Return-Path: Received: (qmail 11041 invoked from network); 13 Nov 1999 02:33:50 +0000 Received: from unknown (HELO magnus.force9.net) (195.166.128.27) by guiness.force9.net with SMTP; 13 Nov 1999 02:33:50 +0000 Received: (qmail 24225 invoked from network); 13 Nov 1999 02:32:38 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO post.thorcom.com) (212.172.148.70) by magnus.plus.net.uk with SMTP; 13 Nov 1999 02:32:38 -0000 Received: from majordom by post.thorcom.com with local (Exim 3.02 #1) id 11mSlj-0004Ws-00 for rsgb_lf_group-outgoing@blacksheep.org; Sat, 13 Nov 1999 02:18:23 +0000 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Received: from ds-img-3.compuserve.com ([149.174.206.136] helo=spdmgaac.compuserve.com) by post.thorcom.com with esmtp (Exim 3.02 #1) id 11mSli-0004Vu-00 for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Sat, 13 Nov 1999 02:18:22 +0000 Received: (from mailgate@localhost) by spdmgaac.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.7) id VAA26992 for rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org; Fri, 12 Nov 1999 21:17:46 -0500 (EST) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 21:14:50 -0500 From: "DEREK ATTER" Subject: LF: Good signals from MM0ALM in Sussex To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org Message-ID: <199911122117_MC2-8CE6-AE62@compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Disposition: inline Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org X-Listname: rsgb_lf_group Sender: Worked Dave MM0ALM last night (11th Nov) at 22.00 UTC for the first time on 136.90Khz and exchanged 559 reports both ways despite high levels of QRN. When he first called CQ at around 22.10 his signals were RST439 but gradually improved during the QSO. The distance is 670Km. (Thanks to Rik, ON7YD for your signal reports of that QSO posted on the reflector ) Yesterday I reluctantly sacrificed over 2metres off the top of a mature willow tree which is almost immediately under the main span of the 3-wire top loading of the LF antenna and which had grown to about 35ft high and about the same in diameter of the crown. It looked very attractive but it had grown so much that some of the fronds almost touched the antenna wire and had it had now begun to dominate one part of the garden. The vertical clearance between the wire and the top of the tree after pruning is now about 10 to 12 ft . The tree surgeon also cut back another tree which had also grown close to the horizontal wire and also fairly close to the vertical section. The antenna current has now increased significantly by around 20 % (to 2.3A with 300W RF) which seems to confirm a previous report recently posted on the reflector ( I think from Mike G3XDV) of increased antenna current after cutting back foliage close to the antenna. - It remains to see what the effect on the signal !!. I am also in the process of increasing the height of the end supports of the antenna in the near future so that the vertical section will be increased in length by about 12ft from 36ft to 48 ft and it will be interesting to see what effect that has on the signal. 73 Derek G3GRO ( Crawley, West Sussex IO91VC)