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TOPBAND
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 03:20:59 -0800 (PST)
From: charles Lewis
Subject: Topband: Good Top Band Condx and End Fed Antennas
It is a little frustrating to hear about all the good
conditions on 160M recently. On the occasions when I
have been able to stay up late enough for the path to
NA, all I have heard on this end has been bountiful
noise!
The discussion of end fed antennas brought this to
mind. It wouldn't often be practical for 160 M
because of size, but when I am on leave back at my
cabin in the NC mountains I deploy an antenna for 75 M
that allows me to run it directly away from the house
and down the slope behind to a distant tree. It is
not really electrically end fed, but as far as
physical lay out it is. The run of wire from the
eaves of the house to the tree is roughly 3/4
wavelength at the frequency of interest. I connect a
1/4 wave length wire to the coax shield at the feed
point at the near end of the 3/4 wave wire. I run
that 1/4 wave wire to a post just high enough to keep
it out of harm's way. I dress it so that it makes a
"V" in relationship to the main wire. By manipulating
the angle of the "V" and the length of a the 1/4 wave
wire a bit, I can get a 1 to 1 match at the desired
frequency.
If I want to get on 80M CW, I just clip a few feet of
wire to the end of the easily accessible 1/4 wave
wire. The SWR I obtain in the CW portion that way is
still less than 1.5 to 1.
As I said, it is probably not practical for 160M (nor
would it likely be any good at all for DX), but it can
be useful in one's bag of tricks when the situation is
such that the layout of things doesn't allow easy
access to the physical center of a low band dipole.
Mine winds up quite low in the center when deployed,
but it works well with my barefoot rig for ragchewing
with old friends around the Carolinas when I'm home.
I'm still hoping for some Top Band magic here before
the good season for the path to NA ends. I have had
no luck at all with NA since December.
73,
Charles - S9SS
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 19:54:59 +0100
From: IT9ZGY - Pietro Marino
Subject: Topband: OX/OZ1WF
Hello reflectees:
I worked on Jan 12 1997 OX/OZ1WG on 160 meter cw.
No answer from him still now and I need to know any information about this
station.
Is it a bogus ????? TNX in advance for any kind reply.
73, Peter - IT9ZGY
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 23:04:25 -0700
From: "larry pace"
Subject: Topband: conditions from the far left coast
caught a very nice opening to eastern europe
last night. not very often that area is good copy
from arizona.
SM5EDX, HA5JI, LY2ZZ, OM3EY, OK1AEZ and
OK1RD all worked with 569 to 579 signals.
top band lives!
larry, N7DD
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 06:47:20 -0500
From: "Gary Nichols"
Subject: Topband: Conditions in Inaiana
Is my radio broke? I listened for XF4IH from 1045Z until he quit (at least
people calling him quit) at about 1145Z and never heard even one dit on 1827
where he was spotted. This spotlight propagation is getting to be a bad
joke...de gary, kd9sv
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 03:20:59 -0800 (PST)
From: charles Lewis
Subject: Topband: Good Top Band Condx and End Fed Antennas
It is a little frustrating to hear about all the good
conditions on 160M recently. On the occasions when I
have been able to stay up late enough for the path to
NA, all I have heard on this end has been bountiful
noise!
The discussion of end fed antennas brought this to
mind. It wouldn't often be practical for 160 M
because of size, but when I am on leave back at my
cabin in the NC mountains I deploy an antenna for 75 M
that allows me to run it directly away from the house
and down the slope behind to a distant tree. It is
not really electrically end fed, but as far as
physical lay out it is. The run of wire from the
eaves of the house to the tree is roughly 3/4
wavelength at the frequency of interest. I connect a
1/4 wave length wire to the coax shield at the feed
point at the near end of the 3/4 wave wire. I run
that 1/4 wave wire to a post just high enough to keep
it out of harm's way. I dress it so that it makes a
"V" in relationship to the main wire. By manipulating
the angle of the "V" and the length of a the 1/4 wave
wire a bit, I can get a 1 to 1 match at the desired
frequency.
If I want to get on 80M CW, I just clip a few feet of
wire to the end of the easily accessible 1/4 wave
wire. The SWR I obtain in the CW portion that way is
still less than 1.5 to 1.
As I said, it is probably not practical for 160M (nor
would it likely be any good at all for DX), but it can
be useful in one's bag of tricks when the situation is
such that the layout of things doesn't allow easy
access to the physical center of a low band dipole.
Mine winds up quite low in the center when deployed,
but it works well with my barefoot rig for ragchewing
with old friends around the Carolinas when I'm home.
I'm still hoping for some Top Band magic here before
the good season for the path to NA ends. I have had
no luck at all with NA since December.
73,
Charles - S9SS
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 19:54:59 +0100
From: IT9ZGY - Pietro Marino
Subject: Topband: OX/OZ1WF
Hello reflectees:
I worked on Jan 12 1997 OX/OZ1WG on 160 meter cw.
No answer from him still now and I need to know any information about this
station.
Is it a bogus ????? TNX in advance for any kind reply.
73, Peter - IT9ZGY
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 23:04:25 -0700
From: "larry pace"
Subject: Topband: conditions from the far left coast
caught a very nice opening to eastern europe
last night. not very often that area is good copy
from arizona.
SM5EDX, HA5JI, LY2ZZ, OM3EY, OK1AEZ and
OK1RD all worked with 569 to 579 signals.
top band lives!
larry, N7DD
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 06:47:20 -0500
From: "Gary Nichols"
Subject: Topband: Conditions in Inaiana
Is my radio broke? I listened for XF4IH from 1045Z until he quit (at least
people calling him quit) at about 1145Z and never heard even one dit on 1827
where he was spotted. This spotlight propagation is getting to be a bad
joke...de gary, kd9sv
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 03:20:59 -0800 (PST)
From: charles Lewis
Subject: Topband: Good Top Band Condx and End Fed Antennas
It is a little frustrating to hear about all the good
conditions on 160M recently. On the occasions when I
have been able to stay up late enough for the path to
NA, all I have heard on this end has been bountiful
noise!
The discussion of end fed antennas brought this to
mind. It wouldn't often be practical for 160 M
because of size, but when I am on leave back at my
cabin in the NC mountains I deploy an antenna for 75 M
that allows me to run it directly away from the house
and down the slope behind to a distant tree. It is
not really electrically end fed, but as far as
physical lay out it is. The run of wire from the
eaves of the house to the tree is roughly 3/4
wavelength at the frequency of interest. I connect a
1/4 wave length wire to the coax shield at the feed
point at the near end of the 3/4 wave wire. I run
that 1/4 wave wire to a post just high enough to keep
it out of harm's way. I dress it so that it makes a
"V" in relationship to the main wire. By manipulating
the angle of the "V" and the length of a the 1/4 wave
wire a bit, I can get a 1 to 1 match at the desired
frequency.
If I want to get on 80M CW, I just clip a few feet of
wire to the end of the easily accessible 1/4 wave
wire. The SWR I obtain in the CW portion that way is
still less than 1.5 to 1.
As I said, it is probably not practical for 160M (nor
would it likely be any good at all for DX), but it can
be useful in one's bag of tricks when the situation is
such that the layout of things doesn't allow easy
access to the physical center of a low band dipole.
Mine winds up quite low in the center when deployed,
but it works well with my barefoot rig for ragchewing
with old friends around the Carolinas when I'm home.
I'm still hoping for some Top Band magic here before
the good season for the path to NA ends. I have had
no luck at all with NA since December.
73,
Charles - S9SS
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 19:54:59 +0100
From: IT9ZGY - Pietro Marino
Subject: Topband: OX/OZ1WF
Hello reflectees:
I worked on Jan 12 1997 OX/OZ1WG on 160 meter cw.
No answer from him still now and I need to know any information about this
station.
Is it a bogus ????? TNX in advance for any kind reply.
73, Peter - IT9ZGY
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 23:04:25 -0700
From: "larry pace"
Subject: Topband: conditions from the far left coast
caught a very nice opening to eastern europe
last night. not very often that area is good copy
from arizona.
SM5EDX, HA5JI, LY2ZZ, OM3EY, OK1AEZ and
OK1RD all worked with 569 to 579 signals.
top band lives!
larry, N7DD
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 06:47:20 -0500
From: "Gary Nichols"
Subject: Topband: Conditions in Inaiana
Is my radio broke? I listened for XF4IH from 1045Z until he quit (at least
people calling him quit) at about 1145Z and never heard even one dit on 1827
where he was spotted. This spotlight propagation is getting to be a bad
joke...de gary, kd9sv
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 16:06:46 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: 160 PSK31 Operation
I try to operate 160 PSK31 as much as possible but rarely see any activity as of
late. I heard some signals last night but could not decode them because of a
loose connection in my homebrew interface. In any event all is working fine
now and I'll be on 1807 kc +/- beginning at 0000 UTC this
evening and also early tomorrow morning.
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
SWFWMD Observer #574
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources and More http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf.htm
Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 04:29:06 -0800
From: "Michael Tope"
Subject: Re: Topband: Conditions in Indiana
From: "Gary Nichols"
> Is my radio broke? I listened for XF4IH from 1045Z until he quit (at
least
> people calling him quit) at about 1145Z and never heard even one dit on
1827
> where he was spotted. This spotlight propagation is getting to be a bad
> joke...de gary, kd9sv
>
I don't think they are very loud Gary. Here in the Los
Angeles area, they have never been stronger than 569,
and are mostly 449 to 559. According to my map program,
they are only about 1100 miles from here, so you would
expect them to be S9+ if they had a good TX signal (earlier
today ZS6UT was actually louder here than they have been).
They do seem to hear pretty well, however.
73 de Mike, W4EF.........
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 07:54:11 -0500
From: "William G. McDowell"
Subject: Topband: Good Top Band Condx and End Fed Antennas
So, did condx improve last night and the S9SS that was on
from 2100Z-0330Z on 80 and 160 with a booming signal the
real McCoy or someone having fun. Hmmmmm...
73
Bill, K4CIA
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 10:23:40 -0600
From: "Chuck Kraly"
Subject: Re: Topband: Good Top Band Condx and End Fed Antennas
it was the real thing...I exchanged email with Charles...and it was him
Chuck/K0XM
----- Original Message -----
From: "William G. McDowell"
To:
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 6:54 AM
Subject: Topband: Good Top Band Condx and End Fed Antennas
So, did condx improve last night and the S9SS that was on
from 2100Z-0330Z on 80 and 160 with a booming signal the
real McCoy or someone having fun. Hmmmmm...
73
Bill, K4CIA
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 16:37:05 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: XF4IH In FL
On UTC the 13th XF4IH was 59+ on 80 meter phone and 579 on 160 CW here in west central Florida. On UTC the 14th I didn't hear a peep from them on 1824 kc!
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
SWFWMD Observer #574
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources and More http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf.htm
Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 12:22:25 -0500
From: W2pm@aol.com (by way of Bill Tippett )
Subject: Topband: S9SS
Heard S9SS on 80 - S9 plus 10 on the NE mini Flag for over 45 minutes. Then
he QRT'd and went to 160 where I could barely detect he was in there -
despite posts that he was very strong in NA - mostly Midwest as I
recall.. This is why 160 continues to remind me of golf ..
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 12:44:40 -0500
From: "Tom Rauch"
Subject: Topband: XF4 and other "spotlights"
> > people calling him quit) at about 1145Z and never heard even one dit on
> 1827
> > where he was spotted. This spotlight propagation is getting to be a bad
> > joke...de gary, kd9sv
> >
>
> I don't think they are very loud Gary. Here in the Los
> Angeles area, they have never been stronger than 569,
> and are mostly 449 to 559. According to my map program,
I would consider it candlelight propagation. XF4IH's signal on 160 is
normally about the same as I see from 1/2 to 5 watt stations at similar
distances using modest antenna installations.
I'm glad they managed to get something on the air and are making an effort.
Some DXpeditions mostly ignore 160, and they are trying..but they must be
using very low power or have an antenna problem of some type.
I generally observe even 1dB difference is all the difference in copying a
marginal signal, and the difference in strength several hundred miles away
can easily be 10dB. This is particularly true at sunrise or sunset. The
signals are always there, they just fall below local noise. In 15 minutes
the favored area can change quickly, and just a few dB makes all the
difference in the world.
In a matter of minutes this morning VK3ZL went from 20-30dB out of noise on
a northwest path to 10-15dB on a west south west path. The Europeans were
doing that last night also. Last night European signals were skewed as far
as due east yet on occasion some would be normal directions. Unfortunately
the east path had high storm QRN.
160 is a funny band. We not only have huge noise level variations, we have
direction and signal level differences to deal with constantly. The lower
the ERP of the station we are listening to, the more pronounced these
effects become.
73 Tom
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 13:02:04 EST
From: BobK8IA@aol.com
Subject: Re: Topband: S9SS
In a message dated 3/14/04 10:23:32 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
W2pm@aol.com writes:
Heard S9SS on 80 - S9 plus 10 on the NE mini Flag for over 45 minutes. Then
he QRT'd and went to 160 where I could barely detect he was in there -
despite posts that he was very strong in NA - mostly Midwest as I
recall.. This is why 160 continues to remind me of golf ..
Thats interesting as he was quite copyable here in Arizona on both bands,
0230Z or so. Nothing fancy here for antennas (rx or tx) on either band, just low
noise level most of the time. Thats certainly what makes 160 a challenge.
Searchlight propagation??
73, Bob K8IA
in the shadow of the Superstition Mtns
Arizona USA
http://www.members.aol.com/bobk8ia/index.htm
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 13:47:00 EST
From: G3SED@aol.com
Subject: Topband: 3B9C Rodrigues Dxpedition
Hi all,
Just a quick reminder that Don G3XTT and I fly out tomorrow ( Monday 15th
March ) to Rodrigues Island with the rest of the team for our 3B9C Dxpedition.
We will be running a dedicated 160 metre station using a Titanex V160S
vertical on the beach just a few feet from the sea. We have a Yaesu FT1000 MKV plus
Titan amp and a selection of rx antennas.
I guess just as with D68C a few years ago, we will be fighting the high QRN
levels in the region, but hopefully with two beverages, and a pair of K9AY
loops we may have a chance.
We will not use pilots this time, instead you can E mail your comments
directly to us on the Island at :- deserving@3B9C.com. We cannot reply to individual
E mails but will post relevant responses daily on our web site at :-
www.3B9C.com.
Don and I look forward to working many of you on 160 metres - we hope to
start operating from 2000z Friday 19th March (if all 16 stations are set up and
ready to go). We should be active for about 3 weeks
73's
Mike G3SED
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 15:37:01 -0700
From: "ARNE GJERNING"
Subject: Topband: S9SS
GREAT opening Saturday early evening. I spent over 30 minutes calling S9SS
on 80 CW to work him. On 160M it took 3 calls to get him in the log. He
was an honest S6-S8 on the S-Meter here in NM for over 30 minutes after I
worked him. Antenna is the 1/4 wave sloper for RX/tx so you have to know
conditions were very good. Also heard UA6LV but he faded fast (think his
sunrise, I did not note time though but it was at same time K5XX worked
him).
About 0500Z DF2PY was spotted but not a peep of a signal here.
GOTTA LOVE THIS INSANITY.
73 de Arne N7KA
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 20:06:19 EST
From: W2pm@aol.com
Subject: Re: Topband: S9SS
In a message dated 3/14/2004 5:32:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
BobK8IA@aol.com writes:
> Thats interesting as he was quite copyable here in Arizona on both bands,
> 0230Z or so. Nothing fancy here for antennas (rx or tx) on either band, just
> low
> noise level most of the time. Thats certainly what makes 160 a challenge.
> Searchlight propagation??
I dont know -- Im starting to think it's one of two things here at my QTH in
suburban NNJ -- 1. local terrain with high density development attenuates low
angle signals - I know the noise level is sharply increased in these QTH's
but Ive been able to abate the noise by a number of different measures and sig
strength on some 160 signals is just way, way down from reports of others
within 200 mi of here.
2. My antennas are too low angle -- I have only Flags, Pennants and the 1/4
wave Inv L. I also have a mag loop which is a diff category and quite def
normally anyway.
I use the same antennas for rx on 80 with excellent results often hearing
stations many other seem to have problems with ...
Like I said before - its 160 ..!
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 02:11:31 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: S9SS On 160
Antenna polarization plays a large role in the success of a long haul DX contact. As a medium frequency RF signal traverses Earth's magnetic lines of force in a perpendicular manner on high and mid latitude paths say between W3 land and SM, higher angle horizontally polarized signals are more readily absorbed then lower angle vertically polarized signals. On other propagation paths on the globe opposite results can be found, i.e. horizontally polarized signals suffer less absorption on a propagation path between VK6 and W6 or S9 and W4.
Southern U.S. QTH's like Florida and New Mexico to S9 may be better via higher angle horizontally polarized antennas. The N.E. U.S. probably elliptical polarization via an inverted L. Higher latitudes via a vertical. Of course though what complicates the matter is that RF often changes polarization as it's is refracted.
Magneto Ionic Power Coupling expert Bob Brown NM7M has a good educational post on this bugaboo on the May 2002 Topband Reflector. The thread can read in it's entirety by going to this link http://lists.contesting.com/_topband/2002-05/msg00087.html .
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
SWFWMD Observer #574
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources and More http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf.htm
Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 18:39:17 -0800
From: Dennis Ashworth
Subject: Topband: HK0GU/1
I just talked to Gerd (DL7VOG) on 30M. He plans to begin 160M operation in
about a week from Providencia as HK0GU.
Dennis, K7FL
Battle Ground, WA
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 04:28:53 +0000
From: W5UN
Subject: Topband: JY9QJ
What a thrill to work JY9QJ on 160 tonight at 0344 UTC, then to immediately
receive an email from him thanking me for his first Texas QSO on top band.
Wow.
Made my day; tnx George.
73, Dave - W5UN w5un@wt.net
homepage: http://web.wt.net/~w5un Grid: EM23mg
RR 10, Box 27
Mount Pleasant, TX 75455
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 08:24:43 +0100
From: "Gustab Petr"
Subject: Topband: Question
Hi DXers !
Do you know anybody some info about activity 5Z4 on Top Band ?
I need this country to my DXCC Award and I no lucky.
I know, traffic on 160 mtrs from 5Z is very problematic.
I would like to every information about activity from Kenya on TOP BAND !
Best DX from OK Country, Petr OK1DOT
PS : XF4 is comical DX expedition.......
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 13:02:00 +0100
From: "Rolf T Salme"
Subject: Topband: Question re 5Z4
Hi Petr,
Alas, according to info on the HP of the Amateur Radio
Society of Kenya (http://www.qsl.net/arsk/index.htm),
160 m is not permitted in Kenya.
73,
Rolf
SM5MX
(5Z4MX 1982-85)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gustab Petr"
To:
Sent: 15 March 2004 08:24
Subject: Topband: Question
> Hi DXers !
>
> Do you know anybody some info about activity 5Z4 on Top Band ?
> I need this country to my DXCC Award and I no lucky.
>
> I know, traffic on 160 mtrs from 5Z is very problematic.
> I would like to every information about activity from Kenya on TOP BAND !
>
> Best DX from OK Country, Petr OK1DOT
>
>
> PS : XF4 is comical DX expedition.......
>
> _______________________________________________
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 07:32:50 -0500
From: "Tom Rauch"
Subject: Re: Topband: S9SS On 160
Antenna polarization plays a large role in the success of a long haul DX
contact. As a medium frequency RF signal traverses Earth's magnetic lines of
force in a perpendicular manner on high and mid latitude paths say between
W3 land and SM, higher angle horizontally polarized signals are more readily
absorbed then lower angle vertically polarized signals. On other propagation
paths on the globe opposite results can be found, i.e. horizontally
polarized signals suffer less absorption on a propagation path between VK6
and W6 or S9 and W4.>>>
Maybe, maybe not.
My dipole at 300 feet was no better into VK6 than into VK3 or anywhere else
by any repeatable amount when compared to a good vertical, and I did
hundreds and hundreds of tests. Bob in VK3 is further south than VK6, and
the path is further south also. Why doesn't his dipole beta his vertical, or
my dipole beat my vertical to him?
Southern U.S. QTH's like Florida and New Mexico to S9 may be better via
higher angle horizontally polarized antennas. The N.E. U.S. probably
elliptical polarization via an inverted L. Higher latitudes via a vertical.
Of course though what complicates the matter is that RF often changes
polarization as it's is refracted.>>>
I think that last sentence is the real key.
Even if the ionosphere was a stable perfectly reflecting "sheet of
conductors", it would be pretty tough to maintain a deep cross-polarized
null!
The ionosphere is so unstable and signals scatter so much it would be tough
to reach any conclusion. The ionosphere in the sky is apparently different
than an ionosphere on paper. Radiated power at any wave angle optimum at the
moment also comes in to play, you can't just toss that out.
VK3ZL does V vs. H tests comparing a dipole at 110 feet to a ~45 foot
vertical, and any given day either could be stronger. As a general rule, his
dipole has the highest chance of being stronger only at high solar
disturbances or very near his sunset. Most of the time the vertical is
better. As a matter of fact, he almost never finds the H better except when
propagation is disturbed or at a "sun exposure".
I found the same thing here. At or near my sunrise "peak" my horizontal
antennas all evened out more with verticals. At the same time, the signal is
obviously scattering or multi-pathing because the Beverage and vertical
arrays lose directivity.
A few years back before we started doing tests Bob would have sworn a
vertical was a "dog". That was before he installed a reasonable ground
system. A 45-foot vertical with less than 50 radials isn't a "big" antenna,
yet it beats his dipole most of the time to all areas of the world.
Another factor often ignored is if the polarization is tilted, you would
have to tilt the antenna to MATCH the same tilt angle. A tilt at the
opposite angle would produce a null. Say the tilt looking east is 45
degrees. If the antenna tilted 135 degrees you'd have a perfect null. You'd
better install TWO tilted antennas set 90 degrees apart in tilt if tilt
effects are critical!
Anyone here try to phase two antennas of differing polarization but similar
wave angles to null signals? I have and I can tell you the null changes and
is no longer a null in about 15 seconds or less! A minute later the null can
be a peak. That clearly demonstrates how futile it is to consider a null
from polarization tilt as being "effective" or worrisome over any period of
time.
IMO, describing how to optimize an antenna based on latitude is like
describing how to write sentences in a bowl of alphabet soup.
73 Tom
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 13:43:34 +0000 (GMT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Roger=20Parsons?=
Subject: Topband: re: JY9QJ
JY9QJ was an excellent signal here before his sunrise.
Quite surprising as I could hear no Europeans at that
time, and the aurora was doing its thing quite well!
73 Roger
VE3ZI
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 09:02:15 -0500
From: Bill Tippett
Subject: Topband: S9SS On 160
--=======59AF1F40=======
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W8JI wrote:
>VK3ZL does V vs. H tests comparing a dipole at 110 feet to a ~45 foot
vertical, and any given day either could be stronger. As a general rule, his
dipole has the highest chance of being stronger only at high solar
disturbances or very near his sunset. Most of the time the vertical is
better. As a matter of fact, he almost never finds the H better except when
propagation is disturbed or at a "sun exposure".
>I found the same thing here. At or near my sunrise "peak" my horizontal
antennas all evened out more with verticals. At the same time, the signal is
obviously scattering or multi-pathing because the Beverage and vertical
arrays lose directivity.
I suspect differences have much more to do with takeoff angles
(TOA) than
polarization. I put up an inverted-V on my 100' tower in January to maximize
high angles and Eznec shows ~100' is about the optimum (to maximize gain at a
90 degree TOA). The breakeven angle for equal gain with my vertical array is
at ~40 degrees TOA. Although the vertical is better for DX >95% of the time,
there are times when the inverted-V is clearly superior. Normally these seem
to be near sunrise and sunset, but not always. Furthermore there is no
consistency from one day to the next even at sunrise/sunset. I've seen days
when the inverted-V will be VERY superior (>10 dB) to the 3-element vertical
array but the next day it will be the opposite. The other strange thing I've
noticed is that differences are not always reciprocal for transmit and receive.
For example, last night the inverted-V sounded nearly as strong as the vertical
array on receive, but transmit tests indicated the vertical was stronger in EU
by several S-units. BTW, XF4IH was a true 599 yesterday at my sunrise on the
inverted-V (vertical array is presently fixed NE so I can't say what he would
have been if oriented SW). I also worked 9V1GO with the inverted-V after
sunrise
last week long after Bob had faded out on my NNW Beverage (which is low angle).
I guess this simply proves the old adage "You can't have too many
antennas"!
73, Bill W4ZV
P.S. Here is a plot comparing TOA's between the inverted-V and vertical array:
http://users.vnet.net/btippett/new_page_10.htm
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--=======59AF1F40=======--
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 18:21:41 +0000 (GMT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Roger=20Parsons?=
Subject: Topband: re: Question re 5Z4
FWIW, 160m was not normally permitted in Kenya way
back in 1968 when I was 5Z4LE. However, the ITU
regulations allow its use, and I had no problem in
getting special permission. There have been a number
of other 5Z4 stations on 160 since that time so I
guess they went the same route.
73 Roger
VE3ZI
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 21:19:02 -0500
From: Carl
Subject: Topband: the ionosphere in the sky
Tom W8JI said
> The ionosphere in the sky is apparently different
> than an ionosphere on paper
That's a fair statement.
The ionosphere 'in the sky' varies quite a bit on a day-to-day basis.
This day-to-day variation is due to solar radiation influences, solar
wind influences, and neutral atmosphere influences. From what I've read,
it appears that solar radiation influences are a small part of this
total day-to-day variation - unfortunately this is the one we understand
the best compared to the other two.
The ionosphere 'on paper' is a monthly median model, which is what is
used in our propagation prediction software (VOACAP, W6ELProp, Proplab
Pro, etc). It is statistical over a month's time frame. For example, we
can say that 10m will be open on 17 days of the month to our target on a
certain date at a certain time at a certain smoothed sunspot number. But
we have a real tough time identifying which specific days of the month
those will be.
Simply put, we do not have a daily model of the ionosphere. We can
observe what's happening daily, but as of yet we can only statistically
predict what's happening over a much longer time frame.
Carl K9LA
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 20:58:03 -0800
From: "paul bailey"
Subject: Topband: The whereabouts of VS6DO(paul bailey)
I read with interest all the comments on me in January and perhaps
should update those interested where I am I would add this is the
first time I found the site when surfing the net
I am currently still trying to work out where to live permanently and
travel regularly between Hong Kong, London and the United States
(Fresno, CA). I do not have antenna at any of my qth's but am
considering whether I can do so in Hong Kong where I have a flat on the
30th floor of a 60 storey apartment block. It would have to be a wire
out of the window.. If I can I will certainly try and get back on 160.
160 from Hong Kong was difficult because of noise. The long path was
the most successful to the States. I gave up ham radio when I left the
Hong Kong Government in 1989. I remained working in Hong Kong until 2
years ago when I retired. For those interested my e-mail is
paulrbailey@yahoo.com.
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 10:06:46 +0100
From: "Wolfgang Wessely"
Subject: Topband: VK still open to EU
Hello,
VK2IO came back monday evening (his sunrise) with 539/559 at 2020ut.
Seems, we still have condx to that area...
GL, Wolfgang - DJ3TF
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:18:25 +0100
From: "Wolfgang Wessely"
Subject: Re: Topband: VK still open to EU
sorry, my typo...
of course VK3IO.
regards, Wolfgang - DJ3TF
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wolfgang Wessely"
To: "topbandreflector"
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 10:06 AM
Subject: Topband: VK still open to EU
> Hello,
>
> VK2IO came back monday evening (his sunrise) with 539/559 at 2020ut.
> Seems, we still have condx to that area...
>
> GL, Wolfgang - DJ3TF
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 08:25:23 -0700
From: Peter Koehler
Subject: Topband: DL5RBW and West Coast
An e-mail from Roger (DL5RBW) says he will try again (18 Mar zulu) this
evening, his morning, 0445-0515z for west coast stations. Last night
many CA stations worked him. Roger was a 559 with much QRN here in AZ.
73's Pete KJ7WY
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 23:56:57 +0100
From: "Wolfgang Wessely"
Subject: Topband: condx EU-Asia tonight
Hello,
tonight we had again condx into Asia from DL to JA / Asia:
Around 15 JA's (JA1-3-4-5-6, JR6-Ryukyu Isl.) called in, otherwise UA0AZ,
UA0MF and JT1CO (2048z).
The opening lasted between 2020z-2110z.
Sorry, BV4CT called CQ several times, but did not response the Europeans.
Used the equipment and a 200m-beverage @~60deg from www.qrz.com/dl0ao
BTW, YI9ZF and JY9QJ were also on.
CU on topband!
73, Wolfgang - DJ3TF
http://www.qrz.com/callsign/dj3tf
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 18:49:11 -0500
From: "Tom Rauch"
Subject: Topband: Need FS meter help
I need to rent a FSM calibrated in mV/meter to help find a problem with a BC
station mix. This has to be a handheld calibrated accurate instrument with
built-in antenna.
If anyone knows where to rent one (it has to cover AM BCB up to upper SWBC
bands) please e-mail me!
73 Tom
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:44:11 +0100
From: "Gustab Petr"
Subject: Topband: QSL Services
Hi all DXers !
OK1DOT - NEW QSL INFO
I am QSL manager for Bob 9V1GO just now.
Direct address :
OK1DOT
PETR GUSTAB
P.O.BOX 52, CESKY BROD
282 01 CZECH REPUBLIC / EUROPE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to get a QSL card? A QSL Manager work.
QSL received Buro = Buro.
QSL received Direct with SAE with 1USD/IRC = Direct.
PLEASE NOT SEND OLD IRC´S
************************************************************************
73 OK1DOT
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 14:02:12 -0000
From: "Dave_Richardson"
Subject: Topband: QSL Services
Rejection of perfectly valid IRC's is a serious matter for DX'ers.
It is an international agreedment between all participating countries that IRCs never expire, they must be honoured for exchange whatever their age provided they were correctly endorsed at the point of sale. Any failure of a PO to observe this rule should be rigorously persued with the country's postal authorities.
In any event, most ham operators and QSL managers receiving IRCs never exchange them for postage stamps, that's the worst possible deal! . They either "re-use" them for their own QSLing or sell them on below purchase price to other grateful hams for their QSLing. There must therefore be many 1000s of quite old but valid IRC's in constant circulation.
73 Dave G4GED
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:12:31 -0500
From: W6IZT@aol.com
Subject: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
All:
I am having problems accurately modeling a shunt fed tower using EZNEC. I
suspect that most of the errors I am seeing result from modeling the tower
as a solid structure. Can anyone provide me with some guidance? Better yet,
If you have successfully modeled a shunt fed tower can you please forward me
a copy of the EZNEC file that I can use as a reference?
Thanks
Gregg
W6IZT@aol.com
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 17:59:56 +0100
From: dl2kq@t-online.de (DL2KQ)
Subject: Re: Topband: QSL Services
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave_Richardson"
>...It is an international agreedment between all participating countries
that IRCs
> never expire, they must be honoured for exchange whatever their age
provided
> they were correctly endorsed at the point of sale.
On the new IRC writed "MUST be exchanged by 31.12.2006".
>In any event, most ham operators and QSL managers receiving IRCs
>never exchange them for postage stamps
I am oft exchanged IRC for postage stamps. And many HAMs in DL also.
In DL one letter to non-european lands costs 1,55 euro (~1,8$).
But I can buy IRC (for example from QSL managers) on 1...1,2$.
Therefore, changing IRC for postage stamps I have profit 60...80 cents on
the letter.
73! de Gary DL2KQ
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 12:24:29 -0500
From: Bill Tippett
Subject: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
W6IZT wrote:
>I am having problems accurately modeling a shunt fed tower using EZNEC. I
suspect that most of the errors I am seeing result from modeling the tower
as a solid structure.
Gregg, I'll post this since it may be of interest to others. I've
had good success with modeling my Rohn 45 shunt-fed triangular tower using
a cylindrical model. My model is based on the following:
> Equivalent Cylindrical Diameter = 2 * CUBEROOT [(D * F^2)/2]
>
> where D = tube diameter and F = Face width. For Rohn 45, D = 1.25"
> and F = 18", so the cylindrical diameter equivalent = 11.7446"
John W1FV told me this originally appeared in the IEEE Transactions on
Broadcasting, but I don't have the exact reference. My current model
uses 11.724" for Rohn 45 and I am not sure why that does not agree with
the above (maybe I made a math error or entered the data incorrectly),
but it is probably "close enough" to prove the model works.
Using this model, I can predict the 50 ohm tap point and matching
capacitance VERY accurately. For example, I recently changed my shunt-fed
180' tower to a 3-element parasitic still using the tower as the driven
element. My model predicted the 50 ohm tap would move from 66' to 86'. I
put the tap there and voila...I had ~5 watts reflected with 1500 forward, so
it indeed works very well. I do use two media for the ground, using Eznec's
"salt water" parameters for the initial radius of 150' to simulate my
radial field, and then using Eznec's "average" parameters beyond that.
Eznec gives me a guideline check ***"WARNING: Wire connected to real
non-MININEC ground. See manual."*** but I simply ignore this because my
model seems to accurately reflect real-world impedance measurements. No
doubt this will invoke comments by the theorists, but I can tell you it
simply works well for me...especially when I reset my tap on the first try!
If you have other antennas on your tower, they must also be modeled
accurately for Eznec to work. Mine has nothing else on the tower so I
don't have that problem, and the cylindrical model above does seem to
work well for me.
73, Bill W4ZV
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:25:57 -0600
From: Gregg Seidl
Subject: Topband: 160 m vertical
I guess this isn't 100% topband but I was wondering if anyone has built a
full-size 160 vertical supporting a 4 square wire array as per ON4UN's
book.I sure would like to talk to someone who has. Gregg K9KL
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 11:28:10 -0600
From: "Ford Peterson"
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Gregg wrote:
> I am having problems accurately modeling a shunt fed tower using EZNEC. I
> suspect that most of the errors I am seeing result from modeling the tower
> as a solid structure. Can anyone provide me with some guidance? Better yet,
> If you have successfully modeled a shunt fed tower can you please forward me
> a copy of the EZNEC file that I can use as a reference?
>
> Thanks
> Gregg
> W6IZT@aol.com
There are a number of problems with modeling a shunt feed. If the goal is to verify pattern, then it is fairly easy. If you are looking at designing the matching circuit, well, good luck. The variables are many and any of them will alter the feed point quite a bit. For example...
A grounded tower is connected to the model's "perfect ground." There is no such thing as perfect ground in real life.
Connecting wires of dissimilar sizes will produce unreliable results. E.g. connecting an 1/8" wire to a 1' diameter tower is a modeling problem.
Another common modeling mistake made is that the individual wires used in the model have to be oriented such that the segments all line up when the wires are in parallel. E.g. The vertical tower portion of the model needs to be broken up into several wires so that the segments appear on the tower at identical heights as the segments appearing on the shunt wire. I solve this problem by using software other than EZnec. I use Nec2Go www.nec2go.com In Nec2Go, the author has taken the time to help you manage this issue.
Ford-N0FP
ford@cmgate.com
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 18:44:02 -0000
From: "John Dunnington"
Subject: Topband: RE: Topband Digest, Vol 15, Issue 30
"Dave_Richardson"
To:
Subject: Topband: QSL Services
Rejection of perfectly valid IRC's is a serious matter for DX'ers.
It is an international agreedment between all participating countries =
that IRCs never expire, they must be honoured for exchange whatever =
their age provided they were correctly endorsed at the point of sale. =
Any failure of a PO to observe this rule should be rigorously persued =
with the country's postal authorities.
Dave (and others) I recently exchanged 35 old style but valid IRC's from
numerous originating countries
for 35 brand new 47p Stamps (min 10g rate for overseas in Postal Region-1).
I was unable to secure this
rate for European IRC's but received the appropriate Eu Rated Stamp. I do
not exchange new style but
as you say re-circulate them.
Cheers John
PS Now going to work out how to update the Oblast Mult files for Russian
test this weekend. I have spent most
the week resolving why the Russian Contest Module was putting qso's
into wrong band slots. Seems it needed
a radio connecting rather than using keyboard to change bands up or
down. Ah well another to remember not to do.
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:52:05 -0500
From: John Kaufmann
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Bill Tippett wrote:
> I do use two media for the ground, using Eznec's
> "salt water" parameters for the initial radius of 150' to simulate my
> radial field, and then using Eznec's "average" parameters beyond that.
> Eznec gives me a guideline check ***"WARNING: Wire connected to real
> non-MININEC ground. See manual."*** but I simply ignore this because my
> model seems to accurately reflect real-world impedance measurements.
Bill Tippett wrote:
> I do use two media for the ground, using Eznec's
> "salt water" parameters for the initial radius of 150' to simulate my
> radial field, and then using Eznec's "average" parameters beyond that.
> Eznec gives me a guideline check ***"WARNING: Wire connected to real
> non-MININEC ground. See manual."*** but I simply ignore this because my
> model seems to accurately reflect real-world impedance measurements.
The two-media model is probably OK for calculating impedance data, as Bill's results appear to confirm. However, the model has a known problem, confirmed by EZNEC author W7EL, in predicting far-field pattern and gain. Therefore I would caution people about using the two-media model for anything more than simple impedance calculations.
The root of the problem is that EZNEC uses a simplistic geometric model for calculating the far field when using two media in the near field of the antenna. It models near-field antenna radiation as rays reflecting off the media, using different reflection coefficients for the two media, and then performing vector addition of the rays in the far field. Many of you have seen ray diagrams where fields are represented by arrows. However, rays are only a simple approximation of what's happening in reality.
The truly accurate way to model near-field radiation with two media is by a full electromagnetic field description of the radiation and not rays. The fields interact with the ground, and the interaction results in re-radiation of the fields into the far field in a modified form. The calculation involves math which is more complicated than simple rays, although it can be done by numerical methods.
W7EL himself has suggested modeling radials in the near field as horizontal wires a very short distance above ground (~.001 wavelengths) and using the "high accuracy" ground model in EZNEC. There is an automated mechanism in EZNEC for creating ground radials of a specified length and number for this purpose. EZNEC uses the "correct" method of calculating effects of near field wires, unlike the two-media model.
To reiterate, impedance calculations are probably not sensitive to the errors in the simple two-media ground model, but far field gain and pattern are.
73, John W1FV
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:44:57 -0800
From: Earl W Cunningham
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Ford, N0FP wrote:
"A grounded tower is connected to the model's "perfect ground." There is
no such thing as perfect ground in real life."
----------
True. One of my shunt feed modeling rules tells how this should be done
correctly.
==========
"Connecting wires of dissimilar sizes will produce unreliable results.
E.g. connecting an 1/8" wire to a 1' diameter tower is a modeling
problem."
----------
True. I've overcome this problem by making every "wire" in the model the
same diameter. When you begin modeling the tower structure (legs, rungs,
mast, toploading beams, etc.), use the diameter of the actual shunt feed
wire as the diameter of every "wire" in the model. This technique yields
very accurate results.
==========
"Another common modeling mistake made is that the individual wires used
in the model have to be oriented such that the segments all line up when
the wires are in parallel. E.g. The vertical tower portion of the model
needs to be broken up into several wires so that the segments appear on
the tower at identical heights as the
segments appearing on the shunt wire."
----------
I agree again. I usually use about two segments every five feet. The
segments in the shunt wire automatically line up with the segments in the
tower legs when I do this (the tower is "built" in five-foot sections
with two segments per section. If the shunt wire is 50 feet long, use 20
segments in it). No problem doing this when using EZNEC.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:27:25 -0800
From: Earl W Cunningham
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Bill, W4ZV wrote:
"Gregg, I'll post this since it may be of interest to others. I've had
good success with modeling my Rohn 45 shunt-fed triangular tower using a
cylindrical model. My model is based on the following:
Equivalent Cylindrical Diameter = 2 * CUBEROOT [(D * F^2)/2]
where D = tube diameter and F = Face width. For Rohn 45, D =1.25" and F
= 18", so the cylindrical diameter equivalent = 11.7446".
----------
When I started modeling shunt fed towers, I also tried using the same
equation for an equivalent cylindrical conductor to represent the tower
(I also forget the name of the engineer who developed the equation back
in the 30s). I found that it is only accurate for towers without any top
loading (i.e., Yagis, etc.). One can experiment by trial and error, as
Bill did, by changing the cylindrical tower diameter and come up with
something that matched his particular situation, but it will not be
accurate for other towers with other top loading.
The only way to accurately model a shunt fed tower is to model the tower
structure itself, i.e., the legs in a triangular configuration with rungs
every four or five feet of height. There are several other rules that
apply to modeling a shunt fed tower that I will forward to Gregg, W6IZT,
who posed the question. Others that want to know these rules, please
e-mail me direct for a copy.
If you follow these rules, you can very accurately design a shunt feed
system. Of the many requests I've had, one I remember best is Bob's,
K3UL. He asked me what the parameters might be for his tower (shunt wire
spacing, tie point and value of gamma capacitor), so I modeled his
structure and e-mailed the details to him. Bob installed the shunt feed
on his tower and e-mailed back to me that it was right on the money.
What was so gratifying about this is that Bob is a blind amateur and did
the work himself. He now has one of the biggest signals on Topband from
the east coast here on the west coast.
Another memorable modeling session I had was for Bill, W4ZV. He wanted
to "test" my modeling and gave me all of the details for his Rohn 45
tower (height, top loading and ground resistance) and asked me to model
it so that he could compare my modeling with his already-installed shunt
feed system. When I sent him the results, he compared them to the real
world, and e-mailed back the he was amazed at the accuracy of my
modeling. He even measured the value of his gamma capacitor and said it
agreed quite closely with my model.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 18:24:05 -0500
From: "Larry Emery"
Subject: Topband: 450 ohm ladder line used as 2W Beverages
What is a good way to support this stuff over an 880ft run? What
orientation is best, wires vertical or horizontal with ground, or does
it even matter.
What is the purpose of twisting every 10 or 20 feet as mentioned in
ON4UN's handbook?
OK...enough for now...don't want to explode with incoming knowledge!
73
Larry K1UO
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 19:14:43 -0500
From: Bill Tippett
Subject: RE: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
W6IZT wrote:
>K6SE made a very good point, the segments of the shunt wire and the tower
>need to be in alignment.
This is very simple to do. Since you must segment your tower
into the portion above the tap point from the portion below (to ensure
the tap has a valid connection), you simply assign the same number of
segments for the vertical Gamma wire as you do for the wire representing
the portion of the tower below the tap.
Glad it worked for you Gregg. As I said before, I designed
constructed and erected my 3-element parasitic all in one day using
my existing tower as the driven element. Being able to put the Gamma
tap where it matched 50 ohms exactly meant I only had to make one trip
up to the 86' tap point. I was frankly astounded when I saw how good
the SWR was (5w reflected out of 1500w forward).
73, Bill W4ZV
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 18:56:13 -0500
From: W6IZT@aol.com
Subject: RE: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Bill:
I used your information and found the output from EZNEC accurately modeled
my existing tower on 160. It appears that by altering the spacing of the
shunt wire slightly and changing the value of the gamma cap I will be able
to use the same shunt wire on 160, 80 and 75 with gamma cap values of 200pf,
46pf, and 30pf respectively.
K6SE made a very good point, the segments of the shunt wire and the tower
need to be in alignment.
Thanks to W4ZV, K6SE, N0FP, W1FV and WB6RSE for your assistance
73
Gregg
W6IZT
-----Original Message-----
From: topband-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Earl W Cunningham
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 4:48 PM
To: btippett@alum.mit.edu; topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Bill, W4ZV wrote:
"Gregg, I'll post this since it may be of interest to others. I've had
good success with modeling my Rohn 45 shunt-fed triangular tower using a
cylindrical model. My model is based on the following:
Equivalent Cylindrical Diameter = 2 * CUBEROOT [(D * F^2)/2]
where D = tube diameter and F = Face width. For Rohn 45, D =1.25" and F
= 18", so the cylindrical diameter equivalent = 11.7446".
----------
When I started modeling shunt fed towers, I also tried using the same
equation for an equivalent cylindrical conductor to represent the tower
(I also forget the name of the engineer who developed the equation back
in the 30s). I found that it is only accurate for towers without any top
loading (i.e., Yagis, etc.). One can experiment by trial and error, as
Bill did, by changing the cylindrical tower diameter and come up with
something that matched his particular situation, but it will not be
accurate for other towers with other top loading.
The only way to accurately model a shunt fed tower is to model the tower
structure itself, i.e., the legs in a triangular configuration with rungs
every four or five feet of height. There are several other rules that
apply to modeling a shunt fed tower that I will forward to Gregg, W6IZT,
who posed the question. Others that want to know these rules, please
e-mail me direct for a copy.
If you follow these rules, you can very accurately design a shunt feed
system. Of the many requests I've had, one I remember best is Bob's,
K3UL. He asked me what the parameters might be for his tower (shunt wire
spacing, tie point and value of gamma capacitor), so I modeled his
structure and e-mailed the details to him. Bob installed the shunt feed
on his tower and e-mailed back to me that it was right on the money.
What was so gratifying about this is that Bob is a blind amateur and did
the work himself. He now has one of the biggest signals on Topband from
the east coast here on the west coast.
Another memorable modeling session I had was for Bill, W4ZV. He wanted
to "test" my modeling and gave me all of the details for his Rohn 45
tower (height, top loading and ground resistance) and asked me to model
it so that he could compare my modeling with his already-installed shunt
feed system. When I sent him the results, he compared them to the real
world, and e-mailed back the he was amazed at the accuracy of my
modeling. He even measured the value of his gamma capacitor and said it
agreed quite closely with my model.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 19:01:10 -0500
From: W6IZT@aol.com
Subject: RE: Topband: 450 ohm ladder line used as 2W Beverages
the windows in the line will lock onto the ribs of a dogbone insulator. I
often use them for supports. Go to your local HW store and get some #6 or #8
machine screws/lag bolts. These have one end threaded with a machine screw
and the other end threaded with a wood screw. Drill the appropriate size
hole in the end of the dogbone and thread the machine screw into the
dogbone. The end with the woodscrew can be threaded into a wooden support
-----Original Message-----
From: topband-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Larry Emery
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 6:28 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: 450 ohm ladder line used as 2W Beverages
What is a good way to support this stuff over an 880ft run? What
orientation is best, wires vertical or horizontal with ground, or does
it even matter.
What is the purpose of twisting every 10 or 20 feet as mentioned in
ON4UN's handbook?
OK...enough for now...don't want to explode with incoming knowledge!
73
Larry K1UO
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 08:19:13 +0800
From: "Michael Bazley"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
3B9C had a genuine S9+ signal..louder than I have ever heard from VQ9. A great sign for those on the end of the DX path....Good luck.
73 Mike VK6HD
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 16:32:08 -0800
From: Earl W Cunningham
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Gregg, W6IZT wrote:
"It appears that by altering the spacing of the shunt wire slightly and
changing the value of the gamma cap I will be able to use the same shunt
wire on 160, 80 and 75 with gamma cap values of 200pf, 46pf, and 30pf
respectively."
==========
Unless there is some unusual coincidence, I seriously doubt that, in the
real world, this will work at all three frequencies.
For example, the 80-meter shunt wires on my towers are tapped to the
tower at about the 40-foot level to get 50 ohms resistive at the
feedpoint. My 160-meter shunt feeds on both towers are at about 54 feet
to match 50 ohms on that band. If I wanted to go to the 75-meter phone
band, I would have to lower the 80-meter tap points about two feet.
As I said before, you can't rely on using an equivalent diameter
conductor for a top-loaded tower when modeling.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 19:14:43 -0500
From: Bill Tippett
Subject: RE: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
W6IZT wrote:
>K6SE made a very good point, the segments of the shunt wire and the tower
>need to be in alignment.
This is very simple to do. Since you must segment your tower
into the portion above the tap point from the portion below (to ensure
the tap has a valid connection), you simply assign the same number of
segments for the vertical Gamma wire as you do for the wire representing
the portion of the tower below the tap.
Glad it worked for you Gregg. As I said before, I designed
constructed and erected my 3-element parasitic all in one day using
my existing tower as the driven element. Being able to put the Gamma
tap where it matched 50 ohms exactly meant I only had to make one trip
up to the 86' tap point. I was frankly astounded when I saw how good
the SWR was (5w reflected out of 1500w forward).
73, Bill W4ZV
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 18:56:13 -0500
From: W6IZT@aol.com
Subject: RE: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Bill:
I used your information and found the output from EZNEC accurately modeled
my existing tower on 160. It appears that by altering the spacing of the
shunt wire slightly and changing the value of the gamma cap I will be able
to use the same shunt wire on 160, 80 and 75 with gamma cap values of 200pf,
46pf, and 30pf respectively.
K6SE made a very good point, the segments of the shunt wire and the tower
need to be in alignment.
Thanks to W4ZV, K6SE, N0FP, W1FV and WB6RSE for your assistance
73
Gregg
W6IZT
-----Original Message-----
From: topband-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Earl W Cunningham
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 4:48 PM
To: btippett@alum.mit.edu; topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Bill, W4ZV wrote:
"Gregg, I'll post this since it may be of interest to others. I've had
good success with modeling my Rohn 45 shunt-fed triangular tower using a
cylindrical model. My model is based on the following:
Equivalent Cylindrical Diameter = 2 * CUBEROOT [(D * F^2)/2]
where D = tube diameter and F = Face width. For Rohn 45, D =1.25" and F
= 18", so the cylindrical diameter equivalent = 11.7446".
----------
When I started modeling shunt fed towers, I also tried using the same
equation for an equivalent cylindrical conductor to represent the tower
(I also forget the name of the engineer who developed the equation back
in the 30s). I found that it is only accurate for towers without any top
loading (i.e., Yagis, etc.). One can experiment by trial and error, as
Bill did, by changing the cylindrical tower diameter and come up with
something that matched his particular situation, but it will not be
accurate for other towers with other top loading.
The only way to accurately model a shunt fed tower is to model the tower
structure itself, i.e., the legs in a triangular configuration with rungs
every four or five feet of height. There are several other rules that
apply to modeling a shunt fed tower that I will forward to Gregg, W6IZT,
who posed the question. Others that want to know these rules, please
e-mail me direct for a copy.
If you follow these rules, you can very accurately design a shunt feed
system. Of the many requests I've had, one I remember best is Bob's,
K3UL. He asked me what the parameters might be for his tower (shunt wire
spacing, tie point and value of gamma capacitor), so I modeled his
structure and e-mailed the details to him. Bob installed the shunt feed
on his tower and e-mailed back to me that it was right on the money.
What was so gratifying about this is that Bob is a blind amateur and did
the work himself. He now has one of the biggest signals on Topband from
the east coast here on the west coast.
Another memorable modeling session I had was for Bill, W4ZV. He wanted
to "test" my modeling and gave me all of the details for his Rohn 45
tower (height, top loading and ground resistance) and asked me to model
it so that he could compare my modeling with his already-installed shunt
feed system. When I sent him the results, he compared them to the real
world, and e-mailed back the he was amazed at the accuracy of my
modeling. He even measured the value of his gamma capacitor and said it
agreed quite closely with my model.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 19:01:10 -0500
From: W6IZT@aol.com
Subject: RE: Topband: 450 ohm ladder line used as 2W Beverages
the windows in the line will lock onto the ribs of a dogbone insulator. I
often use them for supports. Go to your local HW store and get some #6 or #8
machine screws/lag bolts. These have one end threaded with a machine screw
and the other end threaded with a wood screw. Drill the appropriate size
hole in the end of the dogbone and thread the machine screw into the
dogbone. The end with the woodscrew can be threaded into a wooden support
-----Original Message-----
From: topband-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Larry Emery
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 6:28 PM
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: 450 ohm ladder line used as 2W Beverages
What is a good way to support this stuff over an 880ft run? What
orientation is best, wires vertical or horizontal with ground, or does
it even matter.
What is the purpose of twisting every 10 or 20 feet as mentioned in
ON4UN's handbook?
OK...enough for now...don't want to explode with incoming knowledge!
73
Larry K1UO
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 08:19:13 +0800
From: "Michael Bazley"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
3B9C had a genuine S9+ signal..louder than I have ever heard from VQ9. A great sign for those on the end of the DX path....Good luck.
73 Mike VK6HD
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Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 16:32:08 -0800
From: Earl W Cunningham
Subject: Re: Topband: Modeling a shunt fed tower with EZNEC
Gregg, W6IZT wrote:
"It appears that by altering the spacing of the shunt wire slightly and
changing the value of the gamma cap I will be able to use the same shunt
wire on 160, 80 and 75 with gamma cap values of 200pf, 46pf, and 30pf
respectively."
==========
Unless there is some unusual coincidence, I seriously doubt that, in the
real world, this will work at all three frequencies.
For example, the 80-meter shunt wires on my towers are tapped to the
tower at about the 40-foot level to get 50 ohms resistive at the
feedpoint. My 160-meter shunt feeds on both towers are at about 54 feet
to match 50 ohms on that band. If I wanted to go to the 75-meter phone
band, I would have to lower the 80-meter tap points about two feet.
As I said before, you can't rely on using an equivalent diameter
conductor for a top-loaded tower when modeling.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 03:49:22 +0000
From: n0tt1@juno.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 450 ohm ladder line used as 2W Beverages
Hi Larry,
On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 18:24:05 -0500 "Larry Emery"
writes:
> What is a good way to support this stuff over an 880ft run?
I use 2" x 10 ft white schedule 40 PVC pipe called "cell core". It comes
in
20 ft lengths at farm supply stores and is very economical.
I just cut it in half and carry it home in my truck.
I fastened the line on the poles with a single stainless steel
1-5/8 inch "deck" screw and a Red Snapper Brand "Poly Tape
Wood Post Electric Fence Insulator" part number PT25WP.
I have used other types...this one is the best IMHO.
For the end poles I use a homebrew strain insulator made from
1/4" Lexan(r) plastic, then solder on the downlead (same type twin lead),
taping the twin lead to the upper part of the pole. On the
lower part of the pole I use another type of Poly Tape insulator
that is about 4 inches long to space the twin lead away from the
PVC pipe becasue the pipes are all supported by some heavy
duty fence posts. The long insulators are modified by cutting
off part of the "gripper" so the line can run down vertically while the
insulator is mounted in the normal manner. I drill a horizontal
hole behind the end and fasten the twin lead with a heavy plastic
tie wrap.
The end poles are back guyed with a single 1/4" rope
and a screw-in type of earth anchor.
For my forested area I use some convenient trees as supports. On
some trees I use a ~2" length of 1-1/2 PVC pipe that has a
slit cut in the top and at a slight angle. I drill a small hole through
the side of the pipe at the middle, then enlarge one of the holes
to pass a screw and screwdriver. The pipe is then attached to
the tree with a stainless steel deck screw and the line is
then slipped in thru the slit. I found that if any heavy tree limbs
fall
across the twin lead, the pipe will break away becasue of the slit,
saving the line from damage.
> What
> orientation is best, wires vertical or horizontal with ground, or does
> it even matter.
> What is the purpose of twisting every 10 or 20 feet as mentioned
> in
> ON4UN's handbook?
Twisting provides balance to ground and also keeps the line from
whipping in the wind. I install a odd number of poles, then
once the line is up and tensioned I go to every other pole and
twist the line maybe 10 half-turns. My poles are spaced every
70 feet or so.
73,
Charlie
N0TT
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 07:29:27 -0500
From: Bill Tippett
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
EI7BA wrote:
>I was surprised that so few EUs were calling him.
3B9R made 678 Topband QSO's in April 1999, so
I suspect the demand is not so great now. USA
pileups were also not huge last evening. Hopefully
this will give more people a chance for an overall
new one.
73, Bill W4ZV
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 08:25:03 -0500
From: "Terry Posey"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
I am pleased to read and hear the fine 160m signal reports attributed to
3B9C. I monitored 1822 kHz last evening beginning at my sunset until 3B9
sunrise; but, I never heard a readable signal from 3B9C despite low qrn. I
heard W9, W1, W2, W3, W5, and northern-W4 giving fine reports, but nothing
was heard at this qth. If it was spotlight propagation, then the beam never
shined on North Florida. I will be back at it again tonight....3B9 remains
a new one for some of us.
73,
Terry K4RX
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 10:40:47 -0000
From: "John Tait"
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
----- Original Message -----
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
He was a BIG signal with me.. I was surprised that so few EUs were calling
him. I expected that I'd have problems getting a QSO, but he came back to
my first call on my 40ft vertical dipole.
73
John EI7BA http://www.iol.ie/~bravo/
3B9C had a genuine S9+ signal..louder than I have ever heard from VQ9. A
great sign for those on the end of the DX path....Good luck.
73 Mike VK6HD
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 15:05:49 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C Propagation
Terry K4RX Said:
.....I heard W9, W1, W2, W3, W5, and northern-W4 giving fine reports, but nothing
was heard at this qth. If it was spotlight propagation, then the beam never
shined on North Florida.....
Thomas KN4LF Says:
3B9C was propagating into North America via the E layer valley/F layer duct mechanism. The duct was ruptured "in a manner of speaking" allowing the 3B9C RF signal to drop into New England and the Mid Atlantic States in a spotlike appearance.
If you look at the weather map last evening there was a strong extra-tropical surface-250 mb low off the coast of New England. This winter storm system produced an upward propagating Internal Buoyancy/Gravity Wave that ruptured the E layer valley/F layer duct open on the North America end of the path. In the S.E. states including Florida high pressure is dominant with no mechanism in place to our east to produce upwardly propagating Internal Buoyancy/Gravity Waves that would rupture the duct mechanism on a bearing into Florida.
You can see this winter storm system on this weather map at http://weather.cod.edu/forecast/ETA/etaUS_500_avort_0.gif . Also if you look in the vicinity of Baja California there is a fledgling new 500 mb shortwave/vorticity maximum. This next disturbance will rapidly track across the southern latitudes of the U.S. the next several days and emerge into the Atlantic in the vicinity of the Carolina's. This will produce an opportunity for the S.E. U.S. including Florida to be able to work the 3B9C with more consistency, as the E layer valley/F layer duct mechanism is ruptured on a bearing into Florida.
You can find more information on Internal Buoyancy/Gravity Waves on my "HF/MF Propagation Theory Notes" website at http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm .
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Retired Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
SWFWMD Observer #574
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com
Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 15:01:44 +0000 (GMT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Roger=20Parsons?=
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
Here in NE Ontario 3B9C was audible last night for
about 20 minutes before his sunrise. However, he was
extremely weak and very difficult copy. If it follows
the D68C pattern there will be days when he is better
- I hope!
73 Roger
VE3ZI
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 16:38:01 +0100
From: "Ragnar Otterstad"
Subject: RE: Topband: 3B9C
Just before midnight CET 3B9C was 599 here but suddenly went down.
I noted that the Low-Band Chat adviced " High Lat. Aurora alert "
and suppose that caused the decline.
Anyway, after having watched the late crime-film ( Australian - excellent)
I went back into the shack and worked him on second call. 3B9C was 559 at
the time.
A few minutes later worked the station on 80-40 and 30 within an hour. That
suggests
that we have a team of excellent operators at 3B9C with a good set-up.
There are good reasons to belive that all deserving will work them !
73
Rag LA5HE
He was a BIG signal with me.. I was surprised that so few EUs were calling
him. I expected that I'd have problems getting a QSO, but he came back to
my first call on my 40ft vertical dipole.
73
John EI7BA http://www.iol.ie/~bravo/
3B9C had a genuine S9+ signal..louder than I have ever heard from VQ9. A
great sign for those on the end of the DX path....Good luck.
73 Mike VK6HD
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 19:09:45 +0000
From: W5UN
Subject: Topband: 3B9C in Texas
Conditions on the low bands were amazingly excellent last evening here
between 3B9 and northeast Texas. It began with my QSO with 3B9C on 7 mHz at
0022 UTC, followed by one on 3.5 mHz at 0033 UTC, and then on 1.8 mHz (a
solid 559) at 0046 UTC.
73, Dave - W5UN w5un@wt.net
homepage: http://web.wt.net/~w5un Grid: EM23mg
RR 10, Box 27
Mount Pleasant, TX 75455
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Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 13:26:09 -0600
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Bill_Hohnstein__K=D8HA?=
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
>From K4RX:
> I heard W9, W1, W2, W3, W5, and northern-W4 giving fine reports,
> but nothing was heard at this qth.
I didn't listen long on 160M, but 3B9C had a good signal on 160M when
I worked him from Nebraska at 0108z during their first day of operation.
The static level was higher than normal here, but he was still easy copy,
although only a few dB above the noise level. Sunset here was at 0044
vs. sunrise there at 0147z.
73, Bill K0HA
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Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 08:44:50 +0100
From: "Gustab Petr"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
After starting 3B9C I worked them on 160m, without any problem.
Signale report was really 579-589 ! Very good.
BTW - I called 3B9C on 80 mtrs 2 hours, no lucky. Second day I logged them on 80m as well.
73 Petr OK1DOT
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Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 10:49:44 -0600
From: "jbattin"
Subject: Topband: Conditions to Asia
There finally was propagation from Northern Illinois into SE Asia this
morning. 9V1GO and 9M2AX both peaked solid 559 at local sunrise. Maybe there
is reason to believe after all.
John K9DX
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Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 18:01:23 -0600
From: "Tom Baugh"
Subject: Re: Topband: Conditions to Asia
I feel very fortunate as well. With conditions getting just about to the end
here and spring rains starting to form.. I enjoyed listening to a handful of
guys work Bob and Max. It was a very good morning here in the midwest... but
I still have yet to work DU9 who somhow seems to elude me. I'll have another
couple of weeks before the beverage antennas come down and the sunspot
minimum reaches spring and summer storm season.
Keep on hoping.... building... trying
Tom
AE9B
----- Original Message -----
From: "jbattin"
To:
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:49 AM
Subject: Topband: Conditions to Asia
> There finally was propagation from Northern Illinois into SE Asia this
> morning. 9V1GO and 9M2AX both peaked solid 559 at local sunrise. Maybe
there
> is reason to believe after all.
> John K9DX
>
> _______________________________________________
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Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 21:39:17 -0500
From: "Terry Posey"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C 160m
I listened again Saturday night and heard nothing once again from 3B9C.
Then Sunday evening at 0002z 3B9C was instantly 559 after my 2348z sunset.
The spot-light shined upon N. FL. Congrats to another excellent Topband
dxpedition effort! There are a lot of happy DXers.
73,
Terry K4RX
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 07:27:05 -0500
From: "Oliva, George R RDECOM CERDEC HQ C3I "
Subject: Topband: A61AJ
N2AA and K2GM are departing today (23 March) for A61AJ, they will be
operating in the wpx contest, expect some 160 activity before (during?) and
after.
de K2UO
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 09:03:39 -0500
From: "Terry Posey"
Subject: Topband: RE: 3B9C 160m
Garry Shapiro, NI6T, wrote in part:
"Funny thing about human psychology...
The ionosphere shifted and you made the QSO---thus qualifying 3B9C as
"another excellent Topband dxpedition effort." ..."
Garry, your psychoanalysis is all wrong. The 3B9C 160m operation is an
excellent Topband dxpedition effort not because propagation shifted and I
worked them. And conversely, their Topband efforts are not shabby merely
because W6 has only a narrow darkness window of opportunity. Our human
psychology (mine and yours) have nothing to do with the excellent Topband
efforts of 3B9C. The 3B9C operation is well planned and executed. It is
staffed with excellent operators, and it is equipped with excellent Topband
antennas, amplifiers, and radios. But most importantly, 3B9C is providing
excellent activity on 160m during the period of greatest opportunity for
propagation.
73,
Terry K4RX
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 16:04:08 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C Heard in Florida
I heard 3B9C yesterday Monday evening UTC here in west Central Florida. He was 559 on my tee vertical and 579 on my low doublet. He peaked here at his local sunrise.
The opening into our region from 3B9C on Sunday and Monday evenings UTC occurred as I predicted a few days ago because of a winter storm system near 30 deg. north lat. and 60 deg. west long. that ruptured the E valley-F l layer duct mechanism on a bearing into Florida. You can see the winter storm via a satellite image at this link: http://www.kn4lf.com/sub/20040323WV.jpg . This is the system that created the high QRN level on 160 a couple of nights ago.
If the storm system is strong enough to show up at 500 mb then it can create an upwardly propagating Internal Buoyancy/Gravity Wave capable of rupturing the E valley-F l layer duct mechanism.
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Retired Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
SWFWMD Observer #574
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
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10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com
Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 09:23:40 -0800
From: Earl W Cunningham
Subject: Topband: RE: 3B9C 160m
Terry, K4RX wrote:
".....W6 has only a narrow darkness window of opportunity."
==========
Actually, no darkness window at all at this time of year.
The sun rise/set times here and at 3B9C today are such that there is a
ten minute band of daylight at the best times, either SP or LP, and it's
getting worse as the days go by.
A QSO with them on 80m CW yesterday shortly after my sunrise was
encouraging, though, so I'm still hoping for them on 160m.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 12:01:50 -0800
From: Steve Lawrence
Subject: Topband: T30ZF on 160
T30ZF has tried 160 but reports extremely high noise at his hotel
location. "S9+." Additionally, he is having problems with his FT847
power switch. He plans to be there until March 30th. QSL to his home
call DK2ZF.
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 16:16:05 -0700
From: Hardy Landskov
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C Heard in Florida
At 04:04 PM 3/23/04 -0000, Thomas Giella KN4LF wrote:
>I heard 3B9C yesterday Monday evening UTC here in west Central Florida. He
was 559 on my tee vertical and 579 on my low doublet. He peaked here at his
local sunrise.
>
3B9C was Q5 here in Phoenix for about 2 minutes but I could not break thru
the W9's who must have had excellent propagation.
N7RT
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 18:54:23 -0600
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Bill_Hohnstein__K=D8HA?=
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C Heard in Florida
> 3B9C was Q5 here in Phoenix for about 2 minutes but I could not break thru
> the W9's who must have had excellent propagation.
> N7RT
Amazing conditions last night (local). 3B9C was copied until 0201z (10 minutes
after their sunrise) on 160M here in Nebraska. Uncertain copy after that. They
stayed at least 20 dB over my noise level for extended periods. He was standing
by for "WEST NA," but everyone not in a state not touching the Atlantic Ocean
appeared to feel that they were west--the pileup was huge. I heard them work
several Colorado stations and a few 7's (not all of which had 7-land locations).
Their best signal so far on 10M followed this morning...
73, Bill K0HA
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 19:03:55 -0700
From: "larry pace"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C and the far left coast
just as it was supposed to!
3B9C started breaking thru the noise at exactly
my sunset (0138z). he peaked at S9 on the meter
at 0145. NE beverage with no noise. WOW what a
signal.
just faded out or gave up after his sunrise. it's now
0200z.
top band lives!
73,
larry
tucson, az
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 19:46:52 -0700
From: Hardy Landskov
Subject: Topband: 3B9C on 160
All,
Just worked 3B9C at 0152 Z. Excellent signal for 5 minutes and calling CQ
after I left. Was like a spotlight mode as not a lot of other stations were
calling.
Gotta tell ya it don't get any better than this!
73 Hardy N7RT
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 22:18:15 EST
From: BobK8IA@aol.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C and the far left coast
In a message dated 3/23/04 8:08:12 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
pacer99@aol.com writes:
just as it was supposed to!
3B9C started breaking thru the noise at exactly
my sunset (0138z). he peaked at S9 on the meter
at 0145. NE beverage with no noise. WOW what a
signal.
just faded out or gave up after his sunrise. it's now
0200z.
top band lives!
73,
larry
tucson, az
It was truly amazing just 70 mi north of you here in east Mesa also, Larry.
They peaked here about 0152Z VERY strong, and were solid until they faded at
0200Z. Fellow CADXA member N7RT worked them at 0152. I called with no luck but I
am fairly antenna limited compared to some of the guys.
No Beverages here but they were actually louder on my high angle inverted vee
than they were on sloper, which is normally a much better DX antenna. I have
noticed that a bunch of times but only at sunrise and sunset and not always.
73, Bob K8IA
in the shadow of the Superstition Mtns
Arizona USA
http://www.members.aol.com/bobk8ia/index.htm
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 07:40:22 -0500
From: "3B9C" (by way of w4zv@contesting.com)
Subject: Topband: 3B9C report
Bill
Thought it might be useful to give a topband update from 3B9C. I wonder if
you would be kind enough to copy to the Reflector.
73 Don G3XTT
+++++++
Hello from Rodrigues. We have seen some of the comments on this Reflector
and have also been receiving e-mails directly from the topband community
(you can e-mail us at deserving@3b9c.com but
don't expect a personal reply, as we are too busy working the pile-ups!).
The consensus seems to be that things are going well. Let us tell you the
story from this end.
Firstly, the stats. We now have over 900 QSOs in the 160m log (879 on CW,
24 on SSB), broken down as follows: AF 9; AS 193; EU 533; NA 155; OC 8; SA
5. The DXCC count is 68. At our sunset, best DX so far is KH6, though we
continue to look daily for a West Coast opening (this is a consistent
feature on both 40 and 80 at this time). At our sunrise, we have seen a
couple of days of mid-West openings, and Don G3XTT was delighted this
morning to have a greyline opening to W7 (two stations in Arizona and W7NQ
who we believe to be in Oregon?). NI6T, who was on the 3B9R trip (about
half a sunspot cycle ago), confirms that they were never able to work this
far into the USA. The JA path is consistent every evening. The openings
have varied considerably. A couple of evenings back the LF operators (80
and 160) closed down as a tropical storm passed, with high QRN and zero
signals heard. In contrast, last night (Wednesday night/Thursday morning
our time) European signals started weak but peaked around midnight GMT with
many S9+ signals. We were also pleased to be able to work some SSB with
good signals (OH1MA, the first SSB QSO, was 20 over S9).
Antennas are a Titanex (87ft) close to the beach, plus JA and EU/NA
Beverages, and a set of K9AY loops.
The team will be here for another two and half weeks, so we expect the
totals to keep rising. We look forward to giving many of you a 3B9 QSO on 160.
73 Don G3XTT, Mike G3SED and the 3B9C gang.
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 03:36:45 EST
From: Dl8las@aol.com
Subject: Topband: 3b9c
Hi reflectees,
worked yesterday evening 18.47 UTC 3b9c on 160m 1822.5 KHZ
He listened 4 down!!!!
His signal was strong about 589 in North DL.
He called long time cq but didn't work anyone.
I believe he had problems with his vertical RX antenna and QRN.
Thanks for a nice new one on topband
Andy
DL8LAS
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 15:01:41 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C Online Log Etc.
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
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I presume that most already have this online log website for 3B9C saved =
but just in case here it is.
http://www.fsdxa.com/3b9c/online-logs.html .
Last night I worked 3B9C on 3795/3790 kc phone and I used my knowledge =
of propagation to do it. I began listening to the 3B9C op. Tuesday =
evening UTC, one hour before my local sunset here in Florida. He was in =
my high local QRN level on the tee vertical and in the lightning QRN on =
the low doublet, unfortunately I have no room for listening antennas on =
my suburban 1/4 acreville.
3B9C was never better then Q4 throughout the evening hours and unlike =
many I will not call a station unless he's Q5 at least part of the time. =
Sunrise for Rodriguez Island was approximately 0155 UTC. What I did was =
to switch to my low doublet beginning at 0150 UTC and at 0155 UTC 3B9C =
suddenly popped up out of the QRN to a real 59. I called him once on the =
low doublet and bingo worked him.
Tonight I will attempt to work them on 160 meters using the same method. =
I have M.S. and can't use a straight key or iambic paddle with =
proficiency any longer, so send CW with my computer via the MRP40 v60 =
software. I can set up the software to auto send via macros!
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group =
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com
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------=_NextPart_000_0005_01C411B0.EA115FE0--
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 16:30:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Ed Smith
Subject: Topband: Vertical install / HELP
Hi:
We finally have the 25G vertical up and ready. Have three questions.
Am planning on using 91 feet of RG17 for a transformer to feed the 75 ohm hardline. Can I also wind that same piece as a balun ??
When we installed the radials, 117 total, we put down pegs and wound up with bowties with wires feeding in and out. Will it make any difference if I leave these bowties or should I sever them ??
To get feedline to the tower, I go over a gulley about 90 feet deep and need 650 feet of feedline. I would like to run the feedline, some control cables, and 220 vac across this gulley. What is the best way to suspend this bundle from the trees to minimize feedline length and to keep the aggravating deer away from the bundle ?? I have plenty of 1/4 inch EHS and preforms.
TU
Ed Smith W4EDS
Downtown Mayo Community
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 18:37:09 -0700
From: "ARNE GJERNING"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
>From N7KA: New Mexico
Amazing things will happen. Band opened at 0120, worked him at 0122.
W5PJR also of New Mexico worked him at 0127.
Never dreamed of working him but continued to listen.
Its 0134Z and he is still there.
He was S5 on 1/4 wave sloper.
73 de Arne N7KA
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 21:13:36 -0600
From: "jbattin"
Subject: Re: Topband: Vertical install / HELP
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Smith"
To:
Cc: "Will" ; "Mark D. McIntyre Sr."
; "Sam Leslie"
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 6:30 PM
Subject: Topband: Vertical install / HELP
> Hi:
>
> We finally have the 25G vertical up and ready. Have three questions.
>
> Am planning on using 91 feet of RG17 for a transformer to feed the 75 ohm
hardline. Can I also wind that same piece as a balun ??
You can wind it up if you wish ... but with 100 plus radials you should not
need a balun anyway. If there was a convienent place to put the junction, I
guess I would just use the RG-17 as part of the feedline and reduce the loss
a bit.
> When we installed the radials, 117 total, we put down pegs and wound up
with bowties with wires feeding in and out. Will it make any difference if I
leave these bowties or should I sever them ??
If the wire in the bowties are only a few inches (less than six or so), I
would not waste my time on them unless it bothers you from an asthetic point
of view. 73
John K9DX
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 20:52:19 -0700
From: "Milt Jensen, N5IA"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
0100: Home from the regular work day.
0115: Alpha and MP ready. The sun is still 10 minutes high in the western
sky in extreme Southwest New Mexico.
0118: Heard first ID of 3B9C on 1.822.
0130: Sig strong enough to call. Can hear callsigns as he replies to the
ones he hears. W5PJR has LOUD key clicks 2 kHz and more down, totally
obscuring the 3B9C signal.
0132: No response to my calls on three tries.
0134: Answers N5KO? a couple of times. I repeat call sign, N5IA.
0135: In the log.
0138-0145: 3B9C works others in SW USA. Signal still getting stronger.
0145: All equipment turned off as the wife has steaks ready for the grill.
0200: Eating elk steak and baked potatoes with corn and green beans on the
side.
I like Top Band DXing!!!!!!!!!!
As a veteran of the Top Band operations at XZ1N (1998) and XZ0A (2000) and
knowing what it takes to make it happen from that part of the world, I
congratulate the 160 Meter operators at 3B9C for doing it right.
73 de Milt, N5IA
73 de Milt, N5IA
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 23:47:20 -0600
From: "Harold Smith"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
3B9C had a fantastic signal in the St. Louis, Missouri area at our sunset on 1822 kHz.
I worked him at 0032Z with my home call of WŘRI and at 0037Z with the club call WŘCKC.
He was a solid S9+10to15dB. It sounded like 20 meters.I have never heard that part of the world so strong. And I FORGOT to turn on my recorder, Dummkopf ! !
I believe that all that needed him on 160, in this area, snagged him. Let's keep it up.
73 de Price WŘRI
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 22:01:28 -1000
From: Ken Brown
Subject: Re: Topband: RE: 3B9C 160m
Hi Terry and Garry,
So far I have not found the 3B9C DXpediton to be "an excellent Topband
dxpedition effort". I will be trying again early tomorrow morning, and I
hope that it will then become excellent for me. For now it is just
another DXpedition. I am happy for all the JAs for whom it is excellent,
and for everybody else for whom it has been excellent. And I appreciate
the efforts of all the operators and supporters of the dxpedtion who are
working to make it excellent. With some luck, perhaps it will become
excellent for me one of these mornings real soon. Since their signal has
been Q5 for some brief periods here in KH6, the potential for excellence
is there. Several KH6 are already in the log, so excellence is proven to
be possible.
73 DE N6KB
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 10:45:17 +0100 (CET)
From: =?us-ascii?Q?Petr=20Gustab?=
Subject: Topband: TZ6VV
Hi DXers.
I worked long time ago with TZ6VV on Top Band.
I sent his QSL manager many QSL cards and direct letters, but no replay.
Do you know anybody right QSL INFO ?
TNX for help.
Petr OK1DOT
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 10:58:13 +0000
From: "Charles W. Shaw"
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
Hello All,
N7KA: New Mexico wrote:
>Amazing things will happen. Band opened at 0120, worked him at 0122.
>W5PJR also of New Mexico worked him at 0127.
Here's another from New Mexico: N5UL. Worked him at 0120 with good copy.
73, Charles - N5UL
Hobbs, NM
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 15:19:43 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
I had the usual local QRN on the 160 tee vertical and even the low doublet last night. Very frustrating, especially in light of not having room for listening antennas. In any event I listened for 3B9C from my local sunset until his local sunrise and only heard an occasional Q3 peep from him at times. He did peek here one minute after his local sunrise on my low doublet but only to a brief Q4.
Then at about 0230 UTC I noticed that I had 12 db of attenuation in line on the receiver so this helps explain why 3B9C was so weak here, gggrrr!!! It was an I/O error. For those of you who have worked in the mainframe computer programming field since the 1960's, you will recognize an I/O error as an in/out error. But in my case it's an IDIOT OPERATOR error!
BTW I live on 1/4 acreville in suburbia and there is no way to put out any receiving antennas, at least far enough away from the transmit antennas to prevent QRN coupling. I rarely post questions on the reflector but does anyone think that it's worth the effort to put some flag receiving antennas up here when they would be so close to the transmit antennas?
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Retired Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
SWFWMD Observer #574
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 06:35:27 -0800
From: "Rudy Severns"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
3B9C came out of the noise here in Orygun at 1402, peaked at 549 and
went back into the noise by 1404.
We may just be able to work him from the NW.
XX9, BV, JA, etc were very good this morning.
73, Rudy N6LF
73, Rudy N6LF
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:14:56 -0500
From: Pete Smith
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
At 12:47 AM 3/25/04, Harold Smith wrote:
>I worked him at 0032Z with my home call of WŘRI and at 0037Z with the club
>call WŘCKC.
Can I be a little grumpy? Last night was the first time I've heard him,
and with my 200 watts and inadequately-radialed vertical I'll need a really
good break to work him. To work him twice in the same opening strikes me
as bad form, when so many other folks may not get to work him even once.
73, Pete N4ZR
2671 calls now in the
World HF Contest Station Database
at www.pvrc.org/wcsd/wcsdsearch.htm
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:10:15 -0600
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Dave_N=D8RQ?=
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
Ditto on the "little grumpy".
Some of us haven't even *heard* them yet, let alone
work them.
I'm thrilled they have an excellent operation, whether or not
I get through, but there are still lots of us on the waiting list!
Maybe tonight's the night... :-)
Dave NŘRQ
www.qsl.net/n0rq , QTH Texas
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Smith"
To: "Harold Smith" ;
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 7:14 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
Can I be a little grumpy? Last night was the first time I've heard him,
and with my 200 watts and inadequately-radialed vertical I'll need a really
good break to work him. To work him twice in the same opening strikes me
as bad form, when so many other folks may not get to work him even once.
73, Pete N4ZR
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 12:11:03 -0500
From: Eric Rosenberg
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
The simple answer is yes!
I live in Washington, DC on a 1/8 acre lot, bordered by power/telephone
feeders and within eyeshot from my roof of more transmitters from lowband
through microwaves (the "if I tell you I'll have to kill you" users) than
you can shake a proverbial stick at.
I have a 1/4 wave vertical for 160 on a fiberglass mast tied to my rear
deck and three EWE's (S, W, and NE). The NE EWE really makes a difference
when compared to the vertical. I can send pictures if you like.
Go for it... it's only wire!
Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC
---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 15:19:43 -0000
>From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
>Subject: Topband: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
>To: "a Topband eList"
>
>BTW I live on 1/4 acreville in suburbia and there is no way to put out
any receiving antennas, at least far enough away from the transmit
antennas to prevent QRN coupling. I rarely post questions on the
reflector but does anyone think that it's worth the effort to put some
flag receiving antennas up here when they would be so close to the
transmit antennas?
>
>73 & GUD DX,
>Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
>Retired Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
>Plant City, FL, USA
>Grid Square EL87WX
>
>SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
>SWFWMD Observer #574
>PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
>
>Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
>10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
>Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive
http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
>HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
>160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com
>Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
>
>
>
>
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:15:50 -0600
From: Peter Sears
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
Tom, yes I would put up some receive antenna's but open up the TX
antenna during receive with a simple relay at the base of the transmit
antenna. This will remove the coupling.
Peter
Thomas Giella KN4LF wrote:
>I had the usual local QRN on the 160 tee vertical and even the low doublet last night. Very frustrating, especially in light of not having room for listening antennas. In any event I listened for 3B9C from my local sunset until his local sunrise and only heard an occasional Q3 peep from him at times. He did peek here one minute after his local sunrise on my low doublet but only to a brief Q4.
>
>Then at about 0230 UTC I noticed that I had 12 db of attenuation in line on the receiver so this helps explain why 3B9C was so weak here, gggrrr!!! It was an I/O error. For those of you who have worked in the mainframe computer programming field since the 1960's, you will recognize an I/O error as an in/out error. But in my case it's an IDIOT OPERATOR error!
>
>BTW I live on 1/4 acreville in suburbia and there is no way to put out any receiving antennas, at least far enough away from the transmit antennas to prevent QRN coupling. I rarely post questions on the reflector but does anyone think that it's worth the effort to put some flag receiving antennas up here when they would be so close to the transmit antennas?
>
>73 & GUD DX,
>Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
>Retired Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
>Plant City, FL, USA
>Grid Square EL87WX
>
>SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
>SWFWMD Observer #574
>PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
>
>Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
>10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org
>Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
>HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
>160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com
>Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
>
>
>
>
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 12:52:16 -0500
From: Larry Harrison
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
Larry Harrison wrote:
> Thomas,
>
> Like you I live on a small 1/2 acre lot and have been plagued with the
> same problems.
>
> I do not know about the flag antenna, however the K9AY receiving
> antennas is just great. I have been using one for a couple of years
> now and very pleased with it.
>
> You can detune the tee transmit antenna, when receiving, by placing a
> relay at the feed point and opening the feed so that the antenna will
> then become resonant at twice it's normal frequency ( it becomes 1\2
> wave antenna). I use a surplus vacuum relay obtained from Fair Radio
> Sales.
>
> I am not sure what to tell you about detuning the low doublet, I will
> leave that to others.
>
> 73,
> Larry Harrison K3JRR
>
> Thomas Giella KN4LF wrote:
>
>> I had the usual local QRN on the 160 tee vertical and even the low
>> doublet last night. Very frustrating, especially in light of not
>> having room for listening antennas. In any event I listened for 3B9C
>> from my local sunset until his local sunrise and only heard an
>> occasional Q3 peep from him at times. He did peek here one minute
>> after his local sunrise on my low doublet but only to a brief Q4.
>> Then at about 0230 UTC I noticed that I had 12 db of attenuation in
>> line on the receiver so this helps explain why 3B9C was so weak here,
>> gggrrr!!! It was an I/O error. For those of you who have worked in
>> the mainframe computer programming field since the 1960's, you will
>> recognize an I/O error as an in/out error. But in my case it's an
>> IDIOT OPERATOR error!
>> BTW I live on 1/4 acreville in suburbia and there is no way to put
>> out any receiving antennas, at least far enough away from the
>> transmit antennas to prevent QRN coupling. I rarely post questions on
>> the reflector but does anyone think that it's worth the effort to put
>> some flag receiving antennas up here when they would be so close to
>> the transmit antennas?
>>
>> 73 & GUD DX,
>> Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
>> Retired Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster
>> Plant City, FL, USA
>> Grid Square EL87WX
>>
>> SKYWARN Observer # HIL-249
>> SWFWMD Observer #574
>> PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
>>
>> Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
>> 10 & 6 Meter Propagation Beacon Network http://www.PropNET.org Solar
>> Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm
>> HF/MF Radio Propagation Theory Notes http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm
>> 160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com
>> Florida Space & Atmospheric Weather Institute
>> http://www.kn4lf.com/fsawi.htm
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 19:47:01 +0100
From: CQ-73
Subject: Topband: Open the 160 /W6-7
Dear topbanders !
The band is rare good for W6-7 from HA5/ Budapest
Best time 04-04:35 Z !
Please more aktivity !
73's Gyuri HA5JI
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 15:30:39 -0400
From: herbs@vipowernet.net
Subject: Topband: EP2TV and ZE7JX
Some of the active topband DXER's in the 70's may remember
ZE7JX and also EP2TV. I worked both in 1976 on 160 but did
not follow up with QSLing at the time of the QSO. I am not
a card collector but both Iran and N. Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) are super rare on 160 today.
I am trying to put a 200 country card collection together
and mount them on the ham shack wall like we used to do
years ago.
If anyone has any information on the identity of the QSL
manager or current call sign of either ZE7JX or EP2TV I sure
would be appreciate hearing from you.
73,
HerbSchoenbohm, KV4FZ
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 16:08:59 -0500
From: "Brian Mattson"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C
3B9C was already coming in at my sunset, and rose rapidly from there. I worked him at 00:18, when he was S7 to S9 on the meter (S1 background). He was even S3 on my slightly sloping, end fed longwire! ( I guess the end feed does work ).
Signals were strong for at least an hour.
The most interesting observation was that his signal was from a zero degree beam heading! I am located up near Lake Superior, and the auroral doughnut usually wipes any DX from the zero degree heading. Perhaps the very low K numbers for several days running allowed this path to work.
In any event, a good week, with two new zones on Top, and JD1, XF4, and 3B9 in the log! It can get frustrating up in the high latitudes....it's nice when it actually works!
73 & Good Hunting,
Brian K8BHZ
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:06:53 -0800
From: Steve Lawrence
Subject: Topband: HK0GU NOT on 160
FYI:
Just worked HK0GU on 15m CW. Says there is not enough room to get any
wire up for 160, "You'll have to wait for another guy."
73, Steve WB6RSE
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 17:12:11 -0800
From: "Bob Tellefsen"
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
Thomas
I use a Flag loop aimed east with my TX vertical only 30 ft away.
I'm able to open up my TX antenna so the vertical is disconnected
from the matching network. At this point it ceases to reradiate noise
into the loop, and I hear signals from the east coast fine (when they
are there :-)..
If you can't disconnect the vertical from the matching unit, it will
radiate quite a lot of noise. It's quite obvious when I operate my
relay and disconnect the vertical.
Some folks are situated where they can place their Flag or Pennant
loop with the null at the rear toward the TX vertical. This probably
helps to some degree also.
Good luck and 73
Bob N6WG
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 20:22:26 -0500
From: Dick Duccini
Subject: Topband: 3B9C in WNC
Unbelievable - just worked 3B9C on first try at 0050 UTC, about half hour
after sunset here in Western North Carolina. And, for those of you that
haven't tried because you don't have the big power or big antenna - no
problem. Dipole and 100 watts is all I have. Just put up a small flag
antenna for receiving and that made it easier but could still hear him on
the dipole a solid 559. He peaked at about 0055 but still copy at 0110
UTC.
73
Dick - K6VKO
Asheville, NC
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 18:28:30 -0700
From: Joe Wilkowski
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
Well, might as well add my lament , I have heard him the last three nights
in southern Colorado and could not even get through the wall of incredible
qrm up and down the band....
Something to be said about getting it off your chest eh ? :-))
/joe
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave NŘRQ"
To:
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
> Ditto on the "little grumpy".
> Some of us haven't even *heard* them yet, let alone
> work them.
> I'm thrilled they have an excellent operation, whether or not
> I get through, but there are still lots of us on the waiting list!
>
> Maybe tonight's the night... :-)
>
> Dave NŘRQ
> www.qsl.net/n0rq , QTH Texas
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pete Smith"
> To: "Harold Smith" ;
> Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 7:14 AM
> Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C
>
> Can I be a little grumpy? Last night was the first time I've heard him,
> and with my 200 watts and inadequately-radialed vertical I'll need a
really
> good break to work him. To work him twice in the same opening strikes me
> as bad form, when so many other folks may not get to work him even once.
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> _______________________________________________
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 11:03:55 -0000
From: "Phil Catterall G4OBK"
Subject: SLRe: Topband: TZ6VV
Regarding Petr's query, I am also waiting QSLs from TZ6VV QSOs. The op was
Larry and my contacts were in 1994 and 1999 (not 160m in my case). I sent
the QSL direct to AA0GL and didn't get one back. Like Petr I am asking if
anyone knows a sure route to get a QSL for this one.
73 Phil G4OBK
Phil Catterall (G4OBK, GD4OBK, GM4OBK,
SV5/G4OBK, SV9/G4OBK)
Ham Radio Website: http://www.qsl.net/g4obk
e-mail: g4obk@philcatterall.plus.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Petr Gustab"
To:
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 9:45 AM
Subject: Topband: TZ6VV
Hi DXers.
I worked long time ago with TZ6VV on Top Band.
I sent his QSL manager many QSL cards and direct letters, but no replay.
Do you know anybody right QSL INFO ?
TNX for help.
Petr OK1DOT
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 22:43:32 EST
From: W2pm@aol.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
In a message dated 3/25/2004 9:59:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
n6wg@comcast.net writes:
> Some folks are situated where they can place their Flag or Pennant
> loop with the null at the rear toward the TX vertical. This probably
> helps to some degree also.
Yes, this works with a full Pennant as well as the smaller versions of
Pennants and Flag - both against the transmitting antenna AND a power line. I now
have three rx antennas aimed forward to the target areas as well as nulled to
local noise sources and have found the rear null to be height sensitive - but
not have found any uniform correlation of height to all noise sources - each
have to be addressed indivdually.
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 22:52:52 -0600
From: "K9AY"
Subject: Topband: Elevated K9AY Loop
Topbanders,
I just received a note from 4F2KWT (via WX0B) -- although it was a testimonial that his new K9AY loop was working well, an important technical note was also included.
Gil is using a single loop (reversible) mounted at the TOP of a 40-foot tower. The wire is supported by old quad spreaders and mounted ABOVE his multiband beam. He reports that F/B is typically S9-to-S1 -- very good, although most S-meters are 'generous' in this range.
Modeling suggests that an elevated loop will work just fine, but I never had time to do that experiment -- many thanks to Gil for confirming that this is a viable way to install a K9AY Loop. I have heard many concerns about deer, pedestrians, mowing, etc. (deer knocked down my own loops twice this winter); now I can more confidently suggest raising the antenna.
Hopefully, I'll get someone to install an elevated loop on a small lot -- getting it above problems like house wiring, aluminum siding, wire-mesh-reinforced stucco, etc. should help the performance.
73, Gary
K9AY
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 00:10:20 -0500
From: Eric Rosenberg
Subject: Topband: Follow-up Re: 3B9C In Florida/ Receive Antennas
Give me a couple days to get things together and I'll post the details
here. Those that want pictures may have to wait a bit longer.
Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC
>I wrote:
>
>The simple answer is yes!
>
>I live in Washington, DC on a 1/8 acre lot, bordered by
>power/telephone
>feeders and within eyeshot from my roof of more transmitters from
>lowband
>through microwaves (the "if I tell you I'll have to kill you" users)
>than
>you can shake a proverbial stick at.
>
>I have a 1/4 wave vertical for 160 on a fiberglass mast tied to my
>rear
>deck and three EWE's (S, W, and NE). The NE EWE really makes a
>difference
> when compared to the vertical. I can send pictures if you like.
>
>Go for it... it's only wire!
>
>Eric W3DQ
>Washington, DC
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 08:01:56 -0500
From: George Taft
Subject: Topband: 5R8FU
Ake has been faithfully trying weekend skeds on top band shortly before
his SR. But the freq has been altered from 1834 to 1811 due to QRM on
his end.
Hasn't been much success with the QRV but he will be on again this
weekend - Sat, Sun & Mon UTC abt 30 minutes before his SR (now very near
0255Z).
I have noticed that the 3B9C appears to have better propagation to much
of NA some 90 min before their SR and I am encouraging Ake to try the
same. But am unsure if he will get up earlier to try it.
With the 3B9 have a shorter window to NA, it may be our SS enhancement
that is giving us the better sigs. But worth a shot for the 5R8 - as
his SR times haven't been very fruitful.
Good luck
73 George W8UVZ
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 13:35:04 -0000
From: "Phil Catterall G4OBK"
Subject: Topband: Re: TZ6VV
That would be great Bernie if you can make the enquiry.
Cheers,
Phil G4OBK
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bernie McClenny, W3UR"
To: "'Phil Catterall G4OBK'" ; "'Petr Gustab'"
Cc:
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 12:08 PM
Subject: TZ6VV
> Larry, ex TZ6VV, is a missionary in Corsica. He sends me monthly updates.
> I will try to find out his current QSL situation.
> Bernie, W3UR
>
> --
> Bernie McClenny, W3UR
> Keep up with the latest DX news - http://www.dailydx.com
>
>
>
>
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 8:47:32 -0500
From: Rich - K1HTV
Subject: Topband: 3B9C, #190 with 100 Watts
Dick Duccini wrote:
>Unbelievable - just worked 3B9C on first try at 0050 UTC, about
>half hour after sunset here in Western North Carolina. And, for
>those of you that haven't tried because you don't have the big
>power or big antenna - no problem. Dipole and 100 watts is all I
>have. Just put up a small flag antenna for receiving and that made
>it easier but could still hear him on the dipole a solid 559.
>He peaked at about 0055 but still copy at 0110 UTC.
>73
>Dick - K6VKO
= = = =
Yes, it can be done with low power. I worked 3B9C with 100 Watts
for K1HTV Topband country #190 on 3/24 at 00:52 UTC from my
1/3 acre (55 ft from vertical to property lines in back).
The vertical, although it picks up lots of local QRN, was used
as the receive antenna, as I've done for almost all of the DX
worked from this Maryland QTH.
The key to using the vertical on receive is to tighten up the CW
bandwith as much as possible. Narrow CW filters are used in both
the high IF & low IF in the TS850, and the HI & LO IF slope
controls are adjusted to tighten the received bandwidth even more
to reduce to increase the SNR. It has worked for me for years and
is one of the reasons why I've been able to hear as much of the DX
that has made it into the K1HTV log over the years.
Its not always easy to work Topband DX with low power or QRP.
It takes a combination of skills, luck and persistence. But
most of all you must BELIEVE that you will succeed. If this
last element is missing, you will NOT work the DX that the
'deserving' work, even with higher power.
73 de Rich - K1HTV
k1htv@verizon.net
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:26:14 -0000
From: "Thomas Giella KN4LF"
Subject: Topband: 160 Listening Antennas
I received MANY personal responses to my query concerning receiving antennas and their proximity to transmitting antennas. I received allot of valuable information and want to thank all who responded very much.
73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF
Plant City, FL, USA
Grid Square EL87WX
PODX 070 PSK31 Member #349
Yaesu FT-840 & PSK31 News Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yaesu_ft840
160-10 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More http://www.kn4lf.com
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:32:23 EST
From: W2pm@aol.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C, #190 with 100 Watts
Here in very noisy NNJ with a small lot I agree with K1HTV's guidance here
except I'd add that when using the big tx antenna on rx I don't use the max
ceramic filtering but tighten the selectivity wiht the passband controls (TS850)
as the ringing associated with the 500 and 270 hz filters with such high
intensity noise degrades the S/N ratio worse than using the SSB filtering with very
tight passband settings. Sometimes I can use the 500Hz hi IF filter while
using the SSB low filter - depends on how high the local crud level.. Thankfully
here for the past 6 weeks the local crud is fairly low save for an
occassional bad day so I can copy the DX well on the Inv L. DF2PY, IV3PRK and SV3RF
were like locals last night - Wolf was actually S9+20.
In a message dated 3/26/2004 9:15:31 AM Eastern Standard Time,
k1htv@verizon.net writes:
> The key to using the vertical on receive is to tighten up the CW
> bandwith as much as possible. Narrow CW filters are used in both
> the high IF &low IF in the TS850, and the HI &LO IF slope
> controls are adjusted to tighten the received bandwidth even more
> to reduce to increase the SNR. It has worked for me for years and
> is one of the reasons why I've been able to hear as much of the DX
> that has made it into the K1HTV log over the years.
>
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 15:38:18 -0000
From: "John Rogers"
Subject: Topband: TZ6VV
Try
TZ6VV - Larry Erwin - Residence Les Horizons - II Bŕtiment D - Route des
Sanguinaires - 2000 Ajaccio -
FRANCE
This address got me the QSL in April 2002.
(thanks to Rys SP5EWY)
73's
John
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 10:46:19 -0500
From:
Subject: Topband: 3B9C 160 mtrs
I was sitting on 1822.7 last night when 3B9C came up calling
CQ. He was an honest 599, unbelievable !! I started calling
up 3 , when after about 5 minutes I realized he was listening
1816-1817 instead. Whipped the vfo down there and called twice.
He came back at 0108 gmt with 549 to me, but in a matter of seconds his
signal dropped from S9 to an S1 ( amongst the local city line noise ).
After that he was extremely difficult copy.
Thanks for number 218 top band, from a noisy,cramped city lot
without room for bev's etc etc , only an Inv L ( 70' vertical ).
Glenn VA3DX
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 18:32:24 -0400
From: "Javier Remoto"
Subject: Topband: EWE Question - YV5MBX
Hi,
I ask you for help beause I had installed and EWE in my concrete
Flat Roof Top but without sucess.
The EWE is 10 ft high & 39 ft length with a terminating resistor of 1200 ohms.
I am using an Advanced Receiver Research preamp at the shack, and the antenna works but worst than my shunt feed tower.
I check for interaction between the antennas and none at all.
I have a big noise floor smaller than the received using the tower but with more problems to copy signals.
I have installed a BC filter to avoid spurious emmision from local Broadcast stations.
I thought that the problem could be electrical so I installed a ferrite core between the Pre-Amp power supply and the pre-amp by itself, and the noise floor still there avoiding me to have a good copy of signals.
Testing agains DX Broadcast Stations (without filter) no problem but in 1.8 Mhz I have to use the NB & NR fully clock-wise at the radio to listen signals in the United States at least 3 db less than my vertical. So no benefits for me !!!!
I don´t know if it has some kind of adverse effect that the antenna coax goes through an external antenna selector (Ameritron RV-8) or maybe that two 4 inches metal pipes with AC power lines goes below the antenna in a 90 deg angle.
I change my Pre-Amp for another one of the characterisitcs with the same results.
Ideas welcome!!!
73's de Javier
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 23:27:56 -0000
From: "f8bpn"
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C, #190 with 100 Watts
Hi All,
Thought I worked 3B9C yesterday evening with also my 100 watts, signal was
not too strong, but heard my call coming back. What a disapointment when I
went on the log on line and didn't see F8BPN on 1.8 MHz.
Yes, log was updated because there was QSO from today. I am not the only one
in this case, heard clearly the call of a friend of mine and his QSO didn't
apear either. Is there a pirate sending once and a while reports for
3B9C???, or what?
I still have two weeks to work them....but their signals are not strong
here.
73/88 de F8BPN, Mau
f8bpn@wanadoo.fr
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ph-martin/f8bpn
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 23:13:46 -0000
From: "W5FKX - Don"
Subject: Topband: Front-end savers?
After avoiding topband for 50 years, I tried it a couple of years ago and I
am now hooked! I have learned that my inverted-L, while getting me to 95
entities, is NOT the best antenna on Rx! I am now experimenting with rx
antennas, hoping to find a workable one that is able to fit into my very
limited yard space; but I have a question: do I really need a front-end
saver for my rig? I am using (alternately) a FT1000MP and IC-756ProII, both
of which appear to provide grounding during Tx for antennas connected to the
Rx terminal. Is this adequate? Since any Rx antenna that I use will be close
(<30 ft) to the inverted-L that I use for Tx, is the extra precaution
necessary?
73,
Don W5FKX
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 19:40:07 -0500
From: "Jim Monahan"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C finally
Monday night, I came home about 20 minutes before his sunrise
and he was over S9 with a S0 background. TX wouldn't load and
I discovered, for the first time the next day, that I had a shorted coax
cable.
The following three nights, he either never got over S1 or was inaudible a lot
on my 55 degree beverage (73.1 degrees from here in CT) w/10 dB preamp.
No sunrise enhancement for them was observed over these nights.
So, I tried earlier and he was S1 to S2 tonight and worked him at 0018Z somehow!
I'm very glad that some midwest and west coast stations got him over the
last few nights with only a few minutes of darkness since the prop seemed to
be favoring their direction.
73, Jim, K1PX
K1PX@msn.com
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 14:52:48 +0800
From: "Jon Rudy-MCC Asia Peace Resource"
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C not in log
Mau and all:
I have the same problem. I was sure I was logged but its not on line. I
wonder if they have a logging problem? My other current QSOs are in the
log. It would help keep dupes out of the 160 log if indeed there is a
problem otherwise I am going to work them again.
73...jon
================================
Jon Rudy
DU9/N0NM
Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines
Zone 27, Grid-PJ27, OC-130
EX: 3DA0CA, 4D71/N0NM,
4D71NM, A2/ZS5UZ,
C91CO, ZS5UZ, WB0UZZ
QSL via W4DR
E-mail: n0nm@arrl.net
=================================
----- Original Message -----
From: f8bpn
To:
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 7:27 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C, #190 with 100 Watts
> Hi All,
>
> Thought I worked 3B9C yesterday evening with also my 100 watts, signal was
> not too strong, but heard my call coming back. What a disapointment when I
> went on the log on line and didn't see F8BPN on 1.8 MHz.
> Yes, log was updated because there was QSO from today. I am not the only
one
> in this case, heard clearly the call of a friend of mine and his QSO
didn't
> apear either. Is there a pirate sending once and a while reports for
> 3B9C???, or what?
> I still have two weeks to work them....but their signals are not strong
> here.
>
> 73/88 de F8BPN, Mau
>
> f8bpn@wanadoo.fr
> http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ph-martin/f8bpn
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 12:32:17 +0100
From: "Osten B Magnusson"
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C not in log
I think I should be in there also... Maybe there is a problem with the
WEB-site as Bernie, W3UR, of DailyDX is not at home Friday to
Sunday. Maybe he is in the WPX-contest from somewhere ouutside
Maryland!
We have to wait and see, there is still lots of time for another QSO if
they have made logging errors, busted calls maybe?
73/DX de Osten SM5DQC sm5dqc@areteadsl.se
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Rudy-MCC Asia Peace Resource"
To: "f8bpn" ; "Topband post"
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 7:52 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C not in log
> Mau and all:
>
> I have the same problem. I was sure I was logged but its not on line. I
> wonder if they have a logging problem? My other current QSOs are in the
> log. It would help keep dupes out of the 160 log if indeed there is a
> problem otherwise I am going to work them again.
>
> 73...jon
> ================================
> Jon Rudy
> DU9/N0NM
> Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines
> Zone 27, Grid-PJ27, OC-130
> EX: 3DA0CA, 4D71/N0NM,
> 4D71NM, A2/ZS5UZ,
> C91CO, ZS5UZ, WB0UZZ
> QSL via W4DR
> E-mail: n0nm@arrl.net
> =================================
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: f8bpn
> To:
> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 7:27 AM
> Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C, #190 with 100 Watts
>
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Thought I worked 3B9C yesterday evening with also my 100 watts, signal
was
> > not too strong, but heard my call coming back. What a disapointment when
I
> > went on the log on line and didn't see F8BPN on 1.8 MHz.
> > Yes, log was updated because there was QSO from today. I am not the only
> one
> > in this case, heard clearly the call of a friend of mine and his QSO
> didn't
> > apear either. Is there a pirate sending once and a while reports for
> > 3B9C???, or what?
> > I still have two weeks to work them....but their signals are not strong
> > here.
> >
> > 73/88 de F8BPN, Mau
> >
> > f8bpn@wanadoo.fr
> > http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ph-martin/f8bpn
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Topband mailing list
> > Topband@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/topband
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 06:59:37 -0500
From: Pete Smith
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C not in log
At 01:52 AM 3/27/04, Jon Rudy-MCC Asia Peace Resource wrote:
>I have the same problem. I was sure I was logged but its not on line. I
>wonder if they have a logging problem? My other current QSOs are in the
>log. It would help keep dupes out of the 160 log if indeed there is a
>problem otherwise I am going to work them again.
I have heard a smarty on 160 mimicking them, and their log administration
seems to be very good, so if it doesn't show up I'd say go ahead and work
them again.
73, Pete N4ZR
2671 calls now in the
World HF Contest Station Database
at www.pvrc.org/wcsd/wcsdsearch.htm
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 07:11:12 -0500
From: Bill Tippett
Subject: Topband: 3B9C to KA6W
I saw this spotted on packed a few days ago
and today saw the following posted on the 3B9C
website:
"We are delighted to announce that 3B9C has worked KA6W on 160m CW.
This QSO took place on Thursday 25 March at 1401 UTC, which was just at our
sunset.
The path 3B9/W6 looks virtually impossible on paper, with almost no common
darkness.
We are pleased that our efforts of the past week have paid off with this
QSO. The operator at 3B9C at that time was Eric, K3NA."
http://www.fsdxa.com/3b9c/6m-to-w6.html
On this date, 3B9C sunset was 1352 and KA6W
sunrise was 1405...only 13 minutes of common darkness.
Those of us on the East Coast might first think this was
long path, but it was probably short path since 3B9C is a
bearing of 354 degrees and a distance of 13647 km from
KA6W.
This path is not too much different from the sunrise path
we have to 9V1/9M2 from the East Coast. From my QTH,
9V1 is 353 degrees and a distance of 15901 km, and several
have worked 9V1GO or 9M2AX near our local sunrise.
The moral of this story is, check out the sunrise/sunset
times for any DX station you are chasing and BE THERE! This
also demonstrates what a competent DX station is capable of
on Topband with good antennas, power and operators that know
what they are doing. Unfortunately, 3B9C is the exception to
the rule for most DXpeditions on Topband. Congratulations on
a great QSO to both 3B9C and KA6W!
73, Bill W4ZV
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 08:15:03 -0700
From: "Milt Jensen, N5IA"
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C to KA6W
Bill,
Interesting your calculations. I knew we we near the antipode here in the
Southwest US but didn't realize there was such a big difference from the
other locations.
According to my calculator in Geoclock, the distance between Rodrigues and
my QTH is 11, 418 miles (18,375 Km) on the short path (29 degrees) and
13,485 miles (21,702 Km) on the long path (209 degrees). This is by far the
longest contact for me on Top Band. It puts me just 1,034 miles off the
antipode. The time of my QSO, at 0135 was just 8 minutes after sundown here
and 15 minutes before sunup at 3B9C, a true hard greyline to greyline
contact.
The guys in AZ just west of me should have the longest Q's with 3B9C. Not
knowing all of whom worked the DXped (just the ones who posted to the
reflector) I am supposing that Larry Pace, N7DD, has the 1st place. His
location in NW Tucson is about 140 air miles WSW of me placing him about 900
miles from the antipode. The antipode is in the Pacific just off the west
central coast of Baja California, Mexico.
Anyway, it was for me a textbook contact. 73 de Milt, N5IA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Tippett"
To:
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 5:11 AM
Subject: Topband: 3B9C to KA6W
> On this date, 3B9C sunset was 1352 and KA6W
> sunrise was 1405...only 13 minutes of common darkness.
> Those of us on the East Coast might first think this was
> long path, but it was probably short path since 3B9C is a
> bearing of 354 degrees and a distance of 13647 km from
> KA6W.
>
> This path is not too much different from the sunrise path
> we have to 9V1/9M2 from the East Coast. From my QTH,
> 9V1 is 353 degrees and a distance of 15901 km, and several
> have worked 9V1GO or 9M2AX near our local sunrise.
> 73, Bill W4ZV
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 10:09:12 -0800
From: "Jerry T Dowell"
Subject: Topband: Signals in noise
There is an interesting article in Chinese Physics Letters Vol. 21, No. 4,
p. 757 regarding enhancing detection of single tones by adding noise. A
phenomenon with which I am sure almost all topbanders are familiar. The
authors find that detectability can be enhanced by as much as almost 6 dB by
adding white noise. Using the denoiser on the DSP (or using the narrowest
filter) is not always the best strategy!
You can download a copy of the article free for the next week or so at
www.iop.org click on "Journals" and register (which is fairly easy).
Jerry AI6L
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Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 10:30:03 -0800
From: "Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF"
Subject: Topband: 3B9C's E-mail Address
Does anyone have the e-mail address that was posted "somewhere" for the 3B9C operation?
Sunset and sunrise at 3B9 is identical to the Pacific NW. I am driving to my "rig" QTHin Vancouver, WA today from Seattle and I will erect a 600' N/S beverage tomorrow morning. Hope conditions permit a QSO with them during the next few days. I expect the "opening" might be for just a few minutes each day.
Jim K9JF (/7)
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 10:37:04 -0800
From: "Bob Tellefsen"
Subject: Re: Topband: Front-end savers?
Don
The front end saver, or receiver feedline shorting, is a good idea if you
are running power.
However, with your receiving antenna so close to your transmitting vertical,
you will have significant pickup of noise reradiated from the vertical. A
number of us are using relays to disconnect, or detune the vertical during
transmit. This greatly reduces the noise you hear during receive intervals.
Hope this helps.
73, Bob N6WG
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:04:03 -0500
From: "Larry Emery"
Subject: Re: Topband: Signals in noise
I would believe that. That explains why I prefer listening to very
weak stations with the filters opened to 700-800 Hz many times.
Of course it doesn't help much getting the freq super close when
spotting on packet <8^))
Larry K1UO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry T Dowell"
To:
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 1:09 PM
Subject: Topband: Signals in noise
There is an interesting article in Chinese Physics Letters Vol. 21,
No. 4,
p. 757 regarding enhancing detection of single tones by adding noise.
A
phenomenon with which I am sure almost all topbanders are familiar.
The
authors find that detectability can be enhanced by as much as almost 6
dB by
adding white noise. Using the denoiser on the DSP (or using the
narrowest
filter) is not always the best strategy!
You can download a copy of the article free for the next week or so at
www.iop.org click on "Journals" and register (which is fairly
easy).
Jerry AI6L
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:08:44 -0500
From: Bill Tippett
Subject: Topband: 3B9C to KA6W
N5IA wrote:
>According to my calculator in Geoclock, the distance between Rodrigues and
my QTH is 11, 418 miles (18,375 Km) on the short path (29 degrees) and
13,485 miles (21,702 Km) on the long path (209 degrees). This is by far the
longest contact for me on Top Band. It puts me just 1,034 miles off the
antipode. The time of my QSO, at 0135 was just 8 minutes after sundown here
and 15 minutes before sunup at 3B9C, a true hard greyline to greyline
contact.
From my former location in Colorado, I was only 206 miles (331 km)
from
FT5ZB's antipode Southeast of me. From my location, short path to FT5ZB was
19,643 km at a bearing of 319 degrees. I had read about "antipodal focusing",
which supposedly enhances signals near the antipode, and it seemed to be true
for this path. Stations farther West seemed to have a tougher time working
Dany...I recall W7TVF finally made it after many, many days of trying. By
contrast, I heard Dany almost daily at my sunrise (and his sunset) and he was
only running 80-90 watts through 150m of coax to a low (50 ft / 15m)
inverted-L.
He was so strong once that he asked if I wanted to try SSB, but I declined
since
many others still needed him on CW. I was never able to hear Dany via long
path
(SE direction) at my sunset, since we never had common darkness, but he was
often very good copy on 80 (which is a piece of cake compared to 160).
Being near the antipode may be one of the few cases where being
farther
away from a DX station may actually be better for propagation on Topband!
73, Bill W4ZV
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Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 05:12:11 +0800
From: Robert Marshall-Read
Subject: RE: Topband: 3B9C not in log
Snip....
It would help keep dupes out of the 160 log if indeed there is a
problem otherwise I am going to work them again.
Unsnip
They say on the web page if in doubt, work 'em again. They got my call
wrong on the first night, so did it again and now in the log.
73
Bob 9V1GO
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 13:45:53 -0800
From: Earl W Cunningham
Subject: Re: Topband: 3B9C to KA6W
Milt, N5IA wrote:
"According to my calculator in Geoclock, the distance between Rodrigues
and my QTH is 11, 418 miles (18,375 Km) on the short path (29
degrees)...."
==========
My calculations (using DBG which is based on the Earth's actual shape and
size) for KA6W, K6SE and 3B9C for 25 March 2004 are:
Sun times:
3B9C: (19.7S, 63.4E) sunset at 1353Z
KA6W (37.528N, 122.116W) sunrise at 1403Z
K6SE (34.629N, 118.179W) sunrise at 1349Z
N5IA (32.689N, 109.001W) sunrise at 1312Z
Short path headings and distances:
KA6W to 3B9C = 344 deg, 17982 km.
K6SE to 3B9C = 354 deg, 18342 km.
N5IA to 3B9C = 29 deg, 18384 km.
Although KA6W is only 297 miles NNW of me, his sunrise was 14 minutes
later than mine, rising 9 minutes after Rodrigues sunset (giving a
9-minute window of opportunity).
My sun rose 4 minutes before 3B9C's sunset (zero window of opportunity)
N5IA's sunrise was 51 minutes before 3B9C's sunset (a virtual
impossibility), so Milt's best chance would have to be at his sunset
(probably long path) rather than sunrise.
I heard KA6W's QSO with 3B9C (I did not hear 3B9C) and extend my
congratulations to him.
I'm still there every morning with eagerness, but the zero window gets
wider each day.
73, de Earl, K6SE
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:57:20 -0700
From: Peter Koehler
Subject: Topband: 3B9C to KA6W
Other southwesterners I know that have worked 3B9C short path:
K7CA and N7JW near St. George/Cedar City UT
W9NGA in Green Valley, AZ (east of Tucson)
N7DD in Tucson
& myself KJ7WY in Flagstaff, AZ which calculated out to 18251 km
Funny thing-so far better signals on 160m than 80m but shorter only
about 8 minutes of good copy! No copy so far longpath.
73's Pete KJ7WY
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 14:59:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Robert Brown
Subject: Topband: 3B9C Contacts
Friends in Radio Land,
The antipodal enhancement of 3B9C's signals in NA is not likely
as there are "large geographic variations in ionospheric structure"
(Davies, 1989).
More to the point is magneto-ionic ducting in the electron density
valley above the E-region, shown earlier by the ray-tracing/absorption
analysis of the VK6HD-VP9AD QSO on p.63 of my book, "The Big Gun's
Guide to Low-Band Propagation (2002). Calculations using the PropLab
Pro program show similar results, low-loss propagation in ducts, with
NA contacts given on the low-band reflector.
73,
Bob, NM7M
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 21:36:30 -0500
From: "WW3S"
Subject: Topband: 3b9c,100w, small lot=SUCCESS!!
All week I tried to copy 3B9C on 1822, most of the nights hearing just a dot
or dash or so about 1 hr or so before their sunrise. I was using a inv l for
both tx and rx and was hearing a lot of qrn/noise that made copy next to
impossible.Today, while enjoying our first taste of spring here in northwest
PA ( just south of Lake Erie), I noticed an antenna I used to use on 160, a
coaxial inv l, laying in the corner of the garage. Figuring I have nothing
to lose, I replaced the wire inv l with the coaxial version and noticed
right away the line noise/qrn was several units down. Tonight, 3B9C was an
honest 579 and knowing they usually listen about 5 kc down, I dumped my call
in....and they came back with WW3S and a signal report!!! It couldn't be
that easy, could it? So after they worked 2 or 3 more, I called again and
they came back WW3S WW3S R R R ...WOW!!! I can't remember why I replaced the
coaxial L with the wire version but I don't think it will come down again.
It's quieter on receive and I can honestly say I've worked everything I
heard with it. I only wish I had put it up sooner. Scotty, WK3N, gave me the
plans for it several years ago but since it came from an April issue of CQ,
I thought it was a hoax. I thought that because the shield of the coax
antenna gets connected to the center conductor of the feedline and vice
versa. The antenna is 125' long and 37' from the far end, you short the
shield and center conductor together..mine is suspended from the my 60'
tower from a standoff, so goes up 60' and the rest is almost horizontal out
to a tree. Oh, one more thing. Originally I used 3 radials....that worked so
so,. The next year I put down 6 which worked much better and now have 24
130' radials. My lot is 80x180 so I just run the radials out until they hit
my lot line and then bend them around to fit. Good luck and keep trying.
73 Jamie WW3S
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 21:45:23 -0500
From: "John Kaufmann"
Subject: RE: Topband: 3B9C to KA6W
Bill Tippett wrote:
> Being near the antipode may be one of the few cases where
> being farther away from a DX station may actually be better
> for propagation on Topband!
This does seem to be true, too, from New England. Western Australia (VK6)
is almost antipodal to my QTH in eastern MA. VK6HD and VK6VZ are sometimes
remarkably strong on short path around our local sunrisem. In fact they are
generally stronger and more consistent than the signals from eastern
Australia which is geographically closer. On long path I have worked VK6HD
at local sunset with no more than a few minutes of darkness overlap and
heard VK6VZ on this path a number of times. Of course, short path and long
path converge on being the same thing when the path is between antipodal
points.
73, John W1FV
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 23:19:15 -0500
From: "3B9C" (by way of w4zv@contesting.com)
Subject: Topband: 3B9C top band update
Hi Bill --
Would you please pass this along to the Topband reflector? Many thanks.
-- Eric K3NA
================
Just a few more words from the 3B9C Topband team.
We have had some success in working our sunrise and sunset openings. Just
prior to our local sunrise (around 02z) the path to the eastern 2/3rds of
North America on 160m gives a final adrenaline rush to the operator on duty.
Stations pop up out of the noise as the terminator sweeps across the
continent ... and it's a challenge to stuff as many calls into the log as
possible and be alert to those who are calling from the extreme western
edge. The 'searchlight' really helps but I'm sure it's frustrating to the
many who are calling. We promise to be there every day to work as many as
possible.
At this same time 80m has been a real leading indicator: lots of good
QSOs right across the continent all the way to the west coast. 80m will hang
in 20-30 minutes past our sunrise... and 40m stays open a hour past sunrise
on direct path followed by another hour on skew path over South Africa to
South America, Caribbean and a strip of the southern USA from W6 through
W4/W3 (sometimes further north). The duration and depth of these sunrise
openings have been a real pleasure to experience.
Our sunset has been even more exciting. In the first days on air we
discovered this tremendous long path 40m opening to the entirety of North
America (and even further south). We are on 40m by 12z, two hours before our
sunset, and often the first answer to our CQ will come from W1 long path --
either direct over VK/ZL (southeast) or skewed more to the E or NE.
80m revealed a regular long path opening to W6/W7 at our sunset. We are
on the band calling CQ at 1330z with the first stations in the log about 15
minutes after that. This opening seems to extend a bit into the daylight
side of the terminator in North America. As an example K3NA was on this
shift on Mar 26 when W0YK, W2VJN, and others (including VE7s) were logged 10
minutes or more into their daylight. Signals seem to arrive initially from
our north (short path) but have been better on the south (long) transmit
antenna pattern later in the opening. Eric worked this opening the first
day... and signal strengths and breadth of the opening suggested that 160m
might yield a west coast QSO.
At Mar 25/1401z we worked KA6W on 160m, just a few minutes after our
sunset and right at sunrise in the bay area. We were on 1822.37 calling CQ
since 1330z, with fishing buoy signals starting to appear as twilight
arrived. KA6W's signal just popped up, slightly above the noise but clearly
readible -- it seemed like we heard him on the first call. While the band
was relatively quiet that day, the shack was anything but quiet when this
first California-Rodrigues QSO was logged. (We have this QSO recorded as
well and will find a way to post it on the web after Eric returns home on
April 2.)
Unfortunately that has been the only west coast call heard to date, but
we are trying every evening (and morning!). On Mar 26 nothing was heard, and
on Mar 27 Eric heard occasional code elements and, around 1415z, a "7P" or
similar character after the "7" that might have been a piece of a VE7 call.
Mar 26 was very noisy at our end with several heavy rain showers hammering
the roof of the building at sunset. In general the ionosphere seemed quite
turbulent on topband today; JAs in particular were hard copy with many call
fragments but few clean copies of complete callsigns in the noise.
Please keep trying and let us know (via email to the address on the 3B6C
website) what you have been hearing of our 160m signal, especially on the
west coast of North America around 1400z.
In closing, as of 27/2200z 3B9C has logged 1,551 160m QSOs with over 75
DXCC entities. Europe is trotting along and the QRN levels are much reduced
from those of seven hours ago. A hot cup of coffee and a pileup await the
next shift's operator...
73 for now,
the Topband team: Mike G3SED, Don G3XTT, and Eric K3NA
p.s.: A word on frequencies:
40m: expect us to transmit on 7002.37 and listen +25 kHz. The large split
allows us to work all USA license classes and avoid the 2nd harmonic of the
80m transmitter. Unfortunately we haven't always been perfect in getting all
the operators to listen above 7025 but I think the word is out, and
apologies to those who were unable to call us. We did try 7022 on one or two
occasions as a transmit frequency but found few takers on this unannounced
spot.
80m: Expect us on 3502.37 again listening up +25 kHz during times when
the band is open to the USA. (The oddball x.37 kHz alignment is to avoid
hiding under other carriers/harmonics.) During JA openings we have recently
been sliding up to 3004.xx as 3502-3 has been reported plagued by other
junk.
160m: At our sunset we're transmitting 1802.37 listening +5 kHz outside
the JA window for North America until about 1445z. Then we shift to
listen -5 kHz for JA/Pacific/Europe the remainder of the night on through to
our sunrise.
On both 80m and 160m we are trying to maintain at least 4-5 kHz splits
as we have received reports that key clicks from stations calling 3B9C were
splattering onto our transmit frequency.
--K3NA
p.p.s: An update to the update... night of Mar 27/28. As the on-duty
operator for the midnight-to-dawn top band shift, it was with considerable
depression that I watched the grayline crawl across the USA. Not the
slightest hint of a signal could be heard from North America, even though
Falk DK7YY on 80m was running (creeping?) USA stations at a tepid pace but
with OK signals. Nothing... nothing... even 90 minutes beyond the start of
yesterday's North American opening. Tired of pushing F1, I turned on the CQ
beacon. Suddenly, at 0140z, at the end of a CQ, multiple signals appeared
in an instant. I can only conclude that this CQ had been the first to
propagate to North America. Judging from the callers it was widely heard --
many stations from a wide range of locations had hopped down 5 kHz. The
second in the log was N7FU, which the databases show as in Bellingham
Washington -- way into daylight. If N7FU was indeed in Washington state,
this was an astonishing QSO. The opening lasted 22 minutes, with K6EID
(Georgia) logged at 0200z -- 8 minutes after our sunrise. Several other
partials were heard until 0202z but no further contacts could be completed.
It was apparent that some stations had difficulty copying us... and I
apologize for abandoning some partial contacts (which might have been
successful if more time were available) in order to grab a louder signal
that could be logged more rapidly. Only 18 were logged in the short time
available. Of course, we will try again this afternoon... starting at 1330z
on 1822.37 listening +5. -- K3NA
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Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 07:34:53 -0500
From: "3B9C" (by way of w4zv@contesting.com)
Subject: Topband: 3B9C propagation experiments
Bill --
Would you be so kind as to post the following to the Topband reflector?
Thanks.
-- Eric K3NA
==================
The 3B9C Topband Team have been examining the past 9 days' experience
with our sunrise opening to North America. The opening has started as early
as 2340z (first NA stations logged) and closed as late as 0201z (about 10
minutes after sunrise). We have two hypotheses that we want to test during
the next several days, and ask the Topband community in North America to
help.
Hypothesis 1: Our experience here is that the band opens to North
America like someone flipped a switch in the ionosphere. This is very
consistent. Many consecutive CQs with absolutely no detectable response.
(When not actually working stations, we are calling CQ every 5 seconds from
1330z [half-hour before sunset] until 0230z [half-hour after sunrise]
through the entire night. We've seen some emails from people who think we
are not on the band sometimes. We are always on and transmitting -- if you
don't hear us, you don't have propagation.) Then one more CQ, and the
listening frequency is immediately filled with many stations from all over
North America!
We hypothesize that a small patch of the ionosphere between Somalia and
the Seychelles undergoes a structural change that allows us to exploit the
tilt on the dawn edge of the ionosphere. This spot change, possibly in
conjuction with a F-E layer duct, allows us to illuminate all of North
America at once. Everyone in North America who is waiting for us on 1822.37
hears nothing... and then, simultaneously, many stations scattered around
the continent will hear that last CQ and its QSX instruction, and they dial
up the frequency and call us all together.
To test this hypothesis, we would like North America stations to note the
exact time (hour, minute, second) that they hear the first detectable peep
from 3B9C during the 2300-0200z period. If many people over a wide
geographic region are hearing exactly the same transmission as the first
heard transmission, this will confirm that there is an ionospheric gate at
our end of the path that opens.
Hypothesis 2: We believe it is feasible to hook a signal by skew path
into the daylight sector of western North America during 0130-0150z.
Because of the great distances being covered, a small scatter or skew at the
Somalia-Seychelles gate (just a few degrees of azimuth change) would allow
signals to exit across the terminator, possibly below the fading D-layer,
and land into the afternoon daylight sector. This means we could,
potentially, work southern or central California, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington states, and VE6/7 even though these regions are in daylight.
Signals from these areas may be very weak, compared to the rest of the
continent which is already in darkness.
To test this hypothesis, we will be listening on TWO frequencies during
the next several days. The announced frequency will be the usual UP 5 KHZ
(1827). The un-announced frequency will be DOWN 5 KHZ (1817). We are
asking Topband readers who are in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, or
VE6-7/KL7 ONLY to call us on 1817 kHz... but call us ONLY if you HEAR us. A
second operator will be listening here. If we hear any stations in these
areas, we will attempt to hail them on our transmit frequency of 1827.37.
Naturally, this test will ONLY work if Topbanders are Gentlemen and
Ladies respectful of the traditions of the band. If you are not in these
daylight regions, please... please... don't call us on 1817. Leave 1817 for
those who have no chance to work us otherwise, and allow us to test our
theories.
Thanks, and hope to see all of you in the log!
-- TopBand Team (G3SED, G3XTT, K3NA)
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Created by: Steve Modena, AB4EL
Last updated: Thursday October 23, 2008
Comments and suggestions to: modena@ibiblio.org