[Lowfer] Hot HiFER News!

[Dexter McIntyre W4DEX]

JD wrote:
> It appears HiFER NC has set a new DX record...one that will be very 
> difficult to exceed!  Steve VK2XV has apparently captured the signal in New 
> South Wales, Australia, a distance of 15,400 km.  Read his message and view 
> the capture on the LW Message Board at: http://lwca.org/mb/msg/2700.htm
> 
> Congratulations, Steve and Dex!
> 

Steve did all the work.  The current NC Hifer had been near trouble free for 
close to 9 years now.  I did have to reseat the 555 timer once when TAG notified 
me it wasn't squaring.  Also the original battery that was charged with a solar 
panel was replaced with a small power supply maybe 7 years ago.

Steve contacted me last week about his attempt.  I was planing to set up a 
grabber so he would know where to look since the signal drifts with temp 
changes. Guess he didn't need any help.  I was just now looking at the square 
wave and noticed slight instant freq changes at random times.  I have determined 
this is due to high current appliances like water heaters and the oven turning 
on or off.  So the old 12 volt power supply must not have a precision regulated 
output.  The freq change is only 10 or so millihertz but noticeable on in Argo 
QRSS10 mode.  Grabber presently running:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15095569/w4dex/grabber1_00000.jpg

Dex