The AM Forum

I just returned from spending the Summer in Europe, managed to string the longwire in the trees after a dozen attempts with the sling-shot, and the 4D32 in the Collins 32V3 shows signs of life. Give a listen around 21.430 Mhz these next few days. I'll try and stir the ether starting around 0800 PDST.

73's

daniel W7NGA
San Juan Island, Wa.

Dan...Welcome back....15 Meters has been noisy with not a lot of activity the past month or so....I'll be listening for you to stir up some stations..Gud Luk...Steve

Welcome back!

Thanks .. it's nice to get back on the air once again. The problem is that the band is dead. I've been listening all day, calling CQ regularly, and not hearing a thing. I'm guessing everyone is out enjoying the weather and BBQ'ing.

Another gorgeous day here on San Juan Island. You'd think with this view, all that saltwater, and a longwire up almost 100' ... that I could work somebody! :)

daniel W7NGA

Yahoo! The band is coming alive. Just talked to Bud WD8BIL on 21.430 Mhz at noon and I now hear another QSO (N3JXB) down on 21.420 Mhz.

daniel W7NGA

Dan..I thought at 1st it was just sumptin happinin' at ur part of the world..I was wrong..today at a little after 1600 UTC there you were in "Q" with K0ETD..21.430..did not copy him..you were at times S7 and a bit more..tried calling as you did mention you were monitoring in the shack all day..you probably didn't hear me as I think K0ETD was calling CQ after ur chat with him..so der ya go Dan makin' it across the country as far as possible I suppose as we're about 2 miles in from the Atlantic here..one way but hey we will once agn have a chat very soon......by the way somewhat I guess like you I'm always checking that band for any AM prop just about every day..usually around the noon hour here (1600 UTC)..for now I have given up on 10mtrs..73 de DAVE

The band looks open today (Tuesday) as well. Calling CQ on 21.430 right now and seeing big SSB signals down the band at this time.

Rob W1AEX

Its whispering....  w7nga was testing, but he just went aaah waay. There are spots of SSB and a little CW coming through here.

klc

There were three stations calling CQ at the same time on 21.430 Mhz.

W1AEX
K0IEO
K1GUP

The band just can't get going this morning. Signals are weak with QSB.

I decided to leave the frequency to others. Called CQ down on 21.420 Mhz without response.

dan W7NGA

After a brief QSO with Dan W7NGA I took a break and when I wandered back into the station I spotted a big signal from G8NOF breaking through very nicely on 21.430. Glenn was getting ready to step away from the station but I was able to chat with him for a minute or two. The brief audio sample is an indication of how nice his Flex 5K was sounding today. I also had the pleasure of working K0ETD - Ron from Tucson, AZ down on 21.420. Under the current conditions he was a bit light into CT but he is reaching S-7 now as he chats with Jeff in Washington. There are still some big SSB stations showing up on the panadapter down below so the band is up to something today.

Rob W1AEX

I was hearing W1AW/7 from Oregon 5-9 at times. Several of the stations calling him were stronger from W1-W2-W3 land. He was on 21330. After some careful zero beating, I managed to contact him with my G-76 on AM with about 35 watts carrier. He heard me pretty good I think since he repeated everything I said back to me.

Then I went to 21425, and worked Dan W7NGA on AM. I was using my amplifier that time, making about 180 watts carrier. The band was up and down, but we did have a nice QSO.

Not too many stations on that band, and yet I know its open more often then folks expect. If we all listen there will be nothing heard except noise.

Jim
Wd5JKO

I'm working on an old Tektronix 561B oscilloscope. Painting the sides now, and full calibration earlier this morning. A really sweet scope to snoop the 455 kHz I.F. on the R-390A.
After a bit of work it now looks like it just came off the factory floor in 1969.

My wife will gladly point out that I have 15 other scopes, a few are state-of-the-art, so why am I spending so much of my life buying oscilloscopes on eBay?

Well, a wise man I once worked with at Tektronix said 'You can never have enough oscilloscopes' and I believed him!

I listen to 21.430 Mhz all the day and call CQ on the hour. I keep hoping conditions will improve.

daniel W7NGA
San Juan Island, Wa.

Dan,

   I had a Tek 547 with a 1A4 plug-in. That was a nice scope. Like many of that era, the problem was the potted high voltage transformer. The potting material would get lossy, and eventually the regulation of the high voltage suffers. This would result in a dimming out trace. I got a rewound transformer from a retired Tektronix technician. That gave my Tek scope some renewed life.

   Will look for you tomorrow on 15m AM.

Jim
Wd5JKO

Wish I could get the HV transformer for the RM503 rewound. Unfortunately its cost used is as much as the old rackmount XY scope is worth, despite its popularity.