Since I had insomnia anyway I decided to listen for the K7RAT beacons between
0800 and 1100Z
My line noise was its usual S 8 to 9 with static bursts every second or two
from 5 to 10 over S-9 but I was able to hear the beacons very clearly.
Actual S meter readings were impossible but the difference in signal strength
between 1800 and 1999 was very noticeable. The 1999 signal was consistantly
stronger and showed less QSB throughout the period. Around 1100Z the signals
on 1999 came up to 20 over S9, well above the strongest lightning crashes while
the 1800 signals never peaked much above S9
I was using my Collins antenna which has a very wide bandwidth and an aperture
of 2 degrees to 60 degrees elevation between 3 db points. it is also very
broadband and has a flat 2.45:1 SWR across the entire 160 meter band with the
matching network switched out
The L network is tuned to give less than 1.5:1 from 1800 to 1875. With it in
there was a very slight increase in signal strength on the 1800 beacon but no
discernable change in signal strength on the 1999 signal.
I tried listening on other antennas and had the most significant change on the
KT36 at 85 feet. With the element ends pointing toward the northwest the 1800
signal all but disappeared but the 1999 signal stayed quite loud. On other
antennas and bearings the 1999 signal stayed consistently stronger but the
relative strength between the two signals varied significantly. My 30 meter
inverted vee oriented NE/SW showed the least difference betwen the two beacons.
My receiver was a FT1000MP Field unit with all filtering and processing
switched off. I had the two beacons set on the separate receivers and simply
switched back and forth between them I used the main receiever for all actual
comparisons.
One strange thing I noticed, though, was a slight delay on some lightning
bursts between the 1800 receiver and the 1999 receiver when I listened to them
at the same time with stereo earphones.
at the time of the delays the strength of the crashes were weaker on 1999
73
Larry
N7DF
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