Topband: K7RAT/B signals at W2RU - Day 3

[W2RU - Bud Hippisley]

This morning I got to the rig a full 30 minutes earlier than yesterday  
(on a weekend, no less) and monitored both K7RAT beacon frequencies  
from 0915 until 0945 Zulu from FN23nr.

Again today the noise was dominated by domestic thunderstorms -- this  
time a line stretching from NE Texas to WVa.  Thus, I was seeing the  
same overall "tilt" in background noise level from one end of 160 to  
the other from a combination of antenna system gain and any QRN tilt  
as I did yesterday (perhaps 8 dB), although K9LA's recent response to  
my questions about T-storm noise frequency response suggests the  
differential T-storm component may be only 1 dB or so.

Yesterday, I fixed the problem with my Beverage feed into the shack,  
so this morning I could switch between my TX vertical and my very  
short (250') NW Beverage.  But I found no long term advantage to one  
antenna over the other on either beacon.

Today I could find absolutely nothing to distinguish one signal from  
the other.  Any peak in signal on one frequency was soon matched with  
a comparable peak on the other end of the band.

Tree, I have two suggestions:

1.  Adjust the beacon message content and speed such that you can make  
the transmissions *exactly* 30 seconds long.  When the beacons are  
fading below the noise level, it helps to be able to sync my frequency  
change to the time display coming from WWVB.

2.  Replace part of the message (perhaps the second set of "V"s) with  
a key down period (preferably no earlier than the middle of the  
message) of about 2 to 3 seconds.  If the thunderstorms ever depart  
(October, maybe?), I'll be able to jot down some S-meter readings.

Bud, W2RU