1
Equipment / Re: Educate me about antenna choice.
« on: April 20, 2014, 1915 UTC »
Yeah, I removed it as part of the DX160 mods that are on the web. Thanks!
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2
Equipment / Re: People have stated it, now I have experienced it.
« on: April 20, 2014, 1446 UTC »
Thanks for the responses, everyone! I no longer hear voice on LW- just beacons and the noise to which I referred.
CHRIS: the longwire comes no closer than 45' to any house (which is mine). Would AC and other electronic noise be a problem at these distances? If I do it, do the ferrite cores belong on the longwire or the coax?
I am playing around with some antenna things and have an update.
Once I finished the installation:
450' woods loop on braided 14 ga. insulated wire ->
Soldered 42' coax feed (ends connected to shield and center) ->
Coax lightning arrestor connected to Earth ground wire outside of house (presumably terminated on cold water pipe, but not sure- it's underground) which also has the cable TV and I think, electric breaker box inside all connected to it ->
Coax coil choke at the arrestor point ->
Into an A/B coax switch for disconnecting the antenna during electrical activity ->
Into a VHF/UHF transformer ->
Into the DX-160 with one conductor on 'antenna', the other on the other screw terminal that is jumped to the ground screw, and this ground screw is connected to electrical ground on a power bar.
QUESTIONS:
1. With the arrestor connected to Earth ground via the water pipe, the signal at the receiver is attenuated. Why?
2. With Earth ground connected, when I unplug the elect. ground- no difference. Why not?
3. With Earth ground disconnected, signal is high again. Why? Makes no difference if elect. ground is connected. I have it connected as a matter of precaution since Earth ground is disconnected. But perhaps they are electrically connected, as I surmised in the statement above.
4. I am not using the A/B switch any longer, thinking that losses or connex problems might be there. Thoughts?
So the problem appears to come from Earth ground being involved. Why is this?
Thanks everyone! You're all great.
Tyler
CHRIS: the longwire comes no closer than 45' to any house (which is mine). Would AC and other electronic noise be a problem at these distances? If I do it, do the ferrite cores belong on the longwire or the coax?
I am playing around with some antenna things and have an update.
Once I finished the installation:
450' woods loop on braided 14 ga. insulated wire ->
Soldered 42' coax feed (ends connected to shield and center) ->
Coax lightning arrestor connected to Earth ground wire outside of house (presumably terminated on cold water pipe, but not sure- it's underground) which also has the cable TV and I think, electric breaker box inside all connected to it ->
Coax coil choke at the arrestor point ->
Into an A/B coax switch for disconnecting the antenna during electrical activity ->
Into a VHF/UHF transformer ->
Into the DX-160 with one conductor on 'antenna', the other on the other screw terminal that is jumped to the ground screw, and this ground screw is connected to electrical ground on a power bar.
QUESTIONS:
1. With the arrestor connected to Earth ground via the water pipe, the signal at the receiver is attenuated. Why?
2. With Earth ground connected, when I unplug the elect. ground- no difference. Why not?
3. With Earth ground disconnected, signal is high again. Why? Makes no difference if elect. ground is connected. I have it connected as a matter of precaution since Earth ground is disconnected. But perhaps they are electrically connected, as I surmised in the statement above.
4. I am not using the A/B switch any longer, thinking that losses or connex problems might be there. Thoughts?
So the problem appears to come from Earth ground being involved. Why is this?
Thanks everyone! You're all great.
Tyler
3
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Neophyte to SDR- - question
« on: April 18, 2014, 0040 UTC »
Wow. Most everything that you wrote is new to me. Hamsats? I did not know, and will investigate it further.
Thanks!
Thanks!
4
Equipment / Re: People have stated it, now I have experienced it.
« on: April 17, 2014, 1353 UTC »
Well then, have I made my antenna to be too efficient? I would rather not add an antenna tuner to my setup- it's a simple setup and I already have too much gear in that room.
My DX160 has an antenna knob on it for tuning- that's it's function, correct? I do not think that it's a bandpass filter though, as preselectors are. What say you?
My DX160 has an antenna knob on it for tuning- that's it's function, correct? I do not think that it's a bandpass filter though, as preselectors are. What say you?
5
Equipment / Re: People have stated it, now I have experienced it.
« on: April 17, 2014, 0109 UTC »
Interesting. Aren't there tropical stations that use this band n the Western Hemisphere?
Would a resistor in series with the UHF/VHF transformer at the receiver solve this potential problem?
Would a resistor in series with the UHF/VHF transformer at the receiver solve this potential problem?
6
Utility / 20MHz time jamming? 4/16/2014 01:02UTC
« on: April 17, 2014, 0105 UTC »
0100->:02- Odd. I do not hear WWV at 20MHz, but there was what sounded like a jamming situation there. "Rapid fire" noises that repeated, and with higher pitch each time. Anyone else hear something?
01:04- heard a voice. I hear the seconds tone down deep.
01:04- heard a voice. I hear the seconds tone down deep.
7
Equipment / Re: People have stated it, now I have experienced it.
« on: April 17, 2014, 0020 UTC »
I am hearing audio on LW that I have never heard before- it was mostly noise and a beacon or two. Hearing some Christian and latin stations, as well as beacons more clearly.
The one question that I have is the chugging noise across most of the 150-400KHz band. It sounds like a higher pitch chugging locomotive (in AM) that is louder at certain freq's (150, 157, 165, 174, 181), then starts to become less of a problem higher up. Interesting that they are spaced relatively constant- might be a clue
Any ideas? Local to me? Atmospheric?
The one question that I have is the chugging noise across most of the 150-400KHz band. It sounds like a higher pitch chugging locomotive (in AM) that is louder at certain freq's (150, 157, 165, 174, 181), then starts to become less of a problem higher up. Interesting that they are spaced relatively constant- might be a clue
Any ideas? Local to me? Atmospheric?
8
Equipment / People have stated it, now I have experienced it.
« on: April 16, 2014, 2041 UTC »
Previous antenna (past 8 months- I am new to this): 100', 30ga. bare wire around the roof periphery. Decent, but not as good or as quiet as I'd hoped.
Current antenna: strung it up on Sunday, temporarily connected it this afternoon- test, and for tweaking. This one is a longwire loop- 450' of 14 ga. insulated wire strung tree-to-tree in the woods out back at about 30' off the ground. It forms a general loop, terminates both ends at a tree in the back yard where I have a 45' coax feed strung from there to the roof, 15 coils about 10" in diameter as a choke sitting on the roof, and then down to the room in the house (the full coax run is 100' but will be shortened significantly after tweaking everything).
I still need to construct a pole to help support the tree-to-roof run, fine tune the choke, solder and seal the antenna/feed connection in the tree, and make a permanent run through an external wall to my receiver.
This is night-and-day over my first try! Quiet, good grab- I was hearing things that I had not heard before; got a ham in TX at 3PM local here, S09, and many other hams in 10/11m. Lots of latino stations. Time stations now clear and strong.
Prior, there was mostly noise at this time of day. Can't wait until this eve/night!
Yay!
Tyler
Current antenna: strung it up on Sunday, temporarily connected it this afternoon- test, and for tweaking. This one is a longwire loop- 450' of 14 ga. insulated wire strung tree-to-tree in the woods out back at about 30' off the ground. It forms a general loop, terminates both ends at a tree in the back yard where I have a 45' coax feed strung from there to the roof, 15 coils about 10" in diameter as a choke sitting on the roof, and then down to the room in the house (the full coax run is 100' but will be shortened significantly after tweaking everything).
I still need to construct a pole to help support the tree-to-roof run, fine tune the choke, solder and seal the antenna/feed connection in the tree, and make a permanent run through an external wall to my receiver.
This is night-and-day over my first try! Quiet, good grab- I was hearing things that I had not heard before; got a ham in TX at 3PM local here, S09, and many other hams in 10/11m. Lots of latino stations. Time stations now clear and strong.
Prior, there was mostly noise at this time of day. Can't wait until this eve/night!
Yay!
Tyler
9
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Neophyte to SDR- - question
« on: April 10, 2014, 1856 UTC »
OK, just heard some chatter (Papa alpha seven (repeated). Thank you satellite" and continues on the repeating) on those –kHz listings. I am confused again about this waterfall.
Will post a screenshot when I get home.
Also, what could the meandering frequency sweep be? Ionosonde? But over such a limited range (I can't even tell what the range is on this waterfall)
Will post a screenshot when I get home.
Also, what could the meandering frequency sweep be? Ionosonde? But over such a limited range (I can't even tell what the range is on this waterfall)
10
10/11 meters / Re: Hmmm. Interesting yocul on 26315 (+/-) before 2200 UTC 4/5/2014
« on: April 10, 2014, 0856 UTC »
Yeah, I had read that somewhere as well.
11
10/11 meters / Re: Hmmm. Interesting yocul on 26315 (+/-) before 2200 UTC 4/5/2014
« on: April 09, 2014, 0938 UTC »
Thank you very much for your snarky response.
I am new to this and did not claim it to be anything other than new to me. But I do hope to reach your exceptional level of experience sometime.
I am new to this and did not claim it to be anything other than new to me. But I do hope to reach your exceptional level of experience sometime.
12
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Neophyte to SDR- - question
« on: April 09, 2014, 0927 UTC »
Makes sense. Thanks you two!
13
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Neophyte to SDR- - question
« on: April 08, 2014, 1537 UTC »
I am on
http://lindsey.esrac.ele.tue.nl/
View "all bands" and the bottom waterfall shows down to zero kHz and below that.
http://lindsey.esrac.ele.tue.nl/
View "all bands" and the bottom waterfall shows down to zero kHz and below that.
14
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Neophyte to SDR- - question
« on: April 08, 2014, 0944 UTC »
Oh yes, also: What is down in the negative kHz regions shown on webSDR sites? I see and hear signals, but –kHz is not possible, unless the nomenclature is unfamiliar to me.
15
SDR - Software Defined Radio / Neophyte to SDR- - question
« on: April 07, 2014, 1937 UTC »
Hi all,
I am just now exploring the UTwente site (and others like it) and am enjoying it. One thing that I cannot figure out is the diagonal signal swaths across wide frequency spectrums. They appear to be freq sweeps over a period of time- it manifests itself as a diagonal line or sequence of dashes across the waterfall. What is this phenomenon?
I am just now exploring the UTwente site (and others like it) and am enjoying it. One thing that I cannot figure out is the diagonal signal swaths across wide frequency spectrums. They appear to be freq sweeps over a period of time- it manifests itself as a diagonal line or sequence of dashes across the waterfall. What is this phenomenon?