WOW! what a band- 75 Mtrs

[W1IA]

As I type....working Steve KL7OF Washington State - 10 over S9 , Ken KA5RHK- 20 over S9 and others.

Brent W1IA

p.s. 3885 khz

[W2VW]

AS you type: SWLing on 160. Nice group of AM stations. No QRM. Outlasted me. good night.

[WA3VJB]

BRENT FIX THAT OPEN REEL MACHINE.

We need aircheck recordings of nights like this so's we can make news stories out of 'em.

[K1JJ]

Brent,

I was listening when Steve/KL7OF called in. Steve said he was running a beverage, so he could hear extremely well. He was also running his Tesla 360 813 rig:

http://www.amwindow.org/tech/htm/813/813.htm

He said that you and Keith/HZK were coming in quite well. A few minutes later, RHK from Ark broke in, as well as Missouri, TX and another place, like Tibet. Also Mich. If you hadn't left for bed, it would have become a really big show.

This season will probably exhibit LONG band conditons early in the evening - more than previous years since the solar cycle is near its minima. Get used to it. It will be a good time to try our coast to coast 75M activities again. Get the local talk in early on and just go with the flow later. [If ya can't fight 'em, join 'em]

I've been listening in the DX window lately - last night heard the W6's working Europe at their Calif sunset. That's a sign that 75M is getting into an exceptional long mode.

A beverage, as Steve has, is the ultimate antenna for this kind of listening. It's all a hearing game when the band is marginal...  Later on in the evening, dipoles at 25' high can participate easily too. By December, on certain nights, I expect that at 8:30-9PM east coast time, we will be working the west coast on 75M.

T

[KL7OF]

It was great working the east side on 75....About 7:30-8 PM local time when the signals started to come in here...much earlier in the evenings this fall than last fall/winter....I have 4 beverage antennas here.   The one I was using last night runs east-west, is 985 ft long, 7ft high, unterminated (bidirectional) fed with 75 ohm triax and a homebrew 4 to 1 ferrite xfmr.......Hope to work the east side on 160 AM as well this season......73 Steve

[K1JJ]

The one I was using last night runs east-west, is 985 ft long, 7ft high, unterminated (bidirectional) fed with 75 ohm triax and a homebrew 4 to 1 ferrite xfmr.......Hope to work the east side on 160 AM as well this season......73 Steve

That's a perfect length and height for 75M, Steve. The toroidal balun is what I do here too, except mine is a 9:1.   Must work FB for you, as you heard everything anyone said to you last night anywhere east....

I'm wondering why you haven't terminated it at the east end for a unidirectonal pattern? Since it's a low angle antenna, there's not much to the USA west of you. And, the most important part is that you will drop down all that atmospheric noise coming from the west. It will give you a great hearing boost to the east.

Many times I hear guys say on the air they like their Yagi's f-b cuz it knocks down the QRM from the back. I never hear them mention the noise from ambient atmosphere [that's always there] or even distant, accumulated T storm noise. Whenever one of my beverages breaks so that the terminating resistor is off line, I notice it right away in performance.  ie, the dipoles and especially the west Yagi  start to get close to the bi-directional beverage in S/N.  In hearing, as you know,  S/N is what it's all about, not gain.

T

[KL7OF]

Tom..... I would like to have a dedicated east pointing beverage .....The problem right now is that the east end  (The one I would terminate) is right a the shack and the west end is 985 ft away and I didn't have enuf feed line to run that far...I've read something about a two wire beverage with a switching arrangement that allows you to terminate either end and only use one feed line.....Do you have any ideas on that?...By the way, I have tried 4to1 6to 1 and 8 to1 transformers on several of my beverages and can't really notice much difference..I have some that go out into a pasture with very good soil conductivity and some that go out over very poor rocky soil..I thought they would exhibit different impedances, and they well may, but I can't tell any difference as long as I use 300 to 800 ohms to terminate and at least 4 to 1 feed xfmr.....I have used direct coax feed with no xfmr and it still works but the results are much better with a matching xfmr.....Still experimenting......Steve

[K1JJ]

OK, Steve -

Well, the objective of using the matching transformer is simply to go from whatever antenna impedance you have to 50 ohms, nothing more. I use a 9:1 cuz that's a good match according to the MFJ 260B.  That's all ya do, just sweep it and if it's below 2:1 swr, you're OK. The transformer will not affect antenna pattern, just efficency - it's good to have a decent match to the RX. Remember to float the coax ground all the way to the Bev and do not ground it at a ground rod when feeding the bev. Just tie the shield to the transformer primary cold end, that's it. Otherwise you may pick up line noise, etc, according to the gurus.

Do a Google on beverages and you will find a ton of info on them. Tom/W8JI has written a lot about them too. You can find a design that will let you be uni-directional with that present config, as you said.

The way you're hearing a pin drop now, I can't imagine how well you'll do when that ant has a f-b!!

73,
T

[k4kyv]

The problem I have is, like clockwork, as soon as the QRN drops and the band gets quiet, the goddam  power line noise starts up.  Yes, it has already occurred for this season.

[K1JJ]

The problem I have is, like clockwork, as soon as the QRN drops and the band gets quiet, the goddam  power line noise starts up.  Yes, it has already occurred for this season.

Don,

Too bad about the power line noise. I had to put a dipole 600' out in the woods here to escape it on 75M.

Have you'd tried one of those noise cancelling devices? 

Since you like to HB stuff there, I would take a few simple components - a couple of small variable caps and coils. Connect them in various series or parallel configurations to an unused antenna. Then feed some of this signal phase into your main receiving antenna system through a resistor or toroid, whatever... Play around with adjustments and I'll bet you can find a sharp null cancellation of that power line noise and still have good signals from the stations on 75M or 160M.

It's worth a try as an experiment.  [Did we talk about this once here before?]

T

[Bill, KD0HG]

The problem I have is, like clockwork, as soon as the QRN drops and the band gets quiet, the goddam power line noise starts up. Yes, it has already occurred for this season.

Haven't you been fighting power line QRN for several years, Don?

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Bill, KD0HG,
               Had fun working you on 75 Metros last night, and wanted to let you know your signal was anywhere from S9+20 to S9+40 over at times before you signed off. I could barely hear the Left Coast stations and would have liked to work K6OMN among others that I haven't in a long time. The sleazon for good low band propogation is definitely here! Dave, K2DK from Virginia called right fater you signed and was only running 25W or so from a Yaesu FT-990. He was S9+20 with Pissweak power!

I think you said you were on "LaBamba" last night and it sounded hi hi FBOM as always. Hope to work you, Steve KL7OF and others on 160M when conditions improve a little. I went down to 160M last night and the evil slopbucket corntesters were in full regalia. I thought they didn't have their thinghie until the first week of December, or something like that.   

I was on my "Taliban 101" running about 150W or so. The Taliban is a much JS'ed DX-100 using a thrird 6146 dangling horizontally from the tube shield, and modded by a pair of 814's in a controlled carrier configuration. Gotta watch my positive peaks because the plate current will jump to over 1/2 amp and  zorch things internally.

Hope to talk to you again in the near future and don't forget that there's a bunch of us down on 160M at night.
Regards,
           Joe Cro N3IBX

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Hi Guys,

Great discussion. I have decided to try a beverage finally and have a few questions for the ones with experience. How critical is it to have a dead straight line for the wire and what supports can be used? How close can trees be to the line? DO I need to cut a swath thru the forest to allow it to work properly...and finally, when you terminate it, do you need to put out a mess of radials or will a simple single point ground rod do it?

Looking forward to working the right coast this winter. Already have worked W2DK and a few others.

Cheers

Paul
VE7KHz

Tom..... I would like to have a dedicated east pointing beverage .....The problem right now is that the east end  (The one I would terminate) is right a the shack and the west end is 985 ft away and I didn't have enuf feed line to run that far...I've read something about a two wire beverage with a switching arrangement that allows you to terminate either end and only use one feed line.....Do you have any ideas on that?...By the way, I have tried 4to1 6to 1 and 8 to1 transformers on several of my beverages and can't really notice much difference..I have some that go out into a pasture with very good soil conductivity and some that go out over very poor rocky soil..I thought they would exhibit different impedances, and they well may, but I can't tell any difference as long as I use 300 to 800 ohms to terminate and at least 4 to 1 feed xfmr.....I have used direct coax feed with no xfmr and it still works but the results are much better with a matching xfmr.....Still experimenting......Steve

[W1GFH]

I was listening last night for a few minutes, heard KD0HG and KL7OF strapping in to the West Coast -- but locals like KO6NM only 10 miles away from me were fluttery and piss weak.

By the way - I was (un)luckily tuned in just in time to hear a local slopbucketeer break in on AM and loudly cuss out Bill, saying, "G - D DAMN A.M. - GET OFF THE AIR YOU F-ING DRUNK - YOU'RE TEARING UP CONTEST QSO'S UP AND DOWN THE BAND FOR FOR 30 KHZ - A--HOLE - F-ING SON OF A  B---" etc. etc.

Sounded like CB channel 19 for a minute......

Bill, KD0HG,
               Had fun working you on 75 Metros last night, and wanted to let you know your signal was anywhere from S9+20 to S9+40 over at times before you signed off. I could barely hear the Left Coast stations and would have liked to work K6OMN among others that I haven't in a long time. The sleazon for good low band propogation is definitely here! Dave, K2DK from Virginia called right fater you signed and was only running 25W or so from a Yaesu FT-990. He was S9+20 with Pissweak power!

I think you said you were on "LaBamba" last night and it sounded hi hi FBOM as always. Hope to work you, Steve KL7OF and others on 160M when conditions improve a little. I went down to 160M last night and the evil slopbucket corntesters were in full regalia. I thought they didn't have their thinghie until the first week of December, or something like that.   

I was on my "Taliban 101" running about 150W or so. The Taliban is a much JS'ed DX-100 using a thrird 6146 dangling horizontally from the tube shield, and modded by a pair of 814's in a controlled carrier configuration. Gotta watch my positive peaks because the plate current will jump to over 1/2 amp and  zorch things internally.

Hope to talk to you again in the near future and don't forget that there's a bunch of us down on 160M at night.
Regards,
           Joe Cro N3IBX

[K1JJ]

By the way - I was (un)luckily tuned in just in time to hear a local slopbucketeer break in on AM and loudly cuss out Bill, saying, "G - D DAMN A.M. - GET OFF THE AIR YOU F-ING DRUNK - YOU'RE TEARING UP CONTEST QSO'S UP AND DOWN THE BAND FOR FOR 30 KHZ - A--HOLE - F-ING SON OF A  B---" etc. etc.

heh  heh... funny.  I was on 3885 AM with Bill briefly too.

It was highly unlikely Bill was causing any problems.   The DX stations all transmit down below 3800 and the USA guys were transmiting above 3800. Split operation.  I participated in the 75M corntest for an hour myself below 3800 working them direct.  I doubt that the DX stations in Europe or SA were getting douched out 30kc by Bill's side frequencies from Colorado.  That local Calif ssber just wanted to raise hell for the sake of complaining. 

T

T 

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

I was listening last night for a few minutes, heard KD0HG and KL7OF strapping in to the West Coast -- but locals like KO6NM only 10 miles away from me were fluttery and piss weak.

By the way - I was (un)luckily tuned in just in time to hear a local slopbucketeer break in on AM and loudly cuss out Bill, saying, "G - D DAMN A.M. - GET OFF THE AIR YOU F-ING DRUNK - YOU'RE TEARING UP CONTEST QSO'S UP AND DOWN THE BAND FOR FOR 30 KHZ - A--HOLE - F-ING SON OF A  B---" etc. etc.

Sounded like CB channel 19 for a minute......

Bill, KD0HG,
               Had fun working you on 75 Metros last night, and wanted to let you know your signal was anywhere from S9+20 to S9+40 over at times before you signed off. I could barely hear the Left Coast stations and would have liked to work K6OMN among others that I haven't in a long time. The sleazon for good low band propogation is definitely here! Dave, K2DK from Virginia called right fater you signed and was only running 25W or so from a Yaesu FT-990. He was S9+20 with Pissweak power!

I think you said you were on "LaBamba" last night and it sounded hi hi FBOM as always. Hope to work you, Steve KL7OF and others on 160M when conditions improve a little. I went down to 160M last night and the evil slopbucket corntesters were in full regalia. I thought they didn't have their thinghie until the first week of December, or something like that.   

I was on my "Taliban 101" running about 150W or so. The Taliban is a much JS'ed DX-100 using a thrird 6146 dangling horizontally from the tube shield, and modded by a pair of 814's in a controlled carrier configuration. Gotta watch my positive peaks because the plate current will jump to over 1/2 amp and  zorch things internally.

Hope to talk to you again in the near future and don't forget that there's a bunch of us down on 160M at night.
Regards,
           Joe Cro N3IBX

Hello All,
           I didn't hear the LID who made those remarks on the air; but I do remember Bill mentioning something to me about an angry sidebander making comments. I had no idea he used the kind of language he did or if he just wanted to start some consternation on the air. I think Bill told me someone was interjecting anti-AM comments; and we just proceeded with our QSO.

The best thing to do with people like that is to do exactly what Bill did; ignore them and go about your business.
Regards,
           Joe Cro N3IBX

[Bill, KD0HG]

Yup, I couldn't believe that jerk...Regrettably, my reply to that @hole was't as "gentlemanly" as should have been, so my apologies if I offended anyone. Last week I ripped up a muscle in my lower back while working on a fence and the pain and lack of sleep has made me less than jovial.

Propagation to the west coast from here was pretty good making it a real pleasure to catch up with Steve, KL7OF, Mike, KO6NM and my old Chicago roomie, Gary WA9MZU/6 who was using the Collins transmitter that he wrote up in ER a few months ago. Sounded terriffic. Joe, you were putting in a smoking sig as well. Timtron also graced the freq for a few minutes. I did have to bail out and head into the office to deal with some computer time change issues right after 2 AM; we've got some newly-revised software that apparently still needs tweaking. I can't wait until the dates for shifting time change per the new federal law.

Yes, I was running the big rig into the modified extended double zepp (or is it a double extended zepp?) Yes, I need to fire up on 160 but we've had some local thunderstorms and the QRN there was pretty nasty earlier last evening so I tuned up on 75 and left everything there.

[K1JJ]

I agree Tom.   I spent mucho hours this weekend on 40 and 80 phone in the contest.  Whilst on 80,  I don't think I worked split above about 3830 or so;  if I did it was rare.    I did keep my ears alert for anyone working split around 3885, and heard nobody.    BTW,  40 was absolute bedlam......  the splits were  all the way down to 7.0, and man were the CW diehards torqued.....
73 Mark K3MSB     

That's true, Mark. I didn't hear a SINGLE split QSO above 3860 here either. Bill was up on 3885. That guy is busted...

Yes, 75M was bedlam this weekend anywhere below 3830. I've never heard so much corntest activity. They were sandwitched in every 1.5kc, no kidding. I noticed that the Euros could not hear USA most of the time cuz of their own local spaltter. The band was crowded for DX all the way down below 3700 ssb.

OK on 40M... heh heh. That musta riled the CW guys alright. I did notice that on 160M they stayed above 1838 kc. The CW band was quiet there. There is honor amongst corntesters on 160.

Even 10 and 15M were open. As much as I get bored with one hour of corntesting, I think they serve a purpose providing activity and enthusiasm for the hobby. Those guys are the equivalent of drag racers in technology and innovation.

It was funny to tune in on Sunday night. It was like arriving at a party once everyone had left. Dead silence with dried puke on the walls and floors.

T

[WA3VJB]

Was there a contest? Must have been on SSB.
Somebody mentioned it was kinda tight where we were on 3843.6, but I copied both KD2XA and others into the evening.