Topband: 160 meter activity

[Pete Smith N4ZR]

Well, sorta, Tim. My Skimmer routinely reports signal-to-noise ratios of 
3-4 dB at band opening.  The real problem is that the majority of RBN 
nodes use non-directive antennas of one sort or another, and that many 
European QTHs have severe noise issues.  I have an 8-foot active 
vertical and an 18AVT, neither of which is much use for 160.  W3LPL, on 
the other hand, mixes the output from his entire suite of antennas, 
including an active 8-circle, I believe, and Beverages in the fall and 
winter.  I'm sure there are European RBN nodes that hear similarly well.

73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at
http://reversebeacon.net,
blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com.
For spots, please go to your favorite
ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node.

On 8/26/2013 9:45 AM, Shoppa, Tim wrote:
> A skimmer in EU picking up my CQ means that conditions are really quite good. Skimmers only post to reversebeacon if signal is well above the noise. Humans can copy just fine under far more adverse conditions.
>
> The skimmer is not there to replace our ears :-).
>
> Tim N3QE
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike Waters
> Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 9:17 AM
> To: Bill Cromwell; topband
> Subject: Re: Topband: 160 meter activity
>
> Hi Bill,
>
> You are right about the antennas on some RBN stations missing signals. I wouldn't mind running a 160m skimmer on the RBN myself here, perhaps somehow using all four directions my Beverage antennas simultaneously.
> Maybe it would be too much trouble. In any case, I would need help with at least the software for doing that. I posted an inquiry at http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,91114.0.html about just making that arrangement available through WebSDR; but if we could figure out how to do it, it might be nice to have all four directions available on the RBN (at least on 160). But I see problems doing that, such as duplicate posts to the RBN from the same signal picked up by different directions.
>
> Sorry I misunderstood you. :-)
>
> 73, Mike
> www.w0btu.com
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 7:18 AM, Bill Cromwell <wrcromwell at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks. Yes..I thought everybody who knows what RBN is also knows that
>> the stations *automatically* post the information on the RBN server. I
>> thought I made an efficient use of words. I did make the call and was
>> not heard. I did see some activity on the RBN and I was able to hear
>> the North American stations that were posted there AND I heard one or
>> two that were NOT posted there. Do they call the receive stations
>> "skimmers"? I'm sure the skimmers are 'plagued' with the same noise
>> problems all of us face. And there is the matter of 'lobes' in the
>> antenna patterns - intentional or not. There are a lot of reasons why
>> skimmers might miss some signals. One of them is low power and another
>> could involve the antenna. It may not radiate well and it may not
>> radiate well in the direction of skimmers that could otherwise hear. Not all of the skimmers are on 160 meters.
>>
> _________________
> Topband Reflector
> _________________
> Topband Reflector
>