| Author |
Message |
    
Karatebutcher
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 4:53 pm: | 
|
On a normal day with all conditions on go, on ssb lsb, usb. with skip in and conditions good how many watts do you really need,to cover distance and other operators?
and say on bad days, when you hear only one person out there, and you can't reach him but he sounds good, how many watts is he using , at a say distance of 2000 miles ?with bad conditions
Are increased wattage mostly good for AM,? and modulation alone with 12 watts ssb, 4 watts AM , is good modulation a great factor?. |
Taz
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 6:18 pm: |
|
Yes modulation is a factor but the greatest factor is the antenna. Your antenna is 75% of your system! I shoot skip bearfoot, I dont usually need power but now and then I will go on ch.6 and key down. I have talked to some bigdogs like earplugger, he has a nice setup. Am is lower carrier and higher swing. FM is high carrier low swing. To get out, idealy you would want alot of carrier but have a big enough amp to still swing on am. But most of all your antenna is most important!
Taz |
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 6:23 pm: |
|
under good congitions you can cross the alantic with 100 milliwatts. O yes you can and i bet some one on cb has done it. Now more real world 4 watts into a good antenna is enough to work the world when conditions are very good. I have been heard Q5 in spain from my car on 29.6 FM running 4 watts and into Denver 4 days in a row again when things are right. As for increasing power for 16 watts you go up ONE " S " unit for 64 watts you go up only 2. Not to say high power cannot have a use but it realy dosen't solve the problem bottom line use as little as you need it never hurt to do that.
bruce |
Karatebutcher
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 7:26 pm: |
|
Taz and Bruce thank you for your comments they were very interesting and educational, it is a wonder the things that involve in useing a radio, I feel I have a good radio and antenna, and enjoy sitting at my radio for hours at a time each day.
As for modulation I use the D104 , I have it turned back a bit on the bottom, and the mike gain on 5 , and listening to the talk back it sounds good,
thank you both |
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 8:28 pm: |
|
Karatebutcher Think of this NASA is still hearing the voiager space craft launched 25 years ago
Now last i heard it was 3 billion miles from earth
3,000,000,000 and they had no problem hearing its 5 WATT transmitter! |
Taz
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 8:39 pm: |
|
Yep, I enjoy talking "cb" |
Tech671
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 10:52 pm: |
|
I think having 400w at your disposal if necessary is a good all around figure. As Taz said, you ain't got a thin if you ain't got that..... good antenna system. |
Kirk
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 9:03 am: |
|
A good rule of thumb, heard over and over for some, is "if you can hear em', you can work em'." The other guy may be only using 12 watts (assuming SSB) but the pile-up on his side after he clears could be tremendous, so even with 2000 watts, you may not make it in. Conditions are more prevalent than how much power you have behind your antenna. Believe Bruce when he tells you that you can work a long, long way on milliwatts! I agree with the above that the antenna is certainly the most overlooked and best asset you can have on your base/mobile. But conditions are conditions, and they weigh the heaviest on who you talk to and who you don't (I.M.O.)--73 Kirk AB8BC |
Alsworld
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 9:08 am: |
|
Karatebutcher,
I shot just as much long distance skip (SSB) barefoot as I have with power. I had a few days where I really wondered why I even needed power. Then there are those "dirty" skip days, or other huge radio wave pileups that all the power won't get you back to the one person you want to talk to. But chances are your blowing someone elses door off. I try and shoot skip and talk local barefoot about 90% of the time because it's more challeging and really means something when you get through. Condiditons are pretty crappy now but it will get better and your DX ratio from transmit to contact will rise. From where you are and local elevation, when conditions are good you'll boom the right side of the map. One thing for sure, that mic you have will keep your modulation clean, and people like getting back to a good sounding station. I like them D104's. |
Honkytonkman593
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 5:47 pm: |
|
well i still like my 1000 watts but if you have an honest 250 watts am side it will talk to most that you hear....if they want to talk back that is! if you were to use ssb just 250 ssb is all youd ever need! later. |
Taz
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 6:39 pm: |
|
I worked hawaii on am side, 3 watts not to long ago! |
Karatebutcher
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 8:00 pm: |
|
Kirk, thanks that was good, and sounds true, where I live there are restrictions, no antenna, no flag pole, I have a big stick, shakespear, sprayed ir black, mounted in an oak tree and its off to flordia I go , it is two piece 5/8 wave 27 years old, and gets good reports.
thats to all you guys . good talk |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 8:44 pm: |
|
Taz on 28.4 with a 2 watt SSB handheld i worked costa rica from in frount of my home in west central florida
the guy lost his english it was cool! |
Taz
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 9:05 pm: |
|
hey bruce, why do you like 10 meter so much? |
Bigbob
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 10:14 pm: |
|
hey Taz why do you like c. b. so much... |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 10:14 pm: |
|
GOOD QUESTION
1) you can run a true 1/4 wave on your car i also run one on 6
2) there is LOTS of cheep radios
3) You can work the world and i have from your car
4) you can carry a SSB HANDHELD to work and lissen for openings ....... try this on 75 meters
5) AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST YOU CAN RUN FM !
o by the way i can and have run 75, 40, 20, 17, 15 and 12 also.... and 6 and 2 and 440 too! |
Taz
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 2:26 am: |
|
Why do I like 11 meter?
Well bigbob, its what I started with, and I like to "STICK WITH WHAT WORKS FOR ME" I just like it!
I took the test on hamtest.com I took it 4 times (tech) and passed all 4 with an average of about 3-4 questions missed! So, im going to go on down and take my test soon enough! Hope to catch some of you on ham freqs some day! But I will never give up 11 meter! It will always be my "main" hang out spot.
Taz |
bruce
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 7:36 am: |
|
TAZ WITH A HAM TICKET O MY ! |
Hamcber
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 10:31 am: |
|
Bruce wrote: "under good conditions you can cross the alantic with 100 milliwatts. O yes you can and i bet some one on cb has done it. "
You are certainly correct Bruce. My beacon (AOH on 27.125) has been copied in Canada, Australia, Japan, and all over the U.S. The carrier power is 20 milliwatts. That's 0.02 watts! AOH operates under FCC part 15 rules (the same rules that allow garage door opener transmitters and kiddie walkie talkies). The radiation is maintained to a level below 10,000 mV/m at 3 meters.
The first trick to DX is audio. AOH runs 150% positive peaks ('swing' to some) and 90% negative peak modulation with absolutely no carrier pinching (going past 100% negative peaks). Also, the pure modified sine wave tone frequency of 1750 Hz. means that AOH's audio comes through a speaker at about 8dB higher than the 'loudness' of any voice. Even if someone is talking and has an S-5 on your receiver, you can still hear AOH through the audio regardless if AOH has an S-1 or less on you. Remarkable and true. I have been told that if you switch your receiver to USB, AOH can be heard through S-9 and stronger skip pileups.
The other trick to AOH's DX success is the elevation of the mountain it is on (2,500 feet ASL) which gives the 1/2 wave dipole antenna a much better takeoff angle than everyone else at 'ground level'. It would be like having a 2,500 foot tower with your antenna on it. Your antenna doesn't 'see' the ground and therefore doesn't allow signal to bounce off of it and leave at an odd angle from the fundamental which cancels signal near the horizon. Also true that when you are hearing someone skip, you have no idea what kind of pileup he has on his end when you try and call him. In fact, I'll bet most of you operators talking to someone local have had no idea of all the places you 'landed' and didn't even know it. Someone heard you, and maybe even tried to call you, but you'd never know when your local op was talking to you.
Taz wrote: "But I will never give up 11 meter! "
That's what I thought once too. When I was a kid, I played with a CB radio (crystal in those days) that was given to me broken and I repaired it. I thought the whole world revolved around 27 MHz. Even after I got my General ham ticket and began to experiment by putting 10 meter crystals in the old Johnson CB rig, I still fell back on 11m. However, once I got a taste of 80, 40, 10, and 2m, I all but forgot about CB at some point. Once I met people on 2m and even discovered some of my local CB pals were on ham also, something changed. Not all in one day, mind you.... It was about a 5 year transition. These days, CB is an afterthought. I don't even own a CB rig. I have a ham rig that will do 27, but that's another story.... I have beacons on the ham bands that run 100 watts. The AOH beacon was actually supposed to be a driver for a new 10 meter beacon that never came to be. I put an old 27.125 crystal in it and stuck it on the hill just for grins. |
Alsworld
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 2:27 pm: |
|
Taz going ham??? I think I'm gonna faint ! ha ha I'm kidding of course. Actually Taz, the way you've set up your home base, with a ham station as well and even more antennas hanging off that tower, dude you'll be on top of the communications world. Actual world wide for sure. Good on ya.
I just passed the exam last saturday. I practiced alot on QRZ.com and eham.com and of course a study guide. Never could ace one but always did well. Scored 34 of 35 on the actual test. Your a smart young man, it will be easy for you.
I like 11 meters also and will stick around the band. There are lots of old people around here who talk CB only, and I'm sure I'll find the same on ham radio as well. It's all good. |
Insider
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 5:08 pm: |
|
Bruce Wrote:
"NASA is still hearing the [voyager] space craft launched 25 years ago. Now last i heard it was 3 billion miles from earth 3,000,000,000 and they had no problem hearing its 5 WATT transmitter!"
How many miles is the diameter of their parabolic receiving antenna? He,he,he. |
bruce
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 6:57 pm: |
|
hamcber GREAT ! LOVE THOES STORIES congrats on the cliping of negpeaks and super mod the positive ones ! I had a friend back in the 60's who buitl a 1/4 watt AM 2 meter rig into a 12 * 8 * 6 box and ran it on 8 C batterys with this he worked allover the east coast ON 2 ! But my fondst rememberance of him was one night i was working NC from new york city hunderds of miles running 300 watts into 4 stacked 17 elm beams he broke in on the frequency and asked do you think he can hear me? INSTANLY the NC station responed HEAR YOU your ONE " S " unit less than your buddy is! before hie death he added SC and GA too. IT CAN BE DONE ! |
bruce
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 8:19 pm: |
|
Insider its not all that big its realy amazing just how far a signal will go the qrp boys call 10 watts A FULL GALLON i worked all over the us running 1/2 watt on 6 AM and 35 states running about 5 watts ssb As for nasa well i jusr read they are STILL hearing it and its PAST PLUTO Thank goodness thoes RTG'S ( thats a battery )that were built in 1973 came with a 30 year life span or we might have to get TAZ to go change them ..... |
Taz
| | Posted on Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 8:34 pm: |
|
Trust me, 11 meter WILL ALWAYS BE my hangout spot! |
Hoosier Cardinal
| | Posted on Friday, August 02, 2002 - 10:13 pm: |
|
Shoot! With my old moonraker 4 on the flatside and my 3500 i have been able to talk to anyone and anywere i want on SSB! barefooted too BTW! :-) |
409
| | Posted on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 3:10 am: |
|
Actually, a RTG is a thermal generator powered by a radioactive material...... |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 10:03 am: |
|
lol bruce, i will just hop in the ol' rusty ford and scoot on out ther. pull out the old one and pop in another. |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 11:58 am: |
|
409 i worked on them at a GE nuke plant in the early 80's neet product one heck of a duracell! |
|
