Heavy Metal Rally Rules?

[steve_qix]

Hi !  I see the announcement for the Heavy Metal Rally.

Does anyone know what this year's rules are?  They are not posted in the announcement.

Regards,

Steve

[Steve - K4HX]

1. Get on the air.

2. Make contact with other AMers.

3. Have a good time.

[KA8WTK]

Echo Steve!

But I did see in one post either 250 pounds or more OR  250 watts or more to be heavy metal.

Bill

[Opcom]

Another rule ought to be 'strap'. Many good signals coming in here on 3880. Slight amount of quacking coming and going as expected. Insert Ashtabulah Bill quote.

[ke7trp]

4-400s and 304tls are smokin on 3855 right now.  Band is short.  Will go long in an hour or so. Hope to contact you guys in the "hood" on 75.

C

[KA2DZT]

When is the rally??   Anyone know??

[ke7trp]

RIGHT NOW!   Tonight until Sunrise.  The band is ON FIRE on 3875 right now.  w5cz OWNS the band with his KW1 collins transmitter and SX88.  DR Roy is smokin in here also as well as w6ozi bob in California.  ITs almost Coast to coast AM here.

[W1TAV]

Hey all.. There is a group of us in the North East on 3820! *Gasp* AM outside the AM Window!..  W1VTP, W1UJR, KC2IFR, W1AEX, W2DTC, WA1UQM and more ...  Steve W1TAV

[Opcom]

I commend all of you who are doing the right thing.

[ke7trp]

That was fun.  My voice gave out.  I am still pretty sick.  Here is my list of contacts on 75 meters. 

kL7OF STEVE
k7yoo SKIP
wa1hlr Tim
w5cz ROD KW1- SX88
k6kbe
wa6thw Mike
kb5md DR Roy
w0fd MIKE
ka1bwo joe - Valiant
k5iia-Brandon
Kc4SSB Steve 
ww9w Robert
k0ara Mike BC610

[KL7OF]

Got in there last night from Lake Havasu, AZ with the pissweaker AF67 and inverted V..I'm at the winter QTH of W1LYD...Lots of signals

KE7TRP...Todd
KC7PH....Tom
KA7WOC..Bob
K7RLD...John
W5CZ...Rod
KH6BA...Hiram


Heard many others W6OM, WA1HLR, WA1QIX...RX was the very broad PRM 7


I encourage everyone to turn in a log...Last month the editor of ER said he was considering not sponsoring Heavy Metal any more because he only received 2 logs last time...

[K5UJ]

I had some idea that thing was tonight or Sunday night.  I wouldn't have had any "heavy metal" last night anyway-just a ricebox with around 40 w.

[W1RKW]

Rob,
Don't feel bad. I should've given the 813 rig a test drive before trying to jump in last night. I tried tuning up and discovered the screen supply was dead.

[k4kyv]

Murphy Strikes!

I totally missed it. Serial crapouts.  Three totally unrelated events in less than 6 hours.

1.  Fired up Gates; planned to instigate some activity on 160m.  Looks like one of the modulator tubes s### the bed while the transmitter was sitting there, turned off, since last time I used it a few days ago when it was perfectly OK.  Didn't feel like opening up the cabinet that late in the evening, troubleshooting the thing and probably installing a replacement tube, so decided to try 75.

2.  Went down to the tower to change over the antenna to the 75m dipole.  The made-in-China brass door latch fell apart the moment I touched it.  Spent 20 minutes fumbling in the dark, trying to get the door open.  Went out this morning in daylight to retrieve the piece that fell off, but evidently it totally vaporised the instant it contacted the earth.  Will have to JS some kind of repair with a fabricated part.

3. Finally thought everything was ready to fire up on 75.  Heard Paul VJB in QSO with another station on 3705. Just as I tried to quickly re-tune to the frequency, the overload relay tripped. Forgot to switch the antenna from the Gates to the HF-300 rig. Switched over the antenna and tried again, but the overload relay remained stuck in the tripped position. Finally had to remove the whole thing, fix a mechanical problem (some kind of yellow crud had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and gummed up the mechanism).  Cleaned off the crud with WD-40, degreased, verified that the mechanism was working properly, and put it back in the rig (a job that requires three hands and playing contortionist). Tripped out @ 150 MA.  Had to remove the relay again and figure out how to properly set the stop to return it to previous adjustment - something that took several tries.  The whole operation took about 3 hours.  By  the time I got everything working, it was close to 2 AM. Still some activity on 3885, but I was too tired; just pulled the main switch and went to bed.

[K5UJ]

Damn, I don't feel so bad now.  Last year something fried (padding caps in pi network I think) and I didn't operate it either.  That or maybe I was out of town--can't remember.  I'm fixing the amp today but too late for the event.  Murphy says when screen supplies, relays and tubes go, condx will be red hot.    

Don, glad you thought of 160.  I was saying earlier that the one time I operated HMN, I reasoned that heavy metal rigs would most likely be on 160, since that's what bc rigs usually get converted to.  So I sat there calling CQ on 1880 and never got anyone.  I found out hours later that all the activity was on 75.  To me, 160 is THE Heavy Metal Band but my reasoning was obviously flawed.

[Opcom]

I heard very little, and no strong signals, on 160. 75/80 made best results.

[W8ACR]

I called CQ on 1925 and 1915 for at least 45 min. Not a single reply. 75 meters was smoking and 160 was quiet. I did hear some SSB and CW activity on 160 though, so I know the band was not completely dead.

[Opcom]

Maybe 160 is also a challenge due to the huge antennas needed to do well there. As much as for receiving as sending.

[K5UJ]

Maybe 160 is also a challenge due to the huge antennas needed to do well there. As much as for receiving as sending.

If I can get an inverted L and 101 radials on a 50 x 100 foot lot and small rx loop, anyone who isn't in an apartment can get on 160. 

It ain't huge antennas; it's "I'm too lazy to do anything harder than string up a dipole."

[ke7trp]

I agree. I use a simple L that I made myself in an hour complete with a matching coil so I can QSY.

C

[WD8BIL]

It ain't huge antennas; it's "I'm too lazy to do anything harder than string up a dipole."

What are you trying to say, Rob? 

[Opcom]

Maybe 160 is also a challenge due to the huge antennas needed to do well there. As much as for receiving as sending.

If I can get an inverted L and 101 radials on a 50 x 100 foot lot and small rx loop, anyone who isn't in an apartment can get on 160. 

It ain't huge antennas; it's "I'm too lazy to do anything harder than string up a dipole."

101 radials under a linear antenna? got specs for this setup, height and length?

[WD8BIL]

101 radials under a linear antenna? got specs for this setup, height and length?

Specs? Who needs specs? We don't need no stinkin' Specs.

Just put out as many radials as you can as far as you can in every direction you can.

My inverted L goes 45' vertical to the tower by the garage, thru an insulator north to the oak tree at 65', thru another insulator east to the mulberry tree. Total length is 3/8 wavelength.
The radial field is as described above.

[Steve - K4HX]

An Inverted-L or a T is your best bet on 160 meters. The radiating part of the antenna requires less space than a dipole. If you install full-sized radials, you'll need far more space than a dipole. But you can still obtain pretty good performance with less than full length radials.

I have a full-sized dipole up on 160 meters. I works FB. But looking back, I should have put up an Inverted-L. It would have been a little more effort than the dipole (mostly in installing the radials) but the overall performance would have been superior to the dipole. I will probably change over at some point.

[K5UJ]

101 radials under a linear antenna? got specs for this setup, height and length?

Sorry; not sure what you mean by "linear" in this context.  You mean straight line wire?   It's an inverted L.  So there's a 90 degree bend from vertical to horizontal about 47 feet up.  The rest goes out to a couple of supports and ends over my house.  So there are a couple of ~110 or 120 degree bends.  I think it's resonant around 1840.  I use it mostly on around 1880.  mine is made with your tipical ham antenna wire, no. 14 bare hard drawn 7 strand.  Radials are all plain old house wire, no 14 solid insulated from six 500 foot rolls I got at Home Depot a few years ago for $15/roll (It's 45 bucks for a 500 foot roll now!).  The feedpoint is near one corner of my lot.  Radials are anywhere from 120 feet long to 10 feet.  Maybe 50 or 60% are around 40 to 60 feet.  I tune it in the shack now with a homebrew L network; I'd like to tune it at the feedpoint.  Feedline is 1/2 inch heliax.  on 1880 feedpoint Z is 14 J20 or so.  vswr around 4.something to 1.    It is pretty bad as a rx antenna.  That's why I use the small tuned rx loop.

It took 3 or 4 weeks to put the radials down.   I made a plan for how they'd get laid out.  I knew if I just went at it willy nilly I'd screw it up.   I divided the area around the feedpoint into quadrants and worked through each quad bisecting repeatedly until I had 20 to 30 radials per quad.  i'd reel out two at a time.  I did the work in November (I think it was 2003 but maybe it was 2004) after the grass quit growing.  I'd come home from work and manage to put down six before it got dark.  Working like that and on weekends I managed to get 90 down by the end of Thanksgiving weekend when I called it quits.  I did another 11 the following year.  I was going to shoot for 120 but I decided 101 was enough.   If I had had room for a dipole I would have probably done that.  Much easier.   OTOH, any dipole on 160 is going to be a worm warmer unless you have 150 foot towers to hold  it up.

The Inverted L is not exactly super efficient either.   Hams wonder, why all the radials.  the idea is to lower the ground system resistance as much as possible.  That increases the driven element resistance relative to earth.  that increases efficiency.   

Rob