Wednesday 4th July 2012 Why

Next week I am on holiday. Among other things we intend having a week in Adelaide. In this:

We will be gone for a week. This is our new toy. We have spent the last few weeks planning and putting the van up and down. The annexe proved interesting. I lived in a 25 foot caravan for years and had an annexe. The frame for our new van is like nothing I have ever seen. It did take some getting use to.
Progress putting the van up and down has been most excellent. First time we put the van up took almost an hour. Second time was 15 minutes flat and that was with out pushing it.

 This is what it looks like when raised. As you can see, the roof goes up and the beds are pulled out. The kids sleep in the rear and we, that's mum and me, sleep in the front.
And now for the why. A good friend of ours is one his way to Cameron's Corner. Where is that, do I hear you ask? I am glad you did. Here, have a look at the map. It's a long way from any where. Not the sort of place you want too break down. He did. Break down that is. Not there though. he broke down just out of Broken Hill. No pun intended. A spark plug on the motor in his vehicle came to bits and destroyed his motor. That's only part of the story.
He is a HAM, like me. Before he left he gave a list of frequency he would be operating on. But not the times. He is an Advance license older, as am I. Some of the frequencies and times didn't match. That means, that at the times he nominated, the frequencies would not work.
It is so important to pick applicable frequencies according to the time of day you wish to communicate on those frequencies. Why don't they teach those things these days. It is the bread and butter of every radio operator.
This is how it goes, should you the reader be interested,
80 Metres will cover most of Australia night time. At down and dusk it is good for over seas contacts.
40 Metres will cover Australia day time. It will do part of Australia at night, but only if you are using a bucket load of power. Like a kilowatt or more. At night 40 is good for DX. That's over seas. In the evening as the sun sets, signals will be good in the dark direct, that is, to the east. In the morning at the grey time, or dawn, DX signals will be from the west.
Both 80 and 40 are subject to D layer absorption. What does that mean? My signal leaves by antenna and heads up. But not straight up. Up is air and layer of atmosphere. One of those layers is the ionosphere. The ionosphere has layers. The D, E and F layers are the one which mainly affect radio propagation. It is the D layer which we are interested in for 80 and 40. Another big factor for 80 and 40 is the time of the day. Day time will absorb 40 DX signals.  Again, bread and butter for HAM radio buffs.
This is basic radio stuff and ought to be taught to ever aspiring HAM. Study propagation. Look in the books. Listen on air. Observe. Record. Study the figures.
That brings me to antenna's. I don't like antenna tuning units. There are tables to measure how long an antenna needs to be. Me thinketh it optimise the antenna for the frequency do the sums. What sort of antenna. Will it be omni directional. That one sprays the signal ever where. Bit like a hose gone wrong. Then there is a beam. It puts the signal in o0ne direction only.
Enough for now. I must get back to 3.550. Till next time.........