Worked my way down from 10m-15-20-40-80 and - lo and behold - at
0300z-0400z found good 160 cndx: 9A1A-LY4A-CR2X-9A1P-OK7W-MD4X (did I
OOOPS md4k??? ) :< - TM2Y-OM0M-DL7AT-G4AMT-F5IN-IO0O-OM2VL-IP2A; plus
the usual Caribbeans .
Then - alas - my ACOM 1000 amp suddenly shut down* for good and I was
reduced to 100w for the rest of the contest, so I qsyd to 80/40- and
missed out on the 160 fun.
*PN07 ( loss of high voltage )
With low power and wire antennas still finished with a decent 763 Q's
overall.
-----------------------------------------From:
topband-request@contesting.com
To: topband@contestingcom
Cc:
Sent: Tuesday February 18 2025 8:10:31AM
Subject: Topband Digest, Vol 266, Issue 6
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Today's Topics:
1. ARRL CW Contest (Roger Kennedy)
2. Re: ARRL CW Contest (Andree Schanko)
3. ARRL 160m (Andree DL8LAS)
4. Re: ARRL 160m (Dave Sharred)
5. Re: ARRL 160m (Jim Brown)
6. Re: ARRL CW Contest (ws6x.ars@gmail.com)
7. 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations? (Joe Subich, W4TV)
8. Re: ARRL 160m (kq2m@kq2mcom)
9. Re: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations? (Jim Brown)
10. Re: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations? (Steve Harrison)
11. Re: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations? (Steve Harrison)
12. Re: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations? (Michael Tope)
13. Re: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations? (Jim Brown)
14. Re: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations? (Bill Cromwell)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 20:30:33 -0000
From: "Roger Kennedy"
To:
Subject: Topband: ARRL CW Contest
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Well I came on 160m around 0120Z on Friday night . . . only managed
to hear
and work 7 NA stations.
Came on a couple of hours later, couldn't hear anyone else, and could
barely
copy the stations I had worked earlier.
Saturday had a quick listen a couple of times during the night . . .
only
copied one NA station !
So 160m DX conditions continue to be really poor . . .
Roger G3YRO
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 20:38:01 +0000
From: Andree Schanko
To: topband@contesting.com, Roger Kennedy
Subject: Re: Topband: ARRL CW Contest
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 20:50:07 +0000 (UTC)
From: Andree DL8LAS
To: "topband@contesting.com"
Subject: Topband: ARRL 160m
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Hey Roger,?
Friday night was good on topband,?
I worked 75x? NA in ARRL Contest,?
and this with only a simple RX BOG.
Saturday was not? much activity.?
My Call in ARRL was DR5X.
So, band was not? bad here.
73 Andy DL8LAS?
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 21:53:38 +0000
From: Dave Sharred
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: ARRL 160m
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
I'll second what Andy said....
I was operating from MD4K, all band .??? I have a 160m dipole at
60ft,
no rx antenna this time.?? I was only on Sat morning; I had a 40m
disaster, so took down teh dipole to put up an inverted V for 40m ,
40m
would be my best bang for buck...
I heard Roger on, so some of my operating coincided with his...
I was QRV? 160m? 01:25z - 01:50 (19 STNS) ; 03:19 -03:45? (28 STNS);
04:37 - 04:55 (22STNS); 05:33 - 05:46 (14STNS);? 06:18 - 06:27 (3
STNS)
States / Provinces worked -
CT MA ME NH? NJ NY DE PA MD AL FL NC TN VA MI OH IL IN
LB QC ON
As I say, I was 80 + 160m 1st night, no 160 for 2nd night, so condx
not
bad actually..
73 Dave, G3NKC // MD4K
On 17/02/2025 20:50, Andree DL8LAS via Topband wrote:
> Hey Roger,
>
> Friday night was good on topband,
> I worked 75x? NA in ARRL Contest,
> and this with only a simple RX BOG.
> Saturday was not? much activity.
> My Call in ARRL was DR5X.
> So, band was not? bad here.
> 73 Andy DL8LAS
> _________________
> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband [1] -
Topband Reflector
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 16:46:12 -0800
From: Jim Brown
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: ARRL 160m
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
On 2/17/2025 1:53 PM, Dave Sharred via Topband wrote:
> I was operating from MD4K, all band .??? I have a 160m dipole at
60ft,
> no rx antenna this time.?? I was only on Sat morning; I had a 40m
> disaster, so took down teh dipole to put up an inverted V for 40m ,
40m
> would be my best bang for buck...
Hi Dave,
I saw you spotted often on 40M, and made many attempts to copy,
without
success. Did manage to work MD0CCE, who was not very loud, but OK
copy
with effort.
40M was in wonderful shape Friday night Pacific Time.
73, Jim K9YC
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 19:55:23 -0500
From:
To: "'Roger Kennedy'" ,
Subject: Re: Topband: ARRL CW Contest
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Considering the crazy solar indices, contest condx here on 160 were
surprisingly good. With my piddling station I worked 23 EU the first
night,
and even with the horrendous static crashes the second night, an
additional
6 EU stations. There were at least another 15 EU stations I copied
that
couldn't copy me. Working condx here: ~800 Watts, Inv-L, LOG/Pixel
Loop RX
antennas.
Even after 42+ years wallowing in the 160 M sandbox, I am still
surprised at
how capricious Topband can be. Especially how fleeting the
"spotlight" can
be. In retrospect, I'm also amazed at how tenacious (Please read
"stubborn.") I can be. If you can imagine, I notched 186 DXCC from a
120' x
120' city lot in Fresno. That's a LOT of stubborn! And a LOT of
blood, sweat
and tears!
Thanks to all the hard workers who pulled me out of the muck!
Enjoy the rest of TB season.
Jim - WS6X
-----Original Message-----
From: Topband On Behalf
Of Roger Kennedy
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2025 3:31 PM
Well I came on 160m around 0120Z on Friday night . . . only managed
to hear
and work 7 NA stations.
Came on a couple of hours later, couldn't hear anyone else, and could
barely
copy the stations I had worked earlier.
Saturday had a quick listen a couple of times during the night . . .
only
copied one NA station !
So 160m DX conditions continue to be really poor . . .
Roger G3YRO
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 20:08:13 -0500
From: "Joe Subich, W4TV"
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Topband: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Having just begun a noise mitigation project, I've found
two of the biggest sources to be a pair of wall warts for
the USB hubs attached to my radio and office computers.
Removing them dropped the noise floor by 20 dB on both
160/80 (and by about 10 dB on the other bands).
Does anyone have a recommendation for a source of *quiet*
replacements (preferably with 3.5 x 1.35 mm coaxial plug)?
73,
... Joe, W4TV
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 19:50:07 -0600
From: kq2m@kq2m.com
To: Dave Sharred
Cc: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: ARRL 160m
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
I operated SOABHP all band for the first 20.7 hours until a rapidly
worsening ice storm forced me to qrt.
So one night of operating from CT on top band with very spotty
conditions at best, resulted in 50 q's and 31 mults. 36 q's and 19
mults were made in the 02z and 04z hours. I did have a few short runs
which was unusual and fun for using an Inv L in a tree. The first run
was 0244 - 0256z - 12 q's and 6 mults but the best time was was from
0434 - 0442z when I ran 15 stations and picked up another 6 mults. By
0445z when I worked MD4K, the opening was gone.
So the key was getting the timing right. If you cq'ed at the right
time
or s & P'ed at the right time, you had maybe 10 - 15 DX audible
stations
to work in about 10 minutes, and then a big fade, most signals would
disappear and be then replaced by a few new stations that were much
weaker. That's how it was for most of the night. You had to
constantly
check 160 to work what was there in the few minute burst that those
signals might POP briefly out of the noise.
Propagation was VERY selective with these spotlight openings. MD4K
was
relatively loud for 5 minutes when I worked him but no other EU
stations
were audible. Same with 9A1A and a few others. There were probably
another 20 relatively easy Caribbean and EU mults that I missed
because
I was not listening on 160 at the times that they peaked in their 5 -
10
minute "window". It was common to hear several DL stations but no G,
F,
or I. Then you heard a few G's but no DL, F, or I. Then an F station
would be loud and then an HA, one or two countries at a time.
There was no sunrise enhancement that I observed on Friday and EU was
mostly inaudible here by 05z. The precip static made it worse. Even
the
Carib, CA, or SA stations that I heard were all weak, and that is
unusual.
Repeated solar flares, high A and K indices and S9+ precip static
made
working stations unusually challenging. Hopefully cndx will be better
on the SSB weekend.
73
Bob, KQ2M
On 2025-02-17 15:53, Dave Sharred via Topband wrote:
> I'll second what Andy said....
>
> I was operating from MD4K, all band .??? I have a 160m dipole at
60ft,
> no rx antenna this time.?? I was only on Sat morning; I had a 40m
> disaster, so took down teh dipole to put up an inverted V for 40m ,
40m
> would be my best bang for buck...
>
> I heard Roger on, so some of my operating coincided with his...
>
> I was QRV? 160m? 01:25z - 01:50 (19 STNS) ; 03:19 -03:45? (28
STNS);
> 04:37 - 04:55 (22STNS); 05:33 - 05:46 (14STNS);? 06:18 - 06:27 (3
STNS)
>
> States / Provinces worked -
>
> CT MA ME NH? NJ NY DE PA MD AL FL NC TN VA MI OH IL IN
>
> LB QC ON
>
> As I say, I was 80 + 160m 1st night, no 160 for 2nd night, so condx
not
> bad actually..
>
> 73 Dave, G3NKC // MD4K
>
>
> On 17/02/2025 20:50, Andree DL8LAS via Topband wrote:
>> Hey Roger,
>>
>> Friday night was good on topband,
>> I worked 75x? NA in ARRL Contest,
>> and this with only a simple RX BOG.
>> Saturday was not? much activity.
>> My Call in ARRL was DR5X.
>> So, band was not? bad here.
>> 73 Andy DL8LAS
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 21:12:20 -0800
From: Jim Brown
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Hi Joe,
Over the years, I've built up a stash of vintage linear warts, to
which
I add Power Poles as I find the need for one of them, doing the same
for
the cable from the provided PSU. I temporarily patch in one of the
little blue VOMs to verify voltage and current are OK under load.
Many
years ago, Henry Ott reminded me that both ends of most digital
interfaces are transmitters, so depending on cable lengths and the
frequency, chokes may be needed on both ends or one in the middle.
For higher voltages, I've used re-purposed Thinkpad PSUs. And I add
chokes at appropriate points if needed. I use the wide band RX of a
Kenwood TH-F6A as a noise probe; it defaults to a loop in the base
below
10MHz, but can be overridden by a software switch. Tecsun
shortwave/AM/FM RXs also work well, and are more sensitive.
Watch out for regulated PSUs, which tend to be noisy.
73, Jim K9YC
On 2/17/2025 5:08 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a source of *quiet*
> replacements (preferably with 3.5 x 1.35 mm coaxial plug)?
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 22:06:18 -0800
From: Steve Harrison
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
On 2/17/2025 5:08 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
> Having just begun a noise mitigation project, I've found
> two of the biggest sources to be a pair of wall warts for
> the USB hubs attached to my radio and office computers.
> Removing them dropped the noise floor by 20 dB on both
> 160/80 (and by about 10 dB on the other bands).
>
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a source of *quiet*
> replacements (preferably with 3.5 x 1.35 mm coaxial plug)?
I fought a Sony VAIO laptop wallwart a few years back about noise.
Finally wound up building a small linear power supply with a
transformer
and some regulator chip. Fortunately, that VAIO only had a two-wire
cable to the power supply (running W7, so it's almost useless these
days). A later HP laptop (running W10, so it's shortly about to also
become useless) running from the same voltage (+19.5VDC) has a
three-wire cable and although people on the web claim you can
simulate
that third wire with a high-value resistor to the plus side, that
hasn't
worked for my HP; so I had to do other "cures" like hide it's
wallwart
inside a large metal box with a dozen beads on both the input and
output
cables to quiet them down, as well as finding locations for the box
where my antlers don't detect it as easily.
That's why I usually buy up small power transformers at swap meets:
for
linear supplies to replace the switchers. 5V/3A would be a snap and
real
easy to make; try it!
Steve, K0XP
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 22:24:41 -0800
From: Steve Harrison
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
On 2/17/2025 9:12 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> Watch out for regulated PSUs, which tend to be noisy.
... Only those that use a switcher for the regulator. I've
encountered
some noisy LM723 regulator chips, though; I had to use a different
manufacturer's chips to get rid of the HF oscillations they often
showed. Linear regulator ICs (three-terminal -types) also can
generate
HF noise but it's easily suppressed with (usually) very small/low
voltage 0.01 uF disc or leaded ceramic caps from input and output to
the
ground pin, with very short leads, right on the IC. Once inna while,
a
tiny ferrite bead right on the wire soldered to the chip might be
needed, but rarely, in my experience. An oscilloscope is often a big
help to find and suppress a noisy regulator chip.
Steve, K0XP
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2025 01:04:38 -0800
From: Michael Tope
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
This outfit sells AC-DC linear wall warts:
https://www.acdcpowershack.com/collections/ac-dc-linear-power-supply
/>
I recently procured one to replace the Jameco wall-wart for my SAL-30
receive antenna. When listening on the SAL-30, I found that strong
stations had sidebands something like 1 KHz away (I don't recall the
exact offset, but it rendered the antenna virtually useless when the
band was crowded with strong signals). Switching to my Astron
variable
linear supply cured the problem When I looked at the output of the
Jameco wall-wart on an oscilloscope it was making several volts of
ripple, so I chucked it and I got the 15V DC @ 1000mA supply with 2.5
x
5.5mm (+) center polarity connector from the ACDC Powershack. It is
unregulated so the open-circuit output voltage was 19.6 Vdc, but
under
load the output of the SAL-30 bias-tee is around 12.5 Vdc. As far as
I
can tell, the SAL-30 is just as quiet on the new linear wall-wart as
it
was on the Astron.
73, Mike W4EF..................
On 2/17/2025 5:08 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>
> Having just begun a noise mitigation project, I've found
> two of the biggest sources to be a pair of wall warts for
> the USB hubs attached to my radio and office computers.
> Removing them dropped the noise floor by 20 dB on both
> 160/80 (and by about 10 dB on the other bands).
>
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a source of *quiet*
> replacements (preferably with 3.5 x 1.35 mm coaxial plug)?
>
> 73,
>
> ?? ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
------------------------------
Message: 13
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2025 01:24:24 -0800
From: Jim Brown
To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
On 2/17/2025 10:24 PM, Steve Harrison wrote:
> Only those that use a switcher for the regulator.
Exactly, which I assumed Joe and others were smart enough to pick up
from my reference. :) Thanks for filling that in.
> An oscilloscope is often a big
> help to find and suppress a noisy regulator chip.
As are battery-operated receivers.
73, Jim K9YC
------------------------------
Message: 14
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2025 08:09:12 -0500
From: Bill Cromwell
To: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Cc: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 5V 3A Wall Wart Recommendations?
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
I just love these dim witted touch screens. Apparently I bumped the
send icon before it's time. I was going to mention that I have had the
pleasure of being in a QSO when the electric utility failed. My
all-battery station did not miss a beat:)
Of course, I do not charge the batteries that are in use. Conducted
noise from the power lines ya know.
73,
Bill KU8H
> On Feb 18, 2025, at 8:00?AM, Bill Cromwell wrote:
>
> ?
> Hi,
>
> This must be the place for me to attach this thread. I started
using batteries to power my receivers with vacuum tubes in them. OYYY!
That eliminated conducted power line noise completely. It also
eliminated annoying frequency changes when the furnace blower or AC
kicked on or off.
>
> More recently the computer hardware has been the sore spot. Once
again, batteries to the rescue. I have a very quiet mini PC. Just
lucky I suppose. It runs on 12 volts DC but so far I am using with an
analog AC energized power supply. I also have a small HDMI monitor
that I power from a 12 volt battery. The wall wart that came with it
was horrendous! That thing now resides in the landfill. the batteries
I use now at full charge when fully charged provide approximately 14
volts and quickly come down into the 13ish volt range. It is possible
to find quiet power banks for the "5 Volt" bits but four NiCad cells
in series give us 5ish volts and at full charge do not exceed the
manufacturer's published specs for maximum power supply voltage.
>
>>> On Feb 18, 2025, at 4:44?AM, Jim Brown wrote:
>>>
>> ?On 2/17/2025 10:24 PM, Steve Harrison wrote:
>>> Only those that use a switcher for the regulator.
>>
>> Exactly, which I assumed Joe and others were smart enough to pick
up from my reference. :) Thanks for filling that in.
>>
>>> An oscilloscope is often a big
>>> help to find and suppress a noisy regulator chip.
>>
>> As are battery-operated receivers.
>>
>> 73, Jim K9YC
>>
>>
>> _________________
>> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband [2] -
Topband Reflector
------------------------------
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------------------------------
End of Topband Digest, Vol 266, Issue 6
***************************************
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[2] http://www.contestingcom/_topband
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