6 meters

I made my first 6m contact tonight.   A new local 6m net was started up on 50.150 usb.  It starts up right after the local ARES net at 8:00 on Sunday night.   I had great reception and everyone seemed to hear me.   I have been curious for a while about how well my antenna works on 6m.  The SWR is real close to 1.2-1.3 but I never could hear anyone on the band.  Net is being run by N4VHF for those curious.

Something new.  Hip Hip Hooray!

Snow Days

I have not seen snow in several years and then over two weeks I have had to deal with snow and ice twice.  

First time, I had a relative pass away and went to a funeral in Ohio and Southern Pennsylvania.  I was ready,  packed the heavy overcoat and was mentally prepared.  Started snowing during the services in Columbus and by the next morning there were several inches of snow on the ground.  They were prepared, roads were clear the next day as we went to the cemetery in Pennsylvania for the burial.  It snowed most of the way there.  Made me a little nervous driving (remember, I am from Florida) and then overnight after the burial, we got 3 inches there.  Getting up in the morning to 13 degrees is a little on the brisk side for me, but i survived.  It was a non-event fro the locals, but for me, an experience.  It was very pretty to look at however:

Second time was back home in Tallahassee.  We had a snow day.  Really an ice day, but things were closed.   As a matter of fact 200 miles of I-10 from the Alabama border to Jefferson county were closed to any traffic.  I can not remember if that ever happened before, but from what I saw, it was the right decision.  In the south, once it freezes, driving skills evaporate and everyone should be off the roads.

Index cards

This might sound like an obvious tip, but it took me a little to figure it out.  I keep trying to remember certain things, Frequencies for nets, etc. and have to flip through my logbook or other papers that I have on my desk.  To make it somewhat easier, I started writing the rings I always am looking for on index cards.  I have 3 or 4 of them with all of the things I keep going back to and it makes my life much easier.    I am sure everyone else already does things like this, or has things memorized, but as a new ham, anything I can do to make my operation more efficient is great.

A Solar Lesson

I worked at the GOTA station that our local radio club set up to celebrate the anniversary of Hernando DeSoto's first winter encampment in the new world.  I had a great time, but we were running the special event station and getting very few contacts.   The Club President, Jerry, a very knowledgable individual gave a short lesson on the sun and band conditions.  I am going to try and write down what I remember.  there was way more than this and I really need to learn more.



Ever see one of these charts before.  I have but really only looked at the right hand side.  For a new ham, maybe that is enough, but what do these numbers mean.
SFI - Solar Flux index -  The higher the better -  if is not 100+ propagation is dead.  Really want it
               to be 150+
A - A Index - 0 - 100 -Lower is better
K - K Index - 0 -9   -  Lower is better   -  Above 7 is S9 noise
    Generally the higher the K and the A the noisier the band
In general you want the SFI to be greater than 180
In general if A < 8 and K < 3  then E-W propagation should be working
In general if A < 8 and K > 3 then N-S propagation should be working

Now the X-Ray and Ptn (proton) and elc (electron)  Flux numbers.  This gives indications about noise as well and HF blackouts.   X-Ray number should be A, C, M for there to be a good band.  An X event means there is a good chance of a HF blackout.  (this is discussing solar flares).

This is where I start to draw a blank.   More research is needed, but this should wet some appetites.

VHF Performance improvements

Well, the first sign of improvement on the new VHF setup came tonight.  I can now hear and exchange Digital signals on 146.500 with both Tom and Dave.   I have had success in the past doing digital simplex with Dave, but before tonight, I have not been able to send or hear Tom.   Success came tonight.  Could send and receive pretty well.

With Dave I could hear his signal as low as 10 watts.  He is 10.1 miles according to QRZ.  This is not bad in my opinion.

Voice with Tom is still a challenge. He is 9.9 miles according to QRZ.  I could hear him.  Not strong, but very clear.  He could not hear me.  Funny thing is I was putting out 50 watts and he was sending 5.   So the antenna at least is pretty sensitive.  Will have to check everything again to make sure I am not missing something on the transmit.

 It not do well with Richard who is across town from me (13.9 miles).  I could barely hear him above the static floor and he could not hear me at all.   Will have to continue to look into this.

Overall, some good improvement.

VHF Permanent Installation

The JT1B antenna found its permanent home.  A 4x4 3 feet in the ground with 100lbs of concrete around the base.  Rises 7 feet in the air.  Attached to this base is 2 - 10 foot top rail fence segments getting the bottom of the antenna up to 20 feet.  So the bottom is at 20' and the top is at 36'.  Hopefully this will get it high enough for good simplex communications and out of the RF shadow being caused by the house.

It connects back to the house with 100' of LMR-400 cable.  Tests indicate the SWR at < 1.1:1  .

LED Light Noise confirmed

I replaced the suspect LED light in my earlier posting that I thought was causing all of the RFI in the 2m band.  Replaced it and when the light switch was turned on, no noise.  Confirmed. Noisy LED light.   Here is a picture of the offender:

A Home Depot Ecosmart lightbulb. The earlier posting http://kk4sih.blogspot.com/2013/12/led-light-noise.html  has the details.   Now the question is it just this individual light, or is it a design issue.   I probably won't bother trying to figure it out.  I installed another Phillips brand LED light and it was quiet on 2m.