Here's an interesting graph I just made of the eclipse enhancement between AA1K and AA4VV on 160M. See chart here: http://n3qe.org/aa1k-aa4vv-160m-eclipse.pdf Both were north of eclipse totality but
3C0L had superb signals on 160M last night and a ginormous pileup. Their signal started out an hour before my sundown, on my NE-facing K9AY loop, but began showing QSB there an hour after my sundown.
Quoting ARRL Contest Update for October 18 2017: "FT8 mode usage continues to increase! According to a tweet by Michael, G7VJR, operator of Club Log, "In September 2017, the number of FT8 QSOs upload
A lot of us are either regaining sleep after CQ WW Phone, AND/OR we spent most of the night listening to the 3C1L pileups :-) Tim N3QE _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contes
Roger, you raise an interesting point about "you can see (lack of sunrise enhancement) very clearly when there's a contest on". That is an interesting observation. Several times in the past years I'v
Input impedance on the W7IUV preamp is determined almost entirely by the DC bias currents. Clifton Labs used to have a really nifty set of pages on modeling and measurement of the various high perfor
As a practical matter there are several 2 kHZ segments of each band that are now devoted to 24x7 JT65, FT8, and other digital modes. Weak signal CW work - eg working rare mults or even just weak guys
A typical CW guy will hear FT8 or JT65 as a kinda whiny wobbly intermittent carrier. And will probably think its just some neighborhood switching power supply noise. He wont CQ right on top of it (be
You dont understand how the FT8 guys work. They have a 2kHz slice they all work in whether they were there first or not by usual CW practice. They only transmit every 30 seconds and no CW operator is
Thing is, FT8 is by transmitted signal measurement, a narrow band mode just like CW. Even narrower than typical CW. Yet we have CW signals interfering with FT8 users self-perceived window, when they
I was happy to work two new to me European callsigns on 160M last night and heard many of the EU topband regulars warming up for this weekends contest. Seemed decent enough conditions to me. 80M seem
I don't think it's just topband. I've observed exceptionally good conditions right before a solar disturbance hits earth, on any and all bands. Tim N3QE _________________ Topband Reflector Archives -
Whether a flyback diode is needed depends on what is driving the relay and whether it needs snubbing. Adding a flyback diode substantially lengthens the time it takes a relay to open, which may or ma
E31A was up and down for a while last night, sometimes OK copy for me and sometimes not. But in the hour before his sunrise he really peaked up A LOT. My logger tells me his sunrise at at 3:53Z and m
Wednesday evening into Thursday morning works for me. Roger, there is already a 0300Z CWops session the same night which makes this a good choice, you will see a big spike up in NA 160M activity 0350
Here on the east coast, we have have the Wallops Island Ionosounde. Audible on 160M, 80M, and 40M every couple of minutes. Tim. _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.co
Here is a recording (made on 80M a few years ago but sounds substantially the same on 160M) of what I'm told is the Wallops Island Ionosonde: http://n3qe.org/wumwum_80M.wav Here is the waveform showi
Ive been having a lot of fun with FT8 but it certainly has not replaced CW for my DXing. I do 80M-specific DX Marathon each year. So far this year I have 107 80M DXCCs worked - 104 on CW and 3 on SSB
On being able to hear signals at -12 to -17 dB on FT8, I do broadly agree. A CW signal at those levels would be easily heard and copied by any decent CW operator. I think a lot of the FT8 processing
I believe the old Clifton Labs pages had some nice info on JFET parameters. Can't get to anymore? W7ZOI has a nice page on measuring IDSS which I recall to be the parameter on the spec sheet most rel