MONDAY NEWS

07-08-19

While 11m is dead in SE Texas, the Atlantic coastal states up thru Canada continue to have decent activity thanks to weather systems that continue to move West-to-East across the Nation. This is the biggest downside on having a QTH so far South in Texas because it's rare to get a frontal system that will pass thru after the end of May. Until the Sun starts spitting out Sunspots, both 10 & 11 meters will be in the doldrums. 

In listening to one of my favorite SDR websites I found lots of activity from 26.5 - 29Mhz. Previously I've mentioned the "Super Bowl" channel (ch.7 AM) and the enormous watts scattered into the ether by those "big" stations, but moving up the dial I found ch.28 to be just as annoying.

ALMOST 200 kHz OF TOXICITY

While listening on 27.385 LSB I heard one of the operators talking about getting splatter from ch.28 (27.285) AM, which was 100 kHz below 38. A quick look at the waterfall was all it took to see why - whoever this guy was he was spreading toxic rf as low as ch.20 and as high as ch.38 - not one of 11m better moments.

PRESIDENT MCKINLEY AM/SSB MOBILE

PICTURE COURTESY SIMONTHEWIZARD.COM

While the McKinley has been around for over a 2 1/2 years, and has received generally favorable reviews, it was surprising to find that New Zealand's "Yeticom" was just now getting a hold of it. Apparently they received it last month (June) and are just now in the review stage. Quite possibly the auto-SWR meter function is the "most liked" feature of the radio. It takes all of the guess work out of the equation.

MikesRadioRepair does a complete review on his YouTube channel (SEE BELOW).

Also - CB Magazine has a written review as well as the YouTube video below.

 

MEANWHILE...



As I just mentioned SSB and AM in a previous paragraph, here is a 2017 Podcast by the ARRL "The Doctor Is In" discussing both modes courtesy QRZnow.

Also, looking into my archives I found my Oreo cookie diagram (right) which shows the Oreo being one CB channel (lower, middle, upper) AND, if used on AM your 5 watt RF output would more-or-less be spread across the entire cookie 😢. 

On the other hand, by choosing either LSB or USB you can concentrate your 5 watt output on just one wafer of the Oreo.😁

While on the subject of "The Doctor Is In", if you are trying to figure out what type of coaxial cable is best for you, check out the July 4th episode available through APPLE, GOOGLE, or follow this link to QRZnow.

  'Nuff For Monday,


Woody