[MRCA] Southern Fried Moose

[mstangelo at comcast.net]

Chris,

I participate in both nets are you observations are spot on.

Another issue is the high noise level in populated areas.

I believe one of the criteria of these Cold War Nets is to operate USB with a channel spacing of 1 kHz to accommodate older mil radios. This leaves us with 5357 on the 60 meter band. One option you mentioned is to operate the nets later in the day. Unfortunately this frequency is the center of the worldwide 60 meter band and FT8 stations take over as the absorption diminishes.

Let's see what our options are.

Home operation - I can work both the northern and southern M&S Nets but I require effective Noise Reduction and/or diversity reception to hear the weaker stations. I cannot accomplish this with most HF radios. One option is to use an SDR receiver with the excellent noise reduction capabilities of the SDRSharp software or to feed the audio from your HF set with a USB to audio adapter and process with the SDRSharp noise reduction.

Portable operation - The second option is to portable operation from a quiet location. This is also in line with one of purposes of the M&S "on-patrol" net. I prefer this option and do operate frequently from quiet areas at the beach but it requires LOTS's of preparation, scheduling and accommodating weather. I am usually free at noon between morning and afternoon chores so these M&S nets line up with my schedule.

40 Meters - Noontime operation is more achievable on 40 meters but the issue is operating USB. Last summer we tested 40 meters LSB  after the noon net on 60 meters using LSB and conditions were better than 60. Fourty meters is a narrow band and the USB users vie the AM operators. If you decide to operate on 40 I would prefer using LSB but this is not available on some mil radios.

That's it. I hope Ray schedules more nets in the future but we should be prepared for the operating conditions.

Mike N2MS
   
> On 04/26/2025 11:40 PM EDT Christopher Bowne <aj1g at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> I listened also but only heard faint signals. It seems to me that late morning to mid afternoon is probably the worst time of day for any propagation on 60 meters, at least for where we are in the current solar cycle. Strong signal levels at 1730 local on the Short and Sweet Net vice those during the noontime Moose and Squirrel are literally like night and day. Too much D layer absorption at high noon on 60 meters under the high solar flux levels these days.
> 
> Chris AJ1G Stonington CT
> 
>