Anybody on 3885 tonight?

[AF9J]

I switched over to a separate loop receiving antenna for the SX-96.  That combined with using LSB response for receiving (thanks for mentioning it in another thread), and lower than normal noise (for me) have put my noise floor at S5 to S6.  3885 is sounds clear (and is the only crystal I have for the Scout until I get the VFO up and running), so I just finished calling CQ for about 10 minutes on 3885.  There were no takers. Is anybody on (or going to be on) 3885 tonight?

Ellen - AF9J

[WQ9E]

Ellen,

Sorry but I teach an early evening class on Tu/Th so I could not be on tonight and I stayed at the coffee house for an additional couple of hours to work on an article.  I hope you managed to stir up some activity.  I would like to hear how the Globe Scout sounds. 

How bad does the VF-1 look as far as restoring to operational status???

Rodger WQ9E

[W1RKW]

Ellen,
I have a VF-1 that I use on the Viking 2.  It works good.  I don't have a schizmatic for it but if you need any measurement values or connection info let me know and I can get you what you need.

Bob

[KA1ZGC]

I was still in the process of lashing the Junkyard Dawg together in its new home at that point. Took me until 11:30 (Eastern) to rewire the shack, wire up the transmitter, and fix the busted parasitic supressor.

I'm planning on being on tonight, however, so maybe catch you on then. Conditions have been good to your area for the last several days now.

--Thom
Keep Away One Zorched Ground Conductor

[AF9J]

Hi Guys!    I have the SX-96 warming up to stabilize.  My noise is a bit higher tonight (about S8), still I tried a couple of quickie CQs.  No luck.  I had to go QRT for now, becuse my food is getting cold (just takeout Chinese - I don't feel like cooking tonight).  As for last night - I goofed big time!  I took a break to eat a late supper.  When I got back on, 3885 (as usual) was occupied.  I decided to try to break into the roundtable.  When I went to transmit, I noticed that the Scout was running into the dummy load, rather than the main (transmitting antenna).  Because my SX-96 is on a separate antenna, I never noticed this.  So all of my fruitless CQs from earlier in the night, were done into the dummy load!  Ugh!  I will try to get on tonight, and also tomorrow's Midwest Classic Net.  It's supposed to be cold for the next few days.  We have frost warnings for tonight.  Hopefully the colder weather will keep the noise down.

As for the VF-1 - thanks for the offer to help with info on it Bob (BTW, How's Little Piggy doing?). I still have to try it out.  I need to somehow wire up a connector for the crystal socket.  So far, my only idea is tinned  #12 wires for each socket lead.  I also have to work on the knobs and switches.  They're all very loose in their function (there's hardly any detent in the Band switch, and the VFO knob isn't engaging on the tuning shaft).  I'm not happy with the power plug (it's one of those old-style lamp lamp replacement ones, where you screw each lead onto a terminal in the front of the plug).  I plan on scrubbing the VFO case, since it has a tannish residue on it that looks like cigarette smoke.  Still, it's bolted onto a homebrew power supply, that looks like it's in reasonable shape.  I've seen worse.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

P.S. - Thom,once again, thanks for mentioning in another thread about using the LSB response (and 3 Kc IF filter) in the receiver, to combat QRM.  It's not only helped with QRM, for me, it's also helped me to better deal with my noise.

P.P.S. - Rodger, are you going to Peoria this weekend?  Also, did you see how much the Viking 500 went for on eBay?  $3400 - youch!

[WQ9E]

Hi Ellen,

I am glad I got my Viking 500 when I did (and not on ebay!).  The price is sort of funny since I drove almost exactly 3400 miles round trip to get mine and fortunately it doesn't cost me a dollar per mile to drive the pickup.

I just got back from the "early session" at Peoria and I picked up a Collins 32V1 for which I had already made a deal and a Yaesu FT-225RD also followed me home.  I am heading back early tomorrow morning also.

I will check 3885 shortly to see how it sounds.

73, Rodger WQ9E

[AF9J]

I'm debating going to Peoria.  My money situation is a bit better than it was 3 weeks ago.  Still, I have to have enough for my Car insurance in October.  Still, it would be nice to get my hands on an FT-726R or a TS-780 (both are older 2 & 432 all mode rigs), nice and cheap (like I did with my FT-620B).  FT-225, that's a nice rig for 2m all mode stuff.  Also, until, I get the VF-1 going, it would be nice tot get my hands on a couple of cheap crystals (say for 7290, and 3710).  How much did you pay for the FT-225 and the Collins?

I just checked 3885.  It's in use of course.  Noise is S7 - not as quiet as yesterday, but still, I've certainly had worse.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[Bill, KD0HG]

OK, Ellen-

Really good conditions into SW Wisc. tonight, W0VMC barreling in here.

Look for you tomorrow (Sat) or Sunday- 3380, 3885. Unless you can drop down into the quiet zone ~ 3625.

[KC1XF]

I'm listening out here on the East Coast W0vmc just signing off.

DE KC1XF

Fred

[AF9J]

You guys are going to FORCE me to work on my VFO today aren't you? OK, OK.  I'll see what I can do with it.  If I need freq. determination, I'll pull out my old Rat Shack freq. counter, so I know where I am on the band with the VFO.  Condx. were even halfway decent this morning for the Midwest Classic Net.  Noise went down to S5 (wich is good for me).

'Later
Ellen - AF9J

[KA1ZGC]

Hmmn...

Well, it's far from ideal; but if you've got the rigs on seperate ants you could always un-mute the receiver, key the transmitter, and swing the VFO around until you hear your carrier going FWEEP past the QSO in question (keeping one eye on the plate current as you go). Then slide off 5-10kc, re-tune, and you're ready to join the QSO.

It's only rude when you do it at 300W and you've got a working spot function. If on-air zeroing is all you've got, nobody will hold it against you. We've all been there at least once.

Given the close proximity, you might even get away with hot-spotting into your dummy load. It will probably leak just enough RF for the job. I once worked W1QWT on his dummy load from at least 50 feet away at a hamfest.

If nothing else, it would help you find where 3885 is hiding on your VFO, and you can either re-calibrate or just do the math in your head from there.

If 3885 is in use, don't be afraid to break into the QSO! A lot of us will recognize your call from this board, and we all know how much you've been putting into your gear lately, so you'll probably find we'll cut you a lot more slack than you might expect.

Then, of course, we'll almost immediately start hazing you about signal strength, but that just means "you're in".

Good luck with the VFO, and if you have to break in on xtal, go for it. Sometimes we get a bit carried away with quick-keying, but someone will hear you eventually and tell the rest of us to calm down for a second and let the breaking station get a word in edgewise.

I may go out on the town tonight; if not, I'll probably be on 3885 with The Usual Suspects. Hope to hear you on.

Good luck!

--Thom
Kilovolts Alter One Zorched Gate Crasher

[k4kyv]

I'm debating going to Peoria. 

I have often wanted to go to that one.  If the wx there is anything like it is here to-day, it would be a excellent day for an outdoor hamfest.  Cool, low humidity, sky clear and deep blue.

Over the years I have heard that that one has one of the better fleamarkets for parts and older equipment.  Another one with a similar reputation that I have never attended is Shelby, NC.

But both hamfests are a little far for me, farther away than Dayton.  And the luck I have had at the most recent hamfests I have attended has been pretty poor lately.  On my last couple of trips to Dayton, I could have put everything I picked up into one shopping bag.  I used to come home with the car loaded down.  I would hope that Peoria and Shelby might be like what Dayton used to be.  But given the disappointing showing of "stuff" at recent hamfests, I don't have the ambition to make such a long trip where there is so little that I actually need anyway.  For me, hamfests are far less cost-effective than they used to be.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Peoria has one of the *best* Italian restaurants around.
It's called Leonardo's. Hole in the wall neighborhood place.
Chicago-style pizzas, home made minestrone, fresh-baked crusty bread.

I make a point of stopping there every time I'm passing through the area.

[WQ9E]

It was great weather for a hamfest although the readout in the pickup showed 37 degrees on the way up around 6:00 A.M.   There was a good representation of BA gear and much of it at very reasonable prices.  Over the weekend a 32V-1, Gonset 2 meter communicator, Knightkit Spanmaster, Yaesu FT-225RD, and a pretty complete AN/GRC-9 setup came home with me along with quite a few parts, knobs, and miscellaneous.   The ham I got the Pierson KP-81 receiver from last year found the remains of a power supply and brought it to me so I should be able to get a second one operational.   I also found a matching power supply for my RAK-7 so now I can retire the homebrew supply for it-or put it to other use.  An interesting find was a "TALKIE X-TALS" amateur quartz x-tal kit from The Crystal Products Co. of Kansa City for $5.  It includes 80 FT-243 size blanks, several assorted unopened envelopes of "grit", and instructions.  I will see if I have any luck with crystal grinding.   It came in a very nice vintage looking box and I have never seen anything like that before.   I also bought a TMC O-330A "master RF oscillator" along with a second parts unit and this will hopefully become part of a planned homebrew transmitter so I can use up some 813's and the modulation transformer from a Westinghouse MW-3.  There was a nice looking Globe King 400 with spare finals and all coils for $975 but I decided I have all of the "big iron" I need for now.

It is a moderate sized hamfest but very friendly; I hope you make it up hear next year Don!

73, Rodger WQ9E

[AF9J]

Hi Everybody,

Thom, thanks for the info.  Actually the rig's all set on 3885, since I used it for this morning's Midwest Classic Net.  I debated about going to Peoria after the morning net, until I did a Mapquest, and found out it was a 400 mile round trip for me!  I still would have done it, but my ankle is still tender after twisting it badly a week and a half ago (for the first minute or so after it occurred, I wondered if I'd broken my ankle!).  So, I don't think my ankle would have appreciated me driving 400 miles, and then spending a nice chunk of the day walking through a hamfest.  It sounds like Peoria had some pretty good stuff at it.  I just finished calling CQ on 3885 a minute ago (I took a break from writing this).  I called for about 5 minutes, with no takers.  I'm not hearing much (except for a few weak carriers).  I wonder where everybody is?  I'm beat.  A lack of sleep over that past 2 weeks has burned me out.  I'm going to call it a night.  If I get the VFO going tomorrow, I may try 7290 or higher.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[KA1ZGC]

I just got back home, and not quite dead-tired yet.

I'll call around on 3885 if it's clear. Listen around, you might hear me.

--Thom
Killer Appetizer One Zesty German Chocolate

[John K5PRO]

I was listening out here in New Mexico around 2330 our time, static wasn't too bad, but all I heard was an extremely weak carrier (no change of hearing the audio) on 3870 and a 7 and 6-lander chatting on 3880 for a while. Nothing else heard on 75 at this time, even down to 3625.

[AF9J]

Thanks for the info John,

I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with my receiver.  I also checked 3885 around 6AM my time this morning, for the DX-60 net, and heard nothing (I ended up going back to bed to catch up on my sleep).  75 must be in weird shape. Bear mentioned in another thread that he heard WW9R (in Florida) from his neck of the woods (upstate New York) at S9+.  I just checked the solar numbers.  The Flux is 68 - very low, K index is 1 - not bad, and the A index is 4 - just possibly enough to adversely affect 160 and 75,but not enough for 40 and higher.  I need to satisfy my jones for a QSO.  I'm going to kludge together a connector for my VF-1, see if I can get the main tuning knob to engage on the tuning shaft, and fire up the rig with it, into a dummy load to check the signal out. If it's OK (which I'm not going to hold my breath on - the thing looks like it hasn't been used in some time), I'm going to exercise the Scout on 7290, and see who I can scare up.  I'd love to try the higher bands, but the vicinity of 14286 is a zoo (20m operation would have to be below 14.200 probably, for any chance of a decent QSO), and I'm not sure the solar flux numbers are high enough for decent propogation on 21.400 MHz (which is too bad, I like 15m).  I'll let everybody know, what's up this afternoon.  Time for lunch.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[John K5PRO]

I had difficulty sleeping enough last night, so at 5:30 AM I turned on the radio and heard some strong signals on 3880/85, a couple of guys working across frequencies, and one strong  1920 signal, along with some weak carriers down 80 meters as well. The band sounded really quiet but there were strong SSB sigs already on. So it may have been better condition then, but thats awful early out here.

I just looked outside, clouds building and the bands are crackling with static. I didn't hear anything on 7290 +/- 10 KHz, but then again, its 4:!5 Central time now.

[W1GFH]

I could be wrong but I believe the VF-1 was "keyed" on and off via key line connections to a xmtr. If left "keyed" when not transmitting, you will hear it in your rcvr.

http://www.mines.uidaho.edu/~glowbugs/heathvf1.html

[k4kyv]

Sunday evening (about 0330 GMT) I called several CQ's on 3705, but got only one unreadable response from a W9.  The band was quiet, but very few signals, even SSB.  There was some activity on 3880 and 3885, but one QSO had too many participants already, and the other had some marginally readable signals, so I just listened.

I listened on 160, but the noise was pretty bad, and no AM signals.

On 40, there was a broadcast station on 7285 and another one on 7305.  In the 20 kc/s between, there were absolutely no amateur signals to be heard, but condx were good, because there were several very strong SSB signals lower in the band.  With the 8 kc/s passband centred on 7292.5, there was nothing but background hiss - no BC sideband splatter.  It would have been excellent for an AM QSO, but I didn't feel  like changing over to 40m, to call CQ and probably not get a response, so I shut down the shack and returned to the house.

[ka2zni]

Same here... 3.885 pretty darn busy, although nice and quiet and some strappin' signals.. earlier before 3.885 got under way 3.880 was comming in good and strong with beautiful signals of 30/9+ and no static whatsoever.

They guys on 3.885 tonight were definitely puttin' the strap to the good 'ole boys on 3.992 ...   

This week comming up we have Friday-monday off, maybe i can get in there for a little fun myself.

[ka2zni]

How you making out with that ellen? Making any headway on it?

[AF9J]

I got caught up in working on the VF-1, doing laundry, and dealing with a phone call from a very chatty out of state friend of mine.  I didn't get things buttoned up with the VF-1 until after 10:30 PM.  I had to get up for work at 4:30 this morning, so I decided it would be prudent to call it a night.  From reading Joe's post, it was probably a good thing I did.  I was wondering what was done with the VFO, when the transmitter wasn't being keyed.  Joe's comments about a keying line on the VF-1, make sense.  I was wondering what what the 1/4" jack was on the back of the VFO.  I assumed it was for keying CW from the VFO, instead of the transmitter.  Now I understand that it's for the keying line for the VFO.  I'll have to make up a keying line before I can use the VFO.  As of now, other than a keying line, the VFO is ready for a test run.  There is some binding in the movement for the tuning movementl (I had to reset it, since the tuning knob [on a separate shaft] wasn't engaging the dial properly).  The VF-1 is hooked up, and ready to go. It looks ratty, and will definitely be a work in progress.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[K3ZS]

Ellen, the key line is also run through the power cord.   If you are taking power from the transmitter  you can connect the key line through the same cable on the VF-1, rather than running a separate connection.