[Lowfer] Wet ground - low radiated output

[Paul Daulton]

Dave W5dsb and I both built the Lyle Kohler loop tuner/preamp. Niether 
of us had much success with small, 3ft on the side, loops. But the 
tuner did work well on whips. I have two ts50s and two identical 
Gateway III compters. I also have the pa0rdt mini whip. 75 metre dipole 
vs mini whip is a toss up some times one is better than the other, then 
the reverse is true on another day. 

I note W5JGV is using the HP selective voltmeter. Dave compared those 
two and the ts50 won out. But antenna matching may be a factor there 
too. 

I may drag my loop tuner out and try a 10ft dia single turn shielded loop. 

My ts50 and random wire(75meter dipole) does a great job on 137. I have 
captures of all 5 or 6 at once. 

Judging from the variometer setting my antenna has changed quite a bit 
from dry weather. 

73 Paul

Quoting Garry and Linda Hess <k3siw at sbcglobal.net>:
> Hi Paul,
>
> It's been pretty wet up this way too, but not nearly as bad as what you
> report. We're having major renovations done to the house and it's going
> slowly because so many days no work can be done due to rain. 
>
> Noted that W5JGV was acting as a watering hole grabber last night and
> hearing very well (MP, CV, and XR at various times). I was trying to
> copy CV with the loop and not doing much but then I switched to the
> e-probe/SDR-IQ set up and eventually saw CV, XR, and MP (the latter two
> fading in and out, MP solid). Will have to make more comparisons between
> my loop and the e-probe. I certainly think the former should be better
> but I'm seeing more noise than in the past so may be getting desensed by
> it. I have an MFJ tuner modified for LF use so perhaps I can null the noise. 
>
> Sorry I didn't get around to looking for WMS until sunrise was too
> close. Will tune for you sooner tonight, weather permitting. 
>
> 73, Garry
>
> Paul Daulton wrote:
> > Garry
> > We have had the wettest summer on record. Friday we had flash flooding
> > all over the state, roads were closed all around me. My yard is
> > saturated. Normally we have a burning ban in my county from July to
> > October. This year we have not had a single ban. I have noted when the
> > ground is saturated my signal reports diminish. I dont have an
> > accurate way to measure field strength. During the monsoon rains WEB
> > dissapears. He did come back in last night. Farmers say they need 10
> > days of dry weather to harvest, estimates of crop losses are 15% or
> > more for rice and soy beans. 
> > My ground is clay down about 30- 36 inches then hard shale. Water has
> > to run off horizontally or evaporate. Bill (WEB) is setting on sandy
> > soil which may dispell water faster. I am getting day time copies on
> > WEB last few weeks when storms not present. No luck with CV. 
> > I dont have much of a top hat, CV doesnt have a ground system, yet we
> > both seem to get out for DX. Yet we cant copy each other. I wonder if
> > that has to do with the angle of radiation. I used to copy MO at about
> > the same distance as CV. 
> > Ive only had partial copies of CV,XR, and MP. Its time I got busy on a
> > loop for this winter. Paul
> >
> > Quoting Garry Hess <k3siw at sbcglobal.net>:
> >> Andy,
> >>
> >> I've only been listening to lowfers a bit over a year, but last year XR,
> >> CV, and WMS were copied regularly by December. So far this winter season
> >> the best I've been able to do is occasional traces. Only WEB has been
> >> copied regularly, but it seems relatively down in strength and sometimes
> >> fades into the noise. MP and EAR are good daytime copy, but I used to
> >> see MP well at night listening to the watering hole and so far this
> >> season it hasn't been in there, or has been weak. As at your QTH,
> >> October has been a very rainy month here, but the lightning activity has
> >> subsided nicely compared to the middle of summer. 
> >> In contrast to lowfers, NDB reception has been fine. I picked up new
> >> stations this month at a rate of about 1 per night. Since about 1350
> >> have already been logged, those new ones aren't in the back yard. 
> >> Stations in South America are coming in as well as last year. 
> >> Hopefully by the end of December lowfers will be coming in like last
> >> year too. Time will tell. 
> >> 73, Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
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> >
> > Paul Daulton K5WMS
> > beacon WMS 187.492 khz qrss30/slow 24/7
> > Jacksonville,Ar 72076
> > em34wu
> >
> >
>

Paul Daulton K5WMS
beacon WMS 187.492 khz qrss30/slow 24/7
Jacksonville,Ar 72076
em34wu