You can do fine with the usual dipped micas, in the 500V series from Cornell-Dubilier, available at Halted, Mouser, Digi-Key etc. It shouldn't be necessary to parallel capacitors, but if it will make
Several of us on the west coast made a rare QSO with Europe at sunrise (1400Z) during the ARRL 160 meter contest. UA3AWG was as strong as the JA's that morning. Not sure exactly what the path was but
My beverages show high directivity for all signals from ground wave 5 miles away to the longest DX. They are possibly somewhat less directive around sunrise. As always, YMMV. Rick N6RK ______________
While the entire ham world was calling FJ last night, I decided to do something more useful by QSY'ing to 160 meters. (A year from now, FJ will be just another Caribbean mult, so why the panic?). I m
Can anyone tell me if gold flashed relay contacts solve the problem of using the same relay for both transmit and receive? In theory there should be no minimum current needed, but you wonder if putti
Conditions this morning were good. Lots of USA stations worked from Hawaii/Alaska to Texas. RW0CWA was very stong, running S8 to S9 and easily worked with 100W. Only worked one JA: JA3YBK (if you onl
For the Stew Perry, I constructed a 4 foot diameter "shielded" loop out of coax, as seen in various handbooks. The only difference was that I used a feed method of my own design because I didn't like
I am sure I am not the first person to think of this, but I don't remember seeing it discussed: Why not add power class to the Stew Perry exchange, like SS has? You can add an "H" "L" or "Q" after th
Due to numerous requests, I have posted a schematic of the 160 meter receiving loop antenna that I used in the recent Stew Perry contest. This is what worked (well) for me. As always, YMMV. The feed
Various references give numbers ranging from .08 to .15 wavelengths circumference. Before you reach this, you may find that the loop is resonant below 80 due to the coax capacitance. I would recommen
You can get an idea of the feasibility of this by listening for WWVH on 2.5 MHz. Rick N6RK _______________________________________________ Topband mailing list Topband@contesting.com http://lists.con
I have taken my mobile station to a location away from any power lines and seen a similar drop in noise, from S9 to S2. During the day, I can hear WWV 1000 miles away from this location when it would
Two other important limitations: 1. Only one BC frequency can be nulled out. If you have multiple strong signals, you are still out of luck. 2. It will perform poorly for 1700 kHz BC stations. I have
Lee mentions a Magic Tee combiner (AKA 180 degree hybrid), but he is actually telling you to build a 0 degree power divider, which is a superset of a magic tee, and therefore requires two two transfo
VP6DX was incredibly strong here, more commensurate with the distance to Clipperton. I must have been strong there too, as I had no trouble working them through the pile. TX5C has been merely adequat
Fence wire like this is somewhat springy and brittle and kinks easily. A little hard to work with. It is available everywhere though. Even some Home Depot stores have it. A better aluminum wire (at
Can you please tell us where we can buy #18 insulated wire cheaper than larger wire (14THHN at Home Depot)? Rick N6RK _______________________________________________ Topband mailing list Topband@cont
This URL gives a price of 2 cents or 4 cents per foot depending on alloy: http://www.newtechindustries.com/newtech/outside_cable_plant/stainless_steel_lashing_wire.htm The high priced stuff has more
This mod works extremely well, especially for 15 minutes work. It really digs out the weak signals. Rick N6RK _______________________________________________ CQ-Contest mailing list CQ-Contest@contes
Modelling this configuration shows that beyond a certain length, making the top hat wires longer is counterproductive. The limit is roughly where the tips of the wires are at half the height of the v