[NLRS] Re: 2 meter questions

[Mark Oswood]

Hi Cathy,

I hear both SSB and CW during contests, with more
activity on SSB at other times.

I have tried different power levels with my TS2000 and
found that going from 20 to 100W makes a significant
difference for making more distant contacts on SSB. 
By going from 20 to 100W you gain >6dB, which can be
significant when signals are in the noise (as is often
the case on 2 meters).  So you could start with 20W
and see how you do, but you will probably want to add
a 100-200W amp later.  

You will definitely want more power than 20W if you
are limited in the size of your antenna, although if
you get too big of an amp with a small antenna you run
the risk of becoming an alligator (big mouth, small
ears).

Two important factors which you didn't mention are
antenna height and polarization.  I assume that you
will set up your quad to be horizontally polarized. 
Almost everyone used horizontal polarization on
SSB/CW, and it is tough to make contacts with vertical
polarization.  Obviously, the higher you get the
antenna, the more contacts you will make, but this
often limited by your local geography or housing
situation.

The Sunday NLRS 2 meter net is a good place to test
things out once you get started (9pm 144.25 MHz SSB). 
Or just send me an email if you want to get on the air
some other time.  My 2 meter beam is in the garage at
this point, but I will have it back on the rotor as
soon as the snow is off the roof (which may be June at
the current rate!)

73,
Mark W0LM
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:57:10 -0600
> From: Cathy James <prjames at mindspring.com>
> Subject: [NLRS] Advice on 2M transverter, bricks
> To: nlrs at mailman.qth.net
> Message-ID: <45E268A6.6090503 at mindspring.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1;
> format=flowed
> 
> 
> With spring approaching (hard as it may be to
> believe under all that 
> snow), I'm starting to plan my 2M weak-signal
> station.  Some of you may 
> remember that I've asked about transverters and rigs
> in the past.
> 
> eHam has very mixed reviews of the Down East
> Microwave 60W 2M 
> transverter.  Elecraft's XV144 has superb reviews,
> but is only 20W.  I 
> think the prices are similar.
> 
> For those of you who do moderately serious
> weak-signal CW and SSB work 
> with a 3-element beam or less, what power do you
> find to be necessary?  
> Will I need a brick behind the XV144 if I go that
> route?  What are some 
> models of brick that are affordable and _readily
> available_?  I'm not 
> interested in purchasing anything off of eBay or
> spending a year 
> prowling hamfests hoping to find a particular model.
> 
> I would probably experiment with both my Uniden
> HR2600 and K2 to see how 
> much difference the receiver makes.  I presume that
> I need to build the 
> XV60 interface for the K2 to do this?
> 
> I'm currently building a 3-element quad from PVC and
> copper tubing, and 
> hoping to get within sight of the theoretical gain
> for this design (9 
> dB+).  Is this a reasonable gain figure for
> weak-signal, or am I going 
> to find that everyone else is running 5 or 6 element
> beams?
> 
=== message truncated ===




 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Don't pick lemons.
See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos.
http://autos.yahoo.com/new_cars.html