18-08-2019, 07:51 AM
I participated for a while Saturday afternoon on 40M and 20M but the poor activity level made me finish super-early.
Nothing was heard on VHF or UHF either. Hopefully others had a better outcome.
I was a little surprised that early in the piece I was easily hearing VK3's and VK5's but got no response at my 100W PEP even though I suspect they were probably running similar power levels. It isn't that there wasn't propagation - I was hearing them - but maybe their station configurations / local noise levels were worse than mine. I had around S2 band noise most of the time on quiet frequencies and even with signals showing S7-9 yet they obviously weren't having good copy -asking for re-confirmations etc. I even went to the trouble of checking my output power level - all good there.
At one later stage I was advised about distorted audio and found the reason a few minutes later - the knurled outer screw on the mic connector plug into the Icom radio was not tight. Screwing it up provided an instant remedy. Something so simple can cause strange side-effects.....
I have already submitted my log electronically so this is just a reminder for you to submit yours too.
Nothing was heard on VHF or UHF either. Hopefully others had a better outcome.
I was a little surprised that early in the piece I was easily hearing VK3's and VK5's but got no response at my 100W PEP even though I suspect they were probably running similar power levels. It isn't that there wasn't propagation - I was hearing them - but maybe their station configurations / local noise levels were worse than mine. I had around S2 band noise most of the time on quiet frequencies and even with signals showing S7-9 yet they obviously weren't having good copy -asking for re-confirmations etc. I even went to the trouble of checking my output power level - all good there.
At one later stage I was advised about distorted audio and found the reason a few minutes later - the knurled outer screw on the mic connector plug into the Icom radio was not tight. Screwing it up provided an instant remedy. Something so simple can cause strange side-effects.....
I have already submitted my log electronically so this is just a reminder for you to submit yours too.
Doug VK4ADC @ QG62LG51
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.