----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 3:21
PM
Subject: LF: RE: 73k activity.
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
Hi
Simon
You are in an excellent QTH for the TA tests. I was going to beam out
towards the Atlantic before the Summer arrives with the associated QRN. When
propogation looks reasonable we could give it a blast. Alan has some good
indicators so he will let us know on here what is happening. I didnt bother
this past few months because I was using the antennas for dxing on 160
metres. I have had several good solid QSO'S the previous winter on
136 khz with replies from the USA/CANADA xband on 7025
khz.
Your signal here in Scarborough is the strongest on the 136 khz
band.
73
de Mal/G3KEV
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
