I agree completely with Bud's take on the contest. This was my first year of participating and I found the rules unclear and poorly written.In fact, until a friend corrected my misunderstanding, I ha
Band has been poor here in NM. Last night didn't hear Europe at all, and only about 10 SA and Carrib. Stations. This morning, opening into Asia was marginal, with only a handful of weak JAs. Even Kim
Hi Gary, use the distance-to-fault mode in your MFJ 259B. I believe it is in the advanced mode section. Most likely the problem is at the connector at the far end of the coax. 73, Jim w8zr Sent from
He was on top band for two hours this mornig, easy to work from NM. Probably much harder from KY, but he's a fine operator with good ears on 160. 73, Jim W8ZR McDowell He is from DU-land. ___________
I've been using 450 ohm ladder line for my two bi-directional 720 ft beverages. These are supported on 4x4 posts, spaced 60 ft apart. I'm in a windy area, and the ladder line requires constant mainte
The best price I could find for THHN stranded 14AWG wire was from an ordinary local electrical supply house. I bought three 2500 ft spools for about $90 each (for sixty 120 ft radials). Lowes and Hom
Here in sunny NM, with nothing resembling grass, I just laid my sixty 120 ft radials on the top of the desert. It's stranded 14 AWG with a brown THHN insulation that matches the dirt. I figure in a c
I want to replace the 450 ohm ladder line for my two DXE 720 ft long bi-directional beverages with two lengths of WD-1/TT field telephone wire. The wires will be secured only at the ends, but will be
Thanks, Dave. Right you are about the problems of 450 ohm ladder line flapping in the breeze! I've had to spend several days each autumn repairing multiple breaks in the lines, even with supports spa
Just last week, I replaced the DXE ladder line (a maintenance headache, as Hardy notes) in my two bidirectional 720 ft beverages with WD-1/TT field telephone wire (the twisted pair version of WD-1),
I think HC2RMT/8 and HC2ANT/8 are having serious QRN problems. They each had solid 579 signals in NM last night, but were only working one station every five minutes or so. They seem to be skilled CW
Intruders are becoming endemic on all the hf bands, not just top band. Every morning I hear SSB stations on the low end of 80m and 40m, and the worst of all are 10m-12m, which have become a nightmare
Mack, I use two DXE bi-directional beverages, each 720 ft long, fed with a single 300 ft length of direct burial quad shield RG6. The DXE transformers and relay switching boxes use high quality weath
Rodents chewed through a set of kevlar guy lines for my Spiderbeam 26m vertical while I was out of town last week. Down came the vertical, which broke into three pieces, and when the guy lines fell t
Guys, I'm not following all this, possibly because I'm confused by Jim's distinction between "filters" and "chokes," because in both cases they're just lossy inductors, although used in different way
I don't remember the article, Charlie, but that's a fabulous idea, and at first blush it doesn't sound all that hard to implement. One way might be to set up three receivers at different locations, e
I agree, Lee. Locating a DQRM station involves accurately time stamping the arrival time of their transmissions, at (at least) three receivers at known locations. Once the arrival times are known, on