[Lowfer] WM & SIW early this morning

Thu Feb 19 11:59:59 EST 2015

Mike: Possible that any non-bonded connection-connector could physically 
shrink in the extreme cold and cause minor changes in the path 
resistance....

Mike tts

----- 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: Thursday, February 19, 2015 11:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WM & SIW early this morning

> Mike & All;
>
> Your captures from late last night, and this morning show a stronger than 
> normal Wm. I would assume that's due to Cold and Snow cover. My low here 
> last night was -8.
>
> I noticed unusual behavior on the beacon last night, which has continued 
> this morning.  The P.A. current from the exciter is randomly varying 
> upwards.
>
> I have a short video clip here:
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/istx11d7z20wjdk/DSCF0062.AVI?dl=0
>
> That meter indicates the P.A. power flexing between 1W and 1.15W. Winds 
> were calm, nothing was moving at the antenna. I didn't notice any lights 
> flickering like we were having a brownout. A check of the DC supply right 
> now shows a steady 24v to the exciter.
>
> Up to now the P.A. current would run steady with maybe a small daily 
> variance.   Weird...   Maybe some component is about to fail???
>
>
> 73   de   N8OOU - Mike Meek
>
> On 02/19/2015 09:32 AM, Michael Sapp wrote:
>> Garry, Mike & All:  Also seeing only WM and SJ this morning in the 185.3
>> window.  WM peaked up from about 0830 to 0930, then faded and came back
>> around 1030utc.
>>
>> WM faded again around sunrise and has been above the noise since then.
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/1q07t07ppa30zul/capt00070.jpg?dl=0
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/v0wdk85t8g6zvze/capt00071.jpg?dl=0
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/73s68gmps3bo7v5/capt00072.jpg?dl=0
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/hehymawpcq0pd73/capt00073.jpg?dl=0
>>
>>
>> On 630m only a single VE7BDQ capture of -27 at 0720, but 50 some WH2XND
>> captures ranging from -8 at 0452 to -28 at 1206 with the 16 bit internal
>>
>> soundcard in my old Vista era Acer netbook. (The 24 bit external Xonar
>> sound card and new Acer would have dug a few dB deeper into the 
>> noise)....
>>
>> I switched to my 300kHz LPF and single rx IF feed at 1446 UTC.  At the
>> time of the switchover the WM signal went from -78 to -75 but I'm
>> uncertain how much
>>
>> of that was due to the equipment change or propagation.  Next capture
>> frame may tell if the background gets noticeably darker.  Seems like the
>> 300kHz filter has less
>>
>> effect on background noise with the NW pointed EWE, even though 570 kHz
>> in Youngstown OH is close to the top of the S-meter scale in that
>> direction (many other AM stations weaker
>>
>> levels tho, especially the 50KW 4mi away)....also less nearby commercial
>> & industrial activity to the NW direction here.....
>>
>> 73 Mike wa3tts
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Garry" <k3siw at sbcglobal.net>
>> To: "lowfer list" <lowfer at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 8:16 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Lowfer] WM & SIW early this morning
>>
>>
>>> Mike,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the captures. See SIW is still hanging in there on 185.185
>>> kHz this morning, despite the -10F temperature. Haven't seen MP for
>>> awhile so perhaps the weather has it down at the moment. WM is coming
>>> in well now that daylight has returned. It did fine overnight too but
>>> only company seen here at the lowfer watering hole was SJ.
>>>
>>> Didn't notice any sunrise advantage here - the 3 US west coast Navtex
>>> stations on 518 kHz decoded, but that's normal. Nothing noted from
>>> Greenland. NDBs indicated good propagation to the south (GPI on 309
>>> kHz was in all night and Panama "901" decoded on 302 kHz DGPS), but
>>> nothing was detected was the Chile Navtex stations. VLF had a nice
>>> array of signals in the evening but 77.5 and 162 kHz clock signals
>>> were weak.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Garry, K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL
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