Bored & looking for a QSO

[AF9J]

The weather is beautiful today (70F and sunny right now).  I did some bumming (while looking for a place to do QRP To The Field - all of the good picnic tables were taken at the local parks, only leaving the ones located in the wet sinkholes left over from 3 days worth of rain - bummer!!).  I'd love to QSO.  I'd like to try 40, or even 20 for some AM, but the K & A indices are 3 & 27, respectively, which is pre-auroral.  Anybody interested in 40 on a long shot?  I'd do 75, but I'm at a loss.  Due to all of the rain we  had recently, my powerline noise is beyond insane.  I've attached a photo of the lines that are less than a block away from my apartment building.  You've gotta love the 12, 250 kV lines!  Who wants to chat with a PW?

Ellen - AF9J

[W1GFH]

Give us a time and frequ. when you will call CQ. I'll at least listen and give you a sig reprt if I hear anything.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Just think if you were at Scarborough Reef:



or on this rock:

[AF9J]

Tell me about it Pete!  But, you've gotta love that rats nest of noisemakers I have to deal with, called powerlines!  LOL  It'll be interesting to see how well the SX-96 I bought, deals with the noise. 

OK everybody.  I got off of the phone. I don't feel like screwing with retuning the Swan 270B (besides it's 2.7 kHz filter gives it mediocre AM receive audio).  20 is toast.  I just checked 40, and there are some US signals coming in, so 40 it is, with th 897D ricebox.  I'll be calling CQ at a whopping 20W of carrier, on 7290.

Ellen - AF9J

[AF9J]

I called CQ for about 25 min on 7290.  Nothing heard.  There are only a few QSOs in progress on 40m.  I did a quick check in 75m, and I heard some slopbucket stuff on 75, but no AM.  BUT, I did go to 160, and there's a roundtable on 1986 kHz, that I'm trying to break into.  If anybody wants to try 160, I'm game (I've loved the band ever since college in the 80s). I have a wild thought - my Cheyenne only does as low as 80/75. Hmmmmm, maybe Class E for 160?  Might be thought for down the road, when I have the cash.   I'll be on 160 with the ricebox.

Ellen - AF9J

[KF1Z]

Listened for you on 7290....
MIGHT have heard a faint carrier...

AM qsos on 3.875  .880   and .885  right now....

1's 2's and 3's

But NOISY band here tonight....

[AF9J]

Did you try answering me Bruce?  I thought I heard bits and pieces of a signal a couple of times, but I wasn't sure, since I have breakthrough from those stupid AM Broadcast stations a mile down the road, if I don't have the noise cancelling antenna set up just right.  I'm not surprised 75 is noisy tonight.  We had a minor geomagnetic storm, and the K is at 3, and the A is at 27.  So we're pre-auroral (not enought to get me on 2m doing Auroral work on CW [K needs to be at least 5 for that]), and the band is noisy. If I get fed up, I'll go back up to 75, and fire up the Swan.

73 & thanks for listening for me,
Ellen - AF9J

[K1MVP]

Ellen,
  You should be able to hear lots of am signals from your QTH(Wisconsin) coming from Michigan, and
  Ohio , I would think.
  I have no trouble on 40 AM running only 40 to 50 watts working into Ohio,i.e., W8VYZ, ol
  Bill who puts in a BIG signal here into Vermont.
  Bill also does not care if you are PW,--if he can barely hear you, he will talk to you.
  I once talked to him running a homebrew 6L6 rig on AM running only 20 watts.
  He usually gets on during mid day on 40 during weekdays and many times on Saturday mornings.

                                                73, Rene, K1MVP   

[AF9J]

Thanks for the encouraging words Rene.   Also, thanks for selling me the SX-96.  My check, and the book I photocopied for you, should arrive by Monday (they told me at the Post Office that it would take about 3 days to get to you).  I hope you find some of the old glowbug circuits useful to you.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

P.S - for anybody that's reading this thread.  I've had a copy of Dave Ingram's book "Golden Classics of Yesteryear".  It is a retrospective, of rigs from the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. It also has some of the representative circuits (of both receivers, and tranmitters), from these eras, that you can build.  One of these days, I'm going to get around to building one of the late 20s, 5 watters, that's in the book.  If anybody's interested in it, let me know, and I'll send you a copy.

[W1GFH]

Did not hear ya on 40m, but congrats on the SX-96. You may want to try a TV balun (300 ohm to 75 ohm) with an adapter from the F conn. to PL259 (assuming you are running a coax fed antenna). Many people say the balun peps up the sensitivity on 60s era balanced-antenna receivers. Altho Halli's are usually fairly "hot".

[W1IA]

I called CQ for about 25 min on 7290.  Nothing heard.  There are only a few QSOs in progress on 40m.  I did a quick check in 75m, and I heard some slopbucket stuff on 75, but no AM.  BUT, I did go to 160, and there's a roundtable on 1986 kHz, that I'm trying to break into.  If anybody wants to try 160, I'm game (I've loved the band ever since college in the 80s). I have a wild thought - my Cheyenne only does as low as 80/75. Hmmmmm, maybe Class E for 160?  Might be thought for down the road, when I have the cash.   I'll be on 160 with the ricebox.

Ellen - AF9J

Had a nice QSO with WN3V John and W0VMC Robert last night...was great conditions minus a few cratic stashes.
Might fire up the epoxy on 160 again tonite, so listen for you on 1885 kHz depending on conditions.

Brent(Tina) W1IA

[AB1GX]

The weather is beautiful today (70F and sunny right now).  I did some bumming (while looking for a place to do QRP To The Field - all of the good picnic tables were taken at the local parks, only leaving the ones located in the wet sinkholes left over from 3 days worth of rain - bummer!!).  I'd love to QSO.  I'd like to try 40, or even 20 for some AM, but the K & A indices are 3 & 27, respectively, which is pre-auroral.  Anybody interested in 40 on a long shot?  I'd do 75, but I'm at a loss.  Due to all of the rain we  had recently, my powerline noise is beyond insane.  I've attached a photo of the lines that are less than a block away from my apartment building.  You've gotta love the 12, 250 kV lines!  Who wants to chat with a PW?

Ellen - AF9J

Power line noise - that's why class E was invented!  I've got my batteries charged (I use four auto batts in series to power my plumber's nightmare), I'm almost feeling well enough to climb back into the trees (after falling out of a tree) to finish my 80 meter antenna. 

BTW.  Thanks for your help! I'm getting better at zero-beating my S-38A for SSB reception!

What calling freq on 80 meters?

[AF9J]

Unfortunatley, the powerline noise problem is of course in receiving. To double check & and see of it was coming through the lines, I fired up my FT-897D, using the internal 4.5 Amp-hr, NiMH battery I installed in it.  Nope, same level of noise.  I'm suffering from RF coronal discharge from that rats nest of power lines I deal with.  Another proof in the pudding, was using my same noisy 897D, in portable use (I do a fair amount of QRP portable, and HFpack stuff).  I have no noise issues where I do my portable stuff (about a mile south of my QTH, at a county park, and wetlands system).  OH well.  BTW, glad I could help with the S-38A, SSB tuning issues.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[k7yoo]

You mentioned earlier that you were hamming 15-20 years ago. Perhaps we worked each other back then --what was your old call?
Skip-K7YOO

[AF9J]

OK - WD9IAB. I haven't held the call since early 1998.

Ellen - AF9J

[Jim, W5JO]

Ellen, wonder if you are hanging with the wrong crowd?  All this banter on the web and none on the air.

[AF9J]

Actually. I was on today Jim.  We had beautiful weather (sunny & 82 degrees) so I took my 897D (I have an internal battery pack in it), and I went out to a local park and tossed an endfed over a tree.  I made some QSOs on 20m CW & SSB.  Eventhough I didn't have much oomph powerwise, I did call CQ for about 10 to 15 minutes a piece on both 7290, and 14286 AM this afternoon (the QRM from the Florida QSO party was no fun on 14286).  I had no responses (did anybody hear me?).  I guess my main problems are noise on the low bands, and a most definitely NOT strapping signal.  I've been considering concentrating on 20m & higher for AM, with some 40 thrown in.  If I have time tonight (I'm doing laundry), I'll give it a longshot try on 160 or 75m (I have the Swan 270B set up for 75), if the changes I've made in my noise cancelling antenna setup work.  Also, I'm waiting for the SX-96 I bought, and a power plug to fire up my Cheyenne with.  My present gear isn't too hot for AM (a Swan 270B that does so-so AM, but only has a 2.7 kHz receive bandwidth, and a Yaesu FT-897D that will do DSB AM, and receive with a 6 kHz bandwidth, but is very noisy, and has poor transmit audio).  Nevertheless, the last couple of days, I've been getting impatient, and I've been trying to get on with my crappy setup.   Oh Well.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[flintstone mop]

Hi Ellen
YOU need a new QTH!!!
Do you ever have a noise floor of S-3???
I imagine when those lines are wet that you can actually hear the buzz from those monsters.
Fred

[WBear2GCR]

How to get lower noise on receive = really long low wire = Beveridge style ant.
Transmit on the dipole, etc...

Any chance you can make that happen where you are?
I have no idea what sort of place that is... village, town, suburb, city?

If you buy one of those larger soylent state "inverters" for you car, you can run some decent power in the car, and take a jaunt out in to the quiet areas, sling up a dipole and have a go at it. Just a thought.

Any chance there is a radio club out there with a QTH & rigs??

                _-_-bear

[AF9J]

Hi Fred & Bear

Actually I'm kind of out of luck QTHwise for the next year.  I signed a lease renewal before I realized just how bad my powerline noise situation is.  Bear, I've been thinking along your lines about a low noise receiving antenna. I can't put up a beverage (do I EVER wish I could), 'cuz my landlady has no problems with me doing ham radio (there was a ham in her neighborhood when she was growing up), but she insists that I keep it low profile (and beverages aren't). Do you think an actve antenna, receiving loop, or even a tiltable loopstick ala the model made by Palomar Engineers makes (yes they still make them after all of these years).  Might do the trick?  Here's what I mean:

http://www.palomar-engineers.com/Loop_Antenna/loop_antenna.html

Now that I'm going to have a decent separate receiver (the SX-96 I mentioned), it should be very easy to to do a separate receive antenna (I don't even have to do a relay).  My noise problem mainly is a problem on the low bands. On 20m & higher, it's no problem.  Also, in spite of the lack of success on AM, I had portable from the park yesterday, I'm thinking of doing it again.  Propogation was awful (even the few CW contacts, and 2 SSB contacts I made on 20, were rough going), PW AM portable operation is a doable proposition, especially on 20 & above with decent condx.  Besides, it sure was nice being outside in the beautiful weather we had.  Also the noise into the junky front end my FT-897D has, was minimal on 20 & above, and tolerable on 40m.  If condx. and the weather cooperate, I'm going to try it again next weekend.  Well, I'd better get ready for work.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[AB1GX]

Ellen,

I think a magnet loop antenna might be the answer for you.  For 80 meters, an eight foot diameter loop made from 1/2" soft copper pipe and a 350 pf variable cap will do the job.  Use a 2' dia single turn wire to a BNC for coupling to coax.

The noise attenuation with magnetic loops is fantastic!  The only downside is that the loop must be tuned.

Keep using your drain pipes for transmission.

Tom

[AF9J]

Yuppers Tom,

It looks I'm a gonna be expirimenting with loops and other receiving antennas when the SX-96 arrives.  Thanks for the feedback.   Well, back to work for me.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Ellen -

Even if you don't have the right location, at least you've got the right spirit: Never give up.

40m is great back east until maybe mid afternoon. Sometimes it starts getting bad by 1 or 2 PM. There's usually some activity between 7280-7290 until then, and no doubt longer for folks further west. You might also try 80m AM outside of the 75m ghetto. 3725 tends to have a fair amount of AM activity from the gang north of the border, and 'DUQ/'GL in 3-Land run the 'what's for dinner' group up until 6 or 6:30PM weekdays. Not sure about weekends. It's certainly easier to hear a weak signal down there. 

Hoping to get the transmitter back on the air Thursday night, if successful maybe we can try for a contact sometime on Sunday, either 40 or 80. Things will be pretty quiet up this way Friday and Saturday with most folks at NEAR-fest.

[AF9J]

Great!  I'd love to have a QSO with you!  Let me know when you're ready to go.  I might have to do it with a hybrid setup, using the Swan for a transmitter or transceiver,  and (depends upon when it arrives) the SX-96 as a receiver, since I haven't had a chance to fire up the Cheyenne (still need a mic and a power plug for it).  Good luck with your KW-1.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[W1RKW]

Ellen,
Would you be interested in a QRP CW QSO sometime?  I have an HW-8 that needs to be run.  I would need to practice my CW first as I'm a bit rusty but would love to do 40m or 20m sometime. 
B