TopBand: Re: FB Signals on 1834.2!

[Bob Frick]

Bill Tippett wrote:
> 
> Hi Bob,
> 
>         Whatever you got up seems to be working FB!  I heard
> VE1ZZ working you but didn't have your call.  At your sunrise
> 0308, your signal started building above the relatively high
> QRN here and I was finally able to get through the Europeans
> calling at 0315.  Your signal continued to build and you peaked
> 569 around 0325.  I hope you will continue your activity since
> I think a lot of the guys are just asleep tonight due to the
> recent poor conditions and high QRN due to thunderstorms here.
> Let us know on the reflector what you're using for an antenna!
> 
>                         73,  Bill  W4ZV  Topband Administratorbill and all other topbanders;

   Bill,
   Received your e-mail shortly after our QSO.  Couldnt reply sooner because I had to 
go to work.
   Today, 12/14 was my first real serious attempt on TOPBAND.  Tried a few prelim QSO's
on 12/9, 12/11 and 12/13 but those were nothing but getting my feet wet on
TOPBAND. My problem here is the same as on all other bands.  I have to fight my way 
thru the European and Russian stations when working the States and North America in 
general.
   My antenna is a "SS/GD" special.  That means that the design work was done by N6SS 
(VQ9SS) and the physical work was done by me.  By the way, Pres says Hello and he is 
sorry for missing out on the new ones from N6SS.  The antenna was desgined for the roof 
of my house and is the same one i asked for help for on this reflector.  Basically I 
have an approximately 44 ft vertical steel mast which has 4 TopHat capacitance wires
 on top. The wires go to four 20ft masts on each corner of the building.  The original 
design called for each wire to 35ft in length but now they are shorter and to tell you 
the truth i cant remember how long they are.  I am using linear loading as per the K3ND 
Lowband Vertical.  While Pres's design called for 40ft of linear loading (two 20ft 
sections) in my haste to get the antenna up and due to a shortage of available 
materials, my linear loading assembly is 20ft (two 10ft sections of emt). I have a  
tuning coil on the bottom end of one of the linear loading pipes(the bottom end of the 
other pipe is connected to the mast and the top of the two emt sections of pipe are 
connect by a 12" section of aluminum). I  am using two elevated radials running from 
opposite corners of the roof to two matching coils.  So all in all I have the 44ft 
mast, 20ft of liner loading, a tuning coil and two elevated radial sectionss and a 
matching coils for each radial.
   Now i don't know if I have this thing installed the way Pres designed it but I do 
know that the radials resonated o/a 1835 khz and that I also got the tuning coil to 
resonate at o/a 1835khz.  Also, I am getting swr's of 1:1 from 1828khz to 1838khz which 
is where I want to be at this time. At the present time i am going to follow the advice 
of the old quotation "if it works dont mess around with it".
   As far as when I will be on the air, that is a wait and see answer.  It is quite 
common knowledge that Amateur Radio Operators do not adhere to a normal sleep schedule. 
>From what I have seen during the last couple of days it is impossible for a serious 
TOPBANDER to maintain a regular sleep schedule and for that matter to live a normal 
life.  My workweek is Saturday thru Wednesday; I must be at the office by 0730L 
(0430Z).  I normally get up at 5:30L (0230z) which at the present is before our 
sunrise; however today I got up at 4:30L (0130Z). My first QSO was with UA4FDI at 
0146z. I didnt hear VE1ZZ until 0310z, our QSO was o/a 0320z and my QSO with WA3EUL was 
at 0328z. By the way, you were my first Stateside QSO. We dont change clocks here so 
after 22 Dec our sunrises will start to get earlier and earlier.
Monday, 16 Dec is a local holiday here so i will make every effort possible to get on
the air at around 0300z, if not a little bit earlier.
   Hope you can follow my rambling.

   73's
   A92 Gimpy Dog
   Bob

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