The AM Forum

I set up a preliminary Tx loop antenna (build out of old 16 or 18ga clothesline wire on the deck) and VE3AWA rated my signal at S9. He's about 150 km southwest of me.

I've since changed the Tx loop to something of a heavier gauge wire and a bit smaller so I can engage greater tuning capacitance.

Tomorrow evening at 9:00 pm I'll transmit the letter "S" (Morse Code) on 3620 kHz for 10 minutes at full power. (I don't have a working modulator yet so I'm just tapping out the only letter I know in Morse Code, the letter "S").

Can anyone e-mail me (yaktur at yahoo.com) or PM me and let me know if the signal was picked up and if so, what was the strength/quality?

Thanks and 73s
geo
VE3GZB

How big is that loop?

give is the time Zulu 'cause I don't know what time zone ur in.
I have to be some place from 00:30 to 01:30 Z but if I can I will try to tune in.


tnx

Rob K5UJ

That's 9:00 PM EDST.  He's in Ontario.  That would be GMT -5 or 02:00 Z

Thanks Ed.

R.

Yes, GMT-5 is my time zone, sorry about that!


The new loop is wound on the deck wooden railing in an "L" shape using outdoor speaker wire (one pair of 16 ga twisted together in parallel) to transmit E-W as well as N-S.

Each part of the "L" is 4ft X 8ft and measures 30uH.

The first loop measured 47uH and was 16ft X 4 ft on each part of the "L" with old clothesline wire (16 or 18ga).

I wanted a lower inductance so I could engage more capacitance.

With the first larger loop made of old clothesline VE3AWA gave me an S9 signal strength 150km southwest of me. I'm hoping this heavier new loop will perform better?

73s
geo
VE3GZB

I just completed the test. I transmitted in CW the letter "S" from 9:00 to 9:15 pm (GMT-5) on 3620kHz.

Did anyone receive it?

73s
geo
VE3GZB

Hi George,

I listened for about a minute tuning around 3620.  Now, this was at 02:08 Z.  I hope I had the time right.  If you were transmitting between 02:00 and 02:15 then I was there but I didn't hear anything.  It's a really good idea to use Z (a.k.a. UTC or GMT) time for scheduling things like this so everyone knows precisely what time you are going to transmit. 

I am about 40 miles west of chicago; I tried listening on my dipole and vertical.  It's important to point out that I have a very high noise level, around S9 here in town.  To get over that you would probably have to have at least 50 to 100 watts and something like a dipole at 40 feet or higher.  In other words, that I could not hear you may not mean anything given my noise level.  If you try it again, I will take another stab at it trying a couple of tricks I didn't have time to try tonight.

73

Rob K5UJ

Ok, I'll try again tonight, same time 9 pm Toronto time, same frequency (3620).

73s
geo
VE3GZB

George, what did I just tell you?  Figure out what 9 pm Toronto time (which is totally meaningless to anyone outside of Ontario) is in UTC and give that time.  Hams (except for shack-on-a-belt VHF FM fake hams) use UTC.  I don't know about anyone else but if you want me to try to hear you, you have to give me a time I can use. 

73

Rob K5UJ

He's normally -5 UTC, with +1UTC for DST till Nov 1st, soooo he'll be transmitting at 0100UTC

It would be best to send an ID and the word test, soooooo

...- . ...-- --. --.. -... , - . ... -
V   E   3    G   Z    B    T E S T

 ;D

Or you could just call CQ and see if anyone answers.  :o

Well, I don't have a working modulator running yet - just now I'm still trying to make an antenna that works! I'm still working on the technical bits of making the hardware run.

And I don't know the code so even if I parrotted a CD in code, I wouldn't understand what I'm hearing (I need something that will train my ears to recognize code as I would learn a song for any paid gig).

Anyway, I'll try again with letter "S" tonight, same frequency, same time.

Thanks and 73s
geo
VE3GZB

ok well it will be 8 PM in Texas. I'll listen, best be stoking the boiler if I am to hear you!

At 0100Z I hear on 3621.55 khz , a carrier that shifts upwards slightly (100hz) in frequency, as if to be sending an "S".
It's about S9 here in central Verminmont.


Like this....


___-_-_-_____-_-_-____-_-_-______-_-_-_____-_-_-______-_-_-_____

Now at 0113z ,

Dropped to 3621.12 khz, still S9, but sounding "buzzy"....

Maybe heat getting to it...?

Now 0115z, hearing single "S"s , no carrier in between....

Shifting around in frequency.

I completed testing just a few minutes ago at 9:25 pm.

I tried a bit of an experiment, that was probably the buzzing - I thought the contrast between my key up and key down maybe was not great enough.

So I modified the circuit half way through the test to allow a much greater contrast between key up and key down (I don't have a "key" I'm just tapping a test wire against a circuit ground, occasionally getting a bit of a spark).

The uninterrupted CW was while I was adjusting the circuit wiring, sorry about that.

Central Vermont? Seriously??? You're not kidding me, are you?

And yes, as it warms, I can see the frequency trend downward slightly on my freq. counter.

Gee, I'm amazed? Central Vermont? Am I reading this right?

If this is so, then the next thing to work on is a proper modulator so my signal is dynamic enough to be heard and not be perceived as just a carrier. And then I want to experiment to see how low I can drop the signal power and still be heard.

Ideally I'd like to run QRP - but I'm in a valley and even if i could put up a 100ft mast, I'd still be another 100ft below ground level compared to other geographic locations.

73s
geo
VE3GZB

Nope, not kidding....
If I was kidding, I'd have said I was in Arizona, or some other far off land...
 ;D

I was going to record a snippit, but didn't have the correct software loaded...

I'm in   FN34nx

Antenna is nothing special, just a 75m dipole 55feet up in the tree branches, wire running N to S.

Using the QS1R SDR rx, no preamp, no amplified front end etc....
Easy copy.

Bruce

Gee, thanks! The only other location that gave me an S9 was in St. Mary's, Ontario - that's where VE3AWA lives.

Apparently down by Lake Erie my signal is very weak.

The linear distance between Grand Valley Ontario and Granville Vermont is approx. 600km (360 miles)! Not bad! I wonder if the signal will travel overseas!

I heard an increase in noise that lasted a long time, went away, then came back. No morse. I do not think I received the test.

Opcom - Yea, I think you're right, I was sending "S", not noise. Can't send noise! :)

I'm going to try again tonight, I've asked some hams in South Africa to see if they can pick me up. Same time, same frequency, same code. 73s VE3GZB

Maybe this should move to the QSO forum? :)  Do you have a receiver?  You can  send in CW (as you're doing now), AND work a split with a receiver...  Tuned to another frequency, you could operate FULL DUPLEX!, like a phone.

DX spotting is cool, but getting REAL TIME reports is even better :)  Kudos to you for building your stuff, as well.

--Shane

Sounds like a neat idea, but just now my receiver antenna is right next to the transmitter antenna. I'm still in the experimental stage so I haven't reorganized or found the optimum configurations yet.

So I usually keep my receiver disconnected from the antenna while I'm transmitting. I'll get it sorted out of course, but just now I am concentrating on verifying this loop for transmitting purposes (we use HF loops at work daily, that's the business we're in - just not at these power levels!).

Looking forward to tonight! I'll see if I can add a few more bits of code including a letter "S" but don't expect miracles - I'm more of a technical person (wanted to do this stuff since I was just a kid)!

73s
geo
VE3GZB

I completed another round of tests this evening for 1/2 hour, same frequency and same time as last night.

This time I transmitted "Testing VE3GZB" in Morse, then continued with "S" in Morse (I was reading it off a page from an old book so it was rather clumsy).

I made last minute modifications to the antenna tuner (had some varicap flashover last night, I got back from picking up my stepson and then replaced the offending varicap with one that was beefier, just in time for 9 pm).

Did anyone receive the signals?
73s
geo
VE3GZB

www.smeter.net

Your friend.

--Shane

I'll try again tomorrow night, same frequency, same time!

73s
geo
VE3GZB

PS: How does this smeter.net work? It all seems to require some PDA or cell phone? (I own none of those leashes). Does it somehow tie into other people's radios?

Apparently VE3WXB in Ottawa received my signal last night and gave 578 report! :) Cool!

I've made modifications to the tuner (beefier varicaps now) and made it possible to switch between two different transmitting loops. My receiving antenna is now independent (horizontally stretched out clothesline, I pulled down the non-functioning loaded dipole).

I'll be testing again Tuesday night 10:30 pm EST (Toronto time) at 3560 and my receiver will monitor 3700 for any AM/SSB feedback.

73s
geo