Hi All:
While comparing my 20M yagi and Quad after some antenna work, I came across
14275, where K1MAN was broadcasting a radio call in show. He received a call
from WL7DU in Mikiski, AK. WL7DU read a copy of a letter he was getting ready
to mail to ARRL, CQ, FCC, and his elected representatives.
The text of the letter described an incident which occurred during the ARRL
DX phone contest. WL7DU was communicating with a ship in the Pacific which
was in some distress (equipment malfunctions) although it apparently was not
a declared emergency.
Bottom line- WL7DU was upset when several contesters would not relinqush or
clear the frequency. His letter calls for the establishment of contest free
segments for each band (that topic again). WL7DU's letter made a specific
point that ARRL (or other contest sponsers) could be liable for loss of life
during an emergency if the published rules don't set aside frequencies for
emergency or other use. I am no lawyer, but this seems a stretch to me.
After WL7DU read his letter, which was well written, K1MAN talked about
contesting and the ARRL for about 30 minutes. Instead of banning contests,
K1MAN proposed clear frequencies be set aside for emergency communication
during contests. He used the opportunity to attack ARRL for not covering the
activities of his followers.
Although I appreciated the lengthy one way broadcast to use for my antenna
measurements, how does he get by with running a broadcast station on 14275?
73, Chas N8RR
>From Paul Ferguson" <k5esw@nando.net Sat Apr 6 19:50:50 1996
From: Paul Ferguson" <k5esw@nando.net (Paul Ferguson)
Subject: QRO HF2000 Amp
Message-ID: <9604061951.AA07647@merlin.nando.net>
> I am interested in the QRO Technologies HF2000 linear amp. Any comments?
Here are some comments from USENET. I decided to order one and expect
it next week.
Paul K5ESW@nando.net
---------------------------------------------------------
I have seen several questions about HF amps: What is the best tube? How
do the Heathkits compare, etc. That motivated me to share my experience.
I have constructed both the SB-200 and 220, owned an SB-1000, owned a
Henry 3KD Premier, and now own a Dentron MLA-2500 and the QRO HF-2000.
I like all the amps mentioned for different reasons; but for my taste
and operating habits, the QRO stands out from the crowd:
1. Very quiet and effective fan - quietest I have ever heard.
2. QSK with vacuum relay very good and very quiet!
3. 3-500z tubes are the best value and are mistake tolerant. Most
tubes are blown by operator error such as wrong band or antenna
connected.
4. I find the tuning very smooth and reproducible.
5. Very good on the air reports.
The Henry amps are very well built, but most don't have 160 which is
my primary band of operation. The 3KD Premier does have 160, but the
blower in mine was too loud for normal conversation. The Heathkits
are excellent value, but lack 160 also. I like the size of the MLA
2500 - a lot of power for the size.
Of course there are the alphas - I have two friends who own the manual
tune 89, I think. They are excellent amps, but the cost of the tubes
is high.
I'm not much of one to recommend since individual preferences and
pocketbooks differ. But if you have been thinking about a new amp,
take a look at the QRO.
73 de John, WA5TWL
-------------------------------------------------------------
I sent a message to John and asked him about drive power. Here is his
reply:
I really like mine. It is very quiet which is a requirement for me.
It is the quietest of any of 5 amplifiers I have owned. I don't run
it with more than about 40 watts of drive = 800 to 1000 watts out. I
am a conservative kind of guy. It will run about 1300 out with
100watts. It is forgiving of error. I make lots of mistakes, such as
transmitting on the wrong band, etc.
73 de John , WA5TWL
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>From Douglas S. Zwiebel" <104141.2660@compuserve.com Sat Apr 6 20:05:06 1996
From: Douglas S. Zwiebel" <104141.2660@compuserve.com (Douglas S. Zwiebel)
Subject: we need a new, logical, skill-oriented xchange
Message-ID: <960406200506_104141.2660_IHO49-1@CompuServe.COM>
NOT!
I wasn't going to comment, but Trey's comments were just so RIGHT ON, I find I
can't help myself. Think about this:
If you want an exchange to measure 'SKILL', look no further than the callsign.
Why add a more complicated exchange at all? If "you guys" (which includes ALL
of us) can't get the CALLSIGN RIGHT, why make something else that you (we)
can't get
right? There are tens of thousands of U, N, U+1, B callsigns in the CQWW
database.
Where did they come from? I bet that at least a few :-) are from MISCOPIED
calls.
And how come so many zone 4 guys show up in the log as zone 5? Can't copy that
either? Or what about all the guys who worked the 7Z1 but LOGGED it as ZZ1 and
even put him in zone ELEVEN!!!!! Or the 5H logged as HH and put into the HH
zone.
Or the S50 logged as HH0 and also put into the HH zone? How is this possible?
It goes on and on, and they even occur in the "best" logs.
BUT THE EXCHANGE NEEDS UPDATING:
The logical conclusion (for those inclined as to actually think this thing
through),
would be to have a computer program generate the number which must be copied BY
THE
COMPUTER on the other end to ensure that "no fudging" took place as a way to
verify
the qso. Sounds like fun to me! (or do they call that packet?). Excuse me
while I
take a nap and work the boys.
de Doug KR2Q
>From Frank Connelly <mole@eskimo.com> Sat Apr 6 20:46:50 1996
From: Frank Connelly <mole@eskimo.com> (Frank Connelly)
Subject: Another Attack on Contesting
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.92.960406124350.1295E-100000@eskimo.com>
On Sat, 6 Apr 1996 RFPWR@aol.com wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> While comparing my 20M yagi and Quad after some antenna work, I came across
> 14275, where K1MAN was broadcasting a radio call in show. He received a call
> from WL7DU in Mikiski, AK. WL7DU read a copy of a letter he was getting ready
> to mail to ARRL, CQ, FCC, and his elected representatives.
>
> The text of the letter described an incident which occurred during the ARRL
> DX phone contest. WL7DU was communicating with a ship in the Pacific which
> was in some distress (equipment malfunctions) although it apparently was not
> a declared emergency.
> Bottom line- WL7DU was upset when several contesters would not relinqush or
> clear the frequency. His letter calls for the establishment of contest free
> segments for each band (that topic again). WL7DU's letter made a specific
> point that ARRL (or other contest sponsers) could be liable for loss of life
> during an emergency if the published rules don't set aside frequencies for
> emergency or other use. I am no lawyer, but this seems a stretch to me.
>
> After WL7DU read his letter, which was well written, K1MAN talked about
> contesting and the ARRL for about 30 minutes. Instead of banning contests,
> K1MAN proposed clear frequencies be set aside for emergency communication
> during contests. He used the opportunity to attack ARRL for not covering the
> activities of his followers.
>
> Although I appreciated the lengthy one way broadcast to use for my antenna
> measurements, how does he get by with running a broadcast station on 14275?
>
> 73, Chas N8RR
>
As a lawyer I can tell you that the chance that the ARRL could
be found liable here is ridiculous.
I just love all these guys who think they understnad liability.
The letter may be well written, but the liability statement is lame.
Wanna be a lawyer? Go to law school.
Frank, W7ND
>From Dan Robbins <kl7y@alaska.net> Sat Apr 6 20:55:33 1996
From: Dan Robbins <kl7y@alaska.net> (Dan Robbins)
Subject: Another Attack on Contesting
Message-ID: <9604062055.AA04183@alaska.net>
At 02:36 PM 4/6/96 -0500, N8RR wrote:
>Hi All:
>
>While comparing my 20M yagi and Quad after some antenna work, I came across
>14275, where K1MAN was broadcasting a radio call in show. He received a call
>from WL7DU in Mikiski, AK. WL7DU read a copy of a letter he was getting ready
>to mail to ARRL, CQ, FCC, and his elected representatives.
>
>The text of the letter described an incident which occurred during the ARRL
>DX phone contest. WL7DU was communicating with a ship in the Pacific which
>was in some distress (equipment malfunctions) although it apparently was not
>a declared emergency.
>Bottom line- WL7DU was upset when several contesters would not relinqush or
>clear the frequency. His letter calls for the establishment of contest free
>segments for each band (that topic again). WL7DU's letter made a specific
>point that ARRL (or other contest sponsers) could be liable for loss of life
>during an emergency if the published rules don't set aside frequencies for
>emergency or other use. I am no lawyer, but this seems a stretch to me.
>
>After WL7DU read his letter, which was well written, K1MAN talked about
>contesting and the ARRL for about 30 minutes. Instead of banning contests,
>K1MAN proposed clear frequencies be set aside for emergency communication
>during contests. He used the opportunity to attack ARRL for not covering the
>activities of his followers.
>
>Although I appreciated the lengthy one way broadcast to use for my antenna
>measurements, how does he get by with running a broadcast station on 14275?
>
>73, Chas N8RR
>
If a ship is in trouble there is a US Coast Guard Comm Station in Kodiak,
Alaska that puts out a much better signal than WL7DU ever will.
Furthermore, if this was like most of the ship-to-shore stuff I hear up
here, it was probably a commercial vessel (Alaska and the northern Pacific
does not have a lot of ocean-going pleasure craft, it's all tankers,
freighters and fishing vessels) using the ham bands to sneak around the high
cost of a Marisat telephone call. Also, there are maritime frequencies for
that kind of stuff. In short, the QRM in this case was probably not from
the contesters.
Dan KL7Y
>From Steven Nace KN5H <steven@zianet.com> Sat Apr 6 22:03:08 1996
From: Steven Nace KN5H <steven@zianet.com> (Steven Nace KN5H)
Subject: Another Attack on Contesting
Message-ID: <22030881700106@zianet.com>
At 02:36 PM 4/6/96 -0500, N8RR wrote:
>His letter calls for the establishment of contest free segments for each band.
and
>K1MAN proposed clear frequencies be set aside for emergency communication
>during contests.
I propose net free contest zones.
Also, a long time ago when driving home after a multi-op weekend, I ran my
car into a ditch during a post-contest snow storm. Can a sue the ARRL for
damages to my car?
73 de Hose KN5H
>From Bruce (AA8U)" <aa8u@voyager.net Sat Apr 6 22:47:06 1996
From: Bruce (AA8U)" <aa8u@voyager.net (Bruce (AA8U))
Subject: antennas
Message-ID: <199604062247.RAA12129@vixa.voyager.net>
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the kind words. I'll try this a point at a time.
Even with AO modeling, you will find you can't have it all. I tend to start
by deciding what I want the antenna for. Most I use here have to perform
adequately on phone and cw since I try to enter all the major contests. I
sacrifice a bit of gain for the comfortable swr at the band edges. Usually,
only give up a dB or so. My Alpha amp and the Titan amp are not very
tolerant of swr like a 4-1000 or 3-500z amp would. The other factor which
affects the bandwidth is boom length. The short boom quad on 20M, (24-30')
usually don't provide much chance at broad response without loosing some
gain. Oh, they still work fine, but sometimes an extra 2dB would help. My
best 20M quad is on a 40' boom. It is nice and broad and AO says it has
decent gain across the band. On the air performance seems to support AO. I
think the quads are better rx antennas than most yagis and are more
efficient. They are much more tolerant when the precipitation static comes too.
At 04:30 PM 4/6/96 EST, you wrote:
>hello bruce. i have enjoyed reading your comments on quads etc.
>i keep working on quad designs with ao but cant seem to come up
>with anything that has the performance that i want. cant seem
>to get the broadband swr. so i stay with the yagi stuff. any ideas?
> also you mentioned water in feedlines. have u had any trouble?
Water in feedlines is a real problem, especially after they have been up for
a while. I have had water get into feedlines. It is usually the ones I put
up intending them to be only temporary....they seem to somehow become
semi-permanent. HI Usually I take better precautions to keep water out.
Once I noticed water comming out of a pl-259 at the shack end even though
the connectors were all sealed very well outside! As I was taking the coax
down, I noticed a spot where the outer jacket had a small cut in it, it just
soaked/wicked the water in every time it rained. Finally it made its way to
the shack end. Now I am a lot more careful about the coax runs. All the
major runs are now new 7/8" Heliax. I will spend considerable amount of
tower time this summer inspecting weather seals etc. With all these towers,
I get a lot of exercise!
>i suspect my feed lines are in trouble to my 20m stack (4/4 w2pv)
>but gess i will hv to replace to find out. i hv been looking for
>someone that has had feedline trouble to give me a report on the
>loss in actual performance etc. either everyone else is improving
>their signal or i have lost some db's!!
Look up how many dB per 100' your cable loss is supposed to be. Then figure
out how much loss you should have in your feed lines converted into watts.
Take a good quality wattmeter and dummy load to the far end and measure how
much actually makes it to the load end. Don't forget extra coax splice
connectors etc will add to the loss. Use 10M for the calculations and check
your feed line loss there. Your loss will be easier to see at 10M especially
if you have very long runs. Use a good reference input power too, like 100W
as close as you can get it. Make sure you have someone at the shack end
reading the wattmeter and that both meters calibration agree, or are very
close. You don't want to leave the tx on while you climb the tower. HI. If
you can get access to a time domain reflectometer you can see the impedance
bumps if any from the shack end. I scoped all my runs out before I put them
up to make sure they were "clean". This summer I will re-check them to see
they are still ok. For most hams, the wattmeter and dummy load is enough.
The TDR will let you see where the problem is if you have one. There are
other methods to do all this for sure, but these are the methods I use.
> i did monitor ur 20m sig during the wpx and u were doing a great
>job running europe so those quads are working real nice.
> 73 bill w8jgu
We had a real fun time running the JA's from here. We can used both stations
tunned to exactly the same frequency on separate antennas at different
heights pointed at JA if we need to . At the shack end, the audio can be
routed to put one radio in each ear. This works real well! It is what I call
"active stacking" and you would not believe how effective it can be. As the
QSB takes its toll on the JA stations the signal often moves from one ear to
the other.....a real advantage. Diversity reception is probably a more
technical term for it. Don't know many m/s stations that use this technique.
Maybe they just don't let on that they are. HI
Well I hope this answers you questions. I am flattered that you even asked.
Have a happy holiday weekend.
73,
Ugly
>From Charles H. Harpole" <harpole@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu Sat Apr 6 22:48:16 1996
From: Charles H. Harpole" <harpole@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (Charles H. Harpole)
Subject: WPX SSB Contest: K3ZO Results and Comments
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960406174748.11971A-100000@Pegasus>
Boy that Fred/de syam can talk!
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