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--- public:blog:sun_6_aug_2023 [09/03/25 11:00 GMT] – ↷ Page moved from blog:sun_6_aug_2023 to public:blog:sun_6_aug_2023 john
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-====== Sun 6 Aug 2023 ======
-A quick visit to the shack in the morning and I heard **SM5COP** - Rune - calling **CQ**. I always like to say hello so I called for a brief QSO, I couldn't stay long as I had to go out - swimming with friends, a regular Sunday morning activity. We had a nice, short QSO. It's always a pleasure to work Rune.
-I had a few hours in the shack later in the afternoon.
-I had a think about the higher bands - I don't often stray beyond 30m, occasionally going to 20m.
-I had a quick tune around and wondered if I need to use the Pre-Amp on my IC-7200 or not. On the normal lower bands it's certainly not needed, and would be counterproductive.
-The accepted wisdom is that "if the noise level increases when you connect the antenna then you have enough RX sensitivity, and you don't need the Pre-Amp"
-I thought I'd see which bands (if any) would warrant the Pre-Amp:
-^Band^p-p mV noise / Test Load^p-p mV noise / Antenna^Pre-Amp needed?^
-|  160 | 260 | 800 | No |
-| 80 | 280 | >300 | No |
-| 60 | 240 | >600 | No |
-| 40 | 250 | >800 | No |
-| 30 | 280 | >1000 | No |
-| 20 | 280 | >1000 | No |
-| 17 | 260 | >600 | No |
-| 15 | 260 | >600| No |
-| 12 | 260 | ~300 | Marginal Yes |
-| 10 | 260 | 260 | Yes |
-It appears that only 12m and 10m would warrant use of the pre-amp using my existing Inverted-L antenna.
-on 12m and 10m I re-did the experiment with the Pre-Amp ON
-^Band^p-p mV noise / Test Load^p-p mV noise / Antenna^Pre-Amp needed?^
-| 12 | 330 | >1000 | Yes |
-| 10 | 360 | >600 | Yes |
-== QSOs ==
-I heard a QSO on 60m (5263kHz) between **GM3WUX** and **G3SNT** at around 1500z.
-After they finished I called **GM3WUX** - who was a good 559 here, and no difficulty at all to copy. He struggled to make out my call, taking several attempts - eventually using straight key at around 12wpm to improve the s/n ratio -  the same way QRSS works - longer dashes and dots = more chance of resolving the signal during fading and noise. It worked and we exchanged enough to complete a QSO. I copied all of Terry's transmissions, he complained of high local noise levels. This is the bane of the urban operator. Someone with a high noise floor can still radiate a good signal, easily workable by people with no man-made noise issues - but then can't hear replies. Sad for our historic and technological hobby to be taken from us by the march of "technology" in the average household.
-Later, around 1600z I tuned around 30m and heard the unmistakable sound of a Bug - **F8DGY** - calling **CQ** so I replied - on my Vibroplex Champion - and had a nice QSO with Chris, near Paris, who was running **500 watts** (why so much?). We had a good bug-bug QSO - his SpeedX key from 1937 and my Vibroplex from 1960.
-Later still, at 1705Z, I heard another Bug calling **CQ** - **DK8IT** - and we had a good QSO again, bug-bug. Severe lightning static crashes marred my end - Gerry reported no QRN problems, I guess the storms I was hearing were in his "skip zone"?
-A good **BUG** day.
-{{tag>radio cw bug }}