Hi Bob,
The most serious issue with your idea is "on the ground"
Even though BOGs are thought of being "on the ground" their
performance is severely compromised if they're not elevated
at least a few inches, typically by laying it on top of grass.
Is it possible to keep "on the ground" p
Hi Ron,
Intuition easily leads us off into the weeds when trying to use
it to understand antennas and especially their interaction with
their environment. On the other hand, easy to use antenna
models such as EZNEC go a long way to helping us understand
in detail how antennas interact with
My propagation forecast derived from today's NOAA/SWPC
web pages is published five days a week (M-F) in the Daily DX.
Propagation crossing low and mid latitudes is likely to be normal
until likely CME arrival early to mid-day Saturday, then mostly
below normal until at least mid-day Sund
Hi Kent,
A small ravine will have no significant effect, at worst just a slight
degradation of the front-to-side ratio. You can either follow the
contour of the land or run the wire horizontally across the small
ravine, whichever is more convenient.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Messag
Ward, N0AX and I prepared this Beverage article for November QST.
www.arrl.org/files/file/QST/This%20Month%20in%20QST/2021/11%20November%202021/Silver%20Donovan.pdf
Unlike all other articles in this month's QST, this article is free.
ARRL membership is not required to view it anywhere
Hi Pete,
One of the best ways to figure out how to rig antenna wires
for long reliable life is to examine how power companies
and trolley lines rig their wires.
I have many 280 foot diameter quad loops with the corners
hundreds of feet high and supported at the corners by ropes.
The loops
Hi Ray,
Simply connect your 160 meter transceiver to a dummy load.
If the VSWR meter in your transceiver isn't accurate, connect
an external VSWR meter. Or use your hand held antenna
analyzer or VNA if its accurate.
Your VSWR should read near 1:1.
Now connect your choke across the dummy
Hi Frank
Its impossible to know at this early date if 2010 is a good solar flux
index model for 2021 , it depends how optimistic you are. Hopefully
we'll be able to make better judgements (guesses?) in about six months.
For example:
The solar flux index was mostly below 80 until Febru
The DX Engineering DXE-PL259CS8U-12 crimp coax connector
with solder center center pin should work perfectly on RG-11.
I fold back the RG-11 center conductor about 1/4 inch to provide
more surface area for soldering
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Rick Kunath via To
Hi Ray,
I've used Amphenol 83-1SP PL-259 connectors on RG-11 at least
100 times and they're always 100% trouble free. I'm not aware of a
suitable crimp RG-11 connector. I'm referring the standard RG-11
with a copper center conductor and shield and not cable TV RG-11.
73
Frank
W3LPL
---
Hi Luke,
March and April (and September and October) are the months when
the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is twice as likely to be
oriented southwards (-Bz) than in June, July, December and January.
S outhward IMF orientation is far more significant than the intensity
of coronal hol
This is a much better URL for Weagant's classic article
worldradiohistory.com/UK/Wireless-Age/Wireless-Age-1919-Apr.pdf
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Jose_Carlos"
To: "CUTTER DAVID via Topband"
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2021 4:27:50 PM
Subject: Topband: Dual
This is the corrected URL for Steve's Magic-T video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bbt1IcC4bk
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "VE6WZ_Steve"
To: "topband"
Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 10:29:54 PM
Subject: Topband: The Magic-T
Today I uploaded a video to my RX series
Hi Fred,
A single 300 foot Beverage has excellent front-to-back ratio but
very broad 150 degree 3 dB beamwidth on 160 meters,
A 580 foot Beverage has approximately 80 degree 3 dB beamwidth,
and it works very well on 160, 80 and 40 meters, one of the
reasons why that length is so popular.
Hi Jim,
That simply makes the radiating part of the vertical taller and elevates
feed point.
Its known in professional antenna engineering circles as a sleeved
monopole with elevated feed point. The classic version is a vertical
with its feedline routed through a sleeve that is 1/2 the l
Hi Clive,
A second resonant radial is a good idea, but not because it might
cancel horizontally polarized radiation.
Why?
Because -- just like a Beverage -- a horizontal wire close to the ground
has no significant horizontally polarized radiation. Essentially all
of the horizontally pol
Hi Dan,
Your small lot is an ideal candidate for K2AV's folded counterpoise.
Contact K2AV for guidance, he's helped countless successful users.
www.k2av.com
A few clarifications regarding radials and gain:
Radials have absolutely nothing to do with gain. They only reduce
ground losses
Hi Dan,
An inverted-L with one elevated radial has lots of room for improvement,
almost anything will improve what you now have.
How much improvement you can achieve is mostly determined by site
limitations, copper wire expense, how much work you're able do
yourself or pay someone else to
Its a fool's errand to use only antenna modelling software to evaluate
the complexity of topband transmitting antenna performance.
Why is that? Antenna models do not take into account polarization
mismatch loss, a fact of life because the electron gyrofrequency
is so close to 160 meters. Se
Topband Guru W4ZV wrote an excellent comparison of the relative
merits of vertical and horizontal antennas on 160 meters.
Bill's excellent: "You can never have too many antennas!"
is often quoted with my important corollary:
"unless they interfere with each other"
which they all too ofte
Horizontally polarized receiving antennas should be very low, so that
they discriminate very effectively against both local vertically polarized
RFI as well as atmospheric noise propagated via the ionosphere at low
angles. They can occasionally work very well near sunrise when
high angle DX sig
Several topbanders have had both horizontal dipoles at various heights
-- including both very low and very high -- and high performing vertical
antennas that we could compare on the air in real time.
While there are always isolated cases when horizontal antennas
might be the best transmitting
The electron gyrofrequency (1.6 MHz or less) causes 160 meter signals
propagating more-or-less east-west at mid-latitudes to strongly favor
vertical polarization.
80 meter propagation only slightly favors vertical polarization for
more-or-less east-west propagation at mid-latitudes. Other fac
Geomagnetic storm watches are in effect from 9-11 December , due to
coronal mass ejection (CME) effects from a direct CME collision with
the Earth's magnetosphere on 9-11 December. The CME eruption was
associated with a C7 solar flare erupting from Sunspot Region 2790
on 7 December.
ww
Preventive maintenance methods should be employed to detect faults
in contest stations and antennas before they impact competitive results.
Its not that time consuming with modern, inexpensive tools like TDRs,
VNAs and antenna analyzers. It costs much less to purchase all three
than even the
Hi Nick,
W3LPL was multi-single, we spent very limited time
on Topband except to chase multipliers.
We worked 160 QSOs, 21 Zones and 70 countries on Topband
Conditions appeared to be normal to Europe but poor
on paths crossing the auroral zone such as Zone 16
There was significantly l
Flexible coaxial cable jackets are easily damaged by careless handling,
by mice and other vermin, by improper installation on a tower, or by
not bonding the coax to the top and bottom of the tower which makes
it susceptible to pin hole damage during lightning strikes.
73
Frank
W3LPL
---
Of course Lee is absolutely correct.
Many 160 DXers who have had difficulty with receiving antennas
have given up too easily during the troubleshooting process.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Lee STRAHAN"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Want to help FEMA help those in need? Here's an on-call job with the FEMA
Reservist program as an HF Operator:
www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/585313700
73
Frank
W3LPL
_
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Hi Andy,
Your new end-fire array sounds excellent!
How are your two elements constructed?
What is the end-fire phase delay between your two elements?
Are the end fire elements actually 125 meters apart?
1/4 wavelength end-fire spacing would be 41 meters.
Spacings as small as 20 meters
Hi Jeff,
Micro arcing can be excited by just a few volts of RF. While micro arcing
probably is n't a fire risk, micro arcing radiates low level phase noise
on transmitted signals. This is can cause a serious interference
problem to nearby receivers such as neighboring hams or co-located
rece
Hi Arthur,
Persistent high speed solar wind speed contains significantly more
kinetic energy than transient high density solar wind.
High density solar wind is a transient event of solar wind origin often
occurring during the rising phase of the solar cycle as fast coronal
mass ejections
Hi Bill,
Both the solar flux index and the sunspot number are proxy measures
of ionizing extreme ultraviolet radiation, the 10 nm wavelength of
UV radiation that ionizes the E and F layers of the ionosphere.
Solar flux index on the 90s mostly affects the higher frequency
bands, improving 1
Always beware of any communication that begins "with all due respect"
- Original Message -
From: "Wes"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Saturday, November 7, 2020 4:49:23 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: OT - Bonding Radials at Intersections
With all due respect, I must ask, how many megaw
Hello Henk,
Most of the kinetic energy released from solar wind into the Earth's
magnetosphere and then its ionosphere is in contained in the velocity
of the solar wind. Much less energy is in the extreme high temperature
of the solar wind's magnetized charged particles and in its embedded
i
Hi Carl,
If the insulation breaks down they will arc, potentially causing a fire
73
Frank
W3LPL
On 11/6/2020 4:27 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
>
>
> On 11/6/2020 1:10 PM, Carl Clawson wrote:
>> Frank,
>>
>> “Must” is a strong word. What goes wrong if you cross them?
>>
>>
Hi Bob,
While bonding the radials is desirable, its not essential. But you
must NOT cross the radials over each other.
The radials of a multi-element vertical array are usually bonded to
a common wire bisecting the verticals where they would otherwise
cross over each other. See this figure
Hi Dave,
270 foot spacing is a good choice only if you're trying to eliminate
QRN from local RFI sources not propagating via the ionosphere.
Otherwise 350 foot spacing is optimum for suppressing QRM/QRN
arriving via the ionosphere
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
F
Hi Kenny,
A single 580 foot Beverage is an excellent 160, 80 and 40 meter antenna.
I still have three of them (NE. S. W) even though I also have 8-circle
arrays for 160, 80 and 40 meters.
I've never used a pair of staggered Beverages with 350 foot broadside
spacing, these are ideas based
Recently I presented "The History of Trans-Atlantic Radio Communications"
to the Redwood Empire DX Association. Among other things, my
presentation discusses the 1921 trans-atlantic test which was closely
related to the early development of Top Band.
The REDXA video of my presentation i
Hi Lee,
Your testing will be inconclusive unless you inject water into your
connectors, or you could just move to Maryland where we get at least
45 inches of annual rainfall and it gets into everything thats not well
waterproofed
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Lee
Leif Svalgaard of the W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory at
Stanford University -- a highly regarded solar physicist -- predicts
solar cycle 25 SSN of 128 +/- 10.
According to Svalgaard:
"This prediction is near the average (123±21) of the 6 (now 7) precursor
methods that seem
Hi Mark,
It can be very challenging to reduce common mode adequately to preserve
the directivity of low signal level antennas such as the YCCC 9 circle.
My preferred approach is to bury all cables interconnecting the amplifiers
at the base of each vertical and the phasing combiner/controller,
Hi Bill,
The antenna feed point is where common mode signals on the outside
of coaxial cable shield most easily and severely degrade antenna
directivity. This a critical antenna performance issue for very low
signal level compact receiving antennas such as small loops and
short high impedanc
Hi Rick,
I'm not aware that any details of this phased array Beverage design
were ever published. M ost likely it was documented only in internal
government engineering reports.
These very large phased Beverage arrays continue to operate with
excellent results up to 30 MHz, some of its unu
Many years ago I was involved -- peripherally -- with very large phased arrays
of Beverage antennas installed over very poorly conducting soil (almost
solid rock) in which ground rods were completely impractical and
ineffective. The design of these arrays predated the availability of
general pu
Hi Jim,
Congratulations on your ARRL Technical Service Award
Well done and well deserved!
www.arrl.org/news/arrl-technical-service-award-conferred
73
Frank
W3LPL
_
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Hi Rick,
A "magnetic" loop will provide at least a 20 dB null, that's good. But
it doesn't provide the weak signal receiving capability of a high
performance receiving antenna. Very small magnetic loops provide a
25 dB null but at the expense of much worse weak signal performance.
Like so ma
Hi Dick,
If you're lucky enough to be able to install a receiving antenna about
1000 feet from your transmitting antenna, a separate high dynamic
range receiver or transceiver will be able to hear weak signals when
the main transceiver is calling CQ or working QSOs. In band receive
allows SO
Hi Ron,
700-1200 foot spacing should provide good in-band receiving capability.
SDR receivers won't work for in-band receive, you must use a traditional
transceiver such as the K3, K4HD, FTdx5000, IC-7800 etc.
Micro-arcing is caused by transmitted RF jumping a spark gap.
Any metal-to-metal
Hi Ron,
- Original Message -
From: "Tim Duffy"
To: "Ron WV4P" , "160"
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2020 6:32:11 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Rohn 25 Vertical questions.
Hi Ron,
A simple installation should be adequate if you're not planning in-band
receiving capability while you'r
As s olar cycle 25 is slowly gains strength, there are now two new cycle 25
sunspots on the visible disk, regions 2767 and 2768. Region 2768 rotated over
the northeast limb onto the visible disk early on Wednesday July 29th. This is
a very small, single unipolar sunspot with no penumbra, r
Daily variability of HF propagation is caused in large part by solar energetic
particle radiation carried by the solar wind, especially during the four years
closest to solar minimum when x-ray and proton radiation from solar flares are
less frequent and less intense.
The three-hourly Pl
Hi Hank,
You can search for licensed TIS stations by state and frequency here,
but just because they're licensed doesn't mean they're on the air...
www.fcc.gov/media/radio/travelers-information-stations-search
Callsign: WXK790 Licensee: PHOENIX, CITY OF
Radio Service: Public Safety Pool,
Hi Mike,
Think again :)
1610 is by far the most popular Travellers Information Station (TIS)
frequency, followed by 530 kHz, then by many frequencies above
1610 kHz
There are twelve TIS stations in Missouri, only five on 530 kHz
www.fcc.gov/media/radio/travelers-information-stations-s
Hi Mark,
Its not correct to refer to a 250 foot Beverage operating on either 80
or 40 meters as a "short Beverage." That length is ideal for 40 meters
and excellent for 80 meters. Only on 160 meters should it be considered
a short Beverage with a very broad main lobes off the ends.
73
Fra
I'm hoping that Mark will share his VSWR measurements with us,
otherwise he's asking for help but keeping us in the dark...
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Mike Waters"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2020 5:43:23 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Some exp
Hi Greg,
Four to six feet is not too high for a Beverage on 160 through 40 meters
Beverage sensitivity improves gradually with increased height and th
rear lobe and sidelobes increase (directivity degrades) gradually with
increased height.
The only Beverages I ever installed lower than sev
Hi John,
250 feet isn't a short Beverage on 80 meters, it should perform
superbly. In my -- now long ago -- professional life we built and
operated phased arrays of up to 64 Beverages all the way up to
30 MHz, feeding SDRs, and they worked superbly.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Mes
Hi Mark,
I've built countless dozens of Beverages and its absolutely true
that "Beverages just want to work."
About the only situation where they do not work is over highly
conductive soil such as salt marshes and ocean front locations
with salt water saturated sub-soils.
Signals rece
Hi Fred,
Google: 160 meter receiving loop antennas
You'll get lots of good ideas for antennas you can build in
just a few hours with simple parts.
An 8 foot diameter loop will provide the best sensitivity,
but a smaller 4 foot loop will provide deeper nulls
You'll need a good preamp a
Thanks for your kind comments Ron, much appreciated.
Hope to meet you in Dayton in 2021
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Ron WV4P"
To: "Tree"
Cc: "Frank Donovan" , "160"
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2020 4:10:36 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: 160m Vertical
Wow,
Incredible
Hi Ron,
A more reliable approach is a tuner in your shack. The extra coax
cable loss from elevated VSWR is insignificant on topband.
How high up the band do you want to go and at what maximum VSWR?
A resonant Rohn 25 160M vertical will be about 124 feet tall for
resonance around 1820
VE6WZ has some good ideas for a Beverage in dense woods here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueHgrszoq6A
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Fred Moeves"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Saturday, May 9, 2020 10:49:36 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: 2 wire reversible Beverage- KF4ITA
Chicken wire laid on the ground makes an excellent RF ground
for Beverages and other antennas requiring a good RF ground.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Nick Hall-Patch"
To: "Chris Moulding" , topband@contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 6:40:47 PM
Subject: Re:
Hi Steve,
Geomagnetic latitude isn't likely to be an issue in VK6, the geomagnetic
equator in your part of the world is about ten degrees north of the
geographic equator, it runs through the Phillipines and Viet Nam.
Your geomagnetic latitude is about the same as New York city.
But very po
Early this month SWPC published their official updated prediction of
Solar Cycle 25 in a new user-interactive graph format. Their updated
prediction is based on the results of NOAA's Solar Cycle 25 Prediction
Panel.
www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-cycle-progression
SWPC f orecasts
It is with great sadness that I write this message.
It has come to my attention that Marty Johnson W3YOZ has become a silent key as
of 4-14-2020
I will post more information as it becomes available.
Kevin P. Lear W3XOX
Blair Co. ARES EC / ACS Officer
w3...@hotmail.com
814-934-250
Ed,
If your receive loop has a preamp at its feed point, its very likely
that the preamp is being overloaded by the nearby BCB station.
If that's the case, a filter after the preamp will not help.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Edward"
To: donov...@starpower.net
Hi Ed,
What is the frequency of your local BCB transmitter?
This is the best brickwall filter -- capable of handling 200 watts --
that money can buy. Its provides at least 40 dB of attenuation below
1700 kHz. Several PVRC members located within a few thousand
feet of a 50 KW 1500 kHz BCB
RG-17 has the same problem, but the Type LC connector (a giant F connector)
solved the migration problem the same way the F connector does.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Richard (Rick) Karlquist"
To: "Lee STRAHAN" , topband@contesting.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2
Hi Bob,
Bonding (not grounding...) coax to the bottom of a tower helps to
divert lightning currents from the coax shield to the ground system
at the base of the tower
Bonding coax to the top of the tower helps to equalize the voltage
between the coax and the tower face. This helps to avoid
oops...
It was W2MF who vanished from 160 meter DXCC
A few weeks ago he was #296
Apologies to Brian N2MF #255
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: donov...@starpower.net
To: Topband@contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2020 4:08:11 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: DXCC Com
N2MF also vanished from the 160 meter DXCC listings...
- Original Message -
From: "Ken Claerbout"
To: Topband@contesting.com
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2020 9:43:45 PM
Subject: Re: Topband: DXCC Committe
I don't wish to drag this debate out any longer than necessary, but
some credit
Excellent skin depth reference here:
www.antennasbyn6lf.com/files/ground_skin_depth_and_wavelength.pdf
Ground characteristics are much more significant for vertical polarization
than for horizontal polarization.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Richard (Rick) Karlqu
W2MF also mysteriously disappeared...
- Original Message -
From: "uy0zg"
To: "Topband"
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 4:44:14 PM
Subject: Topband: Miracles again ...
OK1RD disappeared from first place :
http://www.arrl.org/system/dxcc/view/DXCC-160M-20200319-USLetter.pdf
He v
Hi Rick,
A noise receiving antenna close to a noise source is used in conjunction
with a higher performance receiving antenna such as a Beverage or an
array of short verticals and a passive or active noise canceller.
A small loop antenna provides a mechanically steerable null off of bot
"Sooner or later everything old is new again" (Stephen King)
February 1922 QST page 30
The 1BCG antenna used for the transatlantic tests was a T cage
over a radial counterpoise. The antenna is hung between two pipe
masts 230 feet apart, and 108 and 75 feet high, respectively.
The two hori
My experience with LDF4-50 and LDF4-75 is exact;y the same as Peter's.
Its always best to use an antenna analyzer or TDR to cut all of the
cables to the same length. Its very, very easy to do.
- Original Message -
From: dj...@t-online.de
To: cl...@gm3poi.com, topband@contesting.com
One advantage of using Ebay is their excellent refund policies if
you get cheated. I've used it many times and never suffered a loss.
But you have only two weeks to file a claim.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Richard (Rick) Karlquist"
To: donov...@starpower.net, "To
There's no shortage of 2N5109s on eBay for about one dollar each
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=2n5109&_sacat=0&_sop=15
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "VE6WZ_Steve"
To: "Richard (Rick) Karlquist"
Cc: "Topband"
Sent: Sunday, March 1, 2020 11:56:39 PM
Subj
Hi Paul,
A little modelling will answer the question more completely and
accurately than I can answer it in writing.
I was referring to the case where a 40 meter Yagi is on one tower and
a T-vertical with a top length of 60-75 feet is suspended between the
tower and a fairly nearby second
Hi Paul,
If you model -- or build -- a 40 meter Yagi with a nearby T-top vertical
with a 60-75 foot top, you'll discover that when the 40 meter Yagi is
turned so that its elements are parallel -- or near parallel -- to a nearby
T-top the impact on the performance of the 40 meter Yagi is sever
Hi Ed,
Your conclusions based on your modelling are completely consistent
with my practical experience and modelling.
The most likely degradation is a T-top between 60 and 75 feet long
degrading the front-to-back ratio, pattern and gain of a 40 meter
Yagi when its main beam points into a T
There is a many, many Russians on 160 meter FT8...
- Original Message -
From: "W7RH"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2020 3:01:41 PM
Subject: Topband: 160m activity and propagation
Greeting all,
This season has been interesting not because of highlights bu
Hi Ed,
A T-top at right angles to a Yagi will have little affect, but anything
close to broadside is very bad within 500 feet or less on 40 meters.
Fortunately a 60 foot top is just short enough to have minimal affect.
70 feet would be much worse.
Any top longer than 40 feet should have l
Hi Ed,
The affect of the T-vertical on a nearby HF Yagi is easily modeled in
EZNEC or your favorite antenna modelling program. You'll be surprised
by the results if the horizontal top is +/- 15% of resonance on 40 or 20
meters, for example. HF Yagi performance degradation occurs within ten
Hi Pete,
Symmetrical T-verticals offer a performance improvement over
inverted-L verticals but with a major downside if you operate on the
higher bands. If the flat top of the T-vertical is near resonance on any
HF band is will significantly degrade the performance of any Yagi
antenna within
Hi Dave,
There were several speed demons who were shooting themselves in the
foot with endless high speed CQs. Why would anyone send hundreds
-- even thousands -- of unanswered high speed CQs on topband when
slowing their speed to 26-30 WPM (or even lower) will only improve
their topband res
Hi Roger,
Topband propagation to Europe was about as good as it gets this weekend,
except Sunday night when it was significantly depressed. I compared
your signal to the three other UK stations who were calling CQ at the
end of the contest The strongest were GM5X and GW5R, both
consistently
Hi Roger,
I heard you CQing early this morning (of course you were already in
the log). You had en excellent signal right up there with the best European
signals.
I hope you try again tonight
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Wes"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent:
Send me a list of your transmitting capacitor needs needs.
Ten bucks each shipped to your door.
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "FZ Bruce"
To: "topband@contesting.com"
Sent: Saturday, February 8, 2020 8:09:10 PM
Subject: Topband: transmit antenna capacitors
Surpl
Many of these old transmitting mica capacitors have reliability issues.
Their foil-mica technology is very obsolete and their molded enclosures
often leak moisture and contaminants. On the good side, unlike many
other capacitor designs they're capable of the handling high currents
and high volt
Hi Jim,
See www.qrz.com/db/TT8SN
73
Frank
W3LPL
- Original Message -
From: "Jim Brown"
To: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Thursday, February 6, 2020 6:02:11 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: TT8SN QRV CW
On 2/2/2020 5:02 AM, daraym...@iowatelecom.net wrote:
> TT8SN has been QRV on 16
Hi Dave,
From the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1450 dated Feb 3 2020:
TT, CHAD (160m)
Nicolas, F8FQX (ex-TJ3SN, TN5SN, 5T5SN, TY2CA), who has
been in N'Djamena since December and plans to be there for the next 3-4
years, will be on various HF bands and 6 meters signing TT8SN. This
past wee
Hi Mike,
While I can't comment about Mark's specific experiences in this
contest, our usual rule of thumb is that you can never have too many
antennas.
We've found that the 8-circle isn't the best receiving antenna while
running because its sidelobe levels are so low that you often hear
n
How were conditions at W3LPL in Maryland last weekend?
Mark KD4D operated here last weekend using his call.
Conditions were good Friday night but with troublesome QRN from
nearby heavy rain storms. Fantastic on Saturday night with no
significant QRN.
110 ten-pointers were worked from 23
Roger has 27 topband QSOs in my log since February 1993,
well done!
Its interesting how our transmitting antenna experiences are exactly
opposite on both 160 and 80 meters. I've had little success with
160 meter horizontal dipoles 100 to 200 feet high compared to
my 4-square vertical array w
Hi Roger,
My experience is consistent with almost all topband operators:
"160 needs vertical polarization for consistent long DX."
I've had 160 horizontal dipoles at 100 feet and 200 feet high and
I've never experienced a situation where their performance
approached the consistent excellen
Climate scientist David Archibald speculates that Solar Cycle 24/25
minimum could be as late as March 2021 and that Cycle 25 maximum
might not occur until 2027.
wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/22/solar-update-december-2019
73
Frank
W3LPL
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