----- 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
