Return-Path: <majordom@post.thorcom.com> Received: (qmail 29857 invoked from network); 15 Oct 2001 10:28:20 -0000 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Received: from unknown (HELO warrior-inbound.services.quay.plus.net) (212.159.14.227) by excalibur-qfe1-smtp-plusnet.harl.plus.net with SMTP; 15 Oct 2001 10:28:20 -0000 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Received: (qmail 174 invoked from network); 15 Oct 2001 10:26:04 -0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Received: from unknown (HELO post.thorcom.com) (212.172.148.70) by warrior with SMTP; 15 Oct 2001 10:26:04 -0000 Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 3.33 #2) id 15t4jf-0003vS-00 for rsgb_lf_group-outgoing@blacksheep.org; Mon, 15 Oct 2001 11:12:39 +0100 Received: from k2.pncl.co.uk ([212.35.226.183]) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #2) id 15t4ja-0003vL-00 for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Mon, 15 Oct 2001 11:12:37 +0100 Received: from 233.pncl.co.uk (117.235.35.212.in-addr.arpa.ip-pool.cix.co.uk [212.35.235.117]) by k2.pncl.co.uk (8.11.3/8.11.3) with ESMTP id f9FABqe13643 for <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>; Mon, 15 Oct 2001 11:11:52 +0100 Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20011015100252.00a7fec0@mail.pncl.co.uk> X-Sender: blanch@mail.pncl.co.uk X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.0.2 Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 11:11:21 +0100 To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org From: "Walter Blanchard" <blanch@pncl.co.uk> Subject: LF: MB7LF MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group Sender: <majordom@post.thorcom.com> Can't help feeling some of the reaction to MB7LF is premature. It isn't a fixture; it's experimental only; you don't HAVE to use it even if you're within range; and if QSO's through it are thought to be "not playing the game" then so be it. We can easily say that no QSO's through it reckon for any award. But it wasn't set up for DX'ing. A lot of amateurs, some known to me personally, don't have huge antenna farms and don't live in the nice quiet countryside but would like to have a go at LF anyway. They can't hear much because of all the tellys and SMPSU's and haven't the space for more than a little inverted-L so anything they put out is only going to be in the milliwatt, probably microwatt, range. There is still a lot of interest to be had putting even that out, as I've been finding myself lately, but nobody much will hear it. A repeater can at least confirm you're putting out something, which is nice. It also helps considerably fiddling about with coil tuning and aerial layouts. You're very lucky if you know a co-operative ham who has nothing to do but listen to your weak transmissions for hours on end reporting slight changes in strength. Meters in the shack don't tell all. Yesterday I put my microwatt squeaker on the air and although all the indications in the shack were normal I could see from the repeater I wasn't getting out. My aerial feeder had blown into a large and very wet bush and when I pulled it clear all was normal again. And the difference between low and high-Q coils can be seen in seconds. I only wish there were a lot more repeaters around me so I could get the sort of signal-strength measurements Jim MBU has been doing lately without having to spend days driving around the countryside. Walter G3JKV.