ANTENNAS
544 Foot Topband Delta Loop SkyWire Horizontal
24 ft high 160-80-40-30-20-17-15-10-12-10-6 METRES SSB
This 160 meter delta loop is actually 165.811 meters, or 544 feet of 2.5mm
polyweave
antenna wire and allmost invisible to the eye hence me plotting it out with a
black line on the photograph. This is a little long for 80, 17 and 12 meters, but
a little short for 40 and 30 meters and just right for 20, 15 and 10 meters. If we
make the loop much longer or shorter, we would end up with the antenna being
unsuitable for some of the bands. At this length, it is a good compromise for all
of the bands. In practice, the shape of the loop will be determined by the location
of good supports for the loop. The shape of the loop is not critical at all, my loop
(Delta) is a regular triangle and it seems to get out fine
Delta
(uppercase Δ, lowercase δ or 𝛿; Δέλτα
Délta; Modern Greek [ˈðelta]) the fourth letter of the Greek
alphabet.antenna wire and allmost invisible to the eye hence me plotting it out with a
black line on the photograph. This is a little long for 80, 17 and 12 meters, but
a little short for 40 and 30 meters and just right for 20, 15 and 10 meters. If we
make the loop much longer or shorter, we would end up with the antenna being
unsuitable for some of the bands. At this length, it is a good compromise for all
of the bands. In practice, the shape of the loop will be determined by the location
of good supports for the loop. The shape of the loop is not critical at all, my loop
(Delta) is a regular triangle and it seems to get out fine
Vargarda manufacture their antennas with great care and use top grade materials. The 6el2 has no problems coping with extreme temperatures and high winds.
Diamond V2000 Antenna
The Diamond V-2000 triband base antenna operating on frequency bands 6m/2m/70cm
utilises a linear phaseshift design to couple the different frequency band selections together.
INTERPRETATION OF SOLAR DATA
1-6 Best, 7-9 Fair, 11+ Bad
(Represents overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere over a given 24 hour period)
“K” INDEX
0 or 1 Best, 2 Okay, 3+ Bad, 5 Very Bad
(This is the overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere
averaged over the planet over the past 3 hours.
K index indicates geomagetic storms. Below 10 MHz,
K of 5+ increases noise level appreciably, K of 7+ degrades HF significantly)
SFI
70 Not Good, 80 Good, 90 Better, 100+ Best
(SFI is the Solar Flux Index and is a measure
of total radio emissions from the sun)
Higher Solar Flux generally suggests better propagation on
the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands.
Solar Flux rarely affects the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160
Generally, propagation conditions are best when the A index is 10
or lower, and the K index is 3 or lower.
SFI Solar Flux Index: When >70 then 20m opens.
When > 90 then 15m opens.
X-Ray : Solar X-Ray emissions will cause shortwave fadeout.
Classification from weak to strong X-Ray emissions : A, B, C, M, X
During a solar X-ray outburst, the lower frequencies are the first to suffer,
with subsequent fading up the frequency spectrum over a short period
(usually less than a hour).
Signals crossing daylight paths will be the most affected
(obviously as X-Rays come from the sun).
HeyWhatsThat Path Profiler
32 ft Vårgårda beam 6el2, 6 element för 2 METRES
