Topband: KH1/KH7Z TopBand Ops Brief
uy0zg
uy0zg at mksat.net
Fri Jul 13 16:38:01 EDT 2018
OK,
I believe in your RX, George
73
Nick, UY0ZG
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2008-02-20 03:36:00 160M CW 1.80000 BAHAMAS
Selected 160M; Challenge
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2011-01-28 04:54:00 160M CW 1.80000 BAHAMAS
160M; Challenge
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2011-01-28 05:27:00 160M CW 1.80000 BAHAMAS
160M; Challenge
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2011-01-29 05:03:00 160M CW 1.80000 BAHAMAS
160M; Challenge
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2016-01-31 01:03:00 160M CW 1.80000
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2017-01-26 04:21:00 160M CW 1.80000
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2017-01-28 01:57:00 160M CW
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2017-11-23 04:58:00 160M CW 1.80000
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2018-01-25 03:18:00 160M CW 1.80000
Details UY0ZG C6AGU 2018-01-28 02:14:00 160M CW 1.80000
GEORGE WALLNER писал 2018-07-13 22:33:
> Dear OM,
>
> The ones I have worked, I heard their signals, and they are in the
> log. That's real.
>
> George,
>
> AA7JV
>
> On Fri, 13 Jul 2018 10:23:19 +0300
>
> uy0zg <uy0zg at mksat.net> wrote:
>
>> "> and Ukrainian stations also logged. (Remember, this was in
>> July!)"
>>
>> Hi George !
>>
>> UY5VA and US4EX - tven in winter and summer they listen only on the
>> Internet !
>>
>> They do not have receiving antennas.
>>
>> QSO with Ukraine are not real.
>>
>> 73 !UY0ZG
>
>>> andUkrainian stations also logged. (Remember, this was in July!)
>
>> GEORGE WALLNER писал 2018-07-13 05:19:
>
>>> Dear Top Banders,
>>>
>>> Here is a brief descriptionof the recent Baker Island (KH1/HK7Z)
>>>
>>> 160-meter operation.
>>>
>>> Among the numerouslimitations the USFWS placed on us, being only
>>>
>>> allowed on the island in June was the most onerous. A long way
>>> from
>>>
>>> ideal from a low-band point of view, but we were determined to
>>> make
>>>
>>> itwork. The result was over 1500 QSO-s on Top Band.
>>>
>>> Transmit Antenna and Gear:
>>>
>>> The location of the 160 m TXantenna was close to the north-west
>>> corner
>>>
>>> of the island, but not as far north and clear of the land as we
>>> would
>>>
>>> have liked it. Also, we were not able to place our TX antenna
>>> fully
>>>
>>> inthe water, due to the pounding surf. (Which did destroy our 80
>>> m
>>>
>>> antennathe first night.) Instead, the 160 m TX antenna stood just
>>> at
>>>
>>> the high tidewater-line, with the metal base buried in wet sand.
>>> At
>>>
>>> low tide the antennabase was 30 feet from the water’s edge, but
>>>
>>> fortunately the sand below theantenna was always saturated with
>>>
>>> salt-water. Luckily, the tide was mostly uparound the times we
>>> were
>>>
>>> working NA on TB. We were only allowed a maximum antennaheight of
>>> 43
>>>
>>> feet. To meet this requirement, we designed a “fat” 160
>>> mvertical,
>>>
>>> which had three vertical wires, two of them on spreaders to make
>>>
>>> theapparent diameter of the vertical conductor larger. The
>>> antenna
>>>
>>> also had two12.5 m top-loading wires, which sloped down at
>>> 45-degrees.
>>>
>>> The antenna had 8 radialsof various lengths, with three of them
>>> going
>>>
>>> directly into the salt-water. Takeoff to the west and north-west
>>> was
>>>
>>> clear over open water, but to thenorth-east (towards NA) it was
>>> over
>>>
>>> land, with a 20’ high sand berm directly inthe way. The antenna
>>> was
>>>
>>> fed via a remote-controlled coupler. I want to pointout that even
>>> this
>>>
>>> simple, and far less than ideal, arrangement took atremendous
>>> effort
>>>
>>> to build, as we had to haul the all the gear for the CW tentabout
>>> ¼
>>>
>>> mile from the boat landing, working in 100 degree heat under
>>>
>>> theEquatorial sun. Transmitter power was around 800 W (but
>>>
>>> occasionally reduced400 W to leave more generator power for the
>>> other
>>>
>>> bands). The radio was a K3S.
>>>
>>> Receive Antenna: After thesecond night of operation we built a 60
>>> foot
>>>
>>> long DHDL facing north-east. Theantenna had a high-performance
>>>
>>> filter/pre-amplifier. After the fourth night weadded a second
>>> DHDL
>>>
>>> that faced towards Europe.
>>>
>>> We were expecting easyconditions for JA (who were closer) and
>>>
>>> difficult for NA. We got the opposite.The band would open to NA
>>> soon
>>>
>>> after our sun-set (around 18:00 local time) withvery little
>>> noise. NA
>>>
>>> callers were initially weak but easy copy. Noise wouldstart
>>> rising
>>>
>>> about two hours after sun-set. Fortunately, that was about
>>> thetime the
>>>
>>> gray-line was reaching the East Coast, which brought up the
>>>
>>> signalswell abov e the noise. Some East Coast signals were quite
>>> loud.
>>>
>>> As the eveningprogressed, noise continued rising as more of the
>>>
>>> equatorial thunderstorms toour west came under darkness. By the
>>> time
>>>
>>> the JA-s would show up (about 5 hoursafter our sun-set) noise was
>>> way
>>>
>>> up, and receiving conditions were becomingdifficult. Still, some
>>> West
>>>
>>> Coast stations kept coming in strong, well over thenoise, and
>>> quite
>>>
>>> able to work among the numerous JA callers. Occasionally, wehad
>>> to
>>>
>>> listen up for NA above 1825.00 to avoid the JA QRM, but on the
>>> long
>>>
>>> runthat proved to be unnecessary. Overall, working NA was a
>>> pleasure,
>>>
>>> whileworking JA (and SE Asia) was a pain due to the noise. By
>>> midnight
>>>
>>> local timethe lightning crashes on the TX antenna were becoming
>>>
>>> painful. Later, the DHDLRX antennas would help, but even then,
>>> many
>>>
>>> signals were a better copy on theTX antenna. Almost every call
>>> was
>>>
>>> different, some would be strong and clear onthe TX antenna, while
>>>
>>> others could only be copied on the RX antenna. There wasalso a
>>> large
>>>
>>> variation in RX conditions from night to night. On our
>>> secondnight the
>>>
>>> noise was much higher than on the first night. Also, as we
>>> wereworking
>>>
>>> progressively weaker stations, things were getting harder.
>>>
>>> Although we knew that thechances for working western EU were
>>> basically
>>>
>>> nil, we made a big effort to workas far west possible. On most
>>>
>>> mornings the noise was just too much to copyanything below S7. A
>>> few
>>>
>>> nights, however, conditions were favorable, and we gotas far as
>>>
>>> European Russia. Conditions were the best on our last night,
>>> whenjust
>>>
>>> at sunrise we got as far west as Serbia, with numerous Russian
>>>
>>> andUkrainian stations also logged. (Remember, this was in July!)
>>>
>>> After operating 7 straightnights on 160, my ears were ready for a
>>>
>>> break. We switched to FT8 for about 5hours, using the regular QSO
>>> mode< p> (not hound-and-fox). With N1DG operating, wemade about
>>> 120 NA QSO-s in
>>>
>>> about 5 hours! Just before midnight, we switched backto CW for
>>> the
>>>
>>> JA-s, who are not allowed to operate FT8 in the lower part of
>>> theband.
>>>
>>> The FT8 operation revealed three things: There is serious demand
>>> for
>>>
>>> FT8on TB, the mode gets through the noise very well and gives
>>> modest
>>>
>>> stations achance to work serious DX on TB, but it is easily
>>> dominated
>>>
>>> by the strongsignals.
>>>
>>> An interesting lesson fromwhat happened to our 80 meter antenna.
>>>
>>> Initially, it stood on a sturdy metalbase in the water. During
>>> the
>>>
>>> first night we had a storm and the surf broke upthe base
>>> (snapping ¼”
>>>
>>> bolts like they were matchsticks). The surf knocked theantenna
>>> down
>>>
>>> and soaked the tuner with salt-water. The next morning, we
>>> rebuiltthe
>>>
>>> antenna further up the beach, but without the metal base which
>>>
>>> originally connected it to the salt-water ground. Although we
>>> added a
>>>
>>> good number ofradials, performance was poor, especially when
>>> compared
>>>
>>> to the 160 m antenna,whose metal base was in contact with the
>>>
>>> salt-water below.
>>>
>>> The key lessons learned:
>>>
>>> 1. 160 m DX is morethan possible in June and July.
>>>
>>> 2. For good results, you mustbe on the band every night,
>>> otherwise you
>>>
>>> may miss that special night when theconditions line up just
>>> perfectly.
>>>
>>> 3. A salt-water ground helps,and where possible, vertical
>>> antennas
>>>
>>> should stand in the water. Being up thebeach is not the same.
>>>
>>> 4. RX antennas are needed towork the weaker stations.
>>>
>>> 5. DXpeditions should have astation dedicated to 160 m (at night)
>>> with
>>>
>>> operators who want to work 160.
>>>
>>> 6. FT8 is now part of AmateurRadio, even on TB.
>>>
>>> Happy DX-ing and 73,
>>>
>>> George,
>>>
>>> KH1/KH7Z (AA7JV)
>>>
>>> _________________
>>>
>>> Topband Reflector Archives - http: //www.contesting.com/_topband
>>> [1]
>
>> --
>>
>> _________________
>>
>> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.contesting.com/_topband
More information about the Topband
mailing list