Earthquake on 40 meters

[K9ACT]

I was in crossmode QSO with W6QM last night on 7.170 and when I turned it back to him he said: " you are not going to believe this but you talked right through an earthquake" and he went on to describe what happened in his shack while I buzzarded away.

Now I need to come us with a "Vicarious Earthquake" QSL card.

I was on 170 because a DX guy in Switzerland was holding court on 160 and 170 seemed like a good place to call CQ.

Seems like the 40 meter AM frenzy is over.  I didn't hear a single AM station over the weekend.

The propagation to the West Coast at least was wide open last night.

js

[KX5JT]

Seems like the 40 meter AM frenzy is over.  I didn't hear a single AM station over the weekend.

I think Dayton occupied some of our esteemed AMers.  I had to work last night (and tonight) so I wasn't on 40 but I will likely be tommorow night after I try calling cq on the upper part of 20 meters during late afternoon. 

Don't give up Jack!

[K9ACT]

I think Dayton occupied some of our esteemed AMers.  I had to work last night (and tonight) so I wasn't on 40 but I will likely be tommorow night after I try calling cq on the upper part of 20 meters during late afternoon. 

[/quote]

I spent most of the weekend trying to get my 810 rig working on 20 but finally gave up and fired up on 40 tonite.

I had a bunch of nice QSO's in August on 20 but some unintended consequence of re-working it for 160 has made it impossible to use on 20 now. I can't neutralize it on 20 and get all sorts of spurious oscillations.

js

[Bill, KD0HG]

I had a bunch of nice QSO's in August on 20 but some unintended consequence of re-working it for 160 has made it impossible to use on 20 now. I can't neutralize it on 20 and get all sorts of spurious oscillations.

js

I have always had the same problems with the 304TL rig. You simply can't grid neutralize a triode with a pi-net output from 160 through 20 meters. You have to use plate neutralization, which requires a physically large push-pull tank and old buzzard link coupling.

There are some things that you can try, though..Put some resistive loading on the grid circuit, select the resistors to burn maybe 10%-20% of the drive. Install a large ferrite bead or small ferrite toroid over the 810 grid lead. Or you can install a small parasitic suppressor in the grid lead as you would in the plate circuit. Wind both the grid and plate parasitic suppressors with lossy iron or nichrome wire, not copper.

Good luck!

[K9ACT]

I have always had the same problems with the 304TL rig. You simply can't grid neutralize a triode with a pi-net output from 160 through 20 meters. You have to use plate neutralization, which requires a physically large push-pull tank and old buzzard link coupling.

I will try the things you suggested but the hooker is that it worked fine on 20 meters in August.

We had a discussion about grounding the cap vs grounding the coil CT back then and I went back to the floating cap and the only difference it made was reducing the grid drive requirement by a factor of two.

I also made plug in coils so there is no interaction with unused links now.  Perhaps I should have fixed what was working.

js   

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Jack, I thought you had given up on 40 since conditions on 80 have been so good. 

[K9ACT]

Jack, I thought you had given up on 40 since conditions on 80 have been so good. 

That was two days ago.  How do you expect me to remember anything that long ago?

There is something very satisfying about armchair copy with the West Coast that keeps me coming back.

js

[Ralph W3GL]

Jack...

You may not be able to remember what you did/said two days back but look closely at the title of this post of yours...

That is a quaint spelling of earthshaker or whatever. Time for using the edit feature (modify) of this here system and/or activate  your spell check!

[k3sqp]

Hey Jack,
I was listening in last nite ( couldn't hear u as the band was long) The Xyl had just hung up from
talkiing with her sister in California. I heard  W6QM's  description of the earthquake. I told  the xyl
to call her sister back and ask about the quake... Her sister is stilll trying to figure out how we knew
in PA in minutes about the quake in LA.
See ya
Frank
K3SQP

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I heard you in QSO with the CA station. He was loud and I could just barely hear you. The band was long. Sounded like he had a ton of AM stuff. Too bad he was on SSB, but maybe you talked him into firing up on AM sometime.

Jack, I thought you had given up on 40 since conditions on 80 have been so good. 

That was two days ago.  How do you expect me to remember anything that long ago?

There is something very satisfying about armchair copy with the West Coast that keeps me coming back.

js

[K9ACT]

Jack...

You may not be able to remember what you did/said two days back but look closely at the title of this post of yours...

That is a quaint spelling of earthshaker or whatever. Time for using the edit feature (modify) of this here system and/or activate  your spell check!

Quaint indeed.  Fixed it; thanks but I don't think the spell checker checks the subject line as I don't recall seeing a flag.

However, it is not clear to me how or if it works anyway.  When I mispell a word, it underlines it in red but no matter what I type in, the red goes away.  Even if I mispell it a different way.


Interesting to note that it does not know how to spell misspell either. No red no matter how many s's.

js

Looks like it is still mis

[K9ACT]

I heard you in QSO with the CA station. He was loud and I could just barely hear you. The band was long. Sounded like he had a ton of AM stuff. Too bad he was on SSB, but maybe you talked him into firing up on AM sometime.

He was apologetic for even answering my CQ and expecting some kind of AM/SSB war.   I told him I was delighted and very impressed that he knew I was on AM in the first place.

I really got depressed when he said he had to crank in the 2kc filter because of the QRM.  I might as well have been on SB too.

I think we may be hearing from him soon on a real man's radio.

js

p.s.  Seems like my spell checker is not enabled and I can not find 000 the magic button to turn it on.

jjs

p.p.s. I found the tty keys but whoever created it never used one.  I have never seen one that did not put slashes in the zeros.

jjjs

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I unhooked the feedline Friday night after calling CQ for 15-20 minutes on 40. No answers and no AM activity, so I sold all my gear and took up polo, the gentleman's hobby. 

Actually Jen and I took a roadtrip to Tryon NC and Landrum SC via Asheville Saturday and the lawn guys were scheduled to cut the grass, which is why the feedline was rolled. Rain finally yielded yesterday and they finished, so the monoband station is good to go. Where are all those big AM mauls?

Jack, I also buzzarded through an earthquake (or earthquate?) once myself, but on (shhh)...SSB. Was the one during the World Series, can't recall the exact date. But as far as the activity on 40 goes, you better than anyone should know that unless someone else starts it for them, most others won't. When Steve and John were talking up the 40m FBC move and advocating some AM activity below 7200 (with regular reports of activity), there was a lot going on. As soon as the daily or even regular reports slowed down, so did activity. I equate it to the 'channelized' mentality, folks needing a specific channel or frequency to listen to and wait on. Like 3885 or 7290, for example.

As a little test, listen on the bands for AM stations calling CQ. Note their calls, and compare them against calls of people online talking about operating.

 

[Jim KF2SY]

Jack...

You may not be able to remember what you did/said two days back but look closely at the title of this post of yours...

That is a quaint spelling of earthshaker or whatever. Time for using the edit feature (modify) of this here system and/or activate  your spell check!

Quaint indeed.  Fixed it; thanks but I don't think the spell checker checks the subject line as I don't recall seeing a flag.

However, it is not clear to me how or if it works anyway.  When I mispell a word, it underlines it in red but no matter what I type in, the red goes away.  Even if I mispell it a different way.


Interesting to note that it does not know how to spell misspell either. No red no matter how many s's.

js

Looks like it is still mis

Jack-
Funny I almost thought it was a real word.      Maybe used down-under?
I liked "earthquate" better...here is a link to a 'earthquate' site.
 
http://www.earthquate.com/

[KX5JT]

Okay, 10:30 am and I just had a wonderful QSO with wb4 beans for supper on 7.160 AM.  There is life on 40 AM.  Now, what I have noticed last night when trying to get something going was that there was a ssb qso going on and on and on right on 7.160.  It wasn't DX.  It was just two guys going on and on.  I checked up and down for a clear spot but there WAS dx and no real clear spot for a CQ.  This sort of thing has been happening a lot in the evenings on 40.  Of course I check 7.215 through 7.230 and it's wide open.  No regular AM users seem to answer my CQ's there but I do get some responses either in AM or LSB from others occasionally.

[K9ACT]

Now, what I have noticed last night when trying to get something going was that there was a ssb qso going on and on and on right on 7.160.  It wasn't DX.  It was just two guys going on and on.  I checked up and down for a clear spot but there WAS dx and no real clear spot for a CQ. 

Last night was hopeless and I guess is the sort of night that prompted my previous comments about losing interest in 40.  It was wall to wall QSO's from 0300 to 0400, even above 200.

That did not stop me from a little DX'ing.  I went to Globaltuners and gave myself 579 from UK, France, Italy.

Great fun when all else fails.  Exciting to hear that di di di da coming out of a receiver over there.

Todd is right about the problem of posting  about hamming vs doing it but when the only option is making someone else mad in a mode they already hate, it's time to play polo.

One other thing that just occurred to me is that if there is a nice QSO going in bucket talk, what is to prevent one from just breaking in to say howdy?  Most of them would not even know you were on AM and it would be a great topic starter.

js

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I've got the station warmed up, headed out now to see what's cooking (besides the tubes, that is).

[KX5JT]

Last night was hopeless and I guess is the sort of night that prompted my previous comments about losing interest in 40.  It was wall to wall QSO's from 0300 to 0400, even above 200.

That did not stop me from a little DX'ing.  I went to Globaltuners and gave myself 579 from UK, France, Italy.

Great fun when all else fails.  Exciting to hear that di di di da coming out of a receiver over there.

Todd is right about the problem of posting  about hamming vs doing it but when the only option is making someone else mad in a mode they already hate, it's time to play polo.

One other thing that just occurred to me is that if there is a nice QSO going in bucket talk, what is to prevent one from just breaking in to say howdy?  Most of them would not even know you were on AM and it would be a great topic starter.

js

I post when sometimes but I never fail to back it up with actual CQ'ing.  I've been trying to drum up some 20 meter AM in the mid to late afternoons up near the edge of the band (14.345 ish).  So far the only thing I hear is some spanish comes in on frequency on sideband cursing in spanish I imagine... lol.

I don't think my VFO is so stable that someone wouldn't notice a carrier if only right at keydown.  I suppose it would be a great social experiement if nothing else! 

[AF9J]

John, I'm usually available for 20m AM after 6 PM Central time if you'd like to try it then.  I just get done calling CQ on 7160 for 10 minutes - no luck.  Also, nothing's happening on 10m tonight, so no 29.0 AM for me (10m AM is a blast!).

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[WA1GFZ]

I was stuck in traffic about 5 miles east of ground zero on RT5 and didn't feel a thing. Glad I wasn't in my fifth floor hotel room. I heard it shook pretty well.
Earlier I was up north visiting a buddy who has the big fault running through his front yard.

[WU2D]

Frank for once its not your fault!