Messages

286

General Radio Discussion / Re: Antenna wire, get your cheap antenna wire

« on: July 11, 2020, 2203 UTC »

Have used THHN building wire for antennas for years (mostly because of its availability)
in spite of speculation that the annealed copper will stretch and possibly fail.
Have never had that problem... the antennas survived years of ice and wind storms.   
If you use insulated stranded THHN wire outdoors, be sure to seal the exposed ends from water.
You would be amazed at how well water will wick the length of an antenna and corrode it from within
so for that reason, solid THHN is the better way to go.
Be aware that the NEC requires hard drawn copper or copper clad steel for antenna wires.
In any case, NEVER run a wire antenna over or under a power line. 

287

Equipment / Re: End fed SWL sloper (Grounding?)

« on: July 11, 2020, 0907 UTC »

Got a couple of the PARs here and neither one has a ground attached.  Never experimented with adding a ground
so cannot comment on how they might perform with a ground.  They worked fine right out of the box.
Only modification was doubling the length of one of them... it seemed to improve AM BCB DX performance.
Built several of my own 50' antennas with homemade 9:1 baluns and never got the broadband performance that the PARs provide.

288

MW Loggings / Re: WXNT 1430 KHZ Indianapolis

« on: July 09, 2020, 1133 UTC »

Hmmm... maybe that's why haven't been hearing it lately.
Looks like the station had a long and interesting history right up to the end.

289

MW Loggings / Re: WXNT 1430 KHZ Indianapolis

« on: July 08, 2020, 0054 UTC »

177 miles isn't that all that rare but getting only 5w thru the Chicago big boys splash is kinda cool

You also got KZQZ St. Louis MO 5 kw nighttime beamed your way on the same freq.

290

MW Loggings / Re: KDKA Pittsburgh 1020 khz

« on: July 06, 2020, 0242 UTC »

KDKA owns 1020 here at night, have never heard another station on 1020 even during the fades.

291

MW Loggings / Re: WXNT 1430 KHZ Indianapolis

« on: July 06, 2020, 0230 UTC »

"CBS Sports Radio" occasionally comes up out of the mix then back into the soup here tonight.

292

MW Loggings / Re: What's in there with 1100 WTAM in the evenings?

« on: July 01, 2020, 0130 UTC »

Do you notice this on other stations as they fade ?  Have you tried listening on another receiver at the same time to see if the same thing happens in the other receiver ?
Car radios nowadays skimp on noise suppression.  Perhaps the bypass capacitor (hopefully there is one) has failed. 

293

MW Loggings / Re: What's in there with 1100 WTAM in the evenings?

« on: June 30, 2020, 0253 UTC »

WTAM loud and clear in here tonight.  It really has no competition at night in the eastern part of the country.
Out west at night the CO station reduces power and sends its signal north-south  and the CA station heats up the Pacific.

294

MW Loggings / Re: What's in there with 1100 WTAM in the evenings?

« on: June 29, 2020, 1103 UTC »

Listened last night 2200-2230 EDT.  A number of sudden brief sharp fades but no interference heard.  Usually a solid signal in here across the Lake at night.
Will continue monitoring. 

295

Huh? / Re: Sunday, June 21, 1964 - A Father's Day Baseball Tale

« on: June 23, 2020, 2115 UTC »

Great story, thanks for sharing.   

296

Equipment / Re: RFI from Recent Installation of Metal Rain Gutters?

« on: June 20, 2020, 2331 UTC »

My guess is that the aluminum gutters are acting like an antenna and re-radiating signal which affected the loop's ability to null a signal since it was now receiving signal from several directions.
Relocating the loop as you did should fix the problem.

297

Bacon, BBQ, Beef, And More / Re: Why is the World Health Organisation Anti-Meat?

« on: June 15, 2020, 1635 UTC »

Have always worked in a trade that required physical activity and always got lots of exercise outside of work.
However, over the years my weight crept up to 175 lbs.  Last year started cutting back on the carbs and increased my intake of meat.
My weight has dropped to 155 lbs., almost back to my boot camp weight of 150 lbs. 

298

Bacon, BBQ, Beef, And More / Re: Why is the World Health Organisation Anti-Meat?

« on: June 15, 2020, 1604 UTC »

Based on what we have witnessed lately,  the "experts" aren't.

There's certainly many health benefits to exercise, but prior to the 70s, few routinely exercised in an effort to lose weight. In fact there's a saying "You can't outrun a bad diet".

Check out photos and films from turn of the century to the 50s and 60s, most of the population was thin. Or what we would call thin today, they were of normal weight. And what today passes for normal was called fat back then. What changed in the 1970s? The misguided attempt to reduce heart disease by telling people to cut their fat intake and eat more carbohydrates (and therefore sugar, both directly and in the form of carbs that your body converts into sugar). The same photos and films will show one of the major causes of the increase in heart disease back then - smoking. We've fortunately reduced smoking rates, but unfortunately replaced it with high sugar intake, which also leads to heart disease.

One of my other interests is genealogy. I found WWI and WWII draft cards for my grandfathers, as well as some great grandfathers, uncles, etc who were the same height at me (5'8"). Interestingly enough most of them weighed 135 pounds. Both in their 30s and in their 50s. This gave me a goal weight. I'm not quite there yet, about 138 pounds now.

You cannot use current height weight tables, as they have been adjusted to reflect what the (generally overweight) population currently weighs.

Was recently on the internet viewing some old (60s) music performances with go-go girls gyrating in the background.
One of the comments posted below said "haven't seen women with figures like that in over four decades".

299

Bacon, BBQ, Beef, And More / Re: Why is the World Health Organisation Anti-Meat?

« on: June 15, 2020, 1419 UTC »

Based on what we have witnessed lately,  the "experts" aren't.

300

Amateur Radio / Re: ARRL VHF Sweepsteaks this weekend June 13 - 14, 2020!

« on: June 15, 2020, 0032 UTC »

6 has been open hr (EN82) Maritimes to Gulf of Mexico past 2 hrs.