DX News and two questions

[Bekir Kemal Ataman]

Hi,

Here is some brand new first hand news to Elecrafters.

This year is the 150th anniversary of railways in Turkey. So I am planning
two major events.

One will be to broadcast from Haydar Pasha train station, which is
celebrating its 100th year, with the callsign TC150HP. I hope to be on the
air between 30 May (the day construction began at Haydar Pasha station)
untill 30 June, in my SPARE TIME, whenever that may be.

The other will be from several train stations around the country with the
callsign TC150DD (TCDD is the abbreviation for Turkish Republic State
Railways), between 23 August and 23 September (the day the railways were
first built). In doing this I was wondering whether I could also transmit
from train wagons as a "rail mobile" station. It is obvious I cannot do
this from electric powered trains. However on diesel or steam (if there is
any left around) powered trains, I cannot think of any reason why this
should not be possible. I am sure this must have been tried in earlier
years of HAM radio but I haven't come accross any mentions of it in my
limited HAM life since 1999, the year of the catastrophic earthquake in
Turkey which led me into radio communications. Is it possible at all to
work from a train in motion?

The second question relates to stations in Americas and Oceania. With my
QRP K2 and inverted V dipole setting, I had QSOs with almost all of Europe
(the most difficult of which was with Ireland), North Africa, Middle East,
Eastern Black Sea and many parts of Russia, as well as quite a few stations
(probably big guns) in Japan. However, I have never heard any stations from
Australia, New Zealand, Central America nor Eastern Asia. I have heard one
or two stations from the US (but not from Canada), Indonesia, South Africa
and South America but could not get them to hear my QRP signals over the
pile-up. So, I was wondering if it is at all possible for me to have QSOs
with these countries. I have got a feeling I am either in the air at the
wrong times to hear many of them or that they are just too far away for my
simple setting. Ideas?

BTW, if I can get the "rail mobile" station to work properly, I will
(hopefully) be broadcasting from 9 portable and 9 "rail mobile" locations.
With the addition of a few other TC150xx stations, I have got a feeling I
can turn this into an award setting, where stations contacting say 10 of
these settings will be issued an award. What do you reckon? (Ooops, this
has become the third question <g>.) Is it worth looking for sponsors?

Thanking you in advance for your help.

73!
de TA2RX

----------------------------------
Bekir Kemal Ataman
ArchiMac BBS Sysop & Webmaster <http://www.archimac.org/>


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[Stephen W. Kercel]

Bekir:

Since many operators communicate from ships, cars and airplanes in
motion, you should be able to operate from a train in motion.
Obviously if the train car is metal, an indoor antenna would be
ineffective. Can you mount a mobile whip on the exterior of the car?
Would clearance through tunnels and bridges be a problem? If you need
to be low to the roof on a metal roofed rail car, it might be
possible to construct a DDRR  (information available on various Web
sites) antenna for 15 or 20 meters on the rooftop. (Big problem:
you'd need a very high voltage capacitor to tune the antenna.)

With respect to long haul QRP DX:

You did not mention the height of your inverted-V antenna. If the
apex is low, say 5 or 6 meters above the ground, then it will be very
difficult to work consistent long haul DX with a QRP rig.

However, it most definitely is possible to transmit a consistently
readable signal between Turkey and North America using 5 watts and
simple antennas.  On 14 MHz I use a straight dipole 12 meters above
ground, and on 21/10.1/7 MHz I use a straight fan dipole 10 meters
above the ground. From my QTH in Maine, using 5 Watts, on all four
bands I have worked many stations both in and near Turkey, including
A4, A6 and A7 stations through pileups. By reciprocity, if people in
your region can hear my 5 Watt signal, then we should be able to hear yours.

Several things you should consider:

1) Favorable propagation is critical to QRP long haul DXing. Use a
propagation program like VOACAP to find the predicted times and
frequencies of openings to the regions that you wish to contact.
Also, check http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/ for real-time conditions;
if the K index is over 3 or the A index is over 7, you will have a
very hard time working long haul QRP DX. On the other hand, if both A
and K are 2 or less you should see some spectacular worldwide
openings. To verify current conditions, check the NCDXF/IARU beacons
(for information see http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/BeaconSchedule.html 
) Each beacon sends long dashes at 100, 10, 1 and 0.1 Watt. If you
can hear the QRP dashes, operators in that region should be able to hear you.

2) Although you hear the occasional story of people making a
spectacular DX contact with a few milliWatts to a short wire in the
attic, in reality those occurrences are rare. If you want consistent
QRP DX, get your antenna 10 meters up or higher, and minimize your
overall system losses, by using good quality coax with relatively few
breaks and good weather sealing.

3) It is important to get your signal well centered into the passband
of the receiving station. If you're using a K2 or another rig with
split VFO capability, and you hear a station with whom you want a QSO
having a QSO with somebody else, then adjust your transmit VFO to
have a precise zero-beat with the station with whom the desired
station is communicating. Then your signal will be at its maximum
strength in the desired station's passband. When that QSO is
finished, you can call, and the desired station is very likely to
hear you. (On CW, people calling 100-200 Hz off the passband
frequency will be perceived by the receiving station as being 10 dB
or so down compared to what they would be if they were centered in
the passband.)

4) Do not forget the DX effect. Many North American operators
consider Turkey to be semi-rare. If people can hear you at all, they
will want a QSO.

BTW, if you figure out how to work East Asia (excluding Japan) on
QRP, let me know how you do it.

Good luck and 73,

Steve
AA4AK




At 05:13 PM 5/23/2006, Bekir Kemal Ataman wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Here is some brand new first hand news to Elecrafters.
>
>This year is the 150th anniversary of railways in Turkey. So I am planning
>two major events.
>
>One will be to broadcast from Haydar Pasha train station, which is
>celebrating its 100th year, with the callsign TC150HP. I hope to be on the
>air between 30 May (the day construction began at Haydar Pasha station)
>untill 30 June, in my SPARE TIME, whenever that may be.
>
>The other will be from several train stations around the country with the
>callsign TC150DD (TCDD is the abbreviation for Turkish Republic State
>Railways), between 23 August and 23 September (the day the railways were
>first built). In doing this I was wondering whether I could also transmit
>from train wagons as a "rail mobile" station. It is obvious I cannot do
>this from electric powered trains. However on diesel or steam (if there is
>any left around) powered trains, I cannot think of any reason why this
>should not be possible. I am sure this must have been tried in earlier
>years of HAM radio but I haven't come accross any mentions of it in my
>limited HAM life since 1999, the year of the catastrophic earthquake in
>Turkey which led me into radio communications. Is it possible at all to
>work from a train in motion?
>
>The second question relates to stations in Americas and Oceania. With my
>QRP K2 and inverted V dipole setting, I had QSOs with almost all of Europe
>(the most difficult of which was with Ireland), North Africa, Middle East,
>Eastern Black Sea and many parts of Russia, as well as quite a few stations
>(probably big guns) in Japan. However, I have never heard any stations from
>Australia, New Zealand, Central America nor Eastern Asia. I have heard one
>or two stations from the US (but not from Canada), Indonesia, South Africa
>and South America but could not get them to hear my QRP signals over the
>pile-up. So, I was wondering if it is at all possible for me to have QSOs
>with these countries. I have got a feeling I am either in the air at the
>wrong times to hear many of them or that they are just too far away for my
>simple setting. Ideas?
>
>BTW, if I can get the "rail mobile" station to work properly, I will
>(hopefully) be broadcasting from 9 portable and 9 "rail mobile" locations.
>With the addition of a few other TC150xx stations, I have got a feeling I
>can turn this into an award setting, where stations contacting say 10 of
>these settings will be issued an award. What do you reckon? (Ooops, this
>has become the third question <g>.) Is it worth looking for sponsors?
>
>Thanking you in advance for your help.
>
>73!
>de TA2RX
>
>----------------------------------
>Bekir Kemal Ataman
>ArchiMac BBS Sysop & Webmaster <http://www.archimac.org/>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Post to: [hidden email]
>You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
>Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
>Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com