AB6FO Sprint & More Force 12 20 Mtr Ant

[KWIDELITZ at delphi.com]

Only had 90 minutes before a dinner engagement. 

98 QSOs x 39 Mults for 3,822

For many QSOs, the Force 12 EF-420 was the difference between hearing a
station and not being able to copy intelligibly on the PRO-96. I experienced
a 2 S unit improvement on receive on virtually every station I A/B'd the two
antennas. The SWR is virtually 1:1 ACROSS the ENTIRE BAND!

I had another 4 S unit improvement report on my transmitted signal, although
some of that was due to the fact that the PRO-96 has high SWR in the phone
band and I had to back off on power so as not to trip the amp. Running a
very few tests before the sprint with low power using the internal tuner on
my transceiver, I averaged reports of a 2 S unit improvement with the EF-420.
This has me re-thinking my antenna situation in its entirety.

73. Ken, AB6FO, KWIDELITZ at DELPHI.COM

>From barry at w2up.wells.com (Barry Kutner)  Tue Sep 19 01:23:55 1995
From: barry at w2up.wells.com (Barry Kutner) (Barry Kutner)
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 95 00:23:55 GMT
Subject: RUFZ oddities
Message-ID: <kiDNBD1w165w at w2up.wells.com>

There have been some questions posted recently regarding the validity of 
some of the high RUFZ scores. My score was gotten with a 386SX/16 running 
DOS. I really haven't touched RUFZ in about a month (nobody to de-throne 
:.) ) until today.
Over the weekend I replaced the 386 with a new motherboard containing an 
AMD 486DX2-80. Tried RUFZ, just to see if it was any different...
First, the horrendous truncated dit problem disappeared. The CW sounds 
perfect now. Second, the average of my 3 runs on the new board is about 5 
K lower than the average runs previously.
I am not yet sure if this is due to the processor change or just cuz I 
haven't been RUFZ-active for a month. I'll play with it some more over 
the next week or so, and report back.
Without question, lousy dits have improved, so there defintiely is some 
difference in the timing.
73 Barry

--

Barry N. Kutner, W2UP       Internet: barry at w2up.wells.com
Newtown, PA                 Packet Radio: W2UP @ WB3JOE.#EPA.PA.USA.NA
                            Packet Cluster: W2UP >WB2R (FRC)
.......................................................................


>From Frank Donovan <donovanf at sgate.com>  Tue Sep 19 02:53:45 1995
From: Frank Donovan <donovanf at sgate.com> (Frank Donovan)
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 21:53:45 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: DX Contest Propagation
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.950918210202.11766B-100000 at jekyll.sgate.com>

K3ZO described his observations of night time propagation during the recent 
SAC contest, enclosed at the end of this message.  At the Dayton Antenna 
Forum this year, I presented a talk that included a detailed description of 
the phenomenon that Fred described.

For the enjoyment (amusement/frustration?) of the DX and CONTEST 
community, here are a few thought provoking brain teasers about this 
frequently observed phenomenon.  Hopefully they will elicit some thought 
about the well known physical causes of the phenomenon and discussion 
about CONTEST strategies to successfully cope with it!  Here goes:

  - - What is the scientific name for the phenomenon that Fred describes 
in his message (enclosed below)?  (there are actually several common 
names that describe the phenomenon...)

  - - At what time of day does this phenomenon typically begin, and when 
does it typically end?

  - - Describe the physical cause for the onset of this phenomenon, and 
the cause for its termination.

  - - During which seasons of the year is this condition prevalent?  Why?

  - - During what part of the Sunspot Cycle is this condition most 
common?  Why?

  - - What is the relationship between a high k index and the severity of 
this phenomenon?  Why?

  - - Describe some DX CONTEST operating strategies to cope with this 
phenomenon.

  - - Describe some routinely observed propagation effects associated with 
this phenomenon on the:
          - 20 and 15 meter paths from the East Coast to JA
          - 40 meter path from the East Coast to JA    
          - 20 and 15 meter paths from the East Coast to Europe
          - 40 meter path from the East Coast to Europe
           (left coast and black hole operators modify as appropriate!)

Good luck!
73
Frank
W3LPL
donovanf at sgate.com

K3ZO> The cycle is low enough so we will probably have a washout of the 
K3ZO> direct path to Europe on 40 from about 0100-0400 GMT.   This is 
K3ZO> something we haven't seen in several years but it was there at the 
K3ZO> bottom of every cycle I have operated.  This means we will be 
K3ZO> forced to beam North Africa for those hours to get Europe on 
K3ZO> scatter, or move to 80 and 160.  Both 80 and 40 will open sooner 
K3ZO> than we have been accustomed to, and even for all-band entries it 
K3ZO> may be well to start looking for Europe as early as 2000 GMT on 40 
K3ZO> and as early as 2200 on 80.