OK WHO is going to be the FIRST to get a DXCC on the new bands???? Probably an East Coaster! Don't think the DXpeditions are going to run those bands if the antenna i 991 feet long! Tough enough to get on 160M! I still don't have USA confirmed on 160! But I got CLIPPERTON!!!
Only speaking about 630m, I can agree about phone. I doubt you will see it but I am no fortune teller. Actually a large number of narrow band digital QSO modes are in place and in use daily. If I had to guess, I would say JT9 will be the JT65 replacement, giving the little pistol the opportunity to compete. PSK31 is probably the worst of the possible modes available although there are a few guys who use it from time to time. The main problem being that it really needs to be used with a linear amp. CW, FSK, and MSK modes do not require a linear amp. You might be surprised how much value there for RX quality at these freqs. The SDR's today do far better than Selective Level Meters used by some today and the improvements to many of the convention rigs produced by the big 4 will continue to progress. This will go a long way to improving the chances that a QSO is completed. Thats true. But more importantly, what stations do to improve their reception will be most important. I expect there will be no shortage of alligators on the band. 73! John KB5NJD / WG2XIQ http://njdtechnologies.net
Thanks. My Alinco is MARS configurable, and had the MARS add-on done by the previous owner. While it has been some decades ago, I maintained an air search vacuum tube radar aboard a US Navy destroyer for 4 years. One hand in the back pocket, no rings nor watch on wrist or in my pocket. I've worked with voltages over 10K and voltages over 100 amps. That stuff is scary, but okay if proper precautions are taken.
Good show, Jim. My advice would be to turn the power all the way down, hook up a watt meter and dummy load and send a carrier while slowly bringing the power up. The IC-725 will make about 15 watts but that is harmonic rich power and will likely be less on the output side of a low pass filter. I would be interested in hearing your results. Yeah thats when things get real... You figure in the base load configuration that most of us use for ease of tuning, the voltage at the top of the coil will be roughly the coil Q times the voltage coming down the coax into a 50 ohm load.. Lets say at 100w, that would be about 71v and assuming a Q of 100 it really begins to look like about 7100V at the top of the coil and scales upward as Q goes up. You can get some very hot arcs but safe high voltage practice makes all of this manageable. You just have to assume everything is hot. Sounds like you have been there before... 73! John KB5NJD / WG2XIQ http://njdtechnologies.net
My rig does 1, 10, and 100 watts on CW, SSB, and FM. 1/4, 4, and 40 watts on AM. It doesn't do digital as such, but it can handle digital using an external device. The manual suggests lower power for digital work. We received bulletins every year ago people getting zapped, knocked down, or killed, working on the same radar I did. Almost everyone one of them forgot the one hand rule. Oh yeah, and one person at the circuit breaker ready to shut it off, and another guy with a grounding rod ( huge copper and wood thing) connected to the ship's hull in our work space. The grounding rod was in case I got across one of those rather large capacitors. I don't know if they could have saved my life... but I was glad they were there watching. Just in case. I may make one of those rods... The loop indoor antenna I bought had a number of warnings about high voltage which is one big reason I decided to not use it. Certainly not in my apartment... Oh, I currently don't have a dummy load, but my brother-in-law and I have talked about getting one. I do have a Diamond Sx-200 swr/power meter.
John, WG2XIQ.... You have really covered the LF topic well here. Looks like you have enough complied for a great QST article. Paul wa2xrm
Thanks Paul... Yes, QST articles will be forthcoming. At the moment, the League seem to be holding on to articles that get sent in regarding 630m but there will be no shortage once the flood gates open.... In the mean, here is a podcast that I was interviewed for recently where I spend the 2nd half of the hour talking about 630m: http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/kb5njd 73 and I look forward to the coming winter! John KB5NJD / WG2XIQ http://njdtechnologies.net/
So that means we will need to string up a 467 foot long dipole for 135.7 KHz. Honey.....we're moving to a house on a larger lot!
