Had some great QSO's this weekend on 75m so the band isn't completely washed out as yet. Prior QSO's or attempted QSO's during the winter were hampered by noise and severe QSB. On Saturday afternoon I had a quad QSO with Ed, N3LHB (homebrew 4-125/4-250 rig), WA1SSJ (ClassE rig), and KB9WLF (unknown rig). Last night Tim WA1HLR (Junctstun 600 rig) and I had a QSO for about an hour and a half after midnight. As I went QRT, Don K4KYV picked up the conversation but I had to go get some shut-eye. Sorry Don, maybe another time. Both Tim and Don had a 35 "over" signal into the Cedar Rapids area with excellent modulation. I had done some further upgrades to my Knight T-150, mostly to the speech amplifier, modulation circuit and VFO. Modulation is really good now with modified feedback (purely DC now) from the screen modulator to the second stage speech amp. I can now get up to 50 Watts AM carrier if needed but usually run about 20 watts into the Henry 2K-4. The VFO was modified to improve spectral content and to prevent FMing. One change to prevent FMing was a change in the OA2 regulator resistor to 3.9k to reduce voltage variability during VFO operation. After tune-up, one still has to tweak the VFO frequency because of reflected loading on the VFO. After tweaking, the VFO remains stable and on frequency. Another improvement was the replacement of the 12BY7A grid resistor to a 15k 1W value since it had drifted up to 19k Allied should have added a Cathode Follower stage between the VFO and the Buffer/Oscillator, IMHO. Maybe a further/future improvement? I am seriously thinking about placing a 6C4 CF stage between the VFO and the 6CL6 Buffer/Oscillator. Pheel
Had a nice AM QSO this morning with Jamie, N2VJ mobile in Indiana on 7.290. He was running a FT-450D which sounded very good on AM along with the stock mic. He traveling back home to NY and should be on again this afternoon.
I had my first ever AM QSO (24 years of ham-ness for me) last night with KW9R in Wisconsin. I've been listening to AM activity in the last few weeks because I'm really interested in trying new stuff, and he was calling CQ so I decided to answer. My TS-570S automatically dials the power down to 25, so I was all set. Reached out with my 25W and my 1/4-wave 40m stealth wire vertical. We had a quick QSO before fading and noise took over. I'm glad to have made it on my first attempt, and will continue listening and experimenting. 73 de Jeff, KF5KWO
Had a few AM contacts over the weekend on 7285,7290,7295. Heard a few contest stations (SSB) but not a problem. On during the day and early evening 40 meters mostly.
Monday 8pm 7289Kc underway K3SQP Frank KB3RHR Craig VE3OWV Nick N3TBW Brian KC8WVH Dave N4RXV Joe AC0OB Phil around 6:30pm EDT
I turned on the Mohawk at about 7:00PM and faintly heard N3TBW and N4RXV (Radio X-Ray Vision) but we had some thunderstorms moving through the area with a lot of lightning and static crashes so I had to cut the switch. Maybe better conditions will prevail Wed. night. Pheel
