Topband: listening for rats on 160 in DM72bx south central NM

[N7DF]

Since I had insomnia anyway I decided to listen for the K7RAT beacons between 0800 and 1100Z
 
My line noise was its usual S 8 to 9 with static bursts every second or two from 5 to 10 over S-9 but I was able to hear the beacons very clearly. 
 
Actual S meter readings were impossible but the difference in signal strength between 1800 and 1999 was very noticeable.  The 1999 signal was consistantly stronger and showed less QSB throughout the period.  Around 1100Z the signals on 1999 came up to 20 over S9, well above the strongest lightning crashes while the 1800 signals never peaked much above S9
 
I was using my Collins antenna which has a very wide bandwidth and an aperture of 2 degrees to 60 degrees elevation between 3 db points.  it is also very broadband and has a flat 2.45:1 SWR across the entire 160 meter band with the matching  network switched out
 
The L network is tuned to give less than 1.5:1 from 1800 to 1875.  With it in there was a very slight increase in signal strength on the 1800 beacon but no discernable change in signal strength on the 1999 signal.
 
I tried listening on other antennas and had the most significant change on the KT36 at 85 feet.  With the element ends pointing toward the northwest the 1800 signal all but disappeared but the 1999 signal stayed quite loud.  On other antennas and bearings the 1999 signal stayed consistently stronger but the relative strength between the two signals varied significantly.  My 30 meter inverted vee oriented NE/SW showed the least difference betwen the two beacons.
 
My receiver was a FT1000MP Field unit with all filtering and processing switched off.  I had the two beacons set on the separate receivers and simply switched  back and forth between them  I used the main receiever for all actual comparisons.
 
One strange thing I noticed, though, was a slight delay on some lightning bursts between the 1800 receiver and the 1999 receiver when I listened to them at the same time with stereo earphones.
at the time of the delays the strength of the crashes were weaker on 1999
 
73
Larry
N7DF