[Lowfer] WM in EN90xn overnite

Fri Feb 6 11:45:50 EST 2015

Mike (&All)
>Thanks for watching Wm. On your three captures, am I seeing Wm fade in and 
>out in a pattern different than SIW?   If I am, is there a flaw in thinking 
>that the two should be in some sync because of our close proximity.  Have 
>you noticed that before with other stations?

    From my limited experience over the past few years of longwave listening 
I
have observed such fading of alternate stations on or near the same 
frequency to
be fairly common. I have observed such fading on NDB stations a few hundred 
to 1,000
miles away on/about the same frequency as well as see the EU longwave 
broadcast stations
peak and fade at slightly different times and frequencies.  I might hear 
Medi1 (171khz) strong for 10 minutes
then it fades and Radio France International (162kHz) is suddenly stronger. 
Similar observations with Iceland broadcasting
on 189kHz or Euro1 on 183 kHz.  WSPR2 spots on 630m are all over the SNR 
range on a given night and I am fortunate enough to be close to XJM to 
compare Part5 signal receptions to what Eric receives with his Circle 8 
array.

In a simplistic way I can compare the ionosphere to a Swiss Cheese methaphor 
with varying density and one might
assume it does not necessarily rotate at the same velocity as terra-firma. 
That being the case one puts up the best antenna
possible at the local back yard quiet zone and hopes for the best.  An 
engineer at the local broadcasting station once told
me there are little quiet zone eddies in every storm, it's your job to go 
find one of those quiet zones in your back yard if you want to hear as well 
as possible at a given  station location at LF.  Toying around here with 
antennas, transformers, feedlines, chokes, receiver converters, and computer 
sound cards I'd have to agree with him ~:)

    Getting back to last nite's reception I should add that my EWE main lobe 
is pretty much pointed right at WM, and SIW is more WNW, so SIW is a few 
(2~3 or more dB) down the pattern of the forward broad cardio pattern lobe 
of hte EWE.   TAG comes in off the back of the antenna quite well at times, 
and 10~13 dB F/B ratio is a realistic situation here, sometimes higher than 
that depending on the incoming angle into the null of the cardio pattern.

Not having toyed with an RF amp meter at LF, I may not have useful input on 
your latest mod, but it
sounds like you may have made an improvement. Perhaps the next month of LF 
listening will tell us if
your field strength has actually improved...

Thatks for the LF beaconing Mike, always neat to see a few microwatts span a 
+400 mile path at any frequency.....

73, Mike wa3tts

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "N8OOU" <n8oou at meekfarm.us>
To: "Discussion of the Lowfer (US, European, & UK) and MedFer bands" 
<lowfer at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2015 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WM in EN90xn overnite

> Mike - TTS;  Thanks for watching Wm. On your three captures, am I seeing 
> Wm fade in and out in a pattern different than SIW?   If I am, is there a 
> flaw in thinking that the two should be in some sync because of our close 
> proximity.  Have you noticed that before with other stations?
>
> I revised the inline RF Ammeter circuit yesterday. The meter/circuit I 
> have been using has all ways had a low reading. I switched to a higher 
> current meter, and used different components on the rectifier board. The 
> new meter now reads a number closer to what one would expect.  What was 
> not expected, when I removed the old meter I had a significant drop in 
> current to the P.A. (I had no current change with either just old meter or 
> both inline) After boosting the P.A. back to 1 watt I have a VooDoo Magic 
> number of 90 on the new meter as compared to 15 on the old meter.
>
> Along with that change, night before last we received a light cover of 
> snow here. There is still some left on the ground this morning.
>
> OK, so was my old meter flawed and restricting my signal, or did the snow 
> improve coverage, or both, or.....
>
> 73   de   N8OOU - Mike Meek
>
> On 02/06/2015 07:34 AM, Michael Sapp wrote:
>> Mike & All: The artic breeze seemed to usher in WM this morning....
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/68yohmxhatgm6yp/capt00011.jpg?dl=0
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/vk032o08loyg10r/capt00012.jpg?dl=0
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/lsfe9rcyjh606r5/capt00013.jpg?dl=0
>>
>>
>> WM still visible currently. I may let the PC run all day and see what 
>> develops....
>>
>> 73 Mike wa3tts
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