Only had 90 minutes before a dinner engagement.
98 QSOs x 39 Mults for 3,822
For many QSOs, the Force 12 EF-420 was the difference between hearing a
station and not being able to copy intelligibly on the PRO-96. I experienced
a 2 S unit improvement on receive on virtually every station I A/B'd the two
antennas. The SWR is virtually 1:1 ACROSS the ENTIRE BAND!
I had another 4 S unit improvement report on my transmitted signal, although
some of that was due to the fact that the PRO-96 has high SWR in the phone
band and I had to back off on power so as not to trip the amp. Running a
very few tests before the sprint with low power using the internal tuner on
my transceiver, I averaged reports of a 2 S unit improvement with the EF-420.
This has me re-thinking my antenna situation in its entirety.
73. Ken, AB6FO, KWIDELITZ@DELPHI.COM
>From barry@w2up.wells.com (Barry Kutner) Tue Sep 19 01:23:55 1995
From: barry@w2up.wells.com (Barry Kutner) (Barry Kutner)
Subject: RUFZ oddities
Message-ID: <kiDNBD1w165w@w2up.wells.com>
There have been some questions posted recently regarding the validity of
some of the high RUFZ scores. My score was gotten with a 386SX/16 running
DOS. I really haven't touched RUFZ in about a month (nobody to de-throne
:.) ) until today.
Over the weekend I replaced the 386 with a new motherboard containing an
AMD 486DX2-80. Tried RUFZ, just to see if it was any different...
First, the horrendous truncated dit problem disappeared. The CW sounds
perfect now. Second, the average of my 3 runs on the new board is about 5
K lower than the average runs previously.
I am not yet sure if this is due to the processor change or just cuz I
haven't been RUFZ-active for a month. I'll play with it some more over
the next week or so, and report back.
Without question, lousy dits have improved, so there defintiely is some
difference in the timing.
73 Barry
--
Barry N. Kutner, W2UP Internet: barry@w2up.wells.com
Newtown, PA Packet Radio: W2UP @ WB3JOE.#EPA.PA.USA.NA
Packet Cluster: W2UP >WB2R (FRC)
.......................................................................
>From Frank Donovan <donovanf@sgate.com> Tue Sep 19 02:53:45 1995
From: Frank Donovan <donovanf@sgate.com> (Frank Donovan)
Subject: DX Contest Propagation
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.950918210202.11766B-100000@jekyll.sgate.com>
K3ZO described his observations of night time propagation during the recent
SAC contest, enclosed at the end of this message. At the Dayton Antenna
Forum this year, I presented a talk that included a detailed description of
the phenomenon that Fred described.
For the enjoyment (amusement/frustration?) of the DX and CONTEST
community, here are a few thought provoking brain teasers about this
frequently observed phenomenon. Hopefully they will elicit some thought
about the well known physical causes of the phenomenon and discussion
about CONTEST strategies to successfully cope with it! Here goes:
- - What is the scientific name for the phenomenon that Fred describes
in his message (enclosed below)? (there are actually several common
names that describe the phenomenon...)
- - At what time of day does this phenomenon typically begin, and when
does it typically end?
- - Describe the physical cause for the onset of this phenomenon, and
the cause for its termination.
- - During which seasons of the year is this condition prevalent? Why?
- - During what part of the Sunspot Cycle is this condition most
common? Why?
- - What is the relationship between a high k index and the severity of
this phenomenon? Why?
- - Describe some DX CONTEST operating strategies to cope with this
phenomenon.
- - Describe some routinely observed propagation effects associated with
this phenomenon on the:
- 20 and 15 meter paths from the East Coast to JA
- 40 meter path from the East Coast to JA
- 20 and 15 meter paths from the East Coast to Europe
- 40 meter path from the East Coast to Europe
(left coast and black hole operators modify as appropriate!)
Good luck!
73
Frank
W3LPL
donovanf@sgate.com
K3ZO> The cycle is low enough so we will probably have a washout of the
K3ZO> direct path to Europe on 40 from about 0100-0400 GMT. This is
K3ZO> something we haven't seen in several years but it was there at the
K3ZO> bottom of every cycle I have operated. This means we will be
K3ZO> forced to beam North Africa for those hours to get Europe on
K3ZO> scatter, or move to 80 and 160. Both 80 and 40 will open sooner
K3ZO> than we have been accustomed to, and even for all-band entries it
K3ZO> may be well to start looking for Europe as early as 2000 GMT on 40
K3ZO> and as early as 2200 on 80.
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