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]
> 
>> --
>> 
>> _________________
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
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