Topband: Carrier on 1820.4

W2RU - Bud Hippisley W2RU at frontiernet.net
Thu Dec 8 23:17:03 EST 2005


I only have two short Beverages, aimed NE and NW, plus my shunt-fed 
tower.  I'm in FN23nr, about 50 miles NNE of Utica, NY, in the middle of 
nowhere.  Here's what I observe:

On my vertical at 0350Z, the signal is a fairly steady S7-S8 on a 
TS-950SDX pseudo-meter with peak detectors.  A bit lower in the band, 
W1AW is currently peaking at 60 dB over S9, maybe even higher, and 
exhibiting more QSB than the carrier.

The carrier is much stronger on my NE Beverage than my NW one.  The 
strange thing, however, is that although W1AW drops by 40 dB to S9+20 dB 
on my NE Beverage, the carrier is a fairly steady S3 to S4, which I 
would say is abnormally high compared to its S7-S8 strength on the 
vertical.  (It's probably dropping about 20 dB.)  It would be unusual 
for a signal so weak on my vertical to be so strong on the NE Beverage, 
especially from distances comparable to Maritime Provinces.  Normally 
I'd be inclined to guess it's much closer or much farther away from 
upstate NY. 

However, N1EU has already indicated it's NE of him.  Since he's nearly 
100 miles SE of me, it can't be real close to me or it wouldn't read NE 
for both of us.  His heading combined with my "gut feeling" leads me to 
suggest VT or Quebec.  Unfortunately, my lack of Beverages doesn't 
really tell much about the actual direction from my QTH.  All I know is 
the carrier is audible but S0 on the NW Beverage and abnormally strong 
on the NE Beverage.

Bud, W2RU




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