160 Meter Antenna Now Up

My 160 meter antenna is just my modified inverted L that I used mainly for 30 and 80m.  It is largely based on the antenna design published by NU8Z.  All I did to it is added an extension of 15 feet to an otherwise 70 foot quarter wave inverted L.  The key to this extension is a piece of 2 inch PVC pipe wrapped with 156 turns of  tightly wound 14 gage insulated wire giving me about 119 mH of inductance.  This coil acts as a trap for frequencies below 80m.  The coil acts as a shortened 1/4 wave vertical on 160m.  A full size quarter wave on 160m is 40m long or roughly 134 feet.  The shortened vertical is about 85 feet long with the coil between the 70 foot and 15 foot extension.  It really works - the resulting SWR pattern is as shown below.

It rather narrow banded with about 50 kHz around the center frequency that is below 2:1 SWR.  The dip at 1820kHz.

It uses the same radial field as shown below.

On air results are QSOs with stations in the PA QSO party, W1AW/4 portable and friends N4IQ and N0TR.

It probably could be more efficient.  My input impedance is right at 52 ohms indicating that I need more radials.  On 80m it is efficient enough to have gotten me close to DXCC - 95 confirmed. 

Three All Time New Ones - Seychelles, Nauru and Western Kiribati

I woke up early o October 7 thinking that I would hear Alaska on 80m.  The bands were empty except for T30D - Western Kiribati with a small pileup.  He was S1 just peeking out of the noise floor.  There were a bunch of loud W4 stations trying to call above him on his split listening range but he was not working any of theme.  The callers were about 2-3 kHz up and I was 1 kHz up.  He appeared to be working (at least from my vantage point) weaker stations.  I was running 500 watts on the KPA500.  With a  couple of calls he returned to me.  I showed up in his log in Clublog a couple of days later.

Nauru C21GC was much easier to work and I was able to get him on 30m and 80m.  I would like to get T30D on 80m as well.  T30D is spotted early mornings on 80m.

Seychelles S79KB was on 20m CW on October 6.

#247 DXCC Confirmed in LOTW - Eritrea E30FB

This was a tough one to get with all the lids on SSB.   I would rather have worked this on CW but then - those were the cards I was dealt.  Either grin and bear it and work it to get that all time new one, or accept that this all time new one will not be in the log.  Eritrea is activated so rarely that I thought it was worthwhile.

#235 ZD7VC Saint Helena Card #0 (from 8/22/14 application)
#236 A25CE Botswana - Card #1
#237 ZL7AAA Chatham Islands - Card #2
#238 NH0J Marianas Islands - LOTW #1
#239 S01WS Western Sahara - Card #3
#240 8Q7TS Maldives - Card #4
#241 4W/NY1C Timor-Leste LOTW #2
#242 ZD9XF Tristan de Cunha LOTW #3
#243 VK9NT Norfolk Island LOTW #4
#244 TY1AA Benin LOTW #5
#245 BX4AD Taiwan Card #5
#246 9G5ZZ Ghana  Card #6
#247 E30FB Eritrea LOTW #6

Up and coming
#248 C21GC Nauru (Confirmed on 4 bands in Clublog) QSL requested
#249 T30D Western Kiribati (Confirmed on 2 bands on online log)
#250 S79KB Seychelles (Confirmed in Clublog - QSL requested)

All Time New One- C21GC - Nauru

Bob Heil - the Science of Audio

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The story of Heil Sound

Did you know Joe Walsh of the Eagles was a ham?  Joe Walsh was Bob Heil's beta tester.  Bob Heil's traveled with the Who, the Grateful Dead and a bunch of rock groups fixing up and running their PA systems.

Fletcher Munson curve - what is it?  Scientists from Bell Labs who were the pioneers in sound audio technology

There is QST article on a two level equalizer that he came up.   Bob Heil since then invented the equalized microphone.

Man cannot hear 3dB difference.  He demonstrated it.  What is important is equalization to get an apparent gain in sound power level.  Passed array is how to get 15dB  on 75m and 40m.

Putting a Face to a Distant Contact - VU7AG Lakshadweep Island

This bring me back to late summer 2013 when a group decided to activate a remote island on the Indian Ocean.  We talked about the expedition at length, all the logistics, equipment, antennas,what works and what does not.  Those verticals on the salt water work great.

#246 DXCC Confirmed - Ghana

#236 A25CE Botswana - Card #1
#237 ZL7AAA Chatham Islands - Card #2
#238 NH0J Marianas Islands - LOTW
#239 S01WS Western Sahara - Card #3
#240 8Q7TS Maldives - Card #4
#241 4W/NY1C Timor-Leste LOTW
#242 ZD9XF Tristan de Cunha LOTW
#243 VK9NT Norfolk Island LOTW
#244 TY1AA Benin LOTW
#245 BX4AD Taiwan Card #5
#246 9G5ZZ Ghana  Card #6

All Time New One - E30FB Eritrea

I never thought I could get through the pileup - good old L4B still came through.  He (Zorro) will upload logs to LOTW at the end of the dxpedition.  He was running 100 watts the whole time on his TS590 or so claims his QEZ page.

#242 All Time New One (ATNO) DXCC Tristan de Cunha ZD9XF Confirmed

Of late I have been able to work a few all time new ones (ATNOs) Norfolk Island VK9NT and Tristan de Cunha ZD9XF.  With VK9NT and TY1AA (Benin) confirming me in Clublog - it almost ensures confirmations for #238 and #239.  Below is an image of Nigel G3TXF operating as ZD9XF.  Thanks Nigel for the ATNO

#236 A25CE Botswana - Card
#237 ZL7AAA Chatham Islands - Card
#238 NH0J Marianas Islands - LOTW
#239 S01WS Western Sahara - Card
#240 8Q7TS Maldives - Card
#241 4W/NY1C Timor-Leste LOTW

Up and coming..... confirmations
TY1AA Benin
VK9NT Norfolk Island

 

The Main Shack Control

The Station Pro2 makes easy work of not just RF switching but the sharing of amplifiers, keys, speakers and microphones. This is the box with the green lights in the middle of the image.

New Horse in the NY4G Stable

Well, here it is at last, the last one to fill out the Station Pro slot.  The station pro makes it a breeze to switch between rigs.

How to Tune a Drake TR4C

Nice YouTube of How to Tune Up a Drake TR4C

Very Productive Evening for DX

I was surprised to see (or maybe not so surprised) that the combination of the KX3 and the KXPA100 was used in the Norfolk Island Dxpedition.

http://vk9nt.odxg.org/vk9nt2014/team/default.html

Propagation must be good - I worked VK9NT 8378 miles short path on a dipole at 500 watts on 12m.  He was really faint,

I also worked Benin (Africa) - a mere 5600 miles - on 3 bands - 17m, 20m and 15m all on the hex.

I also worked Tristan de Cunha - all on the same evening on 30m.  This has been one of the most productive DXing in quite some time - 5 band points.  Thanks to Sunspot AR1528 for the ionizing radiation.

QSL Card Box Built for N0TR

Latest foray combining two of my favorite hobbies - woodworking and amateur radio

NY4G and N4iQ on the Blue Ridge Parkway with a Hexbeam

This was a great PR tool for amateur radio to the general public.  We spent more time talking to hikers, bikers and drivers stopping to see what we were doing. We were mostly on 12 meters trying to chase North Dakota stations.  The WARC bands should be renamed "WORK" bands.  It is a lot of work to fill out empty slots in WAS in these bands.