'96 ARRL CW DX Score
DLYNCH at PICARD.EVMS.EDU
DLYNCH at PICARD.EVMS.EDU
Mon Feb 19 09:47:50 EST 1996
My 23-hour, single-op (no packet), high-power effort:
Band QSO Pts Countries
--------------------------------------
160 0 0 0
80 50 150 29
40 175 525 46
20 510 1530 75
15 83 249 38
10 2 6 1
--------------------------------------
Totals: 820 2460 189
Score = 464,940
Gear: FT-1000D, Alpha 89, Sommer XP807, Butternut HF6VX,
Computer: Compaq 386DX with CT v 8. something
Definitely need improved 80 mtr antennas and antenna for 160.
Lotsa line noise. Worked almost everything I could hear except
for a few mults on 15 - band was very skittish Sunday and horrible
on Saturday. Sure miss 10 meters! (and those sunspots...).
Nice to see ZL1AMO and the VP9s late Sunday.
Best health, DX and Vy 73 to all. Thanks for an enjoyable
weekend.... Don W4ZYT
>From David Blanchard <n3ii at ccpl.carr.lib.md.us> Mon Feb 19 14:53:37 1996
From: David Blanchard <n3ii at ccpl.carr.lib.md.us> (David Blanchard)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 09:53:37 -0500 (EST)
Subject: LZ0A QTH?
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960219095128.16911A at ccpl.carr.lib.md.us>
LZ0A was active in ARRL contest... what is the QTH ?... appears to be in
antarctic somewhere
Dave
>From Assarabowski, Richard" <AssaraR at utrc.utc.com Mon Feb 19 15:58:00 1996
From: Assarabowski, Richard" <AssaraR at utrc.utc.com (Assarabowski, Richard)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 10:58:00 -0500 (EST)
Subject: LZ0A QTH?
Message-ID: <31289D35 at msgate.res.utc.com>
Whoever he was he called us both mornings on 40m, way past the European
opening and was very, very weak, peaking to the SW (like everything was).
Would be nice to know if that's another multiplier!
-- Rich K1CC
@K1KI M/M
>LZ0A was active in ARRL contest... what is the QTH ?... appears to be in
>antarctic somewhere
> Dave
>From Jay <d7507 at microagewny.com> Mon Feb 19 15:51:46 1996
From: Jay <d7507 at microagewny.com> (Jay)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 10:51:46 -0500
Subject: KT-34A
Message-ID: <199602191551.KAA00345 at microagewny1.microagewny.com>
Hello Everyone,
I am considering A KLM KT-34A tribander and would like your input.
I live in a rural township where we have wind gusts at or above
50 mph a few times a year.
I am concerned about wind survival and performance at 50 ft.
TU/73
Jay Sturtevant AA2IX
d7507 at microagewny.com
>From Wayne Mills <0006509309 at mcimail.com> Mon Feb 19 16:11:00 1996
From: Wayne Mills <0006509309 at mcimail.com> (Wayne Mills)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 96 11:11 EST
Subject: LZ0A
Message-ID: <05960219161150/0006509309DC3EM at MCIMAIL.COM>
LZ0A, active in the contest this weekend, is So. Shetland Is., QSL via
LZ1KDP.
N7NG
>From Stan Stockton <stans at taurus.oursc.k12.ar.us> Mon Feb 19 16:17:48 1996
From: Stan Stockton <stans at taurus.oursc.k12.ar.us> (Stan Stockton)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 10:17:48 -0600 (CST)
Subject: LZ0A QTH?
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960219101707.8347A-100000 at taurus.oursc.k12.ar.us>
My son, KB5WWA, says he is South Orkney.
Stan, K5GO
On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, Assarabowski, Richard wrote:
>
> Whoever he was he called us both mornings on 40m, way past the European
> opening and was very, very weak, peaking to the SW (like everything was).
> Would be nice to know if that's another multiplier!
> -- Rich K1CC
> @K1KI M/M
>
> >LZ0A was active in ARRL contest... what is the QTH ?... appears to be in
> >antarctic somewhere
> > Dave
>
>From Ed Gilbert <eyg at hpnjlc.njd.hp.com> Mon Feb 19 17:31:44 1996
From: Ed Gilbert <eyg at hpnjlc.njd.hp.com> (Ed Gilbert)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 12:31:44 -0500
Subject: Nye Viking Tuners
Message-ID: <199602191732.AA086811122 at hp.com>
> Jim describes nearly the exact problem I just developed. Have a Nye
> M...V (the Roman numerial 5 of the latest design) and am trying to get it
> to tune a full size half-wave 160 dipole fed with ladder line. Tuning is
> weird and unsatisfying on 160 (with balun inside), but fine on all other
> bands, including WARCs.
I'm not familiar with that particular model, but most all-band
commercial antenna tuners that I've seen work poorly at the extremes
of their frequency range, 160 and 10 meters. They're convenient for a
Field Day or d'xpedition, but you often pay for that convenience in
excessive loss in tuner and balun. A typical all-band tuner is a Tee
network with variable 200pF series caps forming the top of the Tee,
combined with a shunt inductor. These values give good adjustment
range with reasonable Q on 40m or 20m, but as you go down in frequency
the Q gets higher, and on 160 you end up with very high Q and high
losses.
A similar problem exists with the baluns that are usually built into
these tuners for feeding open-wire antennas. They don't have enough
inductance for 160m.
For non-portable 160m tuner applications, where you don't need the
flexibility of wide range bandswitching or matching a wide range of
unknown impedances, you are much better off building a tuner and
selecting components specifically for that band, and configuring it
for your specific antenna's feedpoint impedance. If you're feeding a
balanced antenna, you can also build a balun that is optimized for
160. It wont work on 10m, but will be more efficient on 160 than
anything you buy that is designed for "all bands".
Visit your local ham flea market and look for physically LARGE
variable capacitors and roller inductors. You want 2 capacitors that
have 1000 or 1500pF max capacitance. These are typically 12 to 15
inches long and 5 inches wide. Look for a large roller inductor with
at least 4 inch diameter and a heavy conductor. If it looks like #14
wire, its not heavy enough. These things are becomming hard to find
now. Another alternative is to buy them from a place like Nebraska
Surplus. You'll pay a lot more than flea market prices there, but its
still cheaper than buying a brand new commercial tuner that works
poorly on 160.
You need to experiment with the various L network configurations to
find one that allows you match your antenna. An L network usually
gives you lower Q than a PI or T for a given impedance transformation.
You want lower Q because you'll have lower losses and you can move
farther in frequency without having to re-adjust the tuner. I usually
do this with clip leads and low power until I've found the L
configuration that gives a match. There's about 8 different ways that
you can combine a coil and cap to make an L network, so you have to
experiment. You may have to use 2 capacitors in parallel to get enough
C. Having 2 capacitors also allows you to configure it as a Tee if
you need to. A Tee has greater flexibility in impedance matching range,
and the Q may be acceptable, though higher than with an L.
To make a 160m balun, stack four ft-240-61 ferrite cores together, and
wind as many bifilar turns as you can fit. If you use #14 teflon
insulated wire, you should be able to get at least 16 turns on it.
With a bifilar winding you can configure it as a 1:1 (basically a
coiled transmission line) or 4:1 balun. Experiment with both
configurations and use the one that gives the best balance, tuning,
and least heating. I usually do a crude balance test with a neon
bulb, looking for roughly equal brightness on both sides of the
feedline.
The acid test is key down, 1500W out for a minute or so, then check
for heating of the coil and balun. You know things are working well
if there is barely any perceptible change from room temperature. If
anything is hot to the touch, you can improve it. Check your balanced
feedline for temperature rise also. You may be surprised to find (as
I was) that you're wasting power in heating it also, particularly if
you're using ladder line with #18 steel conductors. I solved this
problem by making my own open wire feedline using #10 copper wire and
lexan spreaders. My antenna is electrically short on 160 however, and
you probably wont have this problem with one that is 1/2 wavelength
long.
73 + gl,
Ed Gilbert, WA2SRQ
>From barry at w2up.wells.com (barry) Mon Feb 19 17:05:40 1996
From: barry at w2up.wells.com (barry) (barry)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 96 12:05:40 EST
Subject: TO5A and LZ0A
Message-ID: <6N3JJD1w165w at w2up.wells.com>
Multiple replies confirming TO5A as FM.
I rechecked my log on LZ0A. At first I doubted Antarctica because at the
first glance at the log, it was inbetween a bunch of Europeans on 40 at
about 0300Z. At second glance, it was on 20 m, in between a PY and LU, so
defintiely when path to south was open and beam pointed that way.
Looks like I got another mult!
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 Wayne Mills <0006509309 at mcimail.com> Mon Feb 19 17:52:00 1996
From: Wayne Mills <0006509309 at mcimail.com> (Wayne Mills)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 96 12:52 EST
Subject: LZ0A
Message-ID: <24960219175242/0006509309DC6EM at MCIMAIL.COM>
LU6Z is very active from So. Orkney. Ref: QRZ DX 95-48 "LZ0A: This station
is active from Bulgarian Antarctic Base Hemuslocated on Livingston Island in
the South Shetlands (AN-010). QSL via LZ1KDP." He also says "So.
Shetlands".
N7NG
>From Joe_Wilkowski at mc.xerox.com (Wilkowski,Joe) Mon Feb 19 18:29:59 1996
From: Joe_Wilkowski at mc.xerox.com (Wilkowski,Joe) (Wilkowski,Joe)
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 10:29:59 PST
Subject: ARRL DX contest help CTY issues...
Message-ID: <"<95BF283181B7677C>95BF283181B7677C at X-MC-0819-MS2.XEROX"@-SMF->
Folks,
Where was the TO5A station ?
Ditto on LZ0A ?
mm2/W7SW counted as a new mult ? I haven't checked yet as to what mult
it showed up as, but I'm pretty sure mm's do not count as mults. Now
the question is , how do I fix it in CT.
but ur5fav/mm did not count as a mult, (wondering how ct determined the above)
Last but not least, I presume IQ7A is in Italy and the
CTY files should be adjusted to reflect this.
It was a good contest, I lost the BALUN in my beam 1 hour into the test
on Friday night. I worked the remainder of contest on my 160
inverted V (10-20-15 and 160) 80 meter sloper, and last but not least
a 40 meter full sloper. 10 meters was a real blast on the wire. 15
really sounded bad, but having no reference to compare against I
really can't say how good it might have been with the gain antenna...
Thanks to all I worked especially to the patient ops who stuck around
until I had the call right . It was a great contest.
73's es tnx ...
/joe k8fc
73'
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