Topband: Open Solicitation for Pictures
Greeting Top Band Enthusiasts, It is not very often at least from the left coast that we can ragchew with DX stations. With lower signal levels at many times, deep QSB we are given the left overs from the higher population centers to the east. I would like fellow shared interest folks to send me a brief email with station pictures and picture or picture of antennas big or small. In turn I will create a gallery on my website to share with all. Please compress if possible. 5Mb pictures compressed to 300kb are just fine! Any are welcome! sincerely, Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Good conditions, Little Activity
I agree to a certain extent that there has been a bit less CW activity. I hope at some point the novelty of FT8 wears off, but I won't take that away from the guys having fun. Yawn. Early the second week of September and the last two evenings have seen a burst of activity and quite good opening to EU. That is 4 days out of 40 that have had decent propagation with no major geomagnetic activity. I get sleepy just thinking about it. I might also mention that the last two evenings have been almost lightning free beaming across North America towards EU. We are here and the lights are coming on. For us old school earthlings it takes a lot of work both on RX and TX to be heard and worked through the aurora ring of lights. Kudos to all those that accepted that challenge. Now if I were to be so lucky I would be further south and east or like Steve VE6WZ live under the aurora circle and thus have a path towards Europe. Last night I had a good opening to the Urals and the Baltic. Russian stations in UA1,3 and 4 sounded like locals. LY7M was good as usual and some good signals from Lapland, Sweden and Norway. Just a few Western EU were making it above the noise floor G3YRO was one. The opening was short lived, gone in an hour or two.The VK and ZL boys have been very active all summer helping to keep band alive. More JA stations are now showing up as well. If we could just teach the BY stations CW and station construction practices for 160m we would be in good shape! The good news is the end of cycle 25 is sounding a lot like it's predecessor. I'm definitely looking forward to the winter months. Anything is better than nothing. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Late Summer Surprise
Greetings 160m diehards, As we come into the 2020 Fall 160m season mother nature through some treats out last evening around 0300UTC. First in the log was John SM5EDX who holds the distinction of the last EU QSO of past season and the first QSO of the new Fall operating season. Also worked was Yuri EB5A. Neither were rag chew quality but made it through high levels of late summer QRN. It almost reminds of the 2006 season. Hopefully it will continue! 73 Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Windows 10 Update heads up
Regarding Windows 10 updates, who has not experienced the wrath of changed driver, relocated USB preferences and lost connections to devices. Unless you have the purchased professional product you can not turn of the updates all the way around. For those that upgraded you are limited to one and only one solution, going wireless and saying you have a metered connection. That in itself present a multitude of security issues for many unless you set up a VPN. Personally I would wish that those who are providing share ware would provide the source code so that needed or highly used programs could be complied for Linux or Apple devices. Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: 160m activity West Coast View
In Response, Yes, the trans equatorial propagation has been good but still thunder storm noise limited in North America. It can lower in late evening and in early morning hours. Len SM7BIC, sunset at AZ QTH is 02:42 UTC. Even then it takes the band an hour or so to settle down. My EU QSO from out west was April 15th. Will be looking for you in mid-September OM! VK, ZL and JA all had great signal levels this morning... 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: 160m activity West Coast View
Hi guys, 160m is not dead. In late evening hours these stations have been active: LU5YF, LU5FC, V31MA and ZP9ME. In the early morning hours the following are quite active: JA5DQH until 11:00 UTC. ZL1AZ, VK6LW, VK3HJ, 8C52I, VK3CCC and VK3CWB. These are great stations to check out antennas with RBN RX of VK4CT, ZL4YC and KH6LC. de Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Activity Topband Left Coast Perspective
Here is a report from West Coast morning Joe group. In some respect we are lucky. The seasonal thunderstorm noise is not real bad yet in the morning hours. I see a few eastern guys looking for OC and Asia in the morning so here is a list of the active stations on CW. JA1LZR Joe, is a regular and has very capable station. Aki, JA5DQH (1000 UTC) is active mostly for East coast sunrise and has great signal and great ears. Other JA include JR1RJZ, JE1TSD, JA4CQS and JH1RZY. AL7JX is active ZL1AZ is active and has very good RX capability. VK activity is very good in the morning. Signals are now not as strong as they were near the Spring Equinox but are workable most mornings. VK2WF, VK3HJ and VK6LW are regulars and have good RX capability. Add in VK3CWB and VK3NX for good measure. While these stations are not rare they have provided great signals for propagation analyzing. 12-15K km contacts in the morning are always fun. With many I have enjoyed working them as they improve their stations capabilities. Steve VE6WZ, AA6AA and myself spot most stations in the morning if they are calling CQ. You can find the above right now 1815-1828 frequency range. 73 and good DX Stay healthy! Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Herbert Schoenbohm, KV4FZ: Silent Key
It is saddening to hear that Herb has passed. He was my first real DX contact back in 1975 on 160 and filled the log so many more times over the years. Truly a great 160m contester and Dx'er of the likes of Stew, W1BB and Wally, W8LRL. I have long memories of working him with 100W in old days through LORAN QRM. RIP Herb, you will be dearly missed. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: (no subject)
From the left Coast point of view there has not been much happening. VK6LW, VK3HJ and VK6GZ show up in the log again and again in the morning sunrise period. Not bad for a 9649.9 mi (15530.0 km) path. Sprinkle with JA1LZR , HL5IVL and maybe DU6/N6SS when he gets on CW that is it. There has been a few SE Asia stations on but not on a regular basis. Literally a couple billion people with nothing to show. Our EU path is virtually gone unless you live much further south or at the northern extreme. Just not making it past the Midwest. The Spring and Fall equinox periods always provide some good trans-equatorial propagation. Missing zones 22 operators which could be quite possible if someone would just be there. Many Ham Radio stations today have upwards of $20-30K invested with radios, towers and antennas. It would seem to me that there just no desire anymore. We can not reinvent the wheel but there is certainly room for improvement. Will the last standing please turn of the lights...SK Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX CW Activity Night
The annual Spring time QRN has arrived. This does not mean the band is dead as it is always open somewhere. Here in Arizona the path to EU is almost gone with the last EU contact being John, SM5EDX. Some southern EU is possible but noise levels are making it more difficult. While I enjoy the chats on the Internet, sitting there and waiting for a new one is about as boring as FT8 to myself. Dxpeditions are grinding to a halt. So what do you do? Call CQ. A quick CQ this AM starting 30 min before sunrise yielded the following: KL7QWO (new one), JA6FFK, DU6/N6SS, AL7JX and VK3HJ. Nice! Kudos, to N7XM, VE6WZ, W0FLS, AA1K, VK6LW, HL5IVL and a host of JA that still transmit a wake up call. At least in these difficult times we have Ham Radio! 73 Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: [160] No NA Activity
160m has been open to EU from left coast the last two evenings. last night QRN levels from major thunderstorms off east coast diminished and I had a brief pipe line to EU Russia. Propagation from Arizona has been reasonable at sunset and into early evening before EU sunrise. After that the great wall goes up with aurora. In the log: SM5EDX, SM3EVR, PJ4/K5KG, RA3FL, SM4DHF, LA1MFA, OH3XR, LY30LY, JA6FFK, HL5IVL, RK4FD, RC3FL, G3PQA, JI1AVY and JA7SPJ. VK6GX and VK6LW have both been loud near sunrise. There were half dozen or so brave CW types on band last night during ARRL DX SSB contest By the way if you hear KN4RRQ on the band give him a call! Check out his QRZ page. QRP power using 1929 vintage breadboard TX and SoftRock RX. I agree with Steve VE6WZ there are many new calls on the band as folks migrate away from dead HF bands. You new guys are always welcome in my log. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: T Top Verticals and yagis
OK, guys I will apologize for my humor. Suggesting a 40m 8 circle array was meant as a technical Joke as in cross polarization. 73 bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Wednesday 160m DX CW
Wednesday was pretty much so a bust here in Northern Arizona. Thursday is another story. The band opened to spot locations in Western Europe. A quick CQ in the morning near sunrise brought a big surprise. JA6REX was S9 plus 10dB for a short QSO. Followed by a skewed path to VK6LW near Perth that was absolutely incredible! S9 Plus Plus! Kevin called with antenna pointed at Asia and was definitely weaker on normal SW direct heading. I was like a little kid in a candy store. Meanwhile contrary to earlier in the week VP8PJ was very poor in signal levels if not at all readable. 160m the band with no sleep. 73 Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: T Top Verticals and yagis
The discussion has involved horizontally polarized Yagis. Perhaps use a vertical 8 circle array on 40m! LOL And keep your T-Top! Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35qj "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: 160m activity and propagation
The emphasis of my questions are based on European propagation path perceived differences since last solar minimum. One thing I am not is a Geophysicist, I have no training there. My comments are on perceived changes in the aurora ring density as viewed from my location in Arizona that would have been in the past much lower on the path towards Europe far more often than present. I'll call it prime time wipe out. Very small changes in solar wind have had a profound effect. Whether the center point is the magnetic north pole or the Geomagnetic pole I have no idea as both have migrated with the Magnetic North pole the greatest at a rate of 30 miles per year and increasing. Perhaps the reduction of magnetic field over North America and increased gamma radiation create the effect. In a related article it stated the magnetic field over North America is 15% less than it was in 2015. https://www.livescience.com/46694-magnetic-field-weakens.html https://www.hist-geo-space-sci.net/5/175/2014/ Trying to get a better grasp of what is going on. 73 Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: 160m activity and propagation
Thanks for the comments in this discussion. I have in previous posts commented on the magnetic north pole and it's migration towards Siberia. I feel this has been the primary cause of propagation disturbance at my location. That and I'm at the wrong distance from the aurora itself creating the high absorption. Here are a couple of links to visualize what I perceive is the cause. Fortunately 160m is almost always open somewhere after dark, not necessarily where I want it to be. Yesterday I worked EA7X two hours after sunset and then the band closed. http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/poles/polesexp.html https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ On the NOAA page click on the right hand image of the Aurora and run the 24 hour collection. You can see I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. 73 Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: 160m activity and propagation
Perhaps I was misunderstood by some in their comments regarding my post. As Larry N7DD pointed out the stations are there at least in the contests. My comments were pointed at changing propagation characteristics. It is no uncommon for huge swings between my location, N7DD near Tucson and NA7TB on the Mexican boarder near New Mexico. 300-500 miles can make a huge difference. They often flip over the over a two day contest period. I am very lucky and have a great RX location with very low noise. At this moment (0300) my s-meter is S1-S2 on the TX/RX array pointed to EU. My point is that more often than not a station may be 349 at my place and 579 down south 300 miles. This was not the case during the last solar cycle. I will note I have logged many new calls the past year and it's always a pleasure to work a new one. I just expected more openings than what we've had for this solar minimum. 73 Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: 160m activity and propagation
Greeting all, This season has been interesting not because of highlights but because of a noticeable change in propagation at least from my Arizona QTH. I will note from my perspective highlights have been few. Yesterday Dave W0FLS was holding court calling CQ. I could just barely hear the DX in EU he was working. To Roger G3YRO congrats but no QSO. You had a good 579 signal calling CQ at 0100 hours UTC. You had a break through the aurora wall and I did not! In other news HL5IVL Kim, had a true 599 plus 20 signal calling CQ in the early morning here. Not another signal on the band. In solar cycle 23 even though I was working full time on weird shifts I managed EU contacts almost daily with only a few periods of black outs. My operating habits have changed a bit to early morning through sunrise and sunset through sunrise in European Russia and Eastern EU. I stay up for Western EU if conditions appear to be good which for the most part they have not. Missing this season has been European Russians. Where did they all go? Perhaps to another band? On the other hand there were many stations worked in Zone 15 primarily in southern end. With the exception of EA and CT zone 14 was a flop except for a couple big openings. SM5EDX was an exception. Has anyone else noticed a change in propagation patterns? I'd like some input here with a focus and western US but midwest and eastern US welcome as well. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQ WW 160 CW - SK.. ?
To be honest I don't think there is a code of ethics anymore at least not in award chasing in Ham radio. To give example I recently heard a very prominent operator and Dx'er on FT8. In three calls from western US this super station gave a middle eastern station a plus 6 and plus 8 dB S/N report that was at very best -12 DB at my location. Now in order to do that he would have had to beam right through me as propagation was to N/NE. His signal was very modest at my location lending me to think RHR. In case anyone hasn't noticed lying and cheating is epidemic here and throughout the world at every level. Nothing will change much because nobody has the balls to deal with it. So with that in most cases the awards have become a participation award. Good job Billy. I'm over it. In the end there isn't anybody who will care anyway. If that is you gig carry on. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Subject: Re: Very little NA Activity
Nick and Roger, Gee if I could only be so lucky. The last modestly good opening here in Arizona was during CQWW 160 CW with the Stew Perry close behind. Contests aside the period close to Winter Solstice is always one not to miss with a few openings to Eastern and Northern EU at sunrise. I've been active on 160m since 1975 and will state in my opinion solar cycle 23 was the best for low band operation in modern times. In that period I worked DXCC on 160m with 100W in one season mostly in contests but had openings to Europe most nights. This has not been the case in cycle 24. The solar wind and the migrating magnetic north pole have been my enemy. The prominence of the aurora oval as the earth spins on axis puts the aurora in dead path blocking all EU and eastern Africa during their sunrise or near sunrise periods. Many of those you mention in contacts are not under that influence. They are far enough north or east to no be affected. Guys in NW US 7 land and VE6WZ have the advantage of being close enough to the aurora that they can with good antennas beam under the absorption. With the above said I'm still there most nights to check band conditions. As far activity goes we all know where they are at but I can't say that I blame them. Even many top big guns are there in that one little segment of the band. From my perspective of the big picture geographically my location pretty much sucks under current conditions and am forced to look at large swaths of planet Earth with little or no activity period. I've seen what looks like good openings where as the other end could not hear me. I attribute that to like trying to work the east coast of US early in a contest where as they are not listening west. They are going for the big multipliers NE and East. By the way, a good opening for me is 10km or more unlike the eastern guys perception of 3-5km Such is life on 160m. 73,Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: 4SQ Arrays in proximity
While I can not speak directly of 4 sq interaction, I'll add my comments on antenna interaction. I have an all vertical antenna farm if you will with 17 verticals covering 160-HF. In my case I have 3 elements interlaced with separate feed on 80m within my 5 element 160m antenna which beams broadside end-fire in East/West and Endfire NE,SE,SW and NW. I have not seen any degradation of either array. You might picture it as being just like a vertical Yagi in end-fire configuration. I also have a full sized 8 circle on 40m with an old HighGain high tower junior in the middle for HF Omni operation. In that case I do de-tune via switched in inductance at the base of the Omni when not in use to make sure there is very little if any coupling into the 8 circle array. Again, I don't see any performance degradation. If you have the space go for separation, if not there are simple alternatives that have low impact on overall performance. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Recording Off the Air
Someone asked about recording off the air. Outside of using a PC and associated resources here is an excellent device that is inexpensive and works extremely well. It records 1 hour segments and clock can be set to UTC time. Fast forward and reverse and a over one thousand hours recording on a 16Gb memory card using 64kbs bitrate. It goes up to 192kbs for high quality recording. Internal mic, external mic and line in connections. Analog and digital output. Very cool. works extremely well and very easy to use. https://www.amazon.com/Sangean-DAR-101-Professional-Digital-Recorder/dp/B003XU76QK/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=sangean+digital+recorder=1579965300=8-2 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Musings on multiple 160m QSOs
Regarding multiple QSO's I too am guilty. I will say that the contacts are short and have signal report. This is not to say I am not respectful of the new guys trying to work a new one. Furthermore, I spot DX frequently and post links to audio files collected on the reflector because I can hear better than I get out. I do not live under the auroral ring and working Europe, Africa and Middle East happens but not all that often. Most of the time stations are very weak. FYI a Middle East open will last only a few minutes on the west coast. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Posts about cheating
Perhaps some should not be so fast to judge. At my station in Arizona it is possible to hear Africa and Europe 1-2 hours before sunset in the right conditions. Although extremely rare. This morning I worked 6 stations CW beaming NW low power in zones 23,16 and 15. They were: JT1CO, SM5EDX, UT2IV, LA1MFA, RA4LW and SM2EKM. These QSOs were 10-12 hours different from my normal path. This was my best opening westward in 45 years on 160m. Vlad, RA4LW was so strong for a short period I would have called him a local. Regarding RBN: many are easily overloaded by a local. For me I almost never get spotted in EU or Asia yet I continue to work them. Anything can happen during solar minimum and Winter Solstice. 73, HNY de W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Solar Cycle Fun
Monthly mandatory site maintenance at my remote, you know water the batteries, intruder check and all. I had set the damn clocks back an hour the night before and it was sunset. Time to check out 160m band. It's not dark yet and bingo G3PQA and YL2SM in the log, not to mention I heard Cryil FR4NT for the first time in a few years. No QSO but we tried. He would be a double multiplier for me with country and zone! At that point the band went south and I figured I'd take a nap as I've been plagued by a cold. I came back a few hours later and called John SM5EDX and F5IN. In da log. A CQ up band netted ON7PQ, SM2CEW, ON8DM, F4HEC, PE5T, and PA3FQA. Not bad with some being new stations worked. With that back to bed. in the morning ZF9CW and 3D2AG worked for the heck of it. All in all not a bad haul. This is what a solar minimum should be. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS http://w7rh.net “Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.” Anonymous _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Desiccant in Beverage Boxes
I have found either way works. A small 1/2 in hole on bottom of box with brass vent screen glued in place is effective. Leaving the boxes breath is important. If you have leakage the moisture will flow in with temperature change and condensate. I use desiccant in my control boxes and replace every few years or at first sign of condensation.. de W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: RFI on TB
Regarding RX antennas. Rather than have separate RX antennas I went with low noise location. Thus, TX antenna is used both RX and TX 100% of the time. Obviously this is not possible for many but it can be done. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Shunt-Fed tower how-to Video
Great Job Steve (VE6WZ) on the shunt fed tower video. It's nice to see some quality technical chat on the reflector. yours is a great model for the new guys! 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Lack of NA Activity on CW
Greetings Top Band, I guess I’m truly an old fart, now in my 54^th year as a ham. I’ve done contests, EME, Dxing, RTTY, Fast Scan and slow scan TV and still build a lot of my equipment. I do find the lack of CW activity frustrating. It’s not just 160m it’s all bands. I operate primarily 160 and dabble in 80 and 40m operation. Seldom do I venture higher, as my operations stem from the times I have had available to play most of my working years. Fortunately, I find many of the top band guys on 80 and 40m as well. With about 46 years of operation on the 160m band there have obviously been some changes in operating styles. In old days we would ragchew on SSB about 1840 or so all the while listening or keeping the 2^nd VFO or receiver for listening down band. Geeze, been over 30 years since that. Today we have panoramic receive adapters, skimmers, reflectors, chat rooms, Skype and RBNs. We also have numerous tools available in the form of ionospheric predictions and tons of NASA generated solar numbers, geomagnetic field sensors et all. In the case of RBNs which many seem to rely upon most are dreadful in RX performance. Very seldom do I get spotted in EU, JA, VK or ZL but work them all the time. Even with FT8 I’ve called numerous South Pacific stations for a half hour only to get no response due to their high ambient noise levels. On the Dark Side we have moved into the the digital world with computer operated TVs, wall warts, direct drive washers, variable speed AC units, clocks, WIFI, digital cable, leaky power lines, PC cabinets with glowing lights, no shielding and bad neutral connections just to name a few. I can honestly tell you that locally you have to go to 1296 mHz in order to have acceptable noise levels. Hence I built a remote. In the 33 years I’ve lived in Las Vegas I’ve seen the city increase in population form 300K to 3 Million. The average lot size dipped from horse properties of 5 acres or more with modest sub division plots of 12,000 sqft to Gated communities with CC and HOA antenna restrictions to a minuscule 4000sqft lot. Currently the objective is high density urban living. The resultant cramped space combined with noise sources has forced Amateurs worldwide to go to FT8 or not operate at all. I’m sorry but it’s true. In the US the FCC has long since let electronic manufacturers submit self tests for part 15 interference compliance. I’m sure the rest of the world is even more relaxed. The amount of these devices their noise is out of control. Add to the problem most consumer devices here are two wire power AC power including most TVs. The only survivor of three wire power cord in NEMA equipped desktop PCs. I grew up in the 60’s and TV antennas and ham radio antennas were everywhere. At that time even mid sized cities still had 2-3 radio stores. You didn’t have to get permission or permits to stick antennas up on the roof, or erect a tower. Most neighbors then didn’t give a crap or least kept their mouths shut. Now the consensus is antennas damage property values and view of the smog filled skies or are a source of community revenue to perpetuate lazy ass building inspectors in the name of safety. To my top band friends, thanks to the many that have made the effort to be heard and hear! I’m QRV most nights after 0300 pending conditions and again in the morning 1130 UTC until sunrise. I hope I’ve put a few things into perspective. I am now and forever a Analog guy. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Brief EU open from SW US
Now two days old due to mail bounce. Last evening a brief pre-greyline opening occurred to western Europe on 160m from the SW. I was able to work G3PQA at 03:33 UTC. This late in the season makes this type of contact rare. Propagation at the time favored southern east coast. At that time solar wind was below 250m/sec and proton density was less than 2cm squared. A side note. 40m was popping with S9 plus EU during this time period. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: new NOAA solar cycle prediction
A link to: Dr Zharkova's bio and papers. https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/z/professor-valentina-zharkova/ Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: new NOAA solar cycle prediction
I read Dr. Zarkova's dissertation regarding weather and energy output from the sun several months ago. The paper which emphasized decreased solar output during solar minima not surprisingly has gotten little attention. Mostly it's been dissed by the climate change folks. The fact is the upper atmosphere collapses during solar minima. She without detail said that the radiation decreased form the sun at something like 9W per square meter. I don't know how she derived this but seemingly it would have been easy to detect on earth in a fixed full sun location by measuring decreased output in a photovoltaic arrays. Thus there would be a complementary global cooling. This in fact has occurred in history during the Maunder Minimum. Food for thought. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: XR0ZRC?
IMHO. Not just one but several Dxpeditions recently have had what seems like vacation style operating while promoted as full time full efforts. Some from hotels and resorts and some from less comfortable environments but subject to big city noise. With the decrease in solar activity you would think a little more low band effort would be in order. I don't think FT8 is the answer for them either. If they can't hear on CW their noise floor will be an issue in FT8 mode too. I'm sure someone will argue that point but if you can't work at least --18 then forget it. The XR0ZRC ops had a decent signal to the SW the last two evenings which was really their first major show on CW. I was able to copy them for more than 2 hours each night until giving up. My thought is if you are going to run a KW and carry one along, then it would only make sense they carry some wire, coax and transformers in a bag as well. Shoot, even a K9AY could be carried in 3ft travel bag. While we can't make up for TS QRN man made noise is another and sometimes challenging issue. IMHO RX firstTX second 73 bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: SW Report as Tree would say Not So Boring
Greetings all, Never say never. The band is never dead. It just may not be open to where you want it to be. Monday morning march 25th in Arizona I called CQ on CW for almost an hour with no takers. (1200-1300 UTC) Nothing, Nada, Zip. I moved over to "The Dark Side" and called one CQ crossband to JA and immediately had a uncontrolled pileup. The screen was all Red and scrolling. JA after JA. Not being a Dark Side officionado, I tried Fox hound mode split but found that it forced my TX to bottom of band where frequency response is rolled off with little power output. I went back to standard mode and worked what I could until after sun rise band fade. Whoa, some things just are not right. Moving forward one day. Tuesday morning March 26th. I called CQ (12:30-13:30 UTC). What a difference a day makes. Nothing exotic but...10 JA, 2 HL, 1 VK6 and R0LER/MM. My peanut whistle station was spotted In JA, BG, ZL and VK all at the same time. For those of interest I get a maximum of 150W at the center antenna feed point 1000ft away from station. For JA and VK I have 3 elements end-fire made of 43ft telescopic masts much like Dxpedition style verticals with extensive ground system installed. These yield approx 700W ERP. Kudos to Tosy San (JE1TSD) who worked me twice once high power and 20 minutes later QRP 5W! Tosy a nice QSL is on the way! XR0ZRC is another story and extremely disappointing. I've spent hours calling and listening. Most of the heavy metal guys on the west coast with high power and big arrays have not made it through. Too me it's a total shame as I used to work Alan, CE1/K7CA with 5W on most nights just 1500miles away. Guessing tonight is last chance but not sure. Bouvet is going to be a real challenge for NA. The pileup is going to be massive and the station location is not optimum for North America. Instead they will have a good path to EU and Asia. Go Rebel DX! For me it's a direct beam heading. Just hoping for a repeat of the station performance like the VP8 Trifecta two years ago. I wish them luck, safe travels and good QSO rates to one of the most inhospitable locations in the world. Best of luck and DX. 73, Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Top Loading Advice
Bob, N6RK and AA7JV/C6AGU are both on the right track. I lean with adding more radials and feeding with a 12.5Ohm Un-UN. In that respect you can add relay taps on the loading coil and go entire band end to end. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Great moments in Top Band History - 7P8LB
Hello All, I'm not so sure about the title but it was interesting and fun none the less to chase 7P8LB on top Band. I made attempts all three evenings but failed to garnish a contact. Each night I could hear them up two hours before their sunrise. Then, near the magical time 03:45 -04:15 UTC they would rise above the noise Q5 copy. I recorded night number two and almost all of the opening on their last morning event. Kudos to K7ZV, N6VR, AA7A, W5ZN, N4RJ and KY7M who made it into Rune's log. I have no idea what they were using for antennas but the signal was very predictable and consistent. Eastern Africa is a difficult but not impossible path from the left coast. Perhaps with a little influence we convince someone to go to zones 21, 23 and 39 to make a serious low band effort. The late Winter and Spring Equinox time periods would be perfect for a WAZ wrap up! All of this made up of the giant Pacific void we have. 73 and best DX Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX Contest
Group, Saturday evening conditions redeemed themselves as if they knew they were getting bad mouthed by me. Eastern Europe made it out west starting around 0400 moving west until EU sunrise 0800 when they were finally shut out. Signals were not super strong but even with low power many answered on just one or two calls. All considered it was a darned good opening here. Nothing however compared to what I heard and worked during an opening when the VP6D operation was in swing. I made a recording that evening of the EU pileup the rivaled 20 meters. Propagation path moved in a counter clockwise circle from eastern Mediterranean Ocean, the Baltic's then moving to Northern EU, Poland, Sweden followed by The British Islands, France, Spain, Portugal, Western Mediterranean and West Africa. Of note, the usual eastern EU power house stations were non-existent to my ears. Neither were central EU. The Auroral oval ring had a gaping hole in it last night allowing me to slip a signal into Western EU. :) At that point I grabbed some sleep and came back at 1200 UTC for Asia. The final 2 hours netted just three JA and Kim, HL5IVL. Alternately beaming SW and NW produced no VK or ZL. For me this particular contest is a Top Band dream. It has low levels of QRM and good activity worldwide. When the band is open this contest is very special and opportunity for many to work some new ones. Operating low power I only called CQ in the morning on the western paths with 90% of my operating time S Thanks to those who responded. I expect some broken calls as my network link was experiencing some dramatic intermittent latency and jitter all evening busting my TX sending. 73 Bob, W7RH 160m the Magic Band -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: ARRL DX contest
Greetings All, Spotty openings to Europe from the SW with one surprise contact LZ2WO just before sunset. Otherwise 1 G4, and a few EA stations. Also Q5 at Sunset was IK2CLB with no QSO. After 0300 no further EU DX worked. The band went downhill rapidly. Off to bed. In the morning only a few JA and RT0C were worked. Regarding V84SAA. Comments on the reflector were not cool. If you are going to work one in the contest then work them all as a multiplier is just that. Sorry if it's a dupe. However at my Sunrise you were doing contest exchanges. IMHO 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Lack of Activity
Roger and group, It's not your imagination, activity on CW has been very low. Add to that propagation has been absolutely horrid all season from a left coast perspective. While some northern folks have been able to get a hop under the aurora curtain it just is not possible from my Arizona location. I can appreciate the joy of the eastern stations working EU. Out west it's our equivalent of working the east coast. 4000 km vs. 8000 km. The last two openings that were very good were in mid and late December. Since that time I have had only 4 EU QSOs. Meanwhile only a _few JA,UA0 and HL5IVL_ have been active. XX9D has been on in the morning with great SR signal but due to location and antenna restrictions his noise level is not penetrable. The trans-equatorial path has been quite good here. VK3IO solid S9 and V84SAA S9 both near sunrise this morning. They all have been worked leaving nothing else to do. There are only limited number of stations active the western pacific and all of those are 15,000 km away! I have joined the group of K7ZV, W0FLS, AA0RS, N7XM and K0RF calling CQ with no response inside JA window morning after morning. Even propagation to JA has been spotty, with little activity. Add to that I've worked one new entity this winter. Guess what? QSL direct only. The unmarked envelope with card and green stamps was pilfered in the mail. As always I'll be a Top Band die hard as well. I retired in February 2017 and listen almost everyday at Sun rise and Sunset. Changing the active aurora is beyond my powers no matter how much effort in antenna system or even power for the matter. CU all on top band. The ARRL DX CW contest is really the last opportunity from out west. By and large the worst top band season I've seen in a long time 73 Bob, W7RH Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Topband Digest, Vol 192, Issue 33
All, Two cents worth of comments on thread. The SAL, K9AY and Waller Flags all work well and have their limitations. They do help the city folk improve the ability to receive. The WF works great if you can get it up in the air and rotate it. That is if you can keep it there in one piece though snow , ice and wind. It also encompasses additional costs for tower support and rotator. The larger passive and active arrays specifically 8 circle provided you have space are better yet with great RDF, realistic gain and noise figures. There is a cross over point where there is no longer any improvement IMHO. I'll point out an example. In the morning hours before sun rise my noise floor drops to near zero on my RX/TX array. I'm extremely fortunate for I have the space and no neighbors, no commercial power and thus only natural noise. A reasonable guess would be a noise floor greater than -120 to -125dB. Almost to the point of MDS where there is no indicated or measured difference between antenna and no antenna. Working signals via polar path, NW, West and SE are _on average very very weak._ My experience tells me that active loops would be inferior to the existing directional RX/TX antenna at this point because of their signal capture levels and increased noise created by preamplifier. In this case only long properly terminated and maybe phased beverages would be better. I can feel the heat coming on this one. I'm not here to sell antennas as I build my own. 73 and Happy New Year! Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Might be a good EU DX night
All, Out West conditions to EU were good before Sunset but Spotty. SM5EDX had a good signal at Sunset. LY7Z and RA4LW at times were booming. Then the band petered out with lots of QRN from Summer like thunderstorms in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. This morning from the desert SW, RV9CX both CW and FT8 followed by OH5VT and OG2M. Not too shabby. Only new Call was OG2M. I was wishing there were more, several were there if in the right NW local. Some weak EU signals could be heard an hour ofter sunrise. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: TB CW activity
All, My friend Steve, VE6WZ has a very wonderful remote station with regards to signals to the distant and populated centers. His RX and TX antennas sit on a hill with a gentle slope, leveling out to a totally flat horizon. This results in a very nice low takeoff angle. Geography wise he is has ~one hop to the auroral oval. This perhaps explains why he has such great QSO numbers. With a low noise RX setup this allows him to work what I call Tier 1 to Tier 3 DX stations. Tier 1 being HP with multi element arrays with RX on array or low noise RX antennas, Tier 2 HP with single vertical and RX antennas. Tier 3 being the average station with perhaps high power, lesser RX antennas or residential in nature. The numbers of contacts he has gathered is astounding! The link here is representative of an average good day on 160m. http://w7rh.net/images/latest.jpg The list of stations that Steve provided meet the Tier1 category. They have TX arrays that are well placed and developed with excellent radial systems, high power and supplemental low noise RX antennas. DF2PY 26 LA1MFA 19 RA4LW 19 ON7PQ 18 SM5EDX 15 SM7BIC 14 F5NZ11 F5IN10 RC3FL 10 I might add another 15-20 call signs to that list. In the Winter months they are there everyday, at least audible at my QTH. However, for the most part they are magnitudes weaker in signal strength in the Western US geographically. Likely west of the Rockies. The questions remain is CW dieing and is FT8 mode better? I have some experience using FT8. My answer is also no. While FT8 allows smaller stations significant a margin of improvement, I have found in my low noise environment that I can copy -20 S/N FT8 stations on CW. Long haul DX stations still go unnoticed in the low noise morning hours by the vast majority of the FT8 users. However, if you combine a low noise RX location with a good TX system the results can be somewhat amazing. I've found it to be a crap shoot. The reason being folks rely too much on the software technology to do the job and either can't improve RX and TX or have not tried. Following through with what I just said. Patience is a virtue, and 160m requires a lot of it. Perhaps that is the reason I've spent over 40 years experimenting, building and playing on the band. Thus far I've had two "Grand Openings" on top band this season. By that definition Tier 1, Tier 2 and many Tier 3 stations were worked or heard. Right now with the current solar conditions that might happen once or twice a month in the winter season. That means at least most Western US stations without some geographic exceptions really have only few days a month to really expand the log with new ones. So with that in mind take a listen to what I call a Grand Opening. EU pileup trying to work VP6D http://w7rh.net/audio_files/VP6DPILE.mp3 Truly a night to die for! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Healthy Prosperous and Happy New year! May we have good conditions in the Stew Perry! 73, Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Morning Openings to Europe from Oregon
All, As Tree noted I've been able to get into Eastern Central and Norther Europe this past week. Truly a very rare case from this far south. The northern guys have an hour more darkness than at my latitude. The openings have been somewhat spotty. I do not rely on RBN spots. Most RBN do not have good low noise RX antennas and do very little to tell me if my signal is making it to the desired areas. For me it's all new! Maybe, the updates and tuning of the antenna system have played a roll. However, I think more than that the fact that I've retired since the last solar cycle has had more impact. But then I don't know as I've listened to N7UA and VE6WZ work many that I could not hear even in my very low noise environment. This morning LA1MFA had a good low QSB signal for several hours. I was spotted by R3LA but did not hear nay other callers. R0SR and UA4HBW in the log earlier this week on the dreaded mode. All of these contacts have been polar direction. Signs are we are in for a great solar minimum. Here is hope that conditions will be favorable for the Stew Perry next weekend! Tip, If you think band is open call CQ! 73 All, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DXCC - 160 Meters - Station Location and Boundary
FWIW, My 2cents. The continuing threads about DXCC rules bother me. At what point does a rule need to be changed? Regarding remote receive I suppose I accept a private remote with say 10km radius. Group or Club rent a RX, No way! There is no value in anything unless you make an effort yourself. The ARRL DXCC rules already diminished in any value personal or whatever in the DXCC award. The US is a large country with greatly different propagation zones in all corners. The dial up rent a rig business, brainless FT8 operation and the fact that many of the TOP Honor Roll folks have lived and operated in multiple call sign zones throughout their tenure make the paper nearly meaningless. This leaves the last straw of honor if that, in contesting. Where one can honestly compete with people in a more or less fair category if not local region. A place where you might actually learn something like, techniques, skills, propagation, station construction and other technologies. So quit crying about working the last one. Life is too fricking short. Step up to the plate and quit whining like a spoiled rotten kids and get in a contest or two. At least for the most part rules are followed and there are enough categories to satisfy most stations. It might even give a few of you a few goals in life other than griping. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: W0AIH SK
It is with great sadness I report another great contester and top band enthusiast has passed. RIP Paul Bittner, W0AIH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: VP6D EU Run 10-24-2018
Here is an audio file as heard from W7RH last night of the EU pileup for VP6D. All I can say is wow! More than 45 years on 160 and never heard anything like it in 7 land. http://w7rh.net/audio_files/VP6DPILE.mp3 <http://w7rh.net/audio_files/VP6DPILE.mp3?fbclid=IwAR3sLwLUqu_jW07uQZpgIfRXIwx9jQBd93Zz24cV6Aof-w3Rj2MBA_abg5U> <http://w7rh.net/audio_files/VP6DPILE.mp3?fbclid=IwAR3sLwLUqu_jW07uQZpgIfRXIwx9jQBd93Zz24cV6Aof-w3Rj2MBA_abg5U> 73, Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: Propagation.
The not so Boring Report. Sorry Tree. Boring is actual a suburb of the greater Portland, Gresham area on US 26 on the way to Mt Hood and Bend Oregon. Know it well as the area was stomping ground in my youth. I'm now an old fart who has been in the desert for over 30 years. Here is my Propagation perspective from the West: Except for rare Greyline at sunset propagation it takes several hours for the F1 and F2 layers to settle. This early in the season out west and you stay up to midnight you might get lucky but usually hear nothing. The exception is those to far south and those to far north. No propagation? 160m is always open somewhere. Sunrise here in the west has seen many openings to VK and ZL with Asiatic Russia thrown in. All summer there were good openings to South America, Central America and occasional African. While the Midwest guys are enjoying getting into EU, West of the Rockies only a few openings occur this early. Guys in the northern western tier states and Canada with good RX capabilities can bust through the Auroral zone and work into EU. The rest of us will have to be satisfied with Mediterranean and North Africa. Thus far I've heard peeps from Wolf DF2PY and Len SM7BIC. ON the other hand out of the blue 4U1GSC (Italy) had a great signal at their sunrise two nights ago. Unfortunately I was dealing with a line of thunderstorms on that path. In other comments I tend to agree with Merv and Paul on recent comments. I get kinda of sensitive once in a while regarding regarding remote operations because I'm in a group of a half dozen or so who primary station is remote and solely for my use taking years to build and optimize not to mention maintain. I don't like being lumped into the dialup group. Not being an avid DX'er card carrying member I'll take my poke. The real proof of the pudding is in competitions because your "$10,000 radio" is not going to work UN5J on FT8 with a 50cent antenna regardless of how much power you run. To satisfy the argument my primary station is a lowly TS480. My wife on the other hand would like to think I didn't spend as much as I did on land and infrastructure. LOL The ultimate award is competing on fair grounds with your peers and getting nominated to Contesting Hall of Fame. This half deaf old timer will never achieve that but still enjoys the competition in Zone 3! With that in mind. Put on your headphones work them whatever way you want because in the end it just doesn't matter to anyone except oneself. 73, Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Air Wound Coil
Per the following added comments. Me too. Or the inverse as I did, cut my T for the low end of the band. Then three series capacitors with PCB relays to short each individually (none, 1, 2, or 3) yielded nearly full band coverage <1.5:1 swr. My T is 85' to top and a 50:25 ohm TLT is a close match, then the capacitor stack follows. Caps and relays fit in a weather tight plastic box about 3x5x8". Of course the resonance resistance and capacitor values depend I did exactly this for an 80/75 meter dipole. Worked perfectly. I am planning to do this same thing for my 160 meter vertical when I get around to it. Rick N6RK Transmitting type capacitors are expensive and hard to find these days. An air wound coil on ABS using copper tubing with Un-Un matching transformer will run you about $25 when built by oneself. The advantage of tuning high and using 4-5uh coil with Un-UN is the antenna is at electrical ground all of the time. This allows cheap relays and prevents pitting by static discharge. In this way your gas discharge radio protection only needs to function on induced impulse voltages saving you from singing arc plugs and additional costs. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Air Wound Coil
Guys, I'm confounded by the complexity suggested for all band coverage of 160m "Top Loaded T Antenna". May I make a simple suggestion. A simple T antenna will have a radiation resistance of 10-12 Ohms with electrical height of say 43ft with a Good ground system of quarter wave radials. By trimming the top load portion (both legs equal) to resonance on the high end of the band 12 turns of quarter inch copper tubing wound on a 4 inch ABS pipe with length of 12 inches and three relays would provide entire band coverage when connected to 12.5 Ohm Un-Un transformer. Cheap generic DPDT relays may be used to switch resonant points and can handle legal power limit. Just sayin... Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: 160 top loaded vertical question (Kees Nijdam)
Kees, A 50 ft high vertical with two top hat loading wires each equal length about 67ft will work great with a good ground field. It can easily be fed with a 4-1 toroidal transformer 50-12.5 Ohms. Absolute minimum radial field would be 30 1/4 wave radials adding as many possible short radials in space if required. A small inductive coil wound on base insulator can easily tune the antenna to the band segment you want. Use large diameter copper tubing. 73 Bob -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Adding a parasitic reflector to a vertical
I've played with parasitic elements in antenna arrays for almost three decades and the current antenna system I have used parasitic elements both director and reflectors. With very careful tuning performance that of a all driven array can be achieved. Tree is correct they due tend to be somewhat limited in in bandwidth with relation to F/B ratio. Gain remains fairly constant. The tuning procedure that Tree suggested is absolutely correct. You detune all unused elements and adjust the center frequency of the parasitic for best F/B one element at a time. Parasitic elements I might add are no different than driven and must have extensive ground system to be effective. No exceptions. You know you have right by F/B ratio. You can go one step further and measure the actual antenna currents which I have done. In my system the parasitic elements achieve 80-85% of the theoretical current at the base. de Bob W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: 160m DX Activity Night
Roger, G3YRO has a valid point. 160m night time is always open somewhere, maybe not where we want it. It is unfortunate that modern technology has created a whole class of folks in chat rooms pandering DX. The digital modes have tons of activity often more than what the little window can tolerate. The DX that was on CW last weekend was so refreshing to my 160 m spirit! Unfortunately most can't be on every night. I listen at sunset and try to stay for several EU sunrise periods. On the other hand I can call CQ in the mornings and often do unanswered. To be honest Roger I think I can only name a half dozen or so US stations that still actually call CQ. Gone are the likes of Stew Perry who would go down to the water tower and call CQ several nights a week working everybody and anybody. As far as Wednesdays go it is worth a try. You can't work them if you don't hear them! de Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Band Open - But No Sunrise Peak
In Response to post by Roger, G3YRO The morning sunrise peaks are still here in Western US and warrant a good listen when the band is open. The key word here is 'Open". I'm fortunate to have a beacon station HL5IVL who is on most mornings calling CQ DX to cast an opinion. I start listening 2 hours before sunrise and hear the W5, 8, 9 and 0 stations working Kim. We are both using vertical antennas. I will note I've been active primarily on 160m since about 1976. This solar cycle has definitely been different that cycle 23. As we near the absolute minimum time will tell. In cycle 23 there were several years of good openings to Europe. Example in last cycle 2006-~2009 I was able to work SM7BIC and SM5EDX routinely if not nightly. This is not the case so far this time around. In fact this was the first season on 160m where I did not work EU during CQWW DX CW in 12 years! I also did not have significant numbers of JA QSOs in CQ or Stew Perry operating events. Having retired last February I've had the opportunity to listen both sunrise and sunset periods almost everyday. On occasion hear EU but more likely Africa at sunset. Thus far this season only GW3YDX and SM5EDX have been worked in the sunset period from Arizona. I've heard but not worked UN5J and JT1AO at or after sunrise. On a daily basis since mid-November I can say the band has been open well to Asia ~2 days a week and open to EU well <1 day average per week. Night after night I've heard guys 800-1200miles N/NW or guys in W1,2,3,4 and 5 have big signal openings. Steve VE6WZ told me he worked some 65 EU stations last week in one night! On that night at my location they were just barely audible. Mind me now I have a very quiet location and can hear the Chinese OHR that the breakfast bunch is SE Asia complain about every morning. I do not have the tools to do so but I believe that the F2 layer is lower in height this cycle which is the only way I can explain the lack of signal strength if at all. I would discount polarity as a primary issue because the DX stations heard and worked thus far have in majority of the cases been vertical polarization. Just my comments from and old 160m fart. 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: W7EJ/CN2R SK
I am sorry to report the passing of the worlds greatest contesters, Jim W7EJ/CN2R. Jim was 64. Very sad. RIP my friend. SK de W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: LDE on 160m
In the mid -80's while living in Seattle ,WA I experienced extremely strong LDE signals on 160M while in a SSB ragchew with locals on ~1860kHz. Unfortunately I lost the tape in my move to the SW US. The delays were approximately 1 sec and were only heard within a radius of about 50 miles. A more interesting note was posted on this reflector several years ago by AKI, JA5DQH of a delay of 25 hours 29 minutes! Links are here: http://w7rh.net/LDE.html and http://w7rh.net/audio_files/JA5DQH_LDE.mp3 de Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: OT: Studying the ionosphere using RBN
I found the discussion listed by N4HY to be an interesting read. In 1979 thee was a total solar eclipse of the Western US which occurred several hours after sunrise. The solar display was incredible and radio propagation was very much so enhanced on 160 with openings to East Coast of the US and mid-West. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Strange 160m intruder
"In the video you can see the display is centered on one tone at 1822.9 kHz, and it is synchronized with other tones spaced approximately, but not exactly, every 50 kHz. They all pulse on and off together." The strange intruder that John W1FV reports follows what I have seen in PCM DC direct drive motors. Specifically I've seen and heard this pattern from a LDG washer, the type that can't wash the salt off a saltine cracker. It also could be a well pump. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Spring Stew Perry Equinox Version.
Herb KV4FZ, no offense and not to worry . I know that most stations in the Caribbean are listening to EU early and I know you always listen west later in evening. Rick N6RK, my antenna system was beaming your way during QSO. This is equivalent ERP is about 600W. That antenna gain really helps a lot as I had a nice chat with Aki in the morning. Aki JA5DQH has a really nice location. He said he was running HP and asked if I was still running 100W :) I worry about copper thieves finding my place as I'm always adding more. Currently there is over 120K ft in the antenna corral. Believe me 1db makes a difference. See you all on Top Band! W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Spring Stew Perry Equinox Version.
I won't say Top Band conditions were great, but activity was pretty good for this late in the season. I had installed a new logging computer and was into the event 2.5 hours when I discovered system time, N1MM and HRD times were all skewed. The only correct of the three was HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) Then had a radio keying cable failure. I got it fixed by rummaging through travel bags. The nearest Radio shack is 90 miles away. I've never had a ground open on a molded plug before. Highlights. A rag chew with Aki, JA5DQH in the morning. A contact with BU2AQ not in the contest. IV3YYK calling CQ on my frequency 1835 at 02:37 UTC. He could not hear me. :( Also who ever was at KV4FZ could not hear me and was calling CQ to fast for conditions. I'm going to submit log but times might be buggered. I only worked about 1/3 of expected QSO's due to problems with logs etc. It was nice to hear the band come alive with some activity for a change. 73 Bob -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: A35T on 160
A35T was a solid 559 this morning in AZ 30 minutes before local sunrise working JA and a few Left Coast stations. A couple of calls and in the log with 100W @ 13:49 UTC. I will agree that the expected signal was not there and can not compare conditions for the past several days due to work schedule. The operations seems to hear OK but received signal is way down from many other DX-peditions. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Topband Spotlight Propagation Theorem (lucky evening)
I started listening yesterday (Saturday Evening) at sundown monitoring 1826.5 with waterfall local display via a small 3 ft loop. Operators at VP8STI would come and go checking propagation every 20-30 minutes. Based upon my experience with the remote I knew I could QSO if the band was not too crowded. At about 0430 UTC I made a post on the low band reflector that I was beginning to hear the station. About 0450 UTC the VP8 was strong enough to call. After a couple repeats due to QSB he was in the log at 05:05 UTC and slowly faded to nothing by about 05:20 UTC. According to the waterfall display there were probably only a dozen of us that were hearing him. I heard him come back to KG7H but he apparently had a fade. Whoever the operator was took his time to insure a good QSO, that is why I exchanged contest reports twice during contact with a little QSB. His signal strength was S1 and I had intermittent static crashed of S3. Essentially I was in or near the seat listening and watching for about 4.5 hours. I consider my self very lucky to get a contact as NX7M, Josh N7DD, Larry and N5IA, Milt reported not hearing a peep all within about 350 miles of me. When I worked them earlier in the week on 80m their signal strength was no different, just less band noise. (single vertical 100W) Beam heading was SE at 155 degrees, power from trusty TS480 ~ 100W. I have no additional RX antennas at the remote site except for a local spotting RX loop. Receive signals are from TX antenna which in this case is a 3 EL end-fire beam width of ~110 degrees. Good luck you guys ! It's a tough one to crack. I'll be listening. Bob http://w7rh.net W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: VP8STI Humor, Design engineer trauma
Congrats to those out West that have VP8STI in the log. You guys certainly had the good draw and the right angle. I did work them on 80m using OMNI short vertical and 100W. They however were not even moving the S meter. I offer my theorem on why Western US contacts are infrequent in this case. Using my station and beam heading to the SE I worked CE1/K7CA using QRP. I could do that from early darkness until his sunrise. considering I've worked all of south America with 100W the extra 1500 miles should not be difficult especially being a trans equatorial QSO. The conditions would also have to be very disturbed with no direct polar region influence. Looking at the VP8STI website they provide topographic and satellite map of their physical location which is located on Thule Island to provide safe harbor. I note to NW is Mt Larsen about 2 miles away. It rises some 2500 ft and the terrain effectively disrupts everything below 15 degrees or nearly half of their vertical beam-width. This antenna is not in salt water and a good guess would be that it has about 30 1/4 wave plus radials. They have a clean shot to Europe in the far field. The NW path is broken by Thule Mountain and along the way is going to pass through the Andes Mountains. I would suggest the ground reflection element in this case is scattering, which also causes increased path loss. This is much like attenuation cause by the Rocky Mountains to Europe from western US. Of course this the height of the F layer is a factor as well. Responding to an earlier post by K7TJR regarding K7ZV mountain location. I will take a QTH with extensive wide open flat land or slightly sloping down hill over a mountain top any day. The curvature of the earth and far field reflection is important (slight far field gain). I am not saying that a mountain top won't work for 160. Heck, it might be possible to build an antenna that is flexible on take off angle. 73 Bob -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Stew Beef
Some scattered thoughts. This topic has been discussed before but found new life with the planned addition of a Spring Stew Perry contest. As a die hard 160m fan an additional minor contest or two have little or no effect in my opinion on rag chew operations, JT65 or RTTY operation in the band. Instead they tend to increase world wide interest in this crazy band. Let's face it times have changed. Gone are the days of cw rag chews for the most part with the Old man W1BB, Earl, K6SE or even Keith, W6DAO. Equinox operation to be honest is at my limits of noise tolerance with early Spring being better than Fall at least in North America.160m is open somewhere anytime in darkness. Bored and need an alternative, get up in the morning and SSB rag chew with the ranchers and farmers. In my opinion there is very little difference between perhaps between 160m, 6m or 10m usage where 95% of the time the band is nothing but noise. Operating is more fun than staring at a DX reflector waiting to work a new one. Work them in a contest and you have accomplished something. We don't need band allocations as there is 200kHz to operate. That is what the "Gentleman's Band" is all about. Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Diversity-capable transceivers
Of note: The Kenwood TS-590SG has a RX splitter incorporated allowing inexpensive SDR to be used as second RX, pan-adapter or skimmer along with cheap audio mixer. Hey we are all using computers anyway. Just sayin' Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Fwd: Fwd: ARRL Board meets next week - I'm looking for input
Many of you folks are too sensitive, especially to legitimate use of remotes. Yes, DX'ing and constesting on a competitive level can be challenging to the pocket book but, contrary to comments one does not have to be a Rich to compete in awards or competitions. Tom W8JI, made the most logical response. I think the mob got all worked up because they didn't think about the actual rules, they just dislike RHR (and not the dozens of free uncontrolled remotes all over the place). For years they have been competing against people who use other people's stations, move around, or have a remote. Now, out of the clear blue sky, DXCC is suddenly useless when the actual changes than made it useless were made over 30 years ago. I think the real solution is a DXCC endorsement or a new DXCC that requires the holder to swear he did it all transmitting and receiving from one location all by himself with gear he assembled. One station, one control point. 73 W7RH -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Use of Remote Receivers During 160 Meter, Contests
The following comments deviate somewhat from the original thread but were part of content. Kudos Tree, on the Oregon Centric operation. Having done 42 years on 160m with three different call signs I feel the same way. I've never had the desire ( or bucket list) to be on the honor roll as contesting to me is proof of the pudding. It took 8 and half years to make DXCC #2599 on 160m using 100W and LoTW only. I might add that only 54% of the QSOs are confirmed in LoTW with DX stations being far less. Of course I could add another 50 countries by card submission using my old callsigns in Nevada and Washington. To me that would diminish the value of my personal efforts and cheapens the award value. It is what you make it and the acheivements are only shared by those of same interests. (.5 seconds of fame) Operating in the Stew has given me the most pleasure. The points for power levels each way plus distance multiplier truly level the playing field even for this old slow poke. My efforts in antenna building and quiet location put me within reach of #1 low power. I certainly am glad Greg, ZL3IX uses a remote RX location. Perhaps with the continued sponsorship of Asia and South of Equator plaques and trophies we will get more activity and balance out somewhat in the other DX contests. Just imagine working 150-200 BY QSOs along with JAs in a DX contest! Look out W9RE! 73 Bob -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Use of Remote Receivers During 160 Meter Contests
I almost gave up Amateur Radio living and working here in Las Vegas, where the average subdivision lot is 4000sqft or less. Not to mention CCRs. A city acre these days is just shy of $1-million. My station is network controlled to my Arizona ranch property 200 miles away. I make it very clear that all contacts are from Arizona and not from Nevada on QRZ. It's been that way for ten years. Any real contest efforts are made on site. There have been times when weather prohibited me from getting into the remote site safely. In that case I bag the test and make a few random remote QSOs. All operation is from the remote and meets the radius rules for receivers and transmitter. Quote Mike W0MU, You need to hear my transmitter from your location and I need to hear yours from mine. I am a proponent of remote radio where ALL of the receiving and transmitting is done from the same SINGLE remote site with the same distance radius for that equipment to be in. Seems to me this is a fair and equitable solution. Enforceable, probably not. -- W7RH DM35OS Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: CQWW160 Remote receiver rule
Guys, Here we go again with a discussion of technology verses tradition. As we all know it is already possible to log on line to a remote RX site. Skimmers are all over the place. Should we allow remote RX sites in competition? I think not unless extremely limited in distance from the main site. The full duplex operability and capability is as quoted by Tom VE3CX a serious game changer. I have operated a remote TX/RX site for ten years now and it is a totally different situation.. The remote function is used for Dx'ing from home as sufficient bandwidth, latency issues and battery power storage limit contesting to casual operation. I clearly list on QRZ that _all_ operation is from the remote site and not from my home address 200 miles away. All contest operation is from on site and if weather and travel conditions prohibit getting there I either don't operate or operate with someone else at their station. If I operated that remote as directional RX for home operation using a single vertical with high power that would put me in a better than average position in SOHP category. Expand the remote RX to multiple locations with with a good directional High Power station and it would become a super station. This just isn't right. I realize that all stations are not created equal, one may have acreage with multiple antennas in an array combined with low noise levels. It was planned and built that way within the rules. I agree with Tree it is another sticky issue. However, I do believe that allowing separate RX sites during contests depreciates the spirit, time, effort, and cost of maintaining a well designed competitive station. Otherwise pick up a cell phone and call ur 599 in AZ. sincerely, Bob W7RH _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: W7RH
-- W7RH DM35OS Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon. Winston Churchill _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Oops.
Please delete my log. Wrong mail drop down. thanks, Bob -- W7RH DM35OS Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon. Winston Churchill _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
Much of the discussion of todays transceivers is like comparing apples to apples. My situation did not require a big box status symbol with over a hundred button features. My requirements were standard communications interface ala serial, USB or Ethernet control with a decent receiver. Sub menus via computer screen. My ten year remote project started before K3 days and most manufacturers could not satisfy the above requirement without silly interface boxes. Many of those who had the specific features had lack luster firmware and software control. My interest in remote operation due to big city life and restrictions fueled my multiscreen computer control and I ended up with a Kenwood TS480 with the narrow 270 Hz cw filter option. DXing is a casual operation for me and separate simple SDR with loop is used for basic split frequency operation. Proper adjustment of the attenuator, RF gain and ALC is the key to this radio specific performance. Dual receive diversity is through a simple audio mixer and really is seldom used. My option is not for everyone. However, with the typical longtime ham station for seasoned low bander or contester in the price range of a couple of Harleys or nice BMW it is not out of sight. The bottom line. A simple transceiver with quiet location and good antenna works for me. If you can't hear them you can't work them no matter what you spend. 73, Bob W7RH http://w7rh.net -- W7RH DM35OS Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon. Winston Churchill _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Outing The Scofflaws
Kudos to the operators at PT0S for their adjustment to band conditions and volume of callers. I listened for two nights before making the dive into the mayhem. To me the first few nights the operators were going far to fast for the conditions especially for those in Rocky Mountain states and West. That 2000 plus mile wall of thunderstorms was just too much to bear. Last night conditions were favourable and finally in the log. The operators at PT0S were alternating their listening frequencies back and forth. Perfect for those who don't have dual RX capability but with the real ability to hear the DX station. I think its called good operating and it is really under the control of the DX station to manage that aspect. As for accidental and incidental TX on the DX stations calling frequency I can handle that. However, the band police were causing just as much damage as the intentional jammer. I might suggest that frequency spotters always post split and then up/down. I realize that RBNs can't handle this, operators beware. What I can't handle is the intentional jamming that has been going on for what seems like forever. There is one in particular that has a unique identifying characteristic that needs to go away, loose his licence, equipment and spend jail time. The one I am speaking of targets DX'ers and contesters specifically. It really hurts in a contest when this guy shows up and kills your chances of a few new multipliers. The characteristics of this signal are as follows: A power amplifier is in use, the signal is coming from the East at my location. The exciter is a tube type TX and is spotted absolutely zero beat. At this point a buffer or PA is tuned causing variation in amplitude and slight loading changes of frequency and increase in distortion. Any help finding the culprit would be appreciated. Bob, W7RH -- Bob Kile, W7RH DM35OS -- “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” Will Rogers ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
Re: Topband: Monopole Elev Pattern w.r.t. Earth Conductivity
I'm intrigued by the number of comments on this thread. I'll offer my two cents as if there are a few who might concur. Size matters only in the length and density of the ground plane elements. Electrical height of 160 mono poles in the range of 25 degree to 60 degree offer excellent performance when properly matched over a ground plane of 60 or more radials of .3 wavelength. Spending time and effort for massive steel mono poles or high supports for horizontal antennas for top band are a waste of time and effort with considerable cost. You can not compare 160m to most of the HF bands. Propagation here is in it's own world and continuously changing. We don't care about sky wave cancellation... Yes, you want a low angle of radiation but you also want sky wave propagation as well. Go a shorter vertical monopole and get the most of both worlds. You will also have a great antenna to achieve the goals in a Ham Radio application. I say this with 7 years experience using low power with my 5 element 160m array using 40ft high top loaded by sloping wire verticals. K7CA, K7NJ, W7TVF, NK7C and N7JW use verticals of 60 degrees or less as the antenna components. I say this with caveat, the antenna sighting and location is important. Smooth, flat terrain with no large obstructions in the near field is required. -- Bob Kile, W7RH DM35OS -- “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” Will Rogers ___ Topband reflector - topband@contesting.com
Re: Topband: Parasitic Elements with 160m Verticals
I have been using a five element array of 1/8th wave (43ft) verticals since 2006 on Top band. I feel this is the lower limit to maintain radiation efficiency as each element is at or near 12.5 Ohms impedance. The array is set up in a rectangle such that there 4 elements broadside E/W and and 3 elements in-line NW, SW,SE and NE. They are all identical top loaded sloping T verticals and matched by UN-UN transformers. The key to their success is low loss matching and low loss ground systems. The center element has 120 .27 wavelength radials and the exterior 4 elements all have than 60 .27 wavelength radials. This system has done very well for me in making up for less than optimum operator skills in the low power category of competition. The advantages are lower initial cost and single person maintenance. Bob, W7RH -- Bob Kile, W7RH DM35OS -- “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” Will Rogers ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
