160M Sloper:
Sort of got my 160M sloper up and it doesn't work very well yet. The reason, I believe, is that it is not very high. Only about 20 feet at the feed point and really doesn't slope much. I need to get it higher and a little more of a slope. I think I will wait for warmer weather. I need a longer feed line for one thing and more rope for another.
One side benefit, my OCF 80-6M Windom now tunes on 160M. I am going to say the reason for this there is about 40 foot stretch where both feed lines are parallel and next to each other.
Update: Well I tried to raise the slopper higher but met with disaster! The feed point end was tied high in a tree in front of my garage and the other end was tied to a tree trunk out back of the house. We had a pretty good wind storm one night and the line tied to the feed end broke and the whole thing came crashing down and busted. It also put a big dent in the side of the garage door. Not good at all, the XYL was not pleased!!!
So, I have bought a 160M to 6M OCF from RadioWavz . Hasn't gone up yet. I am waiting for some warmer weather. It is about 20 F today BTW. (Jan 24, 2021)
Flex 6300:
Discovered something about SmartSDR that I didn't know. Last week I put up a 160 meter sloper. I have connected it to the Ant2 input to my Flex 6300. So this means that when I am on the 160 meter band, I want Ant2 active.
At first I was a little confused how to do this. If all else fails, RTFM! It turns out, if you use the Band select button on the left of the display, and select your bands that way, and if you have already setup a receiver for that band, SmartSDR will use that receivers parameters. Otherwise, you will have to create one.
For almost since I started using my 6300, I have just been type in a frequency in the receiver window. Early on the band select would not keep my settings and I would have set it up again. This was fixed a long time ago, but I keep changing bands by typing in the frequency I wanted.
BTW Flex finally came out with a fix for all the DAX issues when Windows upgrades it software. New version is: 1.12.1.35. I found out by accident via an email from the flex forum. There was no notification sent out but Flex. So it is a good thing to monitor the Flex forum.
RFI Woes:
Still have a problem with my hardwired smoke detectors and 20M. So for now I am only outputing 50 Watts on 20M. All other bands are fine.
Flex 6300:
Discovered something about SmartSDR that I didn't know. Last week I put up a 160 meter sloper. I have connected it to the Ant2 input to my Flex 6300. So this means that when I am on the 160 meter band, I want Ant2 active.
At first I was a little confused how to do this. If all else fails, RTFM! It turns out, if you use the Band select button on the left of the display, and select your bands that way, and if you have already setup a receiver for that band, SmartSDR will use that receivers parameters. Otherwise, you will have to create one.
For almost since I started using my 6300, I have just been type in a frequency in the receiver window. Early on the band select would not keep my settings and I would have set it up again. This was fixed a long time ago, but I keep changing bands by typing in the frequency I wanted.
BTW Flex finally came out with a fix for all the DAX issues when Windows upgrades it software. New version is: 1.12.1.35. I found out by accident via an email from the flex forum. There was no notification sent out but Flex. So it is a good thing to monitor the Flex forum.
RFI Woes:
Still have a problem with my hardwired smoke detectors and 20M. So for now I am only outputing 50 Watts on 20M. All other bands are fine.
K3Y Event:
Well, did OK this year in the K3Y, but failed to get AS this year. Below are some screens shots. Things of note: Worked 160-6 meters for region 1. This is more of a stunt, because I have several SKCC members who are very close to me. So the upper bands are basically line of sight or ground wave. Max, KH6ZM from HI was very strong and I got him on 6 bands including 10M!!
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| My layout for operating |
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| Log results for K3Y. Only missed AS this year. |
OK will post this now. Hope to post again after the 2021 K3Y.
73
