays have decent isolation, even for high impedances, it may even be better to switch the Bev wires themselves. That way you don't share the ground at the feed end, and avoid any common impedance coupling. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2011-02-02 11:29, Pete Smith wrote: > If I have a Beverage "hub" from which I want to run several of them, is > there any reason not to do the switching on the antenna side of the > matching unit, rather than on the coax side? Could save some > complexity, a couple of matching transformers at least. > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Topband: Fwd: Re: shunt fed tower (was: How to measure the resonance of a tower)
Hi all, My original answer to this (repeated below) doesn't seem to have been posted to the group. I have uploaded a file to the SteppIR group showing how I grounded the elements of my SteppIR for use on Topband. Those interested can go to the SteppIR user group and download the PDF. 73, Greg, ZL3IX Original Message Subject:Re: Topband: shunt fed tower (was: How to measure the resonance of a tower) Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 06:43:50 +1300 From: Greg - ZL3IX To: topband@contesting.com Why don't you want to bond the parastics? I have had mine bonded for 6 years with absolutely NO down side. 73, Greg, ZL3IX > Does anyone have a better idea than to bond the parasitic elements to > the boom? > > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: First attempt at beverage antenna, not working as expected
Hi All, I'm sure that the Epsom salts trick works well, but seems to require quite a high level of maintenance. At my remote Rx site I use multiple ground rods to terminate my Beverages. I find that using 3 rods, then bringing the termination resistance back up to the 500 ohm that it should be using a fixed resistor, works very well. The total termination resistance then stays fairly constant through both wet and dry seasons. I do also check the resistance from time to time, using a little portable 100 Hz AC source that I made. The source is connected to the opposite end of the wire from the termination, and can therefore be used to check the wire continuity as well. I have found that trying to make DC measurements is very unreliable, as the variable electrochemical effects alter the measurements quite considerably. The 100 Hz does NOT give the same results as using an RF source would, but at least it allows a stable reference to be noted, against which future measurements can be compared. 73 Greg ZL3IX On 2011-01-17 19:09, Mike Waters W0BTU wrote: > I forget how often, Mark. I think it depended on when rain washed it away. The > performance would fade, and a fresh application instantly restored it. > > ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: First attempt at beverage antenna, not working as expected
Hi Mark, 250ft is VERY short for a TB Beverage. You will get some F/B, but the front lobe will be very broad. Can you extend it at all, maybe asking some kind neighbours to use a bit of their land? 500 ft is really about minimum and 1000 ft even better. 73, Greg, ZL3IX On 2011-01-16 15:14, Mark Lunday wrote: > My first beverage, I was expecting better results. > > I could only roll out 250 feet of new, insulated 14 gauge stranded wire, but > I did get it consistently about 6 feet above ground. ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
