I ran WSPR RX-only at 40m overnight, as extremely strong and prolonged winds of 120km/h and more have brought delta loop 20m operations to a standstill. My 40m antenna is a half sloper, coupled to my tower with a 12m Yagi on top.
Usefully, I could determine that the window for good propagation to ZL opens rapidly at 05:15UT from Wales, and continues at reasonable strength for at least an hour thereafter. 5W from ZL2APV was yielding a steady -16dB or so here during that period.
It's very nearly the Spring Equinox, so go make the most of what 40m offers to the antipodes!
Do you feed the sloper at top? I think there could also be a opening with ZL in the afternoon. At least on 60m this is the case. 73, Bas
ReplyDeleteHi Bas. Yes, there's a 1:1 balun in one of those IP56 plastic boxes (rarely waterproof as expected - drill a hole at the lowest point for drainage!) and then a wire for 30m, and another from the same balun output for 40m, extendable to 80m. The other side of the balun just has a very short, heavy duty wire connection by hose clip to the tower metalwork. It's all quite low, but I'm already 100m above flat ground, so it works for me.
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