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Yes
great fun weekend/week HI!
Don't
tell everyone about the Tunnocks - they are home grown specialities HI!
:-)))
The
noise level on 136 has dropped over the past few days - maybe living in the
magnetically challenged north over solid whinstone means that I will be affected
more by solar activity - it was up to a KP 6 or more over the weekend and indeed
a loud aurora was in progress when David arrived here - we listened to 6M
auroral CW from GB3LER at 56A - normally inaudible
I will
improve the antenna over the summer ready for autumn and try get it higher and
perhaps straighter!
Last
night I was listening and saw OK1DTN and EA1PX on QRSS so its looks promising
although OK1DTN did not seem to see me calling him back.
will
be on most evenings - I have an interest in DSP techniques so QRSS will prob be
where you will find me!
thanks
to Mal G3KEV and Alan G3NYK for help and reports so far, plus some reports from
EU to say I have been hrd in DL as well.
I have
an excellent site for the US so am interested in skeds if anyone in US wants me
to TX overnight
regards
Simon
GM4PLM
What an
exciting weekend that was.
I haven't been on LF for some time as my
local noise level here in London has been slowly increasing. LF here is now a
lost cause during the daytime. However an invitation to operate from Scotland,
albeit a 879 mile return journey, was just too good to miss.
Simon
GM4PLM, XYL Lynn and their family made me very welcome and I must say a big
thank you to them all for the hospitality and the incredibly nice "Tunnock's
tea cakes"
All 3 of the 'DX-peditions' (GM3YXM GM0MRF G3GRO/ M0BMU)
had problems to overcome. Our Farmhouse QTH suffered from a constant
background noise which we were able to reduce to usable levels, but sadly not
to eliminate completely. Sorry Mike, G3XDV, a good 'T' but not enough to read
the detail, even though we had good copy on the G3YXM Birmingham 'remote
receiver.'
I had expected a very poor ground but, to my surprise, the
overall system impedance was somewhere near 40 Ohms. This was unexpected as
GM3YXM has always found 100+ Ohms typical at his New Galloway QTH.
The
antenna at GM0MRF / GM4PLM was 125m of wire supported by Simon's tower near
the house abt 50 feet up and at the far end by a 30 foot portable mast. A 20
ft pole in the middle of the run reduced the sag. - Not an exceptional LF
antenna, but a good temporary installation. For insulators we used electric
fence supports as much recommended over the years by Mal G3KEV. The system
earth was the house earth and a single 100m wire which was clipped to one of
the farm's perimeter fences.
On 71.9kHz this combination was resonated
with a single big variable inductor which I've just measured at 5.81mH.
For most of the weekend we ran about 2.5A of antenna current, but as the
noise problems encountered by G3GRO and M0BMU became apparent, Simon and I
threw caution to the wind and began turning up the supply voltage to the TX.
When we finally worked Derek and Jim we had gone from 28V @ 10A to
34V@14A and had 3.4 Amps into the antenna.
Stations worked on
72k
GM3YXM
MI0AYZ
G3LDO apx 580km
G3AQC apx 569km
G3GRO
610km
Also
had a number of 136kHz QSOs, including Mal at S9+ CW and DL2HRE QRSS.
Now the equipment has had the dust removed, it's good to see Simon
operating on 136kHz.
I understand via e-mail that he now has 30V at 20Amps
into the TX. Not bad for a modified 250W linear PCB.
Hopefully people will
try to have a QSO with him before summer static makes reception too
unpleasant. Maybe this autumn we'll finally see a GM transatlantic QSO.
Thanks all
David G(M)0MRF
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