Topband: Noise levels on 160

Tue Dec 15 11:24:44 EST 2015

Louis -
  If you try to call someone in the same country and they do not hear you,
I would not assume they have a receive antenna problem. They could have an
8-circle and simply be listening in the wrong direction for you. The
directivity of an 8-circle is astonishing. When I did the Stew Perry from
W3LPL last December, I used Frank's beverages as my "omnidirectional"
antennas into one ear (or sometimes both ears) because being off just 2
notches in 8-circle direction, dropped even strong signals into the noise.

  Amazing. Well-known beverages seemed ominidirectional compared to an
8-circle.

Tim N3QE

On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 7:10 AM, Louis Parascondola via Topband <
topband at contesting.com> wrote:

> I also am new to the top band.  Been a ham since 1967 and I suppose I have
> made about 5 contacts on 160 since then.  But now that I have decided to
> make 160m my new challenge I am hooked.  I did know enough by speaking with
> a friend that unless I had a beverage for receive I had better just forge
> about even getting started.  So, he helped me install a beverage.   We
> strung out about 550 feet of wire.  I did not terminate the far end.  The
> other end goes to the balun and is grounded with a ground rod.  I have the
> feed line laying on the ground all the way to the shack window where it
> rises about 7 feet to go indoors.  I made the mistake of thinking the braid
> does not pick up noise and raised the feed line to enter the house through
> the roof area.  So the feedline was raised from the feed point over to the
> house roof.  BIG MISTAKE!  The noise jumped up so high that it was only 2 s
> units better than the 55 foot OCF dipole for 160m  I had to immediately
> return it to the way it wa
>  s on the ground,  In the evening on 160m  The OCF at about 55 feet has a
> noise level of about S8 to S9 and when I switch to the beverage the noise
> is only S1.  It is truly amazing how quiet it is compared.  I can tell when
> I am running DX who is listening on a beverage on their end and who isn't.
> Often I can work all over Europe and get all Q5 reports and answers with
> just one call.  When I try working someone  the same country and they do
> not come back to my call or anyone else's for that matter I know they
> aren't using a beverage.  I know for certain that at least 75% of the
> contacts I have already made I could have never made without the beverage.
> The signals you never know are there come right out of the noise when the
> beverage is selected as the rx antenna.  I also use the same beverage on 80
> and 40 meters with similar results!!  I would have packed up my idea on
> playing with 160m if I did not have a beverage.  You would never get
> anywhere without it in my opinion.  S
>  ure you can make contacts but you will be missing a heck of a lot.  I
> have done zero scientific tests like WHS, but my ear does not lie to me.  I
> have heard you K1WHS on 160, good signal into CT.  73 all Lou W1QJ
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Kupps via Topband <topband at contesting.com>
> To: Dave Olean <k1whs at metrocast.net>; topband <topband at contesting.com>
> Sent: Tue, Dec 15, 2015 1:41 am
> Subject: Re: Topband: Noise levels on 160
>
> My daytime noise level from the 160m xmit vertical using your settings is
> -100 dBm. The S meter on the K3 reads S7 (absolute)... 73 Bob HS0ZIA
> From: Dave Olean <k1whs at metrocast.net> To: topband at contesting.com  Sent:
> Tuesday, December 8, 2015 3:30 AM Subject: Re: Topband: Noise levels on
> 160   I am somewhat new to 160 meters. I converted an old VHF tower at my
> house to a 160 M 1/4 wave radiator in late 2013 and have been active since
> then on a casual basis. Recently I started showing symptoms of the 160
> Disease, and have been looking for ways to improve things. The XYL has
> nixed anything big (no more towers) so I am stuck with a single radiator,
> but I can still work on the receiving side. I just built up an Africa
> beverage (100 degree az) and was happy with the noise level on that
> antenna. It seems extremely low and about as good as my Europe beverage.
> Recently, I tried measuring each beverage and the vertical antenna to nail
> down the noise floor using my K3 and P3 panada
>  ptor. I wonder if these numbers are good and how they compare with other
> setups.  For the record, I set the P3 at the narrowest span, 2 kHz. I used
> the preamp ON for the beverages and the preamp off for the vertical. I
> recorded these levels on late Saturday evening during the ARRL 160 contest,
> and then again, the following Monday during the day.  I recorded the
> following numbers...ANTENNA          NOISE LVL    DAYTIMEJA  330 deg
>     -133                -138West 270 deg        -125                -130SW
> 220 deg          -125                -132Africa 100 deg        -136
>         -144Europe  45 deg        -138                -142Vertical Antenna
>     -115                -123All measurements were taken with the P3
> panadaptor set at 2 kHz span. That is important. K3 preamp is ON.  These
> numbers taken at night are a moving target. The noise can vary from hour to
> hour. I looked across the 2 kHz span of the P3 and averaged what I saw. I
> seem to hear reasonably well wi
>  th the vertical, and in the past used it quite often. Now that I have a
> few beverages, I hardly ever listen on the vertical anymore. Both the 220
> and 270 degree beverages suffer from power line noise and are 10 dB noisier
> than the wires aimed East.  I am thinking about maybe nulling out the power
> line noise. I am sure that noise is killing my receive.    I guess I should
> make a real measurement of my noise floor at a specified bandwidth of the
> receiver. That would require more work! I took the easy way and set the P3
> at minimum span and looked at the "grass level". What numbers do others see
> on 160?    I live in a rural area in Maine near the NH border.  I have a
> neighbor across the street and another two about 1000 to 1200 ft away. I
> think my location is pretty quiet, but I do often see interference that
> comes and goes. I always hear two electric fences. One is a single snap
> every second or so. The other is a pulsing burst of noise that lasts maybe
> 300 ms that repeats every
>   second or so. There is also a rather broad drifting signal to my NE that
> is about 20 kHz wide and drifts around 1820 kHz. It is about 5 dB above the
> normal noise. I suspect it is a mile away, but have not found it yet.Dave
> K1WHS_________________Topband Reflector Archives -
> http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________Topband Reflector
> Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>