TopBand: ARRL 160 test

[n0dh at comtch.iea.com]

Scott


>    I know the dates Dec. 1-3, but what time does the contest start and
>   end?

Starts at 2200Z on the 1st, ends at 1600Z on the 3rd

>    What happens during the daylight hours in this contest? Not being that
>   familiar with 160 and the contests on this band, just was wondering 
>    if we should all plan other things during the day and give it
>    all we got from sunset to sunrise?

Most of us try and sleep, not much happening by the time the sun 's been up
an hour.

>    Also, can someone give me some kind of idea of a phasing system for a
>   pair of Inverted-L's?  How far apart do they need to be, etc?


My two L's are 260' feet apart, Computer models suggest that the best
broadside pattern is with the 2 upper L's pointing at each other. Spacing 
around a 1/2 wave is best but not critical. I have had em as close as 220'
 and as far apart as 280'. In my case it usually depends on the available
tree. For ease of tunning and prunning I make my L's about 160 to 170 total
length (height plus length) then tune out the inductive reactance witka series
cap usually in the order of 250 to 700 pf. The longer length also raises the
the feed point impeadance maker a better match.

For phasing I have used Coax, Lumped L/C, and torroid power splitters.

Coax is the easiest to deal with but not cheap.

The Lumped L/C requires access to a lot of old transmitting type micas and
has the advantage is that it will a certain amount of "line flattening"
(improves SWR bandwidth). I have lots od experience with this one and
I  will be glad to share it with you but ONLY if your serious about using
this approach.

The torroid approach works well and is reasonably inexpensive. I use two
50 to 100 ohm UNUNS. 50 ohm side to the antennas and 100 ohm sides in parallel
to give 50 ohm feed to the shack.

I currently use the Lumped L/C on two L's, (90' vert and 70' Horiz, 260' 
spacing).
pattern is switchable with from broadside to endfire by adding 180 degree 
phase
delay in one leg, also a lumped L/C network. I use the torroid approach on my
two phased 80 meter verticals. The 180 degree phase shift is easy with the 
torroid
as I just reverse one of the outputs.

Get a copy of "Low Band DXing" if you get serious about this 160 phasing 
stuff.
Also "Transmission Line Transformers" by J.Sevick, W2FMI is very very good
if you start seriously playing with UNUN type transformers.

Good luck and look for us in the contest 
N0DH/7
Eastern Washington SEC.

dit dit

>From rroberts at cycor.ca (Robby Robertson)  Mon Oct 23 21:28:39 1995
From: rroberts at cycor.ca (Robby Robertson) (Robby Robertson)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 17:28:39 -0300
Subject: JOTA
Message-ID: <199510232028.RAA21513 at bud.peinet.pe.ca>

Missed you!  We hosted the Prince Edward Island scouts and venturers for the
third
year using VY2JAM. Had about 30 kids on Saturday and half of that number
camped Friday night and Saturday night.  Worked many stations in Eu, Af and
Na.  No JAs this year!
Everyone (including me) had a ball.  The biggest challange is keeping them
busy when
they are NOT on the radio.  This year we got some poles and bailer twine and
had a
bridge building contest.  The first group to span a 30 foot ditch and walk
across won.
That kept them busy for a while!  We set up two stations in the yard between
the two 
towers in tents.  One on 17 and one on 20.  This year we also had an
internet hookup
and made some skeds for the radio that way.  First time here on chat mode,
linked up
with ZS2JAM.  Look for more of this next year!

-Robby VY2SS

At 08:05 AM 23/10/95 EST, Douglas S. Zwiebel wrote:
>For JOTA, I had Brownie troop 125 and Cub scout pack 50 (NJ) here.
>Marathon Award: W0CP qso (kids said it went on "forever")
>Lost QSY Award: N0AX...where did you go?
>Best QSO Award: Z23JAM...kids had most excitement with this one.
> 
>de Doug KR2Q at mcimail.com
>
>
>