Taking a look at Club log club leagues. I see ADXA keeps moving up in the rankings. Thanks to all the great DXers in the club that are making this happen. I also see that I need to step up my game.
Mike/KB5WBH texted me that PJ6Y was on 160 last night and that he had worked them. I ran out to the shack and was met with an s9 plus noise on the inv L and could not hear them. Last weekend I had pulled the pennant down to make sure it would not get damaged in the storms that were forecast to come through because I thought I had an issue with my fiberglass support mast which turned out not be be physical damage but a loose connector on the mast. If I was to be able to work them, I had no choice but to try to get the pennant back up in the dark, which I did manage to do. Even though it ended up being not quite pennant shaped, I ended up with a good RX signal on them and a QSO. It seems I end up doing antenna work in the dark pretty often. I think may be needing some night vision goggles or need to eat more carrots to assist with my ability to see in the dark. I wonder if they make carrots in bifocals?
Not only is my vision lacking, after many years of not being able to hear much at all, I purchased hearing aids about 6 weeks ago When I went in to be tested I told the doc that every thing above about 1600hz was basically gone. She looked at me funny and said we need to do a hearing test. After the hearing test, she was astonished that I was correct. I could hear basically normal, a -20 db up to 1200 hz, but at 1200 hz my hearing dropped to a -80db per her chart. After receiving hearing aids. I discovered that crickets were not extinct as I had thought. I am now hearing all the higher frequencies when operating ft8, however, I have lost my built in 1200hz audio filter when working a CW pileup. I haven't tried the hearing aids on SSB, but they have temendously with everyday hearing.
I see that Jon is collecting tower parts! Congratulations and good to see you found some with the price being "right". This is always a good thing.
I'm looking forward to hearing how the 5 element antenna for 160 at ZN's station will do. I feel sure it will do good.
To all the amp builders out there the MRF300's LDMOS transistors were said to be obsolete and jumped in price 400% as I write this it looks as if the price has come down at digikey and mouser to less than $100. A pair of these has been an easy way to get 500 watts up to 2 meters. I hope the price goes even lower, but I don't think it will.
Due to a disasterous summer on my antennas, I've got much I need to fix before bad weather sets in.
Everyone have a great day and good DXing.
Sorry for the rambling. Picture is of the built in audio CW filter response.
Randy/W5ZJ
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