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Atmospherics (merged) (Part 3) |
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#1 |
![]() Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 12,563
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Atmospherics (merged) (Part 3)
Quote:
Sporadic E:
87.7 1931 POR RDP Antena 1, Serra do Mendro (bej) 8201 1770 km 88.1 1936 POR Rádio Comercial, Monchique/Fóia (agv) ID in commercial 1890 km 91.1 1938 POR RDP Antena 2, Serra do Mendro (bej) Jazz, as web stream 1770 km 87.6 1948 POR RDS, Seixal (set) Portuguese song, as web stream 1769 km OK, I had some DX, but it was disappointing again. Signals were really weak and only Antena 1 on 87.7 produced a PI code. Everything else was too weak for RDS and had to be IDd through web stream parallels. Good DX! John Skegness, Lincolnshire (JO03dd) 1m ASL |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Between wigan and St Helens
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I am currently watching the paint dry that John mentioned the other day as there's a SPE drought at the moment.
It's a very poor start to the season this year and after this moan I am hoping something will come eventually. Andy |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Between wigan and St Helens
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As I was bored with no dx I decided to make a creation a bit like john skywaves excellent creation with just dipoles using the one that I made up last week.
http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/100_0906.jpg I used one of the sat shotgun cables I have running in here and they are both working ok and just got done before the heavy rain comes and I can hear lightning flashes on a noisy stafford fm (rsl). Andy |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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I was just about to make the same post, bemoaning the now seemingly defunct Es conditions. :yawn:
The season got off to a very early start on band 2, with frequent openings. Suddenly, it seems to have stopped! I think the recent higher levels of solar activity have played a part in the disappearance of E skip. Anther observation - nothing has been mega-strong via the Es so far this season. I am really beginning to wonder if we are in for a poor season. It's still early days yet so there's time for it to pick up. Just because June may be poor doesn't mean to say July will be. Time will tell. John |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Grimsby, United Kingdom
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Still nothing apart from last week either, that was the first opening for me. What date does the E season finish?
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#6 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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The E season is usually stated as running from May to August.
June and July are the peak months with June tending to be the better of the two. The peak of the season is usually during the end of June/beginning of July. Some years we may be lucky and have band 2 activity in April. It's brief though if it happens. Same goes for September. There is usually a secondary, weaker Es peak around late December/early January. This usually only affects frequencies up to 50 MHz and is short-lived - perhaps only a few days. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Quite a few 6m Es being reported on Sherlock at the moment. Some band 2 activity from eastern Europe in France now too.
Hopefully I won't tempt fate by posting this but I wonder if it's going to land on our shores? It's definitely getting close. Good DX! John |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Aug 2008
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Quote:
I was just about to make the same post, bemoaning the now seemingly defunct Es conditions. :yawn:
The season got off to a very early start on band 2, with frequent openings. Suddenly, it seems to have stopped! I think the recent higher levels of solar activity have played a part in the disappearance of E skip. Anther observation - nothing has been mega-strong via the Es so far this season. I am really beginning to wonder if we are in for a poor season. It's still early days yet so there's time for it to pick up. Just because June may be poor doesn't mean to say July will be. Time will tell. John Of course with band 1 TV you receive more than band 2 because of the higher frequencies anyway we will have to wait for some dx. Andy |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Well, the Es have graced the south coast yet again with another opening to Italy, albeit a small one, just like yesterday.
This pattern keeps repeating. It was the same last year. It's as if a particular point along the south coast is more prone to E skip than anywhere else in the UK and that just doesn't make sense if the Es are truly random. I don't begrudge other people getting good DX, but it's very frustrating when it misses everybody else so frequently. John |
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#10 |
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I can see that on dx-sherlock italy to south uk.
Andy |
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#11 |
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Had a couple of North Africans fade up in the car on the way home on 87.6 and 87.7 but only briefly. Left the Kenwood sat on 87.7 whilst eating tea and Algeria came up twice, total time about 5 or 6 minutes. Good solid signal when it peaked though.
I don't hold out much hope for the season this year to be honest; it's all very patchy and there seems to be a distinct lack of strong and sustained openings like in previous years. |
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#12 |
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Well the SPE season so far is as good as the weather it's appalling and it's bucketing down here and the wind is increasing flaming june some chance.
Andy |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Really surprised to hear Portugal fade in and out very briefly on 87.9 a few minutes ago. Just one instance of it, quite weak and lasting only 15 - 20 seconds. I had what I can only presume was Algeria on 87.8 just before 6pm local but I couldn't find a web parallel to confirm it.
Oh well, it was something. Good DX! John Skegness, Lincolnshire |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Wideband band 1 aerial construction diagram needed
I was wondering about delving into band 1 TV DXing again. It's more for carrier detection than anything else as I would only be able to use a loft aerial and so gain would probably not be great.
I could do with some dimensions to build a wideband beam, three or four elements would be good and I should be able to use a rotator. Frequency range I am looking for is 45-80 MHz. I would use my three element 6m beam but the bandwidth is VERY narrow - something like 49.5-52 MHz. Thanks if anybody can help. John Skegness, Lincolnshire |
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#15 |
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Hey - I am replying to my own question! I just found this:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemsli...X_aerials.html There's a three element wideband Jaybeam design about half way down the page. The five element looks tempting too! |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Sussex UK
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Quote:
Hey - I am replying to my own question! I just found this:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemsli...X_aerials.html There's a three element wideband Jaybeam design about half way down the page. The five element looks tempting too!
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#17 |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Since the Es are quiet at the moment I thought I would do some comparisons between this year's E season and last year's, doing a basic count of my own loggings.
From 01-05-12 to 08-06-12: 243 loggings from 18 countries. From 01-05-11 to 08-06-11: 490 loggings from 24 countries. So I am lagging behind this season by 247 loggings and 6 countries. I had beaten this year's totals by 26-05-11 last season with 339/24. By the end of May last year I had received 403/24. *** Interestingly, there was a comparatively quiet period around this time last year. This puts things into perspective for me. It seems that, if conditions are down this season, they're probably not down by much. If the season does its thing I guess all hell will be let loose over the next week. OK, it's just 'stats' and the Es are always unpredictable, but it passed the time while the Es are taking a break. Good DX! John |
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#18 |
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Quote:
I was wondering about delving into band 1 TV DXing again. It's more for carrier detection than anything else as I would only be able to use a loft aerial and so gain would probably not be great.
I could do with some dimensions to build a wideband beam, three or four elements would be good and I should be able to use a rotator. Frequency range I am looking for is 45-80 MHz. I would use my three element 6m beam but the bandwidth is VERY narrow - something like 49.5-52 MHz. Thanks if anybody can help. John Skegness, Lincolnshire That will give you steadily rising gain from 45-65 MHz with a f/b ratio of around 10dB. The 3:1 SWR is 49-64 - so the bandwidth just fits Band I (remember it's a computer model and no guarantees I've got it right). The 4ele design didn't give anything more in terms of gain/bandwidth from the model I ran Then again you could try a Moxon with a director - made with 0.5 inch elements - it gives a similar bandwidth - but occupies a lot less space. The longest element is under 90 inches compared to 147 inches for the yagi, and a boom length of 48 inches compared to 74 inches for the yagi. F/B is very good around 48-50 MHz and around 8 dB over the range 52-64 dB (I've not run any optimisation of the dimensions produced by the Moxgen.exe program to get the initial dimensions). Note: from my original reading of Mr Moxon's handbook (20 or more years ago) the Moxon is less affected by nearby metal objects - so is also a plus point. Hope the above helps - and btw - I've just got 2 FM5's delivered! Last edited by DDaveBB : 08-06-2012 at 12:52. Reason: add note |
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#19 |
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Thanks for the info Dave.
It's all going to be a compromise with wideband yagis, but at least it gives me a window on the bandwidth I require. I will try your suggestion. John Skegness, Lincolnshire |
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#20 |
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Location: Bristol UK
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Quote:
I was wondering about delving into band 1 TV DXing again. It's more for carrier detection than anything else as I would only be able to use a loft aerial and so gain would probably not be great.
John Skegness, Lincolnshire |
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#21 |
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That's fair enough. I just thought I would use it to monitor carriers more than anything else. I would also use it for band 2 Es predictions on the 6m band. Cheers John Skegness, Lincolnshire Quote:
As a band 1 dxer myself I would be cautious about putting to much effort into band 1 tv dx. Most of Europe has switched over to UHF digital tv with the few countries left about to make the switch. There is quite a bit to be seen from east Europe, Ukrain, Belarus, and Russia, but even these countries are talking about switching off there analogue tv networks in the near future. I have seen Syria and Jordan from the Middle East and reports of various African stations being seen but these openings are less frequent but still a joy to see especially as I only use a loft aerial. I'me not trying to put anyone off, but just ponting out that dx on band 1 is getting more challenging.
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#22 |
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Quote:
I don't think you will be able to get a yagi type array to give you a bandwidth of 45-80 MHz.
I know you can connect dipoles of different lengths to the same feed point. HF hams do this. But let's say I have three or four dipoles cut for individual channels A3, A4 & A5, all connected to the same feedpoint. Would a computer model look favourable? The elements would travel out in a spider leg type configuration. As I say, this type of multi-band dipole is common on HF but the dipoles are cut for bands which are many MHz apart so there is relatively little interaction. I suspect that my idea of a dipole cut to channels which are closer together would result in the outermost dipoles acting as a director and a reflector. I just thought that single cut dipoles might produce better results. To complicate things further, let's say I also add another wire cut for 50.15 MHz (and a simple balun (ferrite ring/four turns of RG58 at the feedpoint) so I might be able to work 6m DX. How would this look now? Perhaps I should just stick to receive and forget the 6m option. Thanks John Skegness, Lincolnshire |
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#23 |
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Some Portuguese Es on the car radio on the way home about 40 minutes ago:
87.6 Portuguese MOR music - RDS presumed 87.9 Portuguese talk - Antena 1 88.0 a station IDing as 'Mega Hits' 88.7 Antena 2 with RDS 94.4 Antena 2 with RDS All gone by the time I got home. |
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#24 |
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I have just been out and on my return Antenna 1 on 87.7 on both my tuners so I will look at the video recordings also just had a french sounding station on 87.6.
Edit: The french sounding station (Algeria) keeps comiing and going at the moment. Andy |
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#25 |
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88.1 Radio Batna, Metlili (Algeria) presumed here, overriding North Hessary Bore.
John Skegness, Lincolnshire |
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