We're Bad and Nationwide!

[Ralph W3GL]

Yeah, Toddy, we miss you on the Wat's Fer Dinna get together.
We moved down 3kc to '30...

[AJ1G]

Kind of threw me to see this thread show up as being started by me ...I'm assuming that one of the admin guys pasted  some of the latter posts to the earlier 80 Meters is Hot thread into this new thread and I got tagged as originator because the first pasted post this thread was form me.   Probably a good idea as the earlier post title was getting a bit dated.

Can't say signals from here were part of the live  from coast to coast fun as I was just "listening on the outside speaker" via Globaltuners at the time.  The most I can push out to the low dipole antenna here on 75 AM is about 150 watts from either the ART13  or the GRC19 setups. Will give it a try next opportunity I have though.  I did manage to get some low power 80M CW into the Hanover Germany Globaltuner from my GRC9 one night last week. 

I have on at least one occasion "worked" someone on AM where my signal was unreadable at the other end direct, but was being copied by a midpath Globaltuner we both were linked to.  This was an interesting excerise but obviously not a legitimate way to chase DX wall paper of course. Lately I have been keeping  the laptop "tuned" to the Cleveland Globaltuner during the early hours of the Saturday morning Old Military Radio Net to copy the New England stations when the band is still long.  Works out quite well to fill in those types of holes in coverage

Tom and Steve were coming through the Hanover tuner the other night quite well.  The frequency was amazingly quiet over there - no QRM  at all any only minimal static.  I'm thinking the lack of QRM might be due to 3875 being outside where the EU stations can operate on 75. 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

You are correct about 3875 in Europe Chris. You will hear no amateurs on that freq. As long as no commercia/utility stations are on that freq, we have a clear shot. Making the link from the east coast of the USA to Europe on AM is very possible, as shown by the many contacts made on 3705 kHz in the last few years. If you happen to be up at around 0500Z, check it out.

Most of the signals from out west the other night were pretty good. Some were outstanding. I guess there was some good action last night too!

[K1JJ]

Yep, 75M AM has been like a spring - all wound up and just needing a little budge to make it explode.

I've found in the past that January is the perfect month to kick off new ham campaigns related to building, "nets"  or just getting on the air. By March, activity peaks out and starts down towards spring. So now is the perfect time to get the AM station working well for at least a couple of months of peak activity - maybe longer.

Another subject - the tough task of getting our audio balanced for long distance work, like coast to coast.  I've gotten good audio reports locally, but received a report last night from a good friend in W7 land that my lows were too bassy for fading that is often frequent. I heard a tape and agree. So today I rolled off the bass and added more high end. Hope to try it out tonight.  The art of matching our unique voices (and all the warts) to the audio curve for a particular job is truly an art.  Last night I heard a few stations that were tough to copy only cuz of too much mid bass and little highs. While others like W8BAC and N7UA had great audio for both rag chewing and DX.   There IS a perfect group of EQ settings for each station and voice.

I know there's times when Huzman sounds absolutely superb! Then other times he has a little too much mid bass. It's often a lot to do with the condition of our voices on a particular day too.  When we've been burning the wood stove, watch those mid bass lows. Even from morning to night can make a big difference in voice characteristics.  Though, there are some with such great voices - it doesn't really matter much for them...  I'm not one of them, for sure.

T

[K1JJ]

BTW, one of the highlights last night on 3885 -  working Dick, K9DIC. He had a short mobile whip hanging out the window of a high rise Condo in Chicago. He was runnning a Valiant at 100W.  He talked about needing an AM fix so bad it came to this.. and was planning to buy a place in the country with LOTS of acres for antennas.

N7UA had a huge signal from Wash state with his 6 el wire array at 150'. A few east coast guys were heard saying, "wow, look at that signal!"

I also realized my own southwest antenna (2el loops at 190') favors Georgia/Texas/ southern Calif, beaming 230 degees.  The path to Wash and Oregon is about 295 degrees and the pattern tapers off significantly.  I almost went outside today to rotate the ropes and move the loops more NW, but realized I'd have to take down two 40M wire beams to do it... not!  So we all have our problems.


We also discussed the idea that the east-west USA path is very difficult because of the 100% land path. Maybe one hop takes place on land for east to weat coast, dunno. Working Europe even twice the distance over water is much easier. So when you work a weaker station coast to coast, be proud of it cuz it is not an easy thing under average cornditions. The static is usually much higher too, looking west across the large landmass and vice versa.

T

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I've noticed the noise difference you mention Tom. There is almost always less noise when I listen on my Northeast directional antenna than when listening on the Southwest antenna. In my case, it's not only the landmass (to the West) versus mostly ocean (to the East) but local conditions too. To the Northeast, there are very few houses nearby, almost none with a few miles. But to the West, I am looking through most of my neighborhood (dozens of houses). So I'm sure I get more local noise too.

The good thing is that this large area of very cold air over the USA is creating very quiet conditions on 75 meters. This should be a good week for long distance contacts.

[KL7OF]

CQ Japan AM!!!   Are there any Japanese AMers out there?  How about Other asian AMers?  I hear Russia and asia very well the last few eves on 80 M SSB...That is the over water path for those of us on the West side of the USA 

[K1JJ]

Another great time on 3885 tonight for about three hours. Finally worked Rob, K5UJ...   Lots of good guys breaking in all night, maybe 30-40 AM stations.

There was a noticable lack of W6/W7's tonight.   Maybe I figured out why.  I received the email below from a station in Mexico. (XE2)    He said he tried to break in but there was ssb QRM on  3888 on ssb in Calif.

I know from experience that when there are stations talking close to the operting freq like that, the DX will not call in out of fear of causing a conflict.  Whether that was the real reason or not, we still need to have a DX station listen for us and make sure the freq is clear out to the coast in the future.  Otherwise we could be spinning our wheels.


Here's the email:

" hi jj tried to break on cw but two w6 on 3888 was qrm ur sig on sb104 , you were vy strong s9, others s2....,I am only batt power here and work 160,80,40,am and 15 cw and ssb a little, lots am.
i am w7*** / xe2 half of the year, then in tucson rest of year.
hope to work u from  tucson soon then some day from mex...norhtern sonora..73 joe w7***."


T

[K5UJ]

Another great time on 3885 tonight for about three hours. Finally worked Rob, K5UJ...   Lots of good guys breaking in all night, maybe 30-40 AM stations.

Hey Tom thanks again for all the advice on antennas.  Great to work you, Steve and Paul VJB.

[KA7WOC]

I listened from about 6:30 Pac Time and the eastern crew was PW.  The only signal of any significance was Bill kd0hg.
Bob on Whidbey Island

[WA3VJB]

Rob nice to finally hear you on the ray-ro Tuesday night !


Right now 0900-1000GMT Wednesday on 3885 I've been working booming signals from the central Gulf region.

KX5JT John near Lafayette, Louisiana is running an antenna just 35 feet up, a DX60 !! (ok the SB200 brings it up to 100W)

W0XV Jeff in southwest Mississippi has a W0VMC 4x1 rig sounding just great.

[KX5JT]

Yeah Paul nice working you this morning!  Jeff and I wondered if you drowned in your coffee!    You were sounding great into the Gulf coast but as you noticed toward the end the band did start petering out.  I'm working on raising wires up to 45 or 50 feet and eventually getting a more amplifier for the DX-60 to drive.  There's an early morning group of AMers on 3.885 starting about 3 am Eastern (2 am here in Central) that I really enjoy listening too.  Sometimes I can get in there with them but I do need a little improvement to make it all the way up the east coast for a solid roundtable.  

Your transmitter audio is smooth as velvet, truly a pleasure to listen too.
Hope to work you again soon OM 73.

[WA3VJB]

Thanks for the flowers, John !
You've got the Dixie Sixty sounding good too -- the audio characteristics are ideal for clarity under this morning's conditions, while not sounding like "space shuttle audio."

Yes, what started out for the dog as yer basic Morning Pee became a Full Investigation of Something that Crossed the Woods in the Night.  So we had to go chase it down (unsuccessful / long gone) and that burned up the rest of my radio time this morning.

Sorry for the abrupt exit.

Thanks for telling me about the continued morning gathering.  I wonder what happened to Dave, W4QCU and N8ULN, Jim, who used to spend a couple hours as "The Breakfast Club" on exactly 3885. Dave had a thing about being right on frequency. Sometimes I'd get in there early, maybe down a couple kc, and he wouldn't rest easy until we all moved.

OK FINE ! as Irb would say.

I have Dave's email addy; will drop him a note.

[K5UJ]

Rob nice to finally hear you on the ray-ro Tuesday night !

Thanks Paul same to you.  One good thing about operating in the mornings is the local noise level is much more agreeable.   I'm pretty sure I'm dealing with an occasional battery charger from a switching supply and something else that seems to be on only in the evenings which makes me suspect a plasma tv somewhere.  In the mornings, none of this seems to be on.

Rob