Which is broken?

[w1vtp]

Is the 75 meter band broken is is my antenna broken?  Signals are really down.  Even noise is down.  Everything tunes up as per normal

I'm listening to a local SSB QSO and sigs seem OK except sig levels are low - sortof like high absorption levels

Al

[Pete, WA2CWA]

It's summer and the middle of the afternoon. High absorption level is the norm.

[w1vtp]

It's summer and the middle of the afternoon. High absorption level is the norm.

I know all that Pete.  But this was way weird.  It was like disconnecting the ANT.  I am accustomed to hearing some noise.  This was dead.  Subquently to this post I did contact those SSB'ers and they said the same thing so I feel better

[K5IIA]

Did they still give you a 5/9 fb sig Ol man though. 

[KF1Z]

There was a M2.8 flare that peaked at 19:18z


Can't believe that you didn't think of solar flares as a possible culprit.

 

[Pete, WA2CWA]

It's summer and the middle of the afternoon. High absorption level is the norm.

I know all that Pete.  But this was way weird.  It was like disconnecting the ANT.  I am accustomed to hearing some noise.  This was dead.  Subquently to this post I did contact those SSB'ers and they said the same thing so I feel better

I had the rigs on from roughly 4 to 6 PM. Heard AM activity on 3837 and various SSB chatter up and down the band. 20 meters was wall to wall signals from all over the U.S. and beyond. 15 and 10 meters were pretty much dead for any strong signals. Typical summer static was prevalent on both 40 and 80 meters. Seemed pretty typical for me considering the hour and the time of year.

[KD5TXX]

I noticed the same thing on 20m this afternoon in my mobile.  Real quiet.  Then I saw an A on my screen and realized what I had done

[K5UJ]

It's summer and it's hot.  75 and 160 m. condx stink except occasionally late at night or early in the morning.  Can't speak for everyone but I have no interest in getting all set up only to have to shut it all down due to a storm.  Also shack temp  in the afternoon is at least 80 degrees.  I'm spending all my time doing repairs, fixing up various estate/garage sale purchases and so on.  Today I got a $5 estate sale saw running like a sewing machine.

[w1vtp]

There was a M2.8 flare that peaked at 19:18z


Can't believe that you didn't think of solar flares as a possible culprit.

 

I shudda zeroed in on that possibility, Bruce, but this really was different from other times - at one point there really was no difference between the ANT and the load. That's what had me buffalowed.  I even disconnected the ANT at that point and there was no diff...

Later on about the time Pete mentioned, there was good activity.

Thanks, Al

[Pete, WA2CWA]

There was a M2.8 flare that peaked at 19:18z


Can't believe that you didn't think of solar flares as a possible culprit.

 

I shudda zeroed in on that possibility, Bruce, but this really was different from other times - at one point there really was no difference between the ANT and the load. That's what had me buffalowed.  I even disconnected the ANT at that point and there was no diff...

Later on about the time Pete mentioned, there was good activity.

Thanks, Al

If you didn't hear any difference between antenna connected vs. disconnected, there may some other intermittent type issue. With the Flex, at least on my Flex, there is a definite difference in the noise floor with the antenna connected vs not connected unless I choose the wrong antenna for the particular band I want to work.

[W3RSW]

-Thermnal (black body) noise differential between the receiver's front end or direct detector and background radiation of antenna temp., atmospheric, and astronomical radiation.

Exactly the same noise diff. may mean that some agc, or rf gain adjustments have been desensed equally.

[KM1H]

So a flare desensed a Flex radio?  I wonder what would happen if it was something serious?

What does that use for front end filtering/selectivity?

[W3RSW]

No, I just meant that Al might have backed down his agc or similar.  Spewing of grandiose verbosity is one of my many faults. 

[w1vtp]

No, I just meant that Al might have backed down his agc or similar.  Spewing of grandiose verbosity is one of my many faults. 

No on the AGC.  I may be 75 but haven't gotten that bad.  Next time I'll put the Flex 1500 on.  That would answer the question about the Flex 5000 being broken.  Another approach would be to put a calibrated sig generator.  That would have put the "maybe broken Flex 5000" question to bed.

I just wondered if anyone had experienced the same thing I had.  Been a ham for 60 years but never seen anything like this.  I finally did get some collaborating info by the so called '64 Irregulators on 3864  that there was a short period where communication had taken a serious dip.

Regards, Al