Topband: 1.99 and beacons

[W7lr at aol.com]

I let the cat out of the bag regarding 1.99, but dont know how to get him  
back in.  I didn't know how to pursue this, but am glad that Tree picked up  
the ball with his two beacons.   It is not easy to organize, as it is a new 
 old idea.  All comments have been favorable.  Many hams on city lots  like 
the idea because of possibly shorter tx antennas.  Most estimates have  
been for better propagation at 1.99 compared to the low end.  Some who  would 
like to participate can do it only split due to their frequency  assignments. 
 It is late in the season, but someone like 9M2AX might help  if we could 
get up early enough to test.  One concern I have is not knowing  about the 
use of the very high end of the band.  I would not like to see a  conflict 
there between different modes or kinds of operation.  JA5DQH sent  a nice 
history of 160m high end operations from earlier years to the topband  reflector. 
 
 
I have tested different antennas for receiving the N6TR beacons.  I  used 
either the tx vertical or the Asia Beverage (aimed his way) and it didn't  
seem to matter.  There is the usual big qsb on both beacon frequencies.and  
all the various propagation conditions - peaks before or after sunrise,  etc.  
Sometimes one beacon would be much louder than the other, and vice  versa.  
Tree and I are about 800 miles apart.  
Many times both would have the same signal strength.  There is a lot  of 
data, too much for here, but as a serious dxer, I would choose the 1.99 over  
the 1.8 given the chance.  One and a half hours after sunrise, the 1.99 was  
569 while the 1.8 was 449.  Overall on a more subjective basis the 1.99 was 
 quite a bit better.  
 
Bob W7LR 
**************Remember Mom this Mother's Day! Find a florist near you now. 
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