new one on me

ridgescan · #1 (**permalink**) 03-16-2009, 11:54 PM

1.997.00KHz LSB ham guys! Never caught this before. Neat!

kb2vxa · #2 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009, 01:15 AM

Huh? That frequency sounds like a high pitched whistle to me and I don't need a radio to hear it. So, what are you hearing on 1997KHz in the 160M band?

ridgescan · #3 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009, 07:17 AM

As I was tuning down to the MW manually from the 6.000 (R75 at bedside-hunting for new stuff helps me fall asleep LOL) I ran into these ham guys talking on lower side band! So I jumped out of bed and posted here-I also caught another group after that on 1.930! Funny thing, Warren, is as I posted I had you and you alone in my mind as the guy who would know this one-but it's new to you too?! Needless to say I will be watching this little area more and if I catch clues I will post here.
Told ya I was getting great reception

(OW!!!! I smaked myself for you)

ridgescan · #4 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009, 07:34 AM

I googled "160 meter band" (I should be getting ready for work) and learned that it is the oldest amateur band and it is dubbed the "top band" or "gentleman's band" (Warren everyone knows you knew this already) and the guys I heard talking were definately up in their years

it was just your usual group talk one guy said "by golly" like every third word

and the keyup times were waay drawn out unlike you hear like on 2 meters. You would have to have some kind of HUGE antenna to work a transmitter down on those frequencies right?

smason · #5 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kb2vxa

Huh? That frequency sounds like a high pitched whistle to me and I don't need a radio to hear it. So, what are you hearing on 1997KHz in the 160M band?

LOL!!!

I think Ridge missed the joke.

joe_disco_electronics · #6 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009, 10:42 AM

Warren knows what he is talking about. The OP should have typed 1.997 MHZ, NOT KHZ.

ridgescan · #7 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009, 02:46 PM

Sorry I put the frikkin DOT in there for cripes sake

I will be THE FIRST TO ADMIT I am way far from perfect. You guys have any input about the actual subject matter here?

Shortwavewave · #8 (**permalink**) 03-18-2009, 03:41 AM

Yep the guys on 160m can talk for hours, Somtime I actully consider it "Talk Radio" because some of the things that gets talked about on 160m is way to extreme for reagular radio.

1.8mhz would require a Fullwave longwire aprox. 546ft

So Yeah I imagine those guys dont have cheap antennas.

kb2vxa · #9 (**permalink**) 03-18-2009, 07:00 PM

WHAAAA... am I the Top Band guru around here now? I'm not an ubergeek by a long shot, once in a while though I can manage an eek or two.

"Funny thing, Warren, is as I posted I had you and you alone in my mind as the guy who would know this one-but it's new to you too?"
Being a ham I'm not surprised, being a cantankerous old fart ham it's to be expected I'm on a LOT of minds. (;->) Oh nothing new to me, I've known the AM crowd for 40 odd years and know where they hang out, even had the pleasure of operating a "super station" and it's re tuned 1KW AM broadcast transmitters and R-390 receiver. For pictures Google K2PG, too many to post here.

Ridge, you haven't heard the good stuff yet. Listen in the AM windows on 160, 75 and 40, you'll hear the experts, many of them broadcast engineers and a few wild ones like my favorite Timtron. Here's a web site that should be of some interest, you'll find a lot of my friends here and my occasional post. The AM Forum - Index

"I think Ridge missed the joke."
Oh I KNOW he did, missed by a mile! Ridge, look at that display again. The first number is MHz, to the right of the first decimal are 100KHz, 10KHz and 1KHz respectively. To the right of the second decimal are 100Hz, 10Hz and 1Hz. Pay attention to those TV commercials, size DOES matter.

Well Shortie they CAN and DO talk for hours and without all the hash mash and trash found on other bands why not? There you can kick back and relax, almost all of it is armchair copy. Hey, who the heck uses a full wave antenna on THAT band??? Most string a half wave dipole around the yard any way they can often looking like a copper spider on LSD lives there. Few have the real estate to stretch it out so there is always the sloping V from whatever is high enough, usually the tower. Then there is the 1/4 wave inverted L, that's 125' if you have a neighbor with a handy tree like I had once. Then the tower itself can be the antenna, a grounded vertical folded unipole is 60' tall, 50' if you sacrifice a little efficiency. Being a half wave radiator it has a low vertical takeoff angle, you can cover the continent with 100W and sound like a clear channel broadcast station with a Collins 20-V but that's my story at K2PG.

Oh and the tree was MY idea! Now that one I have to post here so you won't have to dig out the December 1999 issue of QST. Did you miss it? Look closer, look at the top ornament. He dropped the glass angel so I came up with an 811-A and a transformer to light it. CQ CQ CQ... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ka3jjz · #10 (**permalink**) 03-18-2009, 07:18 PM

All right, let's back down on the amplifiers a bit folks...(gentle hint here)...73 Mike

k9rzz · #11 (**permalink**) 03-18-2009, 08:10 PM

Ha ha ha !! Funny video !

Those guys put me to sleep too. It is a fun band to contest on however.

I find that you can work plenty of stateside guys with just about any wire, but you'll need to put some thought into anything that will work DX.

smason · #12 (**permalink**) 03-18-2009, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ridgescan

Sorry I put the frikkin DOT in there for cripes sake

I will be THE FIRST TO ADMIT I am way far from perfect.

Lighten up, c'mon that was pretty funny. "Can hear it without a radio"

Warren:
Don't ever change!

I'll have to get me a Diamond discone so I can monitor 160m too.

ridgescan · #13 (**permalink**) 03-19-2009, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k9rzz

Ha ha ha !! Funny video !

Those guys put me to sleep too. It is a fun band to contest on however.

I find that you can work plenty of stateside guys with just about any wire, but you'll need to put some thought into anything that will work DX.

Hey thanks glad you liked it

Quote:

Originally Posted by smason

Lighten up, c'mon that was pretty funny. "Can hear it without a radio"

Warren:
Don't ever change!

I'll have to get me a Diamond discone so I can monitor 160m too.

I agree LOL-I do need to lighten up-but DON'T get a discone for HF lest you wanna be on the recieving end of that vxa stinger too

Thanks for the link and the help Warren-I will gladly take a couple shots from you for a piece of that wisdom

kb2vxa · #14 (**permalink**) 03-19-2009, 10:51 PM

Oh don't start, there IS a thread around here someplace where I'm trying to help a guy figure out why his discone receives HF so well! What, me change? I'm always in a state of flux, I teach at the VXA School of Advanced Soldering affectionately known as Flux U.

kb0nly · #15 (**permalink**) 03-24-2009, 11:57 AM

160 can be a fun but finicky band, its up and down. We chat here on 1878 kc almost every evening in the midwest.

It's really fun listening to the AM crowd, man the audio! Of course there is still to this day plenty of hams running old AM Broadcast transmitters on 160. One in particular out in California that has audio quality to make the broadcast stations green with envy.

kb2vxa · #16 (**permalink**) 03-24-2009, 02:37 PM

There's a whole lot more to broadcast quality audio than a broadcast transmitter, 90% of it is in the microphone and audio chain. Heck, I had PG's Viking Valiant singing like a bird but that's another long story of the Boat Anchor Brigade here on the Right Coast. Eh, have you ever heard of Class E?

Somebody mentioned DX and with any band it's all in the antenna. On the lower frequency bands and 160M in particular being MW there is NO WAY you can get a dipole high enough to exhibit a low vertical takeoff angle so now we start looking vertical, literally. A quarter wave tower is a bit of a monster and it still has a fairly high angle so we start looking at a half wave. Wait a minute, that's twice as tall! Wait two minutes and it shrinks to less than a quarter wave height when we fold it over and ground the far end. Now we have the grounded vertical folded unipole and at 60' if you have the real estate for a radial system and guys you'll really reach out and touch someone and there is an added attraction. Two actually, it won't land in the neighbor's yard if it should fall AND if it's a tower you can load it with antennas, the RF doesn't care being it ignores them and all the coax if you do it right.

ridgescan · #17 (**permalink**) 03-30-2009, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kb0nly

160 can be a fun but finicky band, its up and down. We chat here on 1878 kc almost every evening in the midwest.

It's really fun listening to the AM crowd, man the audio! Of course there is still to this day plenty of hams running old AM Broadcast transmitters on 160. One in particular out in California that has audio quality to make the broadcast stations green with envy.

I am listening to 160 regularly-what's that Ca. guy's ID so I can listen for him?

kb2vxa · #18 (**permalink**) 03-31-2009, 04:17 PM

Just tune around and listen, a well dressed ham ALWAYS stands out in a crowd.

prcguy · #19 (**permalink**) 04-01-2009, 12:09 AM

A fullwave longwire?? That would probably not work very well but a simple dipole about 118ft each side for 1.997MHz would be a good start.
prcguy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shortwavewave

Yep the guys on 160m can talk for hours, Somtime I actully consider it "Talk Radio" because some of the things that gets talked about on 160m is way to extreme for reagular radio.

1.8mhz would require a Fullwave longwire aprox. 546ft

So Yeah I imagine those guys dont have cheap antennas.

ridgescan · #20 (**permalink**) 04-02-2009, 10:40 AM

Ham Radio Outlet has several antennas that do 160m but I found this one to be the coolest-and it's only 45'!