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Atmospherics (merged) (Part 3)


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Old 26-09-2012, 13:09
FmBandScan
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Absolutely and I will be interested in the results.

Wow it's actually stopped raining here after 2 days solid heavy rain.

Andy
Yes is is actually sunny here!!!
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Old 27-09-2012, 18:24
brumlad36
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Well thanks for bringing it to my attention I wondered why Yorkshire Coast wasn't coming in on 103.1, Star Radio on 103.2 was too strong I could hear Y Coast but it was bad signal. I can't wait to try it out tomorrow correctly

Still got Lincs FM coming in on 102.2, crystal clear. It's a decent station actually.
Jack,

Have you made the adjustments to your aerial elements yet? I'm keen to hear if you've noticed any improvement in reception.

Chris.
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Old 27-09-2012, 20:45
Jack-UK
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Jack,

Have you made the adjustments to your aerial elements yet? I'm keen to hear if you've noticed any improvement in reception.

Chris.
Yeah I made the adjustments to it, but I didn't notice a massive difference to be honest, then again I didn't really have a big play around with it. Another problem I have is that when I mount the antenna on top of the pole, the wire seems to come lose inside as I have crap reception on everything. I need to come up with a fix to that.
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Old 27-09-2012, 21:21
radioredcat
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Yeah I made the adjustments to it, but I didn't notice a massive difference to be honest, then again I didn't really have a big play around with it. Another problem I have is that when I mount the antenna on top of the pole, the wire seems to come lose inside as I have crap reception on everything. I need to come up with a fix to that.
Hi Jack I noticed on you pics you posted a few days ago that the coax was not secured to the mast as you should tape the coax to the mast under the clamp and down the mast so it does not strain the connection terminals in the dipole connection box.

Also if the coax kinks that can cause notches at various frequencies and cause the problems you are experiencing.

Some aerilas have saddle clamps and some of the old Triax aerials is one of them have a crimp type clamp which is not the best type.

Andy
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Old 27-09-2012, 23:01
DDaveBB
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Although conditions have been poor over the last week I have found that tropo scatter has been quite interesting as well as managing to pick up stray meteor reflections. Log for the last few days at the end of the posting - which are the unusual/interesting ones.

The log doesn't include the usual stations - I'm generally finding the Belgian and local Dutch are still present - those at 300 km or so are noisy, those at around 250 km are better.

The best and most consistent reception even under the worst conditions is Boulogne (1Kw) at a distance of 93 km (58 mi) hor pol along with Egem (50Kw) at a distance of 150 km (93 mi) vert pol. These two provide a near reliable service in mono.

Today/yesterday the tropo has been characterised by extremely deep slow cyclic fading with the Luxembourg/German stations shown in the log going from nothing to virtually noise free mono over a period of five minutes. I could have booked the morning reception as well.

BTW - glad I was on holiday in Dorset last week - good decision as we'd originally thought of taking this week off . And I came back to noise on 87.5 - Funky Essex has gone

2012-09-23
87.70 1601 POL PR 2, Wroclaw/Zórawina (DS) unattended - pi code only on rdsspy PI:3222 1133 km
87.70 1835 SVK Fun Radio, Košice/Dubník (KE) unattended - approx time - pi code only PI:5340 1495 km

2012-09-24
87.60 1701 D hr3, Sackpfeife (Biedenkopf) (hes) good example of tropo scatter 544 km

2012-09-25
88.00 2124 D WDR 5, Bonn/Venusberg (nrw) good example of tropo scatter 449 km
94.80 2150 D SWR3, Linz/Ginsterhahn (rlp) tropo scatter - id from webstream 468 km
87.70 2200 POL PR 1, Konin/Zólwieniec (WP) pi code only (silent monitoring) PI:3211 1209 km

2012-09-26
87.70 1747 POL PR 1, Konin/Zólwieniec (WP) very short meteor burst - rdsspy captured pi code PI:3211 1209 km

2012-09-27
88.90 1658 LUX RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg, Dudelange/Ginsterberg (gld) deep cyclic fading - partial PS on peak PI:7210 PS:_RTL.lu_ 432 km
100.70 1658 LUX Radio 100,7, Dudelange/Ginsterberg (gld) deep cyclic fading - partial PS on peak PI:7212 PS:RADIO___ 432 km
106.40 1930 D WDR Eins Live, Aachen/Stolberg (nrw) stable reception not quite noise free mono 388 km
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Old 28-09-2012, 10:03
Jack-UK
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Hi Jack I noticed on you pics you posted a few days ago that the coax was not secured to the mast as you should tape the coax to the mast under the clamp and down the mast so it does not strain the connection terminals in the dipole connection box.

Also if the coax kinks that can cause notches at various frequencies and cause the problems you are experiencing.

Some aerilas have saddle clamps and some of the old Triax aerials is one of them have a crimp type clamp which is not the best type.

Andy
HI,

I'll see what I can do about it. I am heading out to a campsite near Poynton, Stockport later this afternoon so it should be fun to see what I can get. I might try and null out Rev 96.2 and see if I can get Heart/Coast 96.3 (North Wales).
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Old 29-09-2012, 21:09
Jack-UK
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Not very happy right now, had my antenna up earlier, a gust of wind blew the pole down and completely destroyed one of the elements on my antenna, on impact with the ground the element snapped in half. Brilliant, had it just over a week and this happens, really pissed off and upset. Though it still works.
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Old 29-09-2012, 21:18
brumlad36
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Not very happy right now, had my antenna up earlier, a gust of wind blew the pole down and completely destroyed one of the elements on my antenna, on impact with the ground the element snapped in half. Brilliant, had it just over a week and this happens, really pissed off and upset. Though it still works.
Hi Jack,

Sorry to hear your news. If you can repair the snapped element, as long as the length remains correct, there will be no detrimental affect to your reception.

You're not missing any decent reception over on the East side of the country. I'm hardly even receiving Lille today.

Chris.
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Old 29-09-2012, 21:25
Jack-UK
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Hi Jack,

Sorry to hear your news. If you can repair the snapped element, as long as the length remains correct, there will be no detrimental affect to your reception.

You're not missing any decent reception over on the East side of the country. I'm hardly even receiving Lille today.

Chris.
Hi Chris,

I don't think it's going to be possible to repair it, the whole thing snapped in half. As I write this the antenna is face down on the ground outside, yet I am listening to The Revolution on 96.2 with RDS and stereo signal, so can't see much damage has been done.

Any idea if it's possible to order a replacement element for the one that is damaged?
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Old 29-09-2012, 21:57
brumlad36
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Hi Chris,

I don't think it's going to be possible to repair it, the whole thing snapped in half. As I write this the antenna is face down on the ground outside, yet I am listening to The Revolution on 96.2 with RDS and stereo signal, so can't see much damage has been done.

Any idea if it's possible to order a replacement element for the one that is damaged?
I very much doubt you could get just a replacement element.
Any chance you can take a photo of the damaged aerial and upload the picture to http://www.photobucket.com ? We'll let you know if it can be repaired.

Chris.
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Old 29-09-2012, 22:03
Nick_G
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Sorry to hear about your mishap Jack I hope you can get it repaired or get a replacement aerial.

Conditions have been rubbish recently so you're not missing anything.
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Old 29-09-2012, 22:05
Jack-UK
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OK, I'll take a photo of it. I may as well just upload it to the gallery on my website. I'll have to do it tomorrow as it's late right now. I will do it though. I'll post back here when I have the pics, probably tomorrow morning.
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Old 30-09-2012, 09:59
Nick_G
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There must be a bit of tropo about this morning because I'm getting a station on 93.8 playing rousing gospel music, which I presume is London pirate Vibes FM. There is slow fading but it's more or less fully quieting on peaks. The SE/NE France does seem to be up slightly this morning.

Also WDR 1Live popped up briefly on 107.9 with a very weak fluttery signal although that may have been aicraft scatter.
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Old 30-09-2012, 11:32
radioredcat
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There must be a bit of tropo about this morning because I'm getting a station on 93.8 playing rousing gospel music, which I presume is London pirate Vibes FM. There is slow fading but it's more or less fully quieting on peaks. The SE/NE France does seem to be up slightly this morning.

Also WDR 1Live popped up briefly on 107.9 with a very weak fluttery signal although that may have been aicraft scatter.
I have had a scan and Oak fm 107.9 is here back of the box job and Wrotham is up as well.

Andy
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Old 30-09-2012, 12:02
radioredcat
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Not very happy right now, had my antenna up earlier, a gust of wind blew the pole down and completely destroyed one of the elements on my antenna, on impact with the ground the element snapped in half. Brilliant, had it just over a week and this happens, really pissed off and upset. Though it still works.
I can understand how you feel but the snapped element should be repairable how easy depends on where it's snapped so I will wait until I see a picture.

To repair a broken element I would get a few inches of half inch tubing with a cut down it length and then it can be clamped both sides of the break,If it's broke on the joint then the same but will have to be cut away where it joins the boom.

I can send you a few inches of half inch tube to repair it just let me know.

Andy
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Old 30-09-2012, 14:32
DDaveBB
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Hi Chris,

I don't think it's going to be possible to repair it, the whole thing snapped in half. As I write this the antenna is face down on the ground outside, yet I am listening to The Revolution on 96.2 with RDS and stereo signal, so can't see much damage has been done.

Any idea if it's possible to order a replacement element for the one that is damaged?
You can order 3/8 or 1/2 inch ali tubing from www.sandpiperaerials.co.uk at a reasonable price - they charge by the meter - but if you specify the length you'll probably get it exact. I'm pretty sure you need 3/8th -which is pretty close to the 10mm my FM3 elements measured as.

I got all my element and boom materials from them for making my moxon antennas - but got my element/dipole clamps from harrison elctronics.
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Old 30-09-2012, 15:56
Jack-UK
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OK, here are the pics which I took earlier this morning:

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=163 - You can see the antenna and the broken element to the left, next to the coaxial cable.

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=164 - This is where the snap occurred in the element.

If you need any more pics or different angles let me know.
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Old 30-09-2012, 16:04
brumlad36
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OK, here are the pics which I took earlier this morning:

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=163 - You can see the antenna and the broken element to the left, next to the coaxial cable.

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=164 - This is where the snap occurred in the element.

If you need any more pics or different angles let me know.
Hi Jack,

It looks like the "director" element that has been damaged. As Andy (radioredcat) seems more knowledgeable about repairing aerials, I'll let him advise you what to do. I'm sure it can be repaired, so don't despair.

Chris.
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Old 30-09-2012, 16:11
FmBandScan
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There is a slight enhancement to The Netherlands as the Dutch stations are fading up and down.
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Old 30-09-2012, 17:41
DDaveBB
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There is a slight enhancement to The Netherlands as the Dutch stations are fading up and down.
You beat me to it - the nearer German stations are also enhanced. Nordhelle, Haardkopf and Langenberg are coming up to noise free mono.

This morning Lille was providing instant RDS and just now VRT Klara on 90.4 was strong enough to be noise free on the horizontal aerial.

This is a big contrast to Saturday 29th when Lille was almost absent.
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Old 30-09-2012, 18:22
ACL777
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Germany is coming through on 96.5, 106.7 and 107.1. I've had a station on 92.2 originally broadcasting sport and then music. Not sure if it's Dutch or Belgian, to be honest I've even wandered if it could be from Denmark as the language seemed different ( not the usual throaty dutch sound) although very hard to tell in the noise. All these were on horizontal. Maybe it was Go fm or Nova.
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Old 30-09-2012, 21:19
radioredcat
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OK, here are the pics which I took earlier this morning:

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=163 - You can see the antenna and the broken element to the left, next to the coaxial cable.

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=164 - This is where the snap occurred in the element.

If you need any more pics or different angles let me know.
I assume you have the boom holder for the element as looking at the other one it looks like half inch tubing might just fit otherwise the bracket needs opening up a bit.

Alternatively you could buy a 3/8" length from the site that Dave posted as this would cost £2.50 per M + postage but I could find postage costs when I looked.

There maybe an ali tube supplier close to you.

What is the length of the broken director as I think it would be somewhere around 1.3 M.

Andy
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Old 30-09-2012, 22:10
Nick_G
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Lille frequencies 2-3 bars with stereo and also LUX 100.7 fluttering in & out of the noise. Better than I thought it would be to be honest.
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Old 30-09-2012, 23:05
Watty Stoatir
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OK, here are the pics which I took earlier this morning:

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=163 - You can see the antenna and the broken element to the left, next to the coaxial cable.

http://jack-bromby.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=164 - This is where the snap occurred in the element.

If you need any more pics or different angles let me know.
some copper Offcuts from a Plumber would do the job, or possibly inserting a piece of plastic / wood / metal into the broken piece the re fitting it to the boom, this would create a suitable director
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Old 30-09-2012, 23:13
Watty Stoatir
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Hi Jack,

Don't worry, I don't think Triax show instructions of the constructed aerial. I just know from experience, regarding which elements go where.

The improvements you'll notice are ->
1) More gain when the aerial is correctly directed to a wanted transmitter.
2) Better nulling of unwanted transmitters (from a different direction).

Cheers for now,



Chris.

When I install an antenna I create a small loop in the feeder as close to the antenna as possible .... a 1- 1balun it also creates a trap for any water that may get into the feeder
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