[UK-CONTEST] UK-Contest Digest, Vol 113, Issue 23

GM4JR gm4jr at btinternet.com
Mon May 28 09:37:09 PDT 2012


RE Broadband QRM

I see someone else has said this, but if after you've changed the filter,
the next thing is to replace the face plate of the NTE5 or V1.0 master
socket.

Andy

GM4JR

-----Original Message-----
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Subject: UK-Contest Digest, Vol 113, Issue 23

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Today's Topics:

   1. WPX CW 2012 (M5E chez G0CKV) (Olof Lundberg)
   2. ADSL reverse QRM (Roger Dixon)
   3. WPX CW 2012 - GM2V (Chris Tran GM3WOJ)
   4. Re: ADSL reverse QRM (Ian White GM3SEK)
   5. Re: ADSL reverse QRM (ALEX LISTER)
   6. Re: ADSL reverse QRM (Peter Bowyer)
   7. Re: ADSL reverse QRM (David)
   8.  WPX CW 2012 - M3W (Nick Totterdell)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 03:17:54 +0100
From: Olof Lundberg <olof at rowanhouse.com>
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] WPX CW 2012 (M5E chez G0CKV)
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Message-ID:
	<CAEmn7PTU-bwz+ifEPcEv_gGQWqFGWx6HBJmdJqb98-30uAV3-Q at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I heard quite a number of UK stations in the WPX contest and I worked a
handful for useful multipliers. Some of the UK stations had impressive qso
numbers and it would be interesting to hear about their experiences.  I am
only on the air for occasional HF contests so I can't really judge but I
believe condx were quite reasonable. This is what I filed on 3830:

M5E was on the air from the G0CKV home QTH in suburban London running a
single K3 and no frills except for WinTest and RBN. K3 and WinTest performed
flawlessly as usual and RBN makes contesting more fun for this old-timer who
always likes evolving technology. We don't want this hobby to die and end up
in a museum, do we?

The antenna farm here was miserable and in the G0CKV tradition erected in
the last minute field-day style for the weekend, more or less identical to
this: http://g0ckv.com/g0ckv_sac2011_antennafarm.jpg , a collapsing inverted
L snarled in the trees and shrubs for 160 and 80, a 40m inverted V dipole
with apex at 25ft and a Cushcraft trap dipole at 20ft for 20-15-10.

It is very difficult to work any low-elevation DX with these low antennas
that are well shielded by the surrounding vegetation and houses but condx
were not bad so I guess I have to be happy with what I worked. Apologies for
all the repeats required and thanks to the many DX ops who patiently managed
to pick out the tiny callsign and dig out the serial number from my puny
signals.

This was an almost 100% S&P effort. When I tried to run I was either barking
(whispering?) into an empty space or a big brute came and took my frequency
pretending that he didn't hear me. I never achieved any runs in my few brief
attempts but had have several fun S&P sessions going at 80-100 q/hr. I
optimistically loaded the new beta firmware for the K3 that is supposed to
improve the K3's ability to pick out signals in pileups. Well, with this
setup I didn't have any pileups that would challenge the K3 but I guess I
was frequently part of the bottom of the pile at the other end.

With no towers or rotators or stacked yagis to maintain at this QTH I had a
few spare minutes available to consider strategy and decided to focus on
yield rather than 'dumb' rate and I think that strategy worked OK.

This was good fun with great operators generally - thanks for the QSOs and
your good ears and patience.

One lesson from this might be that you can have great fun and do kind of OK
even without a super-station in a super-location. It can be seriously fun
and exhilarating to operate from a big station but it is challenging and
satisfying in a different way to do OK as an under-dog.


 BAND   QSO DUP  PFX  POINTS   AVG
-----------------------------------
  160     2   0    0       3  1.50
   80   281   0   57     710  2.53
   40   613   4  355    1994  3.25
   20   486   1  301     992  2.04
   15   407   1  148     937  2.30
   10    39   0    7      73  1.87
-----------------------------------
TOTAL  1828   6  868    4709  2.58
===================================
      TOTAL SCORE : 4 087 412


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 08:06:21 +0100
From: "Roger Dixon" <lists at irdixon.plus.com>
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] ADSL reverse QRM
To: "'UK Contest'" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <657BF582AF2B42FE81C7D0F6BAE8483D at Chilldownstairs>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Hi All

I've been having "random" issues with my ADSL connection.  When it works
well, I get a sync speed of around 6mbps and a BT line rate of 5mbps.

 

However, from time to time I get bunches of multiple disconnects and the
line rate can drop to 250kbps.  Sometimes it recovers by its self, on other
occasions my ISP has to reset the lime.

 

I now think that I've discovered the connection between these issues - it
would appear to be the 80m club championship events!!  

 

Before I start applying ferrites everywhere I thought I would see if anyone
else has suffered in this way.  The set up is a telephone extension lead
from the master socket to the router (Thomson TG585 v8), a short Ethernet
lead  to the main house computer, a long Ethernet connection to shack
computer upstairs and a wireless connection to a Sky box and other itinerant
laptops.

 

73

Roger, G4BVY 



------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 08:16:02 +0100
From: "Chris Tran GM3WOJ" <gm3woj at christran.net>
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] WPX CW 2012 - GM2V
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <006041D7603E4B14889764F8F8D2D349 at GM7V12>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";
	reply-type=original

Hello Olof et al

Always interesting to hear how a contest went for others. We used to get
quite a lot of these reports on this reflector.

Conditions on 15m were superb here. With lots of other things to do, I was
only QRV for 19 hrs, but worked 85 countries. DXCC would have been easy if I
had bothered to do more S&P, as would many more QSOs if I had spent more
time in the shack.

Amazing to work Mike VP8NO followed immediately by JA stations - the band
was open everywhere at times.

15m Single-band HP Unassisted, 1133 Qs, 642 Pfx = 1.28M pts

K3 + Amp + WinTest 4.9.1 + 5ele monoband yagi

Used the latest firmware in the K3 - it certainly makes the stronger signals
stand out, but still unsure whether it has actually improved the pile-up
performance overall.

73
Chris
GM3WOJ / GM2V



------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 09:28:15 +0100
From: Ian White GM3SEK <gm3sek at ifwtech.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] ADSL reverse QRM
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Message-ID: <1HRdriFfczwPFAAx at ifwtech.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=us-ascii;format=flowed

Roger Dixon wrote:
>Hi All
>
>I've been having "random" issues with my ADSL connection.  When it 
>works well, I get a sync speed of around 6mbps and a BT line rate of 5mbps.
>
>
>
>However, from time to time I get bunches of multiple disconnects and 
>the line rate can drop to 250kbps.  Sometimes it recovers by its self, 
>on other occasions my ISP has to reset the lime.
>
>
>
>I now think that I've discovered the connection between these issues - 
>it would appear to be the 80m club championship events!!
>
>
>
>Before I start applying ferrites everywhere I thought I would see if 
>anyone else has suffered in this way.  The set up is a telephone 
>extension lead from the master socket to the router (Thomson TG585 v8), 
>a short Ethernet lead  to the main house computer, a long Ethernet 
>connection to shack computer upstairs and a wireless connection to a 
>Sky box and other itinerant laptops.
>

It depends on how the RF is getting into the router.

First of all, try disconnecting the ethernet cable from the router to the
PC. You always have the option of changing this to a wireless link (which
will also help reduce the many ethernet birdies on the higher bands).

If that doesn't solve the problem, it indicates that RF is reaching the
router by radiation from your antenna onto the overhead telephone line. 
QRM at 3.5MHz will then arrive at the line input of the router as a
combination of common-mode and differential-mode signals. Common-mode
currents need a ferrite choke while differential mode needs a lowpass filter
in the ADSL line. Sod's Law says you'll probably need both.

An effective ferrite choke for the low bands needs about 12 turns on an
FT240-31 toroid, or one of the chokes I described a while back using the
smaller oval type 43 toroids. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE OTHER CORES! See here for
further details:
<http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek/in-prac/index.htm#1005>

G3VMW has a very good design for an ADSL LPF (google for the link).



-- 

73 from Ian GM3SEK
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek


------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 11:29:59 +0100 (BST)
From: ALEX LISTER <alexcom22 at btopenworld.com>
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] ADSL reverse QRM
To: Roger Dixon <lists at irdixon.plus.com>,	"&#39;UK Contest&#39;"
	<uk-contest at contesting.com>
Message-ID:
	<1338200999.98093.YahooMailMobile at web87402.mail.ir2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Very likely
Similar event @ LEICESTER  RS
Plus net psu causing crap 50-430 MHz 20db + replace psu !!

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 11:49:08 +0100
From: Peter Bowyer <peter at bowyer.org>
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] ADSL reverse QRM
To: UK Contest Reflector <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Message-ID:
	<CAGfapNMy_MVJ=25kYtSSrfQ=vK-6LVFwTdjZHKgQNFUvnBYYHg at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Roger

Have you followed the general (ie non ham radio-specific) advice to fit a
new master socket baseplate with in-built filter? This effectively isolates
the house telephone wiring from the ADSL signal at the earliest point, and
might well help in your circumstances if pickup is in the general house
extension wiring.

http://www.clarity.it/telecoms/adsl_faceplate.htm is a good source of info
(and parts).

Obviously this won't make the slightest difference if the RF is getting in
elsewhere, but it might also speed your ADSL up a bit.

Peter G4MJS

On 28 May 2012 08:06, Roger Dixon <lists at irdixon.plus.com> wrote:

> Hi All
>
> I've been having "random" issues with my ADSL connection.  When it 
> works well, I get a sync speed of around 6mbps and a BT line rate of
5mbps.
>
>
>
> However, from time to time I get bunches of multiple disconnects and 
> the line rate can drop to 250kbps.  Sometimes it recovers by its self, 
> on other occasions my ISP has to reset the lime.
>
>
>
> I now think that I've discovered the connection between these issues - 
> it would appear to be the 80m club championship events!!
>
>
>
> Before I start applying ferrites everywhere I thought I would see if 
> anyone else has suffered in this way.  The set up is a telephone 
> extension lead from the master socket to the router (Thomson TG585 
> v8), a short Ethernet lead  to the main house computer, a long 
> Ethernet connection to shack computer upstairs and a wireless 
> connection to a Sky box and other itinerant laptops.
>
>
>
> 73
>
> Roger, G4BVY
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>


------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 13:51:11 -0000
From: "David" <g3yyd at btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] ADSL reverse QRM
To: "UK-Contest at contesting. com" <UK-Contest at contesting.com>
Message-ID: <00b301cd3cd8$f1021360$d3063a20$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

I concur with Ian's comments. On my router I have ferrite rings on all the
cables attached to it. These reduced to the point of no longer heard
Ethernet birdies on 20m and increase the RF power level at which the router
failed to function correctly. I then had to add a balanced LPF on the
incoming BT line to finally make it "bomb" proof on 160m. 

I have been offered BT Infinity but I understand it uses spectrum up to
about 12MHz on the BT cable. My worry is that I will take out the "Infinity"
modem when operating on bands below 14MHz. Does anyone know better?

73 David G3YYD

-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ian White GM3SEK
Sent: 28 May 2012 08:28
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] ADSL reverse QRM

Roger Dixon wrote:
>Hi All
>
>I've been having "random" issues with my ADSL connection.  When it 
>works well, I get a sync speed of around 6mbps and a BT line rate of 5mbps.
>
>
>
>However, from time to time I get bunches of multiple disconnects and 
>the line rate can drop to 250kbps.  Sometimes it recovers by its self, 
>on other occasions my ISP has to reset the lime.
>
>
>
>I now think that I've discovered the connection between these issues - 
>it would appear to be the 80m club championship events!!
>
>
>
>Before I start applying ferrites everywhere I thought I would see if 
>anyone else has suffered in this way.  The set up is a telephone 
>extension lead from the master socket to the router (Thomson TG585 v8), 
>a short Ethernet lead  to the main house computer, a long Ethernet 
>connection to shack computer upstairs and a wireless connection to a 
>Sky box and other itinerant laptops.
>

It depends on how the RF is getting into the router.

First of all, try disconnecting the ethernet cable from the router to the
PC. You always have the option of changing this to a wireless link (which
will also help reduce the many ethernet birdies on the higher bands).

If that doesn't solve the problem, it indicates that RF is reaching the
router by radiation from your antenna onto the overhead telephone line. 
QRM at 3.5MHz will then arrive at the line input of the router as a
combination of common-mode and differential-mode signals. Common-mode
currents need a ferrite choke while differential mode needs a lowpass filter
in the ADSL line. Sod's Law says you'll probably need both.

An effective ferrite choke for the low bands needs about 12 turns on an
FT240-31 toroid, or one of the chokes I described a while back using the
smaller oval type 43 toroids. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE OTHER CORES! See here for
further details:
<http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek/in-prac/index.htm#1005>

G3VMW has a very good design for an ADSL LPF (google for the link).



-- 

73 from Ian GM3SEK
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek
_______________________________________________
UK-Contest mailing list
UK-Contest at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest



------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 14:45:29 +0000
From: Nick Totterdell <ntotterdell at riverauto.co.uk>
Subject: [UK-CONTEST]  WPX CW 2012 - M3W
To: "uk-contest at contesting.com" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Message-ID:
	
<7B6D7C866639D2408DEA0442C2163F55295BB797 at RIVERSERVER2011.Riverside.local>
	
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

OK Chris - here is a report! I also enjoyed the splendid 15m conditions.

I operated from Lincolnshire from our holiday home where I continue to have
some planning issues. As a result, this would be the first opportunity to
operate from here since Beru in March 2011. I spent Friday completing the
erection of an 80 foot tower and putting a 5 ele monobander on top. 

In the evening I tried to get my Microham 2R+ working but it didn't like my
FTDX5000 or I couldn't remember how to connect it up. By midnight on Friday
I could transmit via the Microham so went to bed.

Starting at 6am, propagation to JA/BA was already pretty good so I combined
S&P and running and averaged about 60/hr. Worked JA6TIT shortly followed by
DL3BRA and wondered if they had come across each other. DL3BRA called me
again on Sunday for a dupe - two contacts is logical.

EU was not great because the skip was so long and my beam quite high. A
second lower aerial would have helped. The big guns from NA started coming
through very early.

Propagation dropped off around 4pm for a while - probably the MUF was too
high? Best run was 105/hr to W6 in the evening. Late on, propagation was
weird with JA and W6 coming from the NE.

Went to bed at 863Qs.

Started again at 6am and had a quick look at the records on my iPhone. The
record for SO HP 15m for G is 1715Qs, 670 pfx = 2.7M - set by G5G in 1999.

Normally the second day is not so good as the more active stations have
already been worked, but I thought that if I was a bit more determined, with
the excellent propagation, I could reach the record. I wound the speed up to
32wpm and tried to run more than S&P.I reached 1000 Qs at about 8:45am.

I managed to keep the rate between 50 and 80 for most of the day and didn't
notice any drop off at 4pm on Sunday but I found that beaming NE helped. I
find that the efficiency of a run frequency is inversely proportional to the
distance from the bottom of the band - conversely, the chance of holding
onto the run frequency is directly proportional to the distance - so you
can't win.

Late evening was interesting - worked ZL, W6 and JA consecutively with my
beam pointing due north - magic. In the evening, there was loud static noise
to the west which made that direction pretty unusable.

Through the contest there was really no place on the planet that was never
contactable and many simultaneously. Also some contacts had multipath
signals that made them almost unreadable - it sounded like two stations
calling on top of each other but there was only one. Lots of contacts were
by back-scatter - so a DL station could be workable when pointing west but
not when beaming at Germany.

At 11pm (2200UTC), I was getting no callers for 5 mins at a time, so I did a
final S&P from bottom to top. I had already worked the vast majority but
picked up 4O3A in this final search.

I ended after 34hr50min with 1855Qs, 888 pfx = 3.7M (claimed). I suspect
that there are a wider variety of prefixes active than in 1999 so a higher
score is slightly easier to achieve now.

Equipment was the aforementioned Yaesu and monobander with amplifier.

73
Nick
G4FAL/M3W


------------------------------

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