[SJRA-Members] QSO Party Newbie Operating Question

Fri Jun 17 08:59:23 EDT 2016

I think Holden has worked 2m fm but not as K2aa
Rick

On Friday, June 17, 2016, K2WB <ken at k2wb.com> wrote:

> There is always 2m. What we need to do is get K2AA/100 on 2m
>
> Best Regards
> Ken
>
> > On Jun 16, 2016, at 10:37 PM, AC2FO <ac2fo at comcast.net <javascript:;>>
> wrote:
> >
> > I have to agree with Bob, 80 m at Night will be your best chance The H/V
> 20
> > db loss is for Ground Wave signals not DX. 40M NVIS during the day 80M
> NVIS
> > at night. Antennas low to the ground is what pushes the signal straight
> up,
> > us people with dipoles lower to the ground talk real good local not so
> much
> > DX. I had a hard time copying K2WB/100 40M other evening  we have to be
> > under 10 air mile or so from each other on.
> >
> > http://www.arrl.org/nvis
> >
> > Dennis
> > AC2FO
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: SJRA-Members [mailto:sjra-members-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> <javascript:;>] On Behalf
> > Of Bob Beyer
> > Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2016 9:53 PM
> > To: 'Mark Walters'; sjra-members at mailman.qth.net <javascript:;>
> > Subject: Re: [SJRA-Members] QSO Party Newbie Operating Question
> >
> > Hi Mark,
> >
> > Congrats on the first DX with your new General privileges.
> > What you're experiencing on HF is completely normal.  While it may be
> easy
> > to make contact with someone VERY nearby (say only a couple miles) it's
> also
> > entirely likely that your signals will hop right over each other if
> you're
> > more than a just a few miles apart.  Various bands have different
> > propagation characteristics; some will travel farther via the ground wave
> > effect and some will do better when bouncing off the different layers of
> the
> > ionosphere (E, F1, F2, etc.).
> >
> > In general 160m and 80m will behave well for close-in contacts and you
> > should be able to do well with stations both nearby and out to several
> > hundred miles after sun-down.  However, these two bands suffer from
> > atmospheric noise far more than the others so the noise level can be a
> bear.
> > On 40m through 10m, you may or very likely may not hear close-in stations
> > (other members).  There are so many propagation phenomena that trying to
> go
> > into them all in a single email would be tedious.  One common one is
> called
> > Near Vertical Incident Sky-wave (or NVIS) where signals go nearly
> straight
> > up and bounce back.  This doesn't give long distance but works for local
> > stuff in your vicinity and nearby, say a few hundred miles.  40m is
> famous
> > for this.
> >
> > Making contacts on HF is not as predictable as a VHF or UHF repeater.
> This
> > is what makes it exciting.  Some days the bands will be "hot" and at
> other
> > times cold.  Europe, South America, the west coast, and further can sound
> > like next door at times and not be there at all others.  Close contacts
> can
> > sometimes be as hard or harder to make than DX. Whenever I operate the
> ARRL
> > Sweepstakes in November, the Southern New Jersey section is actually one
> of
> > the trickier ones for me to get.
> >
> > In general, 80m is probably your best chance of making a local contact on
> > HF, all factors being equal.  Be patient.  You're probably not doing
> > anything wrong.  With practice, you'll find what works best at your
> QTH.  I
> > contacted John, W2FDJ operating K2AA/100 the other night on 80m LSB with
> > ease but have a hard time hearing the folks south of me when they operate
> > 40m CW.
> >
> > One other thing; for now I would not concern myself too much with the
> > polarity of your HF antenna.  While it certainly matters to some extent,
> it
> > is nothing like the effect this has on VHF, UHF, and microwave signals.
> On
> > 10m it maybe a little more pronounced but I wouldn't start building new
> > antennas just to overcome this.  When a signal skips off the ionosphere
> > (like it does for all DX contacts) any polarization that was used to
> > transmit is lost so there is no point in trying to match polarization
> for DX
> > contacts.
> >
> > Good luck,
> > Bob - KE2D
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: SJRA-Members [mailto:sjra-members-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> <javascript:;>] On Behalf
> > Of Mark Walters
> > Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2016 8:47 PM
> > To: sjra-members at mailman.qth.net <javascript:;>
> > Subject: [SJRA-Members] QSO Party Newbie Operating Question
> >
> > Well folks, I have had one heck of a time trying to make contact with
> local
> > K2AA/100 operators so far during this entire QSO party as well as
> SJRA/100
> > self spotters.
> > In fact, I have not been able to contact K2AA/100 operators at all while
> > operating as my own call despite chasing the schedules, chasing the
> flurry
> > of email self spots etc.
> >
> > I have a Yaesu FT-857D and when I bring it into the house I match it
> with a
> > YT-100 tuner, and a vertical multiband EZ Military HF antenna and a
> Diamond
> > vertical 2M antenna which I can hit most other local repeaters
> with(except
> > K2AA lol).
> > This combination worked fairly well during the Jan VHF contest.
> > My 6M dipole that I just built this week and tuned with a Comet antenna
> > analyzer and further tuned with the YT-100 did not seem to produce any
> local
> > or far contacts on 6M during my K2AA operator slots(I believe the band
> was
> > closed during my slots according to propagation sites for 6M).
> >
> > I did manage to make a few outbound contacts while operating as K2AA/100
> > early in the week on 2M repeaters (other than SJRAs) since I can not hit
> > K2AA from my low lying development .
> >
> > In my frustration, today I took down my temporary shack in my home and
> took
> > down all my temp antennas in my back yard and put the radio back in my
> > truck.
> > Tonight at 7:15 I heard a band opening on 20M and managed to make my
> first
> > DX contact as a newly minted General, to a station in Italy like they
> were
> > sitting next to me.
> >
> > Subsequently, I turned back to the K2AA 10M net and could barely here
> Roy at
> > 8:00PM. (I know I am cross polarized with a vertical ATAS-120 antenna on
> my
> > truck despite it also having a built in tuner).
> >
> > Summary, I am a newbie and have had a great deal of fun trying this week
> so
> > far but realize I have soooooo much to learn in Radio.
> >
> > Question to all the experienced SJRA operators >>>Does anyone have any
> > suggestions/feedback as to why I can't hit local contacts in HF but can
> hit
> > Italy like they were sitting next to me?
> > ...NVIS, cross polarized, band opening, right place/right time... all of
> the
> > above, none of the above... ???
> >
> > Any suggestions on what might be going on here are welcome.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for your feedback :)
> >
> > Mark Walters KD2JPW/AG
> >
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________________________
> > SJRA-Members mailing list
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sjra-members
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> > Post: mailto:SJRA-Members at mailman.qth.net <javascript:;>
> >
> > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> >
> > ______________________________________________________________
> > SJRA-Members mailing list
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sjra-members
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> > Post: mailto:SJRA-Members at mailman.qth.net <javascript:;>
> >
> > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> >
> > ______________________________________________________________
> > SJRA-Members mailing list
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sjra-members
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> > Post: mailto:SJRA-Members at mailman.qth.net <javascript:;>
> >
> > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> SJRA-Members mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sjra-members
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:SJRA-Members at mailman.qth.net <javascript:;>
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

-- 
Sent from Gmail Mobile