Message-ID: <28661.199912131815@gemini>
From: "James Moritz" <j.r.moritz@herts.ac.uk>
Organization: University of Hertfordshire
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 18:15:42 +0000
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Subject: LF: M0BMU - First week on LF
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Dear All,

Many thanks to all the stations who have worked me during the last 
week or so, for the very warm welcome I have received, and their 
patience with my patchy morse capabilities! It has made all the 
work involved in getting on LF thoroughly worthwhile.
	
Some details of my station:
	
Location: Brookmans Park, near Hatfield, Herts - just across the 
road from the well known MF broadcast site - locator IO91VR. 
Please note - the address in the call book is now superceded - but 
any mail to that address will be re-directed  OK for the forseeable 
future.

TX: 100W from VFO & modified Maplin mosfet audio amp - manual 
CW only at the moment.

RX: Homebrew superhet covering 0-150kHz. About 400Hz 
bandwidth.

Antenna: Inverted L, 30m long and 5m high, two wires in top 
section, joined at feed end and spaced 4m apart at far end.
About 8 ground rods spread around garden. Matching by adjustable 
series loading coils, and multi-tapped ferrite cored transformer. 
Aerial current 1.4A

Best DX to date - GW4ALG, PA0SE, MM0ALM, ON6ND.

Regarding the discussion on insulators, I am using W.H.Westlake's 
4 inch "dog bone" insulators (see RadComm) - these are made of 
some resilient black plastic, seem to be very strong, and I have 
experienced no problems operating in the wet. I realise that I am 
running quite QRP compared to some stations, but they are light 
enough to string 2 or 3 in series if breakdown were a problem. 
They seem quite a good deal at 75p. 

I have also been playing with 10m telescopic fiberglass poles, of 
the same type shown on GW4ALG's web pages, to prop up the 
middle of my antenna and so gain a few metres. Like Steve, I 
found these whipped about in the wind a lot, but  have now guyed 
them using monofilament "strimmer line" from a garden shop, tied 
round the antenna wires with no further insulation. These were not 
harmed by operating in the rain either, even with the key held down 
continuously for 30 seconds. 

I expect to be on LF on several days over the holiday period - 
hope to hear you there!

Cheers,
Jim Moritz, M0BMU