G4YSS: GD/GD-002 S. Freoaghane, 09-09-18

My comment was when John was on GD-003 - I guess he came back to 80m later in the evening and then no longer on the WAB net frequency (which is where the beep beep was).

Really chuffed to have got him on 160m from here!

Ed.

John moved up 5kHz immediately after he left the WAB net. The net controller confirmed the move and several of us moved up and worked John.

Well done on the 160m contact. It is a long time since I have had any success on the band, indeed since the demise of my quarter wave horizontal loop which is no more on account of a support being removed when a neighbour took a tree down. :frowning:

I could just about hear Ed here in Yorkshire - nice to hear your voice. I was pleased to work John on both CW and SSB - my first ever top band contacts on those modes!

The lateness of your activation in the darkness helped reduce the absorption John so your 160m signal level was very good - 579 into Pickering, North Yorkshire. I hope you didn’t encounter any IoM wallabies on your late drive back to Douglas…

73 Phil

I have to say I was impressed at the speed and efficiency the WAB net worked though the pile up! I thought the beep beep was DD2 station swearing when ignored by the controller.:slightly_smiling_face:
Thanks for brightening the evening up John, I wonder if you have plans to do any more?
73 Mike

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Hi John

Thanks for 80m contact and for eventually pulling me out of the noise last night on 160m cw. You were solid 559 here. I called you a few times then decided to tail end your activation so when I heard the 3s coming back I knew my signal was rubbish on my 80m doublet…so I need to work on it :grin:

I hope you enjoyed your activation which was really appreciated by all.

73 Allan GW4VPX

Hi Gerald,

Well to say I was surprised when I heard John on 160m is an understatement.
I was using my now ladder-line fed 40m full wavelength horizontal loop, with both sides of the feed shorted together in the shack and tuned against an Earth spike. This then matched using an MFJ-993B - this works but the tuning is VERY precise a small amount off and the SWR is through the roof. I tuned up about 10KHz away and while I was OK to start with after about a minute things started to get “hairy” so I only just got the contact in before everything shut down! I was running around 250-300 watts of RF-Clipped LSB SSB. I’m happy he was on 1.8453 as above 1.85 we’re only allowed 75w (750w below that).

The 40m loop is effectively a capacitive loading of the feed which acts as the vertical.

73 Ed.

Hi Mike,
I never called into the 80m WAB net - that was a different German station. I wasn’t going to call-in with the beep beep on the frequency making it impossible for me to properly copy John.

73 Ed.

Sorry Ed my mistake, this was my attempt at humour.
73 Mike

No worries Michael, Karl also said he thought he had heard me on 80m - so I guess it was most likely another DD call ?

73 Ed.

My 40m full wavelength was fed with 300 ohm ribbon direct from the Kenwood AT-230 ATU and it easily tuned 160m with only a mains earth. The shack is now on the “wrong” side of the house which is another factor in having a poor antenna for the band. Such is life… things change, but not always for the better. :frowning: