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Author Topic: 160M Trans-Atlantic/Trans-Continental tonight on 1930KC:  (Read 10518 times)
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Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« on: February 12, 2005, 11:59:07 AM »

Hello All,
           I just wanted to let everyone know that we're resuming our Trans-Atlantic 160M tests tonight at midnight, EST. Last Saturday, Steve, KL7OF was in there and a many of us were able to have a QSO with him. I heard from Steve and he informed me that he'll be in there again tonight. Not only will we be doing the "Trans-Atlantic tests again, but also "Trans-Continental" tests as well.

There is some sort of corntest going on in the Netherlands this weekend so there may be a change in the rx frequency. More about this later.

Since we had a fairly large amount of people on last weekend, we'll be transmitting for fifteen minutes and listening for 15 minutes.

Same frequencies as last time unless the European receive frequency changes due to corntest QRM:

US TX: 1930KC Minnight EST to 12:15
US RX on 1880KC from 12:15AM to 12:30AM
US TX on 1930KC from 12:30AM to 12:45AM
US RX on 1880KC from 12:45AM to 1:00AM

Henk, PE1MPH will be using a new receive antenna (vertical with a helical resonator) that may increase his chances of hearing us.

Hope to hear you in there tonight!
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
KL7OF
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« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2005, 12:58:39 PM »

Take a look on QRZ at PE1MPH Henk's TX....You gotta love a modulator with 4ea 100th's.....I will be on tonite with a new terminated beverage aimed at Dokkum...   Steve
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Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2005, 01:43:35 PM »

Quote from: KL7OF
Take a look on QRZ at PE1MPH Henk's TX....You gotta love a modulator with 4ea 100th's.....I will be on tonite with a new terminated beverage aimed at Dokkum...   Steve


Steve,
         That modulator looks like it put out some serious audio! I forget if he has it in PP/Parallel or just parallel. Either way it looks like it works!
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
Bill, KD0HG
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« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2005, 01:46:51 PM »

I'll swing the 3-element yagi out your way tonight.

-Signed, K1JJ  :razz:

..
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k4kyv
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Don
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« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2005, 01:56:32 PM »

Quote from: Vortex Joe - N3IBX
That modulator looks like it put out some serious audio! I forget if he has it in PP/Parallel or just parallel. Either way it looks like it works!


Must be pushpull-parallel.  If they are in parallel, they would have to be in class-A Heising modulator (or series modulator) service.  Might be possible to get a peak output power of 75 watts undistorted audio with them.  You could do better with a pair of 807's in class AB2.

I suggest we make it a point start an AM roundtable early in the evening on 1930, to make sure some group of slopbuckets doesn't squat on and around the frequency first.
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Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

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This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout.
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Paul, K2ORC
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« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2005, 02:41:44 PM »

Duke plays Maryland tonight with 9:00 pm tipoff so I'll miss the evening fun.   Enjoy and good luck.  And need I say "Go Duke"?
Paul K2ORC
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Go Duke![/b]
Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2005, 06:46:14 PM »

Quote from: k4kyv
I suggest we make it a point start an AM roundtable early in the evening on 1930, to make sure some group of slopbuckets doesn't squat on and around the frequency first.


Don - That's precisely what I did last week. I waited for a group of slopbucketeers to clear out about 9:30PM or so, then Mike(y), W3SLK and Paul, K2ORC and I held a Garrison on 1930KC until it was time.

Many thanks for the suggestion! It is a great idea, and unfortunately we have to do things like this in order to make a contact.
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2005, 06:49:13 PM »

Quote from: Paul, K2ORC
Duke plays Maryland tonight with 9:00 pm tipoff so I'll miss the evening fun.   Enjoy and good luck.  And need I say "Go Duke"?
Paul K2ORC


Are Duke and Maryland football teams or hardcore "Gangsta" type AM DX'erz?- hi!
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
k4kyv
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Don
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« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2005, 04:39:06 AM »

Condx must not have been very good.  I listened on 1930 this evening, but everyone was in the mud.  Didn't try to get on. Much later in the evening I got on 1885 with WB8BEM and we carried on for a couple of hours.  Almost no QRM or QRN.  Where was everyone?  I suspect they were where they usually are, but that the band was  crapped out.
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Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

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KL7OF
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« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2005, 10:51:39 AM »

The band wasn't very long last nite.....The Eastern gang on 1930 was just becoming audible at 9 PM  Pacific time.  Myself and W7XS along with some of the other Pac NW stations wound up on 1945 in a ragchew because we couldn't hear anything happening on 1930....I thought I heard you Joe and I called once but was unsure of the response....I heard K4KYV on 1885 breifly later on and that was it....Certainly didn't hear anything from across the pond...Condx were not with us on this one....I am going to do some listening to see if there might be better freqs for us to use as both 1930 and 1880 are pretty much busy all the time on Sat nite....especially 1880...There were SSB stations parked on 1880 all nite..We west coast stations discussed doing some 160 AM tests with Japan........Any interest?Huh?
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Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2005, 12:56:48 PM »

Steve,Don,Others,
                          Last night the band seemed to be "In the bucket" as Jack, W1EUI says. In attendance on 1930 at midnight were the following people:

Chris, KD2XA
Bob, K1KBW
Al, N3FRQ
Joe N3IBX
Bill, K1BF

We heard Steve, KL7OF at about 11:15AM or so and thought he had low modulation. He came back and his audio was louder, but we still didn't have the signal on him that we had last week (S9+15). Chris, XA, Bob, K1KBW and I tried to get back to Steve, KL7OF, but I guess band conditions didn't support Trans-Continental communications. I thought I heard Steve come back in there, and tried calling him again, but unfortunately, comms just didn't happen due to band conditions. Our "testing" formally stopped at 1AM EST.

Whilst listening on 1880KC and 1878KC, we heard sidebanders at 1878,1880 and later at 1882KC. I heard Don, K4KYV at 1885KC on AM with good clarity and signal between 12:30AM and 1AM.

A carrier was heard at 1878.5KC from about 12:45AM to 12:58AM. I confirmed with Henk, PE1MPH that he was transmitting at that time. Unfortunately, no modulation was heard from his carrier.

As reported by Henk, PE1MPH to me, he didn't hear anyone on 1930KC. He did however, hear a mysterious "numbers" station in USB on 1927KC. Two weeks ago it was right on 1930KC - interesting!

Colin, from Scotland reported that no signals were heard at his location on 1930KC during the testing times.

Chris, KD2XA and I heard numerous European CW ops from 1830KC to about 1840KC. Their signals were very weak. At the time of the testing, there was a special contest going on in the Netherlands and suspect the numerous PE's were in their for that contest.

Unfortunately band conditions just didn't support good communications on 160 meters last evening. QRN was relatively light, as compared to last week when it was up a bit; but so were the signals!

Many thanks to all who participated and we have to try again. At least Steve, KL7OF was heard again here, and I could make out your first two transmissions. I was wondering if you Heard Bob, K1KBW, Chris, KD2XA, and Al, N3FRQ?

I estimate that we have another good 8 weeks before the Springtime QRN starts invading the "Top Band". Any tips from serious DX'ers on "Grey Line" propogation would be appreciated. Perhaps signals would be a bit higher if our times were different.

Steve- KL7OF, I think a 160M AM test to JA land would be terrific! I've found that just before sunrise and sunset may be the best times. We have about a 1 hour window that extends to about 15 minutes after sunrise that would be best for propogation. Let me know if you, or anyone else on the West Coast is able to set something up. I know the JA's have a very different 160M bandplan than we do, and may not be able to legally use AM due to bandwidth restrictions in their country. If my memory serves me correct, they have a chunk of 160M in the CW portion, then certain frequencies only around 1907, 1909, etc. I think it's channelized like the 60M band here, but only on certain frequencies. Possibly things have changed since I last had a CW sked with an op in Japan.
Anyway, it would be a real challenge that I and a lot of others would love to participate in.

Henk, PE1MPH and other Europeans would like to have "tests" on 75 and 40 meters as well. We'd have to work a split, like we've been doing on 160M, etc. Let me know if you're interested in doing this. Again, "Greyline" prop would most likely be the best time to attempt this.

Best Regards, and let's all look forward to better band conditions in the very near future.

Many thanks to all who participated!
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2005, 01:01:11 PM »

Quote from: Bill, KD0HG
I'll swing the 3-element yagi out your way tonight.


..


Bill, were you in there last night? Band conditions weren't "sparkling" to say the least and I didn't hear you.
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
KL7OF
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« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2005, 01:14:51 PM »

Joe..et al.....I heard someone come back to me last nite and say the audio was down and I did turn it up...I was on the gates using daytime power and was trying out a behringer vx 2000 and B1 mic..I was worried about splattering  so that was why I was timid with the audio at first......I got over that!  I also had the Tesla 360 all set to go on 1930 but I never keyed the mic on that one.......I heard 2 or 3 stations but I couldn't ID you guys.....I will do a little research on some possibilities for USA/JA low band AM....Are there any JA stations reading this that can help?..Any one have any connections with JA AM stations?  Let me know pse....This is fun stuff for me........73 Steve
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