[SJRA-Members] QSO Party Newbie Operating Question

Fri Jun 17 09:09:41 EDT 2016

Yes, Holden has operated as K2AA\100 on 2M FM. 

As have I over the weekend during the contest. 

I can get on again this weekend if locals need these bands. 

Joe - KC2TN 

> On Jun 17, 2016, at 8:59 AM, Richard Lawn <rjlawn at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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