[Skimmertalk] Newbie questions

David Robbins k1ttt at arrl.net
Fri Jul 17 15:17:20 EDT 2015


If you have aa7xt in the bad call list the spots will still show on the
aggregator screen, but look closely, they should have a '-' where others
have a '+', this means they aren't being sent to the rbn or local users.  

I also use the Clifton labs preamp all the time, and put an ICE model 196 rf
limiter in front of it.  that may make more harmonics from the local stuff,
but eliminates the need for switching on the input... my rx antenna is only
about 150' from the 20m and 15m towers, not far from under the 160m inverted
L's and 80m Inv-V, maybe 200' from the 40m stack in the main lobe towards
Europe, and it works just fine.  I am amazed that even during m/m contests
here that it gets enough rx time to make lots of spots.

David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://k1ttt.net


-----Original Message-----
From: Skimmertalk [mailto:skimmertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of
Pete Smith N4ZR
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2015 18:48
To: skimmertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Skimmertalk] Newbie questions

Bill and Dave.  You can blacklist callsigns in the Aggregator to prevent
their being sent up to the mother ship, but I suspect the best thing is to
disable the QS1R insofar as that can be done without killing the power to
it, which will kill the FPGA load. I open the antenna input and drop the
power to my Clifton Labs preamp, and that seems to eliminate false
positives.

Incidentally, a lot of people, including me, find that the QS1R lacks
sensitivity above 14 MHz.  I use the Cliffton preamp all the time, because
it has such good strong signal handling.and moderate gain - only about 11 dB
- that it is not a problem on the low bands.  He also makes a higher gain
unit with similar characteristics that may be helpful on 6M.

73, Pete N4ZR
Download the new N1MM Logger+ at
<http://N1MM.hamdocs.com>. Check
out the Reverse Beacon Network at
<http://reversebeacon.net>, now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.

On 7/17/2015 10:08 AM, Dave Pascoe wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 17, 2015 at 10:01 AM, William Hein <bill.aa7xt at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
>> First newbie question, I have Skimmer Server running on 6 bands under 
>> W0LFA-# since yesterday afternoon.
>>
>> 40m
>> 30m
>> 20m
>> 17m
>> 15m
>> 10m
>>
>> Skimmers Online just shows 3 bands for W0LFA. Is this because MUF 
>> hasn't popped above 20m here in DM59pa yet this morning thus no 
>> recent higher band decodes?
>>
>
> Yes.
>
>
>
>> ------
>>
>> Second newbie question. I have pretty good separation between my 
>> Pixel Loop (connected to QS1R) and my TX antennas so I don't bother 
>> muting QS1R during TX periods. The CLP light on my QS1R is not 
>> lighting so I think I'm OK there. Likewise, I don't seem to have blown up
the Pixel preamp.
>>
>> However, I see phantom decodes of my own callsign on, for example, on 
>> 17m and 10m when I am txing on 20m. I have "AA7XT" in the Bad Calls 
>> file in Aggregator 4.1 yet I still see my call show up on Aggregator 
>> Spot Display on the correct and phantom frequencies. How do I get 
>> Skimmer Server and/or Aggregator to ignore "AA7XT"?
>>
>
> I have grappled with this here.  No matter how much separation you 
> have it's difficult to prevent this on the same property.  Despite not 
> lighting the CLIP LED there is something going non-linear.  Skimmer 
> Server is pretty sensitive.  I have even had issues when opening or 
> grounding the QS1R input while on transmit.  Since you probably have 
> better separation than I do, I would try wiring in a relay to open the 
> input to the QS1R and see how that does.
>
>
>
>> _____
>>
>> What analysis tools are available to review the spots one's own 
>> Skimmer Server detects? Would like to organize and analyze this from time
to time.
>>
>
> Probably the most flexible way right now is to download and look at 
> the raw
> data:
> http://reversebeacon.net/raw_data/
>
>
> 73,
> Dave
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