below is another example of using the SAA7134 chip tv card in free run mode via the d500 and using the noise adaptive filter in Dscaler software. i know there is not much to see but this was just random low level meteor scatter on R1 and its just to show what you can get at low levels and again i was monitoring with my normal jvc 610 tv and there was just the odd sync line.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
30 november 2010....cont
LOW LEVEL METEOR SCATTER
below is another example of using the SAA7134 chip tv card in free run mode via the d500 and using the noise adaptive filter in Dscaler software. i know there is not much to see but this was just random low level meteor scatter on R1 and its just to show what you can get at low levels and again i was monitoring with my normal jvc 610 tv and there was just the odd sync line.
below is another example of using the SAA7134 chip tv card in free run mode via the d500 and using the noise adaptive filter in Dscaler software. i know there is not much to see but this was just random low level meteor scatter on R1 and its just to show what you can get at low levels and again i was monitoring with my normal jvc 610 tv and there was just the odd sync line.
30 november 2010
still not alot to report on the MW band. i had WLIB 1190 New York at 2130 last night and WPAT 930 Patterson NJ at 0200 and nothing else really worth a mention.
RDS & WRPLUS
in the next release of WRplus there is going to be the ability to receive RDS in vhf band 2 and when it comes out i will try taking the 10.7 IF out of my uniden bearcat 9000 xlt scanner into my pmsdr receiver and see if its any good that way and if not i will need to save some pennies and invest in a good downcovertor.
RDS & WRPLUS
in the next release of WRplus there is going to be the ability to receive RDS in vhf band 2 and when it comes out i will try taking the 10.7 IF out of my uniden bearcat 9000 xlt scanner into my pmsdr receiver and see if its any good that way and if not i will need to save some pennies and invest in a good downcovertor.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
28 november 2010
once again conditions on the MW band were poor and last night myself and Paul over in Troon noticed the European signals were stronger than usual and giving quite a bit of splatter and both of us actually checked the nulls on our antennas to see if everything was ok which they were. the peak seems to be anywhere from 0800 - 0900 and for the moment its the usual east coast big guns that are there apart from KWKH might pop up on 1130 or KFAN but i have had those many times.
Saturday, 27 November 2010
27 november 2010
not alot to report this morning. i had KJR Seattle on 950 at 0730 and KOMO Seattle on 1000 at 0800 and those two were the only ones worth a mention. i did a few more tests on the binocular balun with various windings and found the original 9/3 worked best on my flag antenna BUT! for the secondary windings i tried some thinner wire as i originally did the secondary with thick plastic coated electrical type wire which i just got the last turn through and no more BUT !! with the thinner wire the noise level went up so i went back to the thicker type and the noise level went back down so don't be worried if you are using thicker wire than normal and its a push to get the winding"s through.
the below picture is the ferrite i am using for the binocular balun. i use two of these which i take out of the plastic clip and put them together using cable ties. i have saw various designs which use glue to stick them together but i felt better using the cable tie as the two half's would be touching. i then get a couple of lager cable ties and put the two cores together to form the binocular core. the dimensions of the cores are roughly
35mm long x 30mm diameter with the hole (internal) diameter of the ferrite being 13mm so a bit bigger than the normal cores used for this type of balun and it will take a larger diameter of wire
from all the baluns i have tried this so far has been the best and as i said that extra signal point less in noise certainly helps when conditions are not so good and getting those weak ids out of the noise.
the below picture is the ferrite i am using for the binocular balun. i use two of these which i take out of the plastic clip and put them together using cable ties. i have saw various designs which use glue to stick them together but i felt better using the cable tie as the two half's would be touching. i then get a couple of lager cable ties and put the two cores together to form the binocular core. the dimensions of the cores are roughly
35mm long x 30mm diameter with the hole (internal) diameter of the ferrite being 13mm so a bit bigger than the normal cores used for this type of balun and it will take a larger diameter of wire
from all the baluns i have tried this so far has been the best and as i said that extra signal point less in noise certainly helps when conditions are not so good and getting those weak ids out of the noise.
Friday, 26 November 2010
26 november 2010
WRplus v 1.03 is available to download WRplus v 1.03
new features, modifications and corrections
New "zero distortion" FM demodulation algorithm
Redesigned (again) FM mode: there are now four FM sub-modes: Narrow FM, Medium FM, Wide FM, and Stereo Wide FM
Wide BW FM with selectivity adjustable between 48 – 192 KHz
De-emphasis filters for Wide FM (50uS and 75uS)
Broadcast quality FM stereo decoder; with the appropriate front-end WRplus can be employed in professional monitoring applications
Improved, more CPU efficient AFC/AFT for all the FM sub-modes; the AFC/AFT has now a limited range of 90% of the current bandwidth (+/- 45%)
Extended Tune and LO range: In WRplus 1.03 the range of the Tune and LO dials have been extended from 100 MHz to 1 GHz with the addition of 1 digit; the relative values are passed to the external extio.dll (if any) allowing control of external hardware also in the VHF – UHF bands
New I/O buffers handling: upon several reports from users I have reviewed in details the code and changed radically how the program deals with the asynchronous data flow. The fractional down-sampler is always locked now so no more "varispeed" effects or frequency instabilities.
SP2/WF2 enhanced speed control and range: in WRplus 1.03 the management of the SP2/WF2 update has been redesigned; previously speed control was done in 2X discrete steps and the refresh rate was dependent upon the internal SR. Now the speed has several in-between steps and it is independent from the SR
Fixed "program crash with AGC OFF and strong signals" and "IQ image problems after new installation" issues
new features, modifications and corrections
New "zero distortion" FM demodulation algorithm
Redesigned (again) FM mode: there are now four FM sub-modes: Narrow FM, Medium FM, Wide FM, and Stereo Wide FM
Wide BW FM with selectivity adjustable between 48 – 192 KHz
De-emphasis filters for Wide FM (50uS and 75uS)
Broadcast quality FM stereo decoder; with the appropriate front-end WRplus can be employed in professional monitoring applications
Improved, more CPU efficient AFC/AFT for all the FM sub-modes; the AFC/AFT has now a limited range of 90% of the current bandwidth (+/- 45%)
Extended Tune and LO range: In WRplus 1.03 the range of the Tune and LO dials have been extended from 100 MHz to 1 GHz with the addition of 1 digit; the relative values are passed to the external extio.dll (if any) allowing control of external hardware also in the VHF – UHF bands
New I/O buffers handling: upon several reports from users I have reviewed in details the code and changed radically how the program deals with the asynchronous data flow. The fractional down-sampler is always locked now so no more "varispeed" effects or frequency instabilities.
SP2/WF2 enhanced speed control and range: in WRplus 1.03 the management of the SP2/WF2 update has been redesigned; previously speed control was done in 2X discrete steps and the refresh rate was dependent upon the internal SR. Now the speed has several in-between steps and it is independent from the SR
Fixed "program crash with AGC OFF and strong signals" and "IQ image problems after new installation" issues
Thursday, 25 November 2010
25 november 2010......cont
going back to switching here is another way you can do it either in the shack or at the feed point of the antenna. this switch was made by Ken and it can test 4 different baluns which can be seen on the right had side of the box or it can bypass them and also seen is kens preamp which can be switched for in use or by passed.
25 november 2010....cont
i forgot to mention the MW dx chat and cluster is still going well on skype and if you fancy a chat or just to post your dx just search for myself tvdxrools or Ken Scottish_Dxer_Ken on skype and well will add you. one of the older versions of skype works best and configure it NOT to update as the new versions have far to much clutter.
25 november 2010
i had a reply from Thomas Nilsson regarding my baluns which i will answer here.
Thomas mentioned OL & SS windings ... my self i have always favoured OL windings as for some reason with me SS windings didn"t seem to cover the whole MW band but the guys who i have sent SS baluns to haven't had any problems so far ... well they haven't said to me about loss in coverage so i take it everything is ok with them.
Thomas then ask"s when i noted the loss in 1 s point in noise did stations signals drop as well .... when i am testing baluns against each other i don't do any fancy bench tests i just setup a 2 way switch ( a good quality switch not a cheap plastic one and one that's well isolated ie with one antenna in when you switch over to no antenna there is nothing not even trace of a local ) and switch between them and with the new binocular balun there was a definite drop in noise level when i switched over ( this was tested on a free freq) and as far as i could see and hear there was no loss in signals ( this was tested with Irish stations on 846 981 etc ) when i was switching between the 2 baluns. ( the test was against a 48/11 OL ) i also used 2 short identical runs in coax for the test and there didn't seem to be any interaction between the 2 baluns and as i said a good isolated switch helps.
i am not saying the baluns i use are the worlds best i am just posting results in what i am finding best at my own location and i am sure if someone else tried one they might find it crap lol! but they seem to work ok for me and by far the binocular balun i am using is the best i have used so far just for the noise level as anyone using a indoor antenna will agree that that's half the battle. Thomas goes on to say about the good results he is getting with his flag and i agree with him 100 % on this and if you cant get a beverage up then the flag is the way to go. i am restricted in what i can use here in the attic and i have only tested the flag against a kaz antenna which for nulling stations the flag wins quite easily but reports from ie Paul in Troon he reports the flag was better than his ewe and several dxers were reporting the flag again having a better back null that the k9ay.
below is a rather crude picture of they way i test two different baluns and its easy for me as the antenna is inside the attic where my shack is
Thomas mentioned OL & SS windings ... my self i have always favoured OL windings as for some reason with me SS windings didn"t seem to cover the whole MW band but the guys who i have sent SS baluns to haven't had any problems so far ... well they haven't said to me about loss in coverage so i take it everything is ok with them.
Thomas then ask"s when i noted the loss in 1 s point in noise did stations signals drop as well .... when i am testing baluns against each other i don't do any fancy bench tests i just setup a 2 way switch ( a good quality switch not a cheap plastic one and one that's well isolated ie with one antenna in when you switch over to no antenna there is nothing not even trace of a local ) and switch between them and with the new binocular balun there was a definite drop in noise level when i switched over ( this was tested on a free freq) and as far as i could see and hear there was no loss in signals ( this was tested with Irish stations on 846 981 etc ) when i was switching between the 2 baluns. ( the test was against a 48/11 OL ) i also used 2 short identical runs in coax for the test and there didn't seem to be any interaction between the 2 baluns and as i said a good isolated switch helps.
i am not saying the baluns i use are the worlds best i am just posting results in what i am finding best at my own location and i am sure if someone else tried one they might find it crap lol! but they seem to work ok for me and by far the binocular balun i am using is the best i have used so far just for the noise level as anyone using a indoor antenna will agree that that's half the battle. Thomas goes on to say about the good results he is getting with his flag and i agree with him 100 % on this and if you cant get a beverage up then the flag is the way to go. i am restricted in what i can use here in the attic and i have only tested the flag against a kaz antenna which for nulling stations the flag wins quite easily but reports from ie Paul in Troon he reports the flag was better than his ewe and several dxers were reporting the flag again having a better back null that the k9ay.
below is a rather crude picture of they way i test two different baluns and its easy for me as the antenna is inside the attic where my shack is
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
24 november 2010
while conditions on MW remain rather boring the good news is the new balun is doing well and with the lower noise level the weaker stations are now being heard. i am still getting comments about ferrite number XXXX and i have said before i use whatever comes to hand and some dxers are obsessed with different types of ferrite and when i am making baluns i look in the junk box and find a ring/tube or rod and i haven't a clue what type they are and if they work fine if not i make another one and i am not going to fork out some cash for a ferrite ring just because it has a certain number on it while i have a junk box full of various types that come from old radios ... monitors .. old tv"s etc.
while the purists say you have to use xxx ferrite on a beverage and xxx ferrite on a flag etc do you think John in Holland or Paul or Mark care what type they have and if they think it could be better they can put some cash into my account if they want and i will get some xxx ferrite LOL ! . the point of a balun on a beverage flag etc is to transform the high imp at the feed point to match your 50/75 ohm coax and i have been using the standard 48/11 or 22/5 turn ss or ol type on my flag which worked well and i usually had a noise level from s2-3 on a clear frequency at dusk/dawn but with the new balun i now have a noise level at s1-2 and while 1 s point might not sound alot but when you are using a indoor antenna that 1 s point can make the difference.
below is just a random recording and do you think my flag antenna was bothered what number was on the ferrite when it was receiving this LOL!
while the purists say you have to use xxx ferrite on a beverage and xxx ferrite on a flag etc do you think John in Holland or Paul or Mark care what type they have and if they think it could be better they can put some cash into my account if they want and i will get some xxx ferrite LOL ! . the point of a balun on a beverage flag etc is to transform the high imp at the feed point to match your 50/75 ohm coax and i have been using the standard 48/11 or 22/5 turn ss or ol type on my flag which worked well and i usually had a noise level from s2-3 on a clear frequency at dusk/dawn but with the new balun i now have a noise level at s1-2 and while 1 s point might not sound alot but when you are using a indoor antenna that 1 s point can make the difference.
below is just a random recording and do you think my flag antenna was bothered what number was on the ferrite when it was receiving this LOL!
Sunday, 21 November 2010
21 november 2010
i had a couple of good ids this morning from KWKH Shreveport on 1130 at 0800 and KCKK Littleton on 1510 at 0730 which i have had before and apart from them nothing much else this morning.
today i made a new balun which consists of two ferrite tubes stuck together and for the primary i used 3 turns which passes through the two tubes and for the secondary i used 9 turns again passing through the two tubes. looking at various designs of this type of balun the cores in use look rather small and the two i had were on the large side and i used thick insulated electrical type wire rather than the normal enameled wire just because the cores i had were large. i have only just put it on the antenna and the first thing i notice is my noise level is down about 1 s point and as i type 18.22 Canada is coming in quite well on 750 kHz but i wont really know how its performing until the dx comes in. there was no need to adjust my null with it as the sweet spot is still around 560 ohms .... more to follow.
today i made a new balun which consists of two ferrite tubes stuck together and for the primary i used 3 turns which passes through the two tubes and for the secondary i used 9 turns again passing through the two tubes. looking at various designs of this type of balun the cores in use look rather small and the two i had were on the large side and i used thick insulated electrical type wire rather than the normal enameled wire just because the cores i had were large. i have only just put it on the antenna and the first thing i notice is my noise level is down about 1 s point and as i type 18.22 Canada is coming in quite well on 750 kHz but i wont really know how its performing until the dx comes in. there was no need to adjust my null with it as the sweet spot is still around 560 ohms .... more to follow.
Friday, 19 November 2010
19 november 2010
while conditions "seemed" up this morning on MW nothing new was heard but signals from the more common stations were well up and the likes of KDKA WNAM etc were very strong at 0730. ken just down the road reported WHIM on 1080 at 0800 but when i checked i had WTIC at a strong signal and nothing heard underneath. below is how XEQ Mexico on 940 was sounding at 07.30 this morning
Thursday, 18 November 2010
18 november 2010
its not even worth talking about MW this morning and recordings already deleted. i totally forgot about the Leonid Meteor Shower this morning and at this time of year i am not properly setup for tv dx so i just had the tv on and no audio but i received a couple of good "pings" via meteor scatter. the Hsync was in the off position so i can receive pictures at much lower levels and a couple of the best ones can be seen here R1 tv via meteor scatter i wish i had remembered earlier in the morning as i have been told there was a good peak around dawn.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
17 november 2010
MW is still in the doldrums here and from 0600 onwards there was hardly a transatlantic station worth talking about and i knew it was bad when ken asked me how conditions were as he thought his beverage was down again. there was a good id from WSAR fall river ma 1480 at 2300 last night but that was about it here however Paul over in Troon had a station giving a WINS id on 1230 also at 2300 but i had the usual rumble from stations mixing with each other on 1230. hopefully things pick up and not what ken told me happened a few years back as he remembers conditions like this started like this in november and lasted until February !!!!
Sunday, 14 November 2010
14 november 2010
still not alot happening on MW and the evening peak is still far better signal wise than the dawn peak at my location. WIOD Miami was a fair old signal at 0330 on 610 and it shows the state of the band when that one is the only one worth talking about. i seem to remember it was 2 years ago it was like this ie the evening was better than the dawn and this lasted for weeks and i was listening to some of my recordings from this time last year and there was some great signals from the west coast , Calgary Manitoba etc so compared to last season its well down. below is how CBC radio 1 Winnipeg was sounding at around this time last year a big difference to current conditions.
Friday, 12 November 2010
12 november 2010
not a thing to report on MW as its been very poor the past couple of days. there has been some very strong wind and rain here as well and the call for help came from ken today as he thought a branch or something had snapped his beverage so off we set in the pouring rain and it actually turned out to be a break in the coax which was fixed quickly then we headed back to kens for coffee.
11/10 meters was wide open to the USA yesterday afternoon and there was some very strong signals from Kentucky, New York and Texas but nothing noted above 29 mhz.
Guy Atkins
i have some BAD news regarding Guy"s blog as he has decided not to continue with it and concentrate on actual dxing which i can understand but from pure selfishness on my part i wish he wouldn't as its the only decent mw/perseus blog around and it will be missed but have fun with the dx Guy. i dont know how many people read this blog if any and i know what its like just to find things interesting to blog and its hard to post things each day or every couple of days just to keep the interest up.
11/10 meters was wide open to the USA yesterday afternoon and there was some very strong signals from Kentucky, New York and Texas but nothing noted above 29 mhz.
Guy Atkins
i have some BAD news regarding Guy"s blog as he has decided not to continue with it and concentrate on actual dxing which i can understand but from pure selfishness on my part i wish he wouldn't as its the only decent mw/perseus blog around and it will be missed but have fun with the dx Guy. i dont know how many people read this blog if any and i know what its like just to find things interesting to blog and its hard to post things each day or every couple of days just to keep the interest up.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
9 november 2010....cont
another email from Mark in Anglesey regarding my balun
I thought I would put pen to paper to comment on a balun I have received from David Hamilton in Ayrshire.
Firstly when I received it it was clear that it was well made on a 1 ¼ inch ferrite core with 48 turns overlaid with 11. The wires are held in place with plastic ties.
Up to now I have made my own baluns with the primary and secondary turns opposite each other on the core and have used 20 and 5 turns giving a 16:1 ration as required for transforming the impedence of the antenna. I have been using a small flag antenna 10x11ft mounted at ground level with the balun in one bottom corner and a resistor pot in the other. It is pointed at about 320 degrees. This, I was reasonably happy with, pulling in the TA stations and giving some null to the rear.
I have used various sizes of flag and Ewe antennae with similar results.
I connected the balun to the antenna after mounting it in a waterproof box. Tuning to 1008 (Holland) which I use as an indictor as to how the antenna is nulling, I noted that it was infact stronger than was previously received with my old balun ! Tuning through the band this proved to be the case on other frequencies which I use for this purpose.
I returned to the antenna as the lack of null was obviously due to the need for a change in resistance which the new balun required (Hopefully)
After some careful tweeking I managed to null Holland to a level where it was barely audible, this deep null was also consistant over the other frequencies “behind” the antenna. Also later at night Spanish took over 1008, this had not happened before.
Not only were the nulls FAR deeper than the old balun (I did not realise that a balun could do this) it soon became apparent that the signals received from the desired direction were stronger. Again significantly !
I have now added the balun to my newly erected “Super Kaz” and will again make comparisons with my original balun.
David’s balun, is a well made bit of kit which has improved the nulls on my antenna AND increased reception of the wanted signals…………excellent
Thanks David
I thought I would put pen to paper to comment on a balun I have received from David Hamilton in Ayrshire.
Firstly when I received it it was clear that it was well made on a 1 ¼ inch ferrite core with 48 turns overlaid with 11. The wires are held in place with plastic ties.
Up to now I have made my own baluns with the primary and secondary turns opposite each other on the core and have used 20 and 5 turns giving a 16:1 ration as required for transforming the impedence of the antenna. I have been using a small flag antenna 10x11ft mounted at ground level with the balun in one bottom corner and a resistor pot in the other. It is pointed at about 320 degrees. This, I was reasonably happy with, pulling in the TA stations and giving some null to the rear.
I have used various sizes of flag and Ewe antennae with similar results.
I connected the balun to the antenna after mounting it in a waterproof box. Tuning to 1008 (Holland) which I use as an indictor as to how the antenna is nulling, I noted that it was infact stronger than was previously received with my old balun ! Tuning through the band this proved to be the case on other frequencies which I use for this purpose.
I returned to the antenna as the lack of null was obviously due to the need for a change in resistance which the new balun required (Hopefully)
After some careful tweeking I managed to null Holland to a level where it was barely audible, this deep null was also consistant over the other frequencies “behind” the antenna. Also later at night Spanish took over 1008, this had not happened before.
Not only were the nulls FAR deeper than the old balun (I did not realise that a balun could do this) it soon became apparent that the signals received from the desired direction were stronger. Again significantly !
I have now added the balun to my newly erected “Super Kaz” and will again make comparisons with my original balun.
David’s balun, is a well made bit of kit which has improved the nulls on my antenna AND increased reception of the wanted signals…………excellent
Thanks David
9 november 2010
once again the band was very average here BUT once again KOMO Seattle on 1000 was in again at 0500 and nothing much else. there was no sign of KJR or any other west coast stations and i think i have a worm hole to KOMO LOL ! as i have received it many times this season. i also have a tentative XECF La Mexicana on 1410 at 0730 and both can be heard below.
Monday, 8 November 2010
8 november 2010
still nothing much to talk about on MW and in fact its actually getting quite boring at the moment and also i have noticed that from 2200 - 2300 is better signal wise anyway than the so called dawn peak. there was a good id from WDCD Albany New York 1540 at 2301 last night but nothing else of interest. KOMO Seattle was there at 0500 but very weak and by 0800 - 0900 it was more or less the big gun east coast stations that were left.
i had some weak audio from what i presume was KBRW Alaska on 680 at 1739 yesterday but no carriers were noted on 780 etc and carriers were noted from the Canadians on 1400 etc at 1800
KAZ v FLAG
out of sheer boredom i took down my flag antenna and put up a kaz which is basically a big triangle and balun fed in one corner and terminated in the opposite corner and it was about 3 times the size of my flag but in order to get the bigger size in the attic i had to beam about 340 deg which is a little more north than i would like.
with my flag i know how well it can null stations and i would roughly know how well or bad the kaz was doing. first of all there was a rise in noise level about 1.5 s points which i didn't like straight away but this is probably down to the extra wire. with the variable resistor in the open position i tuned first to 747 and the dutch station was s9 + and normally on my flag i can get it well down where a Spanish station would be mixing with it or would be dominant but with the kaz i just couldn't get it down to a level i was used to on the flag.
next i went to 1008 and again with the variable resistor in the open position the dutch station was s9+ and with the flag i can null this completely and leave Spain dominant but with the kaz again i just couldn't get it down to levels i was used to on the flag. i dont know if the extra few deg to the north was the cause of the nulling and i was using the balun from the flag which is 22/5 ss windings which should be ok on the kaz. below is a EZNEC file of the flag on 160m which you can see it has a tight back null and i have added blue dotted lines to show what i think is happening on the kaz.
i should have really made the kaz with the same length of wire and beaming in the same direction as the flag just to see if they were working the same but with some re aranging of some things in the shack it gave me the chance to get a bigger antenna up but more out of direction than i have been using just to see the difference. the flag is back in action and hoping for better conditions.
i had some weak audio from what i presume was KBRW Alaska on 680 at 1739 yesterday but no carriers were noted on 780 etc and carriers were noted from the Canadians on 1400 etc at 1800
KAZ v FLAG
out of sheer boredom i took down my flag antenna and put up a kaz which is basically a big triangle and balun fed in one corner and terminated in the opposite corner and it was about 3 times the size of my flag but in order to get the bigger size in the attic i had to beam about 340 deg which is a little more north than i would like.
with my flag i know how well it can null stations and i would roughly know how well or bad the kaz was doing. first of all there was a rise in noise level about 1.5 s points which i didn't like straight away but this is probably down to the extra wire. with the variable resistor in the open position i tuned first to 747 and the dutch station was s9 + and normally on my flag i can get it well down where a Spanish station would be mixing with it or would be dominant but with the kaz i just couldn't get it down to a level i was used to on the flag.
next i went to 1008 and again with the variable resistor in the open position the dutch station was s9+ and with the flag i can null this completely and leave Spain dominant but with the kaz again i just couldn't get it down to levels i was used to on the flag. i dont know if the extra few deg to the north was the cause of the nulling and i was using the balun from the flag which is 22/5 ss windings which should be ok on the kaz. below is a EZNEC file of the flag on 160m which you can see it has a tight back null and i have added blue dotted lines to show what i think is happening on the kaz.
i should have really made the kaz with the same length of wire and beaming in the same direction as the flag just to see if they were working the same but with some re aranging of some things in the shack it gave me the chance to get a bigger antenna up but more out of direction than i have been using just to see the difference. the flag is back in action and hoping for better conditions.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
4 november 2010....
more mails regarding the baluns i made ... first from Paul over in troon
Hi David. I’ve been using the balun you made for me for a week now – so some observations.
During the summer I use a EWE antenna but for the winter I convert it to a flag, with the bottom wire on the ground .
The first thing I noticed was that it cleared up much of the electrical noise at the bottom of the band – 530-600 can be very noisy here with some form of electrical interference.
Signals are stronger than with the EWE antenna – but that brings advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of stronger signals are obvious but the main disadvantages arises from the fact that I use an amp to bring up some of the weakest signals. I tend to record overnight via my Perseus SDR and with the amp 1330 and 1350, for example, suffer badly from splutter from 1341 in Northern Ireland which is directly between me and North America – other frequencies with stations in N Ireland also tend to suffer in the same way. The amp is very useful so I just have to live with 1330 to some extent and 1350 in particular now becoming a bit more difficult.
Nulling works well on signals from Europe – ie those behind the antenna – with slightly better results than I have on the EWE although oddly I can’t get as good a null on my local pest, 1035 West Sound.
All in all the advantages of the slightly stronger signals and a clearer bottom of the MW band outweigh the disadvantages and I’ll be using it throughout the winter season.
It’s already received the West Coast of the USA with 1000 Komo, Seattle and 1520 KGA Spokane.
Thanks again.
Paul
next is John Marsyla in Holland
Hi David ........
I'm still using the 2 baluns you send me some time ago.
The 33/11 balun is on my EWE pointing 70 degrees and it works great !!
I was ie able to log Radio Thailand on 891 KHz and on
1413 KHz KBC-Fukuoka from Japan.
All received on my small EWE 4x110x4 mtr and your hand made
balun.
The other 48/11 balun is on my KAZ antenna (6x24 mtr) pointing 320 degrees.
This balun also gives a very good null at the backside of the antenna.
I am very satisfied with these baluns and it makes MW-DX again pleasant to me.
Good DX
John/HOL
Hi David. I’ve been using the balun you made for me for a week now – so some observations.
During the summer I use a EWE antenna but for the winter I convert it to a flag, with the bottom wire on the ground .
The first thing I noticed was that it cleared up much of the electrical noise at the bottom of the band – 530-600 can be very noisy here with some form of electrical interference.
Signals are stronger than with the EWE antenna – but that brings advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of stronger signals are obvious but the main disadvantages arises from the fact that I use an amp to bring up some of the weakest signals. I tend to record overnight via my Perseus SDR and with the amp 1330 and 1350, for example, suffer badly from splutter from 1341 in Northern Ireland which is directly between me and North America – other frequencies with stations in N Ireland also tend to suffer in the same way. The amp is very useful so I just have to live with 1330 to some extent and 1350 in particular now becoming a bit more difficult.
Nulling works well on signals from Europe – ie those behind the antenna – with slightly better results than I have on the EWE although oddly I can’t get as good a null on my local pest, 1035 West Sound.
All in all the advantages of the slightly stronger signals and a clearer bottom of the MW band outweigh the disadvantages and I’ll be using it throughout the winter season.
It’s already received the West Coast of the USA with 1000 Komo, Seattle and 1520 KGA Spokane.
Thanks again.
Paul
next is John Marsyla in Holland
Hi David ........
I'm still using the 2 baluns you send me some time ago.
The 33/11 balun is on my EWE pointing 70 degrees and it works great !!
I was ie able to log Radio Thailand on 891 KHz and on
1413 KHz KBC-Fukuoka from Japan.
All received on my small EWE 4x110x4 mtr and your hand made
balun.
The other 48/11 balun is on my KAZ antenna (6x24 mtr) pointing 320 degrees.
This balun also gives a very good null at the backside of the antenna.
I am very satisfied with these baluns and it makes MW-DX again pleasant to me.
Good DX
John/HOL
4 november 2010
first email in from Mark Borthwick who is trying one of my baluns .......
Hi David...I have tried out the balun you gave me....its on my new EWE/FLAG that is pointing N/E and it works great...I tried to construct the EWE without the bottom wire but was unable to achieve the null i wanted but as soon as I put the bottom wire on and buried it I was able to completely null ulster on 1341 to reveal a s3 signal from what i think was Magyar Radio...time was 13:30...so it works very well. The ferrite core is smaller than the ones I normally use but it appears to have no effect on the null properties to null out ulster completely is not bad as on my other antenna it is about 40 over....
Hi David...I have tried out the balun you gave me....its on my new EWE/FLAG that is pointing N/E and it works great...I tried to construct the EWE without the bottom wire but was unable to achieve the null i wanted but as soon as I put the bottom wire on and buried it I was able to completely null ulster on 1341 to reveal a s3 signal from what i think was Magyar Radio...time was 13:30...so it works very well. The ferrite core is smaller than the ones I normally use but it appears to have no effect on the null properties to null out ulster completely is not bad as on my other antenna it is about 40 over....
Not much to report but KVNS was booming this morning I have attached a short video...crappy quality after compression but you get the idea..
So promising signs for the new antenna...it seems to favour the Australian Northern Territory stations on 2mhz VL8K was very clear before.. funny cos the other two that are normally good were well down.
So thanks for the balun David it works well.. cheers Mark
Mark"s flag/ewe hybrid and my balun
more as i get them.
conditions this morning were again average and nothing interesting noted apart from WBZ Boston MA on 1030 which is very difficult to get here due to the ilr on 1035 and there was a nice quiet spot at 01.00.21 where WBZ gave a few id"s and 1040 was checked but nothing .
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
2 november 2010
still nothing really happening on MW at the moment however KJR 950 Seattle and KOMO 1000 Seattle was coming in at 06.30 quite weak which you can hear KJR below. the recording of KOMO which i have not included the id was very weak but the talk came up to quite good levels. its a vast difference at my qth to martin hall a few 100 miles north of me who has been enjoying good conditions to Alaska and even Hawaii in the afternoon while there has hardly been a trace of KBRW here.
i was chatting to ken on the radio at 09.00 and he was telling me he had still some really strong signals from the common east coast stations and when i checked i had a couple of them but not really strong and the only way i can describe my antenna and kens beverage at that time of the morning is ken is using a 5 element yagi while mine is a mag mount on a biscuit tin LOL !
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