[OKDXA] Thoughts on 160, kinda long

Tue, 4 Feb 2003 20:31:17 -0600

Clif,

I agree with Jim.  Good stuff!  I don't agree with Jim that it's the "Real
Man's Band".  I may have to get hearing aids.

The best transmitting antenna that I ever had on 160 was a folded inverted
L.  It wasn't bad on receive either but couldn't compete against the
beverages.

The main thing is that you are having fun and that's most of what amateur
radio is all about.

Coy
----- Original Message -----
From: k5tt <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 7:27 PM
Subject: Re: [OKDXA] Thoughts on 160, kinda long

Good stuff Clif.  I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the "Real Man's Band".

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Clifton Sikes" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 3:28 PM
Subject: [OKDXA] Thoughts on 160, kinda long

> My thoughts, now that can be something to ponder, huh? Anyway, after four
> months of pretty dedicated work on 160, I thought I would share what I
have
> seen and heard.
>
> We all know ON4UN's book on low band DX'ing as the ultimate technical
work.
> I have found a couple of others that I would recommend. First is DX'ing on
> the edge, The Thrill of 160 Meters. It is written by K1ZM, and a great
> history of acivity on top band,along with some fantastic nuts and bolts
> articles on antennas for 160. I got more from it than anything I have read
> on the subject. The latest addition to my library is The Antenna
Compendium
> Vol. 7. It has some good articles on antennas, and proved out some of the
> things I was seeing with my own inverted L. Mine is 48 feet vertical, and
> 120 feet semi horizontal, with a series capacitor in the feed point. It
> works!
>
> I had spent three winters using a Carolina Windom 160, and was able to
work
> 21 countries with it. However, I heard lots more who could not hear me.
> Since putting up the L in late September, I'm now up to 50 worked.
Vertical
> does seem to be better than low horizontal. I have heard Bert, K2BA, doing
> quite well with his dipole, but it's up at 100 feet. I can't do that, so
> vertical sounds better for my setup.
>
> The biggest surprise has been that we don't hear Europe very well here in
> Ok. Even the big boys like W5TM have noticed the same thing. I figured
> Europeans would be a dime a dozen, like on other bands. Not so! The other
> surprise has been how easy it has been to work African countries. An
arricle
> in The Compendium #7 explained that phenomenon, due to the design of my
> antenna. One thing that I read in most all DX aricles is, send your call
> once, not over and over. That seems to work! The guys on the other end of
> the pile will pick out a single call and work you while others are sending
> their call 4,5,6 times. Also, matching the sending speed of the operator
on
> the other end is a good thing, besides being polite. I don't particularly
> like working at 15-18 wpm, but it seems to help get through the noise.
> Speaking of noise, I have found that the RF gain control is my best friend
> on the low bands. Cut it back to eliminate noise and give the AGC a break,
> then up the AF gain to improve the signal to noise ratio. Heck, some
nights
> I put in 20dB of attenuation, just to cut the noise. These are just a few
of
> the tricks I have learned, and they might be of some use by others. The
> bottom line is spend time on the band. I have been able to work several
new
> ones in the contests, but many more by just tuning around to see who might
> pop out of the racket. Sorry this ran so long, but I'm having a blast. I
> hope you all do too.
>
> 73, Clif N5UW
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OKDXA mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/okdxa

_______________________________________________
OKDXA mailing list
[email protected]
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/okdxa