Sorry - I sent an old version of John's weekend report yesterday.
Here is the correct version.
Kate G4JAI
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Stations worked here over the weekend on 136kHz using normal speed CW:
Friday 30/7
DJ5BV (06.26UT: gave him 549QSB, he gave me 539), G6NB (14.55: 579QRN, 599).
Saturday 31/7
PA0LEG (07.23: 459QRM, 549), G3YXM (08.09: 59+9, 59+9).
Sunday 1/8
GW4ALG (13.05: 589QRN, 589QRN).
Not a good weekend for me! During my QSO with PA0LEG I was careless with a
croc-clip on the 12V supply which shorted and pulsed the drive. This caused
both output FETs to explode spectacularly, and put me off air for most of the
day whilst I dismantled everything and replaced the FETs and driver chip.
I've got away quite lightly in the past, so I guess it had to happen
eventually.......
The other problem during that QSO was the sudden re-appearance of QRM from
the local SMPSU. I had been curious why this kept appearing just as I went
on 136kHz, so on Sunday morning I keyed up the TX *ONCE* only, and then
went back to receive. Sure enough, up came the PSU buzz! It's pretty obvious
I'm suffering with some new item at a neighbour's which has a SMPSU in
'standby' mode - when I TX, it switches on. Aaaaargh!
That stopped me hearing any DX, so we went cycling instead (nice morning
anyway). When we got back at lunchtime, the buzz was off so I tried some
more tests. I dropped the TX power one switch position and keyed the TX once
- all still fine. Then I switched back to full power and keyed again -
BUZZZZZ!!!!!
Looks like I'm going to have to run reduced power for a while.
Finally, with the hot weather the static has been very bad in the afternoons
so the contacts with G6NB and GW4ALG were hard work amongst the crashes. Dare
I say "roll on winter"??
Regards John G4GVC near Leicester, IO92JP
** TX: Synth + 400W RF from modified 'G3YXM' Mosfet PA **
** RX: TS-850S with 3 x CW filters and 0.5ppm TCXO **
** Ant: Inv-L 60m long, 6m high at feed end, 12m high at far end **
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