I know that some folks made a mass purchase a while ago, but I have yet to find a place where I can order some #31 material toroids. Can anyone help? 73, Jeff K8ND ___________________________________
This problem is going to be even worse in a few weeks, in the CQWW 160 CW Contest. As I pointed out in my (PJ2T) 3830 comments from last year, being away from both Europe and North America populatio
I recall reading somewhere that putting DC current through wire turns on ferrite toroids could result in damage to the material. Am I recalling correctly? Is there a current threshold that should be
Also from BX0ZR, N8BJQ sent a recording of the interference on 160 and 40. I stuck them online at: 160 Meter Radar Noise: http://www.k8nd.com/Radio/160M_RADAR_NOISE.wav 7002 Radar Noise: http://www.
It's helpful in a contest to know where the other guys can and cannot operate! I converted K0CKD's comprehensive "Topband Frequency Allocation" table to PDF a while ago, and have it on one of my sup
I have two "AY Technologies" AYL-4 K9AY systems that I no longer need. One has the poles/wires included, the other just the control box (with filter/preamp) and the outdoor relay box. These are the o
G'day Bjorn: On Curacao, at PJ2T, the soil is a few inches deep over coral rock, I was not happy with the performance of a K9AY installed over twelve 30-foot radials. In January, we installed (Field
G'day Eddy: You can think your happy Utopian thoughts, but Topband contesters (especially in Europe, but in North America too) are still going to want the answer as to what radio and filters handles
Clint: I don't recall what reason ON4UN gave for the recommendation to not run a Beverage through the woods, but the antenna will work fine running through the woods. Run the antenna in the directio
G'day Paul: An I.C.E. #196 or #197 "RF Limitor / receiver protector" is one option, which requires no no power and no switching on transmit - just plug it into the RX antenna line. http://www.icerad
At PJ2T (a much less rare destination than VK9E or 3B7, of course, but near salt water just the same) our permanent 650-foot USA/JA Beverage runs within a foot or two of the the top of an oceanside
I have become convinced that one must be brain-damaged to sit sorting signals-from-static on Topband in the Caribbean for extended periods. It's painful and frustrating most of the time, with the oc
I didn't find out what was happening until early At the PJ2T station, we have an 80-meter 3-element delta loop array pointed at Europe. It has a driven element an parasitic driven element and reflec
I've always found that inserting a 20 dB (or so) attenuator in the TX antenna when receiving to be a better way to match signal levels to the RX antennas. I've never found a preamp necessary (althou
__ Thanks for the nice words, Patrick! I have updated that Op Aid a few times since the 2005 edition, and the most recent can be found at: http://www.k8nd.com/Radio/Planning/CQWW160/TopbandBadFreqs.
Doug: Victor, K1LT, has been doing some neat work with Beam Steering using SDRs. See his various materials at http://www.k1lt.com/. 73, Jeff K8ND _______________________________________________ Topb
I notice that the upcoming Stew will take place 27 days before the CW 160 CW Contest, so the face of the sun that inflicts us for the Stew will return for CQ 160! Also, note the several changes in ru
In March 1997, QST included a review of four high-power antenna tuners (MFJ MFJ-989C; Nye-Viking MB-V-A; Tucker T-3000; N4XM XMatch). The XMatch was clearly the "best of breed" of those tested, espec
I have been maintaining a "Known Bad Frequencies" op aid for a number of years, and periodically I attempt to get input from European and Japanese Topband operators to revise it. I've placed a copy o