7160 AM - top of the hour?

[W1VD]

A practice that worked well getting stations 'hooked up' on 7290 a couple summers ago was the 10 pm EDT W8VYZ 'activity period'. Bill would call CQ many nights at the top of the hour and this kicked off many a fine round table.

How about 7160? A coordinated meeting time at the 'watering hole' might generate more activity.


       



     

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Good idea.

Here's how Ty was sounding at my location last night.

[KX5JT]

Wow, that Ty sure sounds awesome.  Is that the Collins that Robert Smith fixed up for him?

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Yep, a 20V.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Didn't make it out there tonight. You were just on your way out with the band when I tuned in last night, Steve. Jay was booming in surpassed only by Ty when he came back on the next go-round. Signed out and listened to Robert working Jay W5JAY for a few minutes, then called it a night.

WA2ONK Chuck jumped in last night but although he was a strong S9 here, the audio didn't keep up. Very light copy, not helped out by the moderate static. I think in order for us to work so close in Steve, we'd have to get in there before 9-9:30. That seems to be the time when the band goes long(er). If temps stay reasonable tomorrow, hopefully we can enjoy a decent contact.

[W1VD]

The band, and in particular the frequencies around 7160, were busy with SSB most of last night. Might be good to have an alternate or two. 7220 has been suggested in another thread.   

[k4kyv]

I heard Steve HUZ calling CQ DX on slopbucket somewhere about 7130 last night, with a strong signal.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Yep. Talked to a guy in Mexico for a while. 7160 had slopbuckets on it all night. Skip was relatively short since I heard New England stations booming in. Signals from Europe seemed to be down a little.

[K1JJ]

I heard Steve HUZ calling CQ DX on slopbucket somewhere about 7130 last night, with a strong signal.

The Huzman is a sleeper on 40M. With his new pair of loops he's got a f-b like a flashlight and can hear things in Europe only God can.  I'd like to see him publish the secrets of his new creation in QST.

Huz, you shud post some of those non-AGC .mpgs you made of the f-b.  This is a system most anyone can pull of on 40M with some tall trees and wire.

T

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

That's quite a message!  

The loop array is working well. Tom's enthusiastic description of it's capabilities may be a little optimistic, but I am more than happy with it.    It was Tom's suggestion and cajoling to put up a directional system on 40 that got me off my a$$ to do it.

Here's a recording from last night showing the F/B. The station received is located in Massachusetts, about 400 miles away. I regularly receive F/B reports from Europe 20 dB or better, so this recording is not a fluke.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

The Huzman is a sleeper on 40M. With his new pair of loops he's got a f-b like a flashlight and can hear things in Europe only God can.  I'd like to see him publish the secrets of his new creation in QST.

I've seen this antenna array in all its glory. But I'm sworn to secrecy about its design on pain of death. Especially those top-loaded dual mirror-mount Campbell soup can coils. 

Perhaps more amazing is how he managed to raise the thing! Pretty amazing when you factor in the location and trees. No lie - there were ducks staring in amazement at it when I was there.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Todd let the cat out of the bag, so I might as well show everyone.

[W2VW]

Todd let the cat out of the bag, so I might as well show everyone.

It's all about the MSG.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

For sure!

MSG = Massive Signal Gain. 

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

You really need to get a shot of the ant with the ducks running away, Steve. Post it next to the big rig with a sign that says 'ducks tremble in my presence'. Or post it on QRZ, eham, etc when someone gets on an anti-AM rant.

[K1JJ]

Huz was on for three hours last night holding court into Europe. He's getting WHIRL-Famous!

Here's the DX spots:

EA1GHQ 7130.0 WB3HUZ   5/9 tnx for qso Stephen     0614 02 Jul 
M0COM  7130.0 WB3HUZ   TNX 4 QSO STEVE             0557 02 Jul 
IV3RJT 7130.0 WB3HUZ   Stephen 5/9++               0455 02 Jul 
LW3EWZ 7130.0 WB3HUZ   tnx steve 57                0412 02 Jul 
LW3EWZ 7130.0 WB3HUZ   steve 57                    0403 02 Jul 
MS0GFA 7130.0 WB3HUZ   dx euro far east??          0352 02 Jul 


His MSG = "Mighty Sore Groin" antenna is the key.   (From pulling it up in those trees)


T

[WA1GFZ]

That ia a nice ant and reminds me of an old antenna book project with 3 vertical dipoles off a tower with one driven and the other two acting like reflectors. The nice thing about Steve's set up is that covers a wider part of the band compared to a pair of phased dipoles.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

LOL! Yea sore back, but I survived.  I'll post a photo later. Maybe even one with ducks.

Earlier Jay, W1VD and I had a nice chat 7160 for over an hours. Jay was 40-over-9 most of the time. Where were all those big AM mauls?

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

You on there now? I disco'd the ant last night because of a big-ass storm rolling through just to the south (lotsa hail, lightning, and wind damage 10-15 miles south). Heading out now to reconnect it. Hope to catch some of youse guys on there. 

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Managed to work a fellow cross mode using a TS-140 from a Boy Scout camp near Salem, OH. After that Chuck W3FJJ gave a call and was coming through nicely with 40 watts - then 40 pulled one of its disappearing acts. Tuned up to 7290 in time to hear Bob W2ICQ signing off with Tron. Bob was strapping in 20+ over S9, nothing heard from HenryL R mountain.

Weird!

Decided to leave the rigs running in case things perk back up. Lovely day here, temp is around 89, low humidty, nice breeze, sunny. A good start to the weekend.

Where were all those big AM mauls?

Yeah!

Heading back out, ear to speaker and all that...

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I'll be on 40 a little later if you are around. Hopefully your garage won't be too hot. Hit 88 here today. Down to about 82 now. Even the humidity has dropped from 96 to 50 percent!   

Two element delta loop photo below. It had to be taken at night due to the level of secrecy surrounding it.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Just finished a nice QSO with Ed WA4NJY south of Tampa. A bit difficult at first, until his 3-500Z warmed up. Used 7170 since some SSBers set up shop on 60. Good thing those big tuning knobs weren't frozen in place! 

Had a nice chat earlier with Ralphie and Frank K3SQP. Having some ice cream now, then gonna head back out. Transmitter had a crapout earlier, HV fuse blew. Just noticed a burning smell like wood coming from the vicinity of the transmitter though, so the pissweak LV transformer may be ready to give up the ghost. It's been threatening to for years, leaking goop on the chassis.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Sorry I missed you guys. The band went long. I couldn't hear anything inside of 300 miles.

[ve6pg]

...hey todd..herd u with frank on 7160...both gud sigs here...i guess about 6pm....i just finished with jim, ve3brl, on 3725, and was heading out...hope to werk ya soon...

...cheers....

..sk...

[k4kyv]

I listened later, about 0500Z, and the band was practically dead.  Loads of static crashes but very few signals anywhere.  Even the SWBC stations were not coming in as well as usual.  Same on 80 and 160.  According to the lightning map, nearly all the T-storm activity was out west, so the bands should have been reasonably quiet here with good signals from the east coast and Europe.

I suspect propagation condx are crapped out.