Setting up regular skeds - do it now, not after SHTF

[KK0G]

Well that sucked!


The North American CW QSO Party is going on and 40 meters is wall to wall contesters right now. Wes and I did manage to make contact but it didn't last long. He was trying to tell me about something cool he picked up today and each time he tried to tell me what it was QRM wiped him out.......... man now I REALLY want to know what it was, the suspense is killing me. ;D


I went to 30 meters but either we didn't find each other or propagation wasn't favorable because I never heard from him. Our continued smashing success of meeting on 40 meters most nights like clockwork is actually sort of a disadvantage because we don't get any practice or experience in switching to our alternate bands.

[gil]

Yep, as soon as I turned on my radio, I knew. Shut it off five minutes later... I should have gone to 30, but the mood wasn't there anymore  :(
And of course it's going to be the whole f___ing week-end.  >:(

Gil.

[KK0G]

Interestingly the thought to switch from my KX1 to the 100 watts of my TS-2000 to help fight the QRM never even occurred to me until just now. It's official............... I'm a dedicated QRP operator ;D

[gil]

It's official............... I'm a dedicated QRP operator

Alsmost...... You'd have to sell your Kenwood....  :o

Gil.

[KK0G]

It's official............... I'm a dedicated QRP operator

Alsmost...... You'd have to sell your Kenwood....  :o

Gil.

Actually I've seriously considered doing exactly that and replacing it with an Elecraft K2 with all the bells and whistles. Of course minus the 100 watt PA deck and the SSB modules 8)

[gil]

Actually I've seriously considered doing exactly that and replacing it with an Elecraft K2 with all the bells and whistles. Of course minus the 100 watt PA deck and the SSB modules

I had a lot of fun building my K2 and it worked flawlessly. Even built the SSB board for it, and of course, ATU. I don't think there is a better kit on the market!

Gil.

[KC9TNH]

Actually I've seriously considered doing exactly that and replacing it with an Elecraft K2 with all the bells and whistles. Of course minus the 100 watt PA deck and the SSB modules 8)

Not recommended. Your KX1 does a fine job & lacks nothing (except maybe a 30/80 module, nudge).
You may want that Kenwood someday to hold audio on a 75m local NVIS shot to a close-by circle of allies after DC is nuked (zombie infestation I heard).

100w would've done nothing for either of us last night.  That was fugly; excuse me, that was +40-over-S9 fugly. Spilt milk, plus ca change...

[KK0G]

Actually I've seriously considered doing exactly that and replacing it with an Elecraft K2 with all the bells and whistles. Of course minus the 100 watt PA deck and the SSB modules 8)

Not recommended. Your KX1 does a fine job & lacks nothing (except maybe a 30/80 module, nudge).
You may want that Kenwood someday to hold audio on a 75m local NVIS shot to a close-by circle of allies after DC is nuked (zombie infestation I heard).

100w would've done nothing for either of us last night.  That was fugly; excuse me, that was +40-over-S9 fugly. Spilt milk, plus ca change...

There's still an old yet fully functional IC-735 in my shack that could be pressed into service for QRO phone work should the need ever arise. I think there's even a microphone for it somewhere. ;D

[KK0G]

I know it's last minute but just in case someone sees this in time and wants to chat; just found out Wes won't be able to make the sked tonight so I'll call "CQ Radprep" again tonight at 0200Z on 7.037.

[Tim]

Actually I've seriously considered doing exactly that and replacing it with an Elecraft K2 with all the bells and whistles. Of course minus the 100 watt PA deck and the SSB modules 8)

Not recommended. Your KX1 does a fine job & lacks nothing (except maybe a 30/80 module, nudge).
You may want that Kenwood someday to hold audio on a 75m local NVIS shot to a close-by circle of allies after DC is nuked (zombie infestation I heard).

100w would've done nothing for either of us last night.  That was fugly; excuse me, that was +40-over-S9 fugly. Spilt milk, plus ca change...

Thanks for posting.   I am interested in the NVIS shot.  Could you provide a little more info.  I have done them years ago and I am just getting back into comms. 

What are you ideas about antenna and freqs during different times of day.  Thanks, Tim

[gil]

Not recommended. Your KX1 does a fine job & lacks nothing (except maybe a 30/80 module, nudge).

What you would gain is a few more bands and a few more Watts. Not a big deal about the power, but more bands does make a difference, assuming you have the antenna(s) to use them. I think the bigger benefit here might just be the pleasure of building a K2  ;) I did sell mine to buy my KX3, and it was hard to do, because I enjoyed building it. Now I want to build a KX1 too! The K2 is a great radio, no doubt. Add the ATU and battery kit and you're good to go. Tough I would keep it inside.. I had the ATU and SSB board, worked great. Or you could build an amp kit for your KX1, like Ray did. I certainly do understand the wish to build a K2 though, it's a fun undertaking.

Gil.

[KK0G]

Not recommended. Your KX1 does a fine job & lacks nothing (except maybe a 30/80 module, nudge).

What you would gain is a few more bands and a few more Watts. Not a big deal about the power, but more bands does make a difference, assuming you have the antenna(s) to use them. I think the bigger benefit here might just be the pleasure of building a K2  ;) I did sell mine to buy my KX3, and it was hard to do, because I enjoyed building it. Now I want to build a KX1 too! The K2 is a great radio, no doubt. Add the ATU and battery kit and you're good to go. Tough I would keep it inside.. I had the ATU and SSB board, worked great. Or you could build an amp kit for your KX1, like Ray did. I certainly do understand the wish to build a K2 though, it's a fun undertaking.

Gil.

When I bought my TS-2000 about 7 years ago I thought it was the cats meow and it was for how I operated back then - HF SSB, digital and VHF FM all with the power knob full clockwise. Now the few times I use it it's strictly in CW mode with the power knob full counter clockwise and the VHF/UHF receiver is never on...... that fit's a K2 to a tee. I also never used to care about current draw and my Kenwood SUCKS electrons like Oprah on a canned ham!

I contemplated building a K2 at the time I was looking at the TS-2000 but by the time I added all the modules to the K2 to even out their differences in features, the K2 would have cost more and still not had all the features of a TS-2000. Of course had I known then what I know now......

Some hams might think I'm downgrading but I see it as an upgrade to a superior rig. You could spend three times what a K2 costs and still not have as good of a receiver, Elecraft receivers are THAT good!

[gil]

You could spend three times what a K2 costs and still not have as good of a receiver, Elecraft receivers are THAT good!

I will second that, having built two (K1,K2), plus still owning the KX3!
(I don't consider the KX3 to be a real "kit")

Gil.

[KC9TNH]

Re-reading this page I believe there is a question from Tim that got embedded in a multi-quote, so am extracting it here:

Thanks for posting.   I am interested in the NVIS shot.  Could you provide a little more info.  I have done them years ago and I am just getting back into comms.

What are you ideas about antenna and freqs during different times of day.  Thanks, Tim

Near-Vertical Incidence Skywave; and here are some thoughts about that, and this is more experiential, with just a small amount of blue-collar theory tossed in.

The take-off angle of max signal you get from the typical wire antenna varies based largely on its height above ground level (AGL) because of its proximity to the ground & interaction, RELATIVE TO the band being used.  EXAMPLE:  A typical residential wire 30' AGL is nearly a 1/2-wave high on 20m and you can get some real good service & distance out of that.  The same antenna on 80/75m is less than 1/8th-wave AGL.  Where the 20m signal peak will be taking off at a lower take-off angle and get your distance, the same peak signal on 75m is going to be found launching within 10-15° of vertical.  Looking at the wire standing on the ground, as seen in many antenna plots, the 20m will look like the typical butterfly wings, the 75m plot will look like what I call "the rising bran muffin."  (HouseHold-6 already puts up with my quirks; she is, ergo, a gem.)

So unless the atmosphere is extremely absorbent, the first time that 20m sig bounces and heads back to earth will be a long way's away.  The 75m sig goes almost straight up, then comes down within a MUCH closer radius - PERFECT for regional comms that don't disturb other regional comms, usually out to 200, maybe 300 miles.

In terms of bands, times of day, I've found the following, with your best bets being 40m, and 80/75m (the physical distances involved are long way out at the end of the wire, which is why the voice portion of the lower band is often referred to as 75m):

40m is good in the morning, depending upon whether you have some sun already 10-15° above the horizon (ionization is necessary). This can last often until mid-morning, and often goes in the toilet in the afternoon domestically.  It can start to return as the sun begins to sink. It will often startle you to find at 4pm that someone you couldn't hear is S9 at 4:15.  Kinda quirky sometimes.

80/75m:  These bands are, in my view, best at night, under full sunset conditions. (Sun is 10-12° below the horizon, which happens pretty quick in the winter.)  Also, on these bands you are going to hear ALL of the weather going on around CONUS.  So check the radar & verify that you're hearing the static crashes from Louisiana, not next door. If not next door, drive on.  The band might have alot of racket, but might be in excellent propagation shape.  You can do alot on this band at night and typically QRP levels will get it done for CW, typical barefoot base power required for SSB.
The other quirk that often happens with 80/75 is that they may have a few hour period right in the middle of the day when they are in great shape and local/regional comms are easy-breezy.

If all you want to do is work local/regional on these lower bands, a decent wire antenna at any reasonable distance AGL will get it done for you.  That typical ham's 30' high dipole is great for the higher bands, and they're probably not going to often get it up high enough to be 1/2 wave on either band unless they have a tower or are on top of a peak with all ground sloping away.

One tip if you're working with short end-fed antennas typically run as slopers:  If you can, get the feed point of it at least 8' or so AGL.  Any reasonable plots will show the reason - you don't gain much local NVIS, but it will be a barn-stomper on the higher bands because it's not interacting with the ground as much.

Honest, if all you wanted to do was work very local 80/75 you could string a wire pretty low and still get away with it.  Just get it above obvious obstructions.
Did that help?

[KK0G]

I would venture to guess that the average hams HF wire antennas are already NVIS whether that's the intent or not, especially from 40 meters and down. To get the low take off angles for the coveted DX contacts requires more height than the typical ham can muster without a tall tower, the tip of my push up mast is only 30 feet high. One of the advantages of vertical antennas is the fact that they can achieve very low take off angles even mounted as low as ground level.