[Elecraft] [LF] 474.2 KHz - Success!

[Eric NO3M]

Thanks for the reports from both AF2Z (48) at 472 km and K6DGW (6) at 
3449 km.  Best SNRs reproduced below:

2015-04-22 07:18      WG2XJM      0.475775      -19      0  EN91wr     
  10      K6DGW      CM98lw      3449      279

2015-04-22 06:38      WG2XJM      0.475776      0      0      EN91wr     
  10      AF2Z      FM29lw      472      113

Just a note about power levels reported.  It is a general practice, at 
least amongst the US. 630M experimental ops, to report estimated ERP 
instead of actual TPO (transmitter output).  With the low antenna 
efficiencies that come with this territory, that generally means most 
stations are running 100W or more TPO.  The antenna here is a 67 ft 
vertical w/ 8x30ft top loading wires and about 22000 ft of radials 
covering approx 350x350ft area in an open field. The ground is damp most 
of the year.  Last measured ground + coil loss was around 4.5 ohms, for 
an efficiency of approx. 16%.  That is considered high, most 
efficiencies are in the < 5-8% range.

Hope to see you guys again.  The real fun will start back up mid to late 
fall and through winter when there are regular CW QSOs going on, incl. 
coast to coast (yes, at 10W ERP or less).  Though, WG2XIQ in TX was good 
enough this morning (-4 SNR 2.5kHz BW) to complete a CW QSO, which we've 
had many over the course of summer.

73 Eric NO3M
(WG2XJM)


On 04/22/2015 07:17 AM, drewko wrote:
> I set up WSPR last night on 474 KHz here from SNJ. Receive only using
> a 90 ft endfed wire antenna, my K3 with new synth card. Logged 137
> reports with 6 different stations as far as 1300 miles west.  They
> were running between 1 and 10 watts.
>
> 73,
> Drew
> AF2Z
>
>
>
> On Tue, 21 Apr 2015 09:23:42 -0700, you wrote:
>
>> The WSPR screen was full of transmissions this AM!  My grid is CM98LW
>>
>> The log starts at 0245 UTC when it was still not dark.
>>
>> Call    Grid   SNR
>> WH2XGP  DN07   -20
>> WG2XXM  EM15   -30
>> WG2XSV  CN85   -27
>> WG2XIQ  EM12   -28
>>
>> SNR's maxed out a few hours before sunrise here in the -5 to -1 dB
>> range.  Here's what I learned:
>>
>> The new synthesizer does in fact work very well in the LF/MF range.  You
>> need the KXV3(A) option, anyone with a P3 has it.  I used my flagpole
>> [~25 ft] on the corner of our deck for the antenna, I've got a single
>> wire from its base that comes into the shack which I plugged into the RX
>> ANT jack.  Tapping RX ANT made everything come alive.  It also brought
>> up the preamp which was way too much.  NDB "LV" was very strong in a CW BW.
>>
>> WSPR was set for RX only.  Haven't figured out yet how to send my spots
>> into WSPRNet or how to interpret it.  I'll run again tonight using my
>> large sloping-V low band antenna.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Fred K6DGW
>> - Northern California Contest Club
>> - CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015
>> - www.cqp.org
>>