Oh my ! 2E0ILY is making improvements, I best set to work building
that attenuator to protect my receiver... ;-)
I realize one cannot directly compare S/N reported by different
modes in different software but I had Chris up to -24 on WSPR2 mode
during the quiet winter months. I have reason to believe we missed
the best of season when it could have been a few dB more. I suspect
we won't see those numbers now due to increased QRN and less 'deep'
common darkness at this time of year but who knows.
I really appreciate the effort put forth by all who are transmitting
on LF. I am having much fun receiving signals from across the pond !
I wish I had some competition over here in the receiving department.
I have no idea how I'm really doing as there is no one to compare
against. :-)
I've got a full summer's work to do on the TX side but if I get a
chance I will put up some more RX antennas too...
73 Paul
On 04/14/2017 11:40 AM, Chris Wilson wrote:
Hello Graham,
14 April 2017
W1VD amp fed from my U3S, into my usual short (20 foot) vertical with
my big HF horizontal quad loop (450 foot plus) as a top hat. Been
mowing the lawn today and found the rabbits have chewed through some
of the ground wires where they are above ground awaiting me
terminating them properly to bolt to 5 off 8 foot ground rods driven
fully in. I have spent a couple of hours soldering ring terminals on
and repairing damage, tomorrow I hope to bolt the terminals to the 2
inch diameter galvanised steel tubes that form the ground rods.
Previously I just had twisted wire and some Chinese croc clip, very
thin leads, a right hash up ;) No means of measuring antenna current
as yet, another thing on the "to do" list...Amp draws 20 Amps from a
52V switch mode computer supply that is 50 Amp + capable. Given how
short the vertical is, and with it being 6 feet from the end of the
bungalow, it can't be very efficient. When my pal is next over I may
look seriously at how to get some proper height.
The amp got a real work out last night with 1 OPERA32 TX, followed by
4 off WSPR2 TX's then a quick frequency recal and cycle again. Amp
just barely warm, FET's stone cold this morning. Matching transformer
box quite warm, as was the loading coil, both outside in a green
wheelie bin (That's what the council intended them for, isn't it...?
:)) Hope to TX again tonight, OPERA and WSPR2 again. May change
frequency tomorrow to move out of Paul's NIBUG noise, but will ask in
a separate post if anyone has a problem with me re-tuning to 137.565
from my usual 137.559 spot.
It would be VERY nice if some more US stations listened with OPERA as
well as WSPR :) N1BUG's little modified Softrock receiver is doing
brilliantly, and I have now got all the bits to duplicate one here, my
RX side is pretty feeble. Also I can't TX and RX as no means of
changing over the antenna between RX and TX as yet. So listen by day,
TX by night is the best I can do right now. Happy Easter everyone,
have a good weekend.
--
Paul
N1BUG 160m-2m DXCC Honor Roll
WI2XTC 2200m-630m Experimental license
FN55mf ME Piscataquis County
http://www.n1bug.com
http://www.aurorasentry.com
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