Roar Nets Report December 29th 2013
SFI 135 (144) A 3 (4) K 1 (1) Sunspots 95 (131) (figs in brackets from last week)

0645z-0730z ANZO Net on 7118
From Bill VK4ZD
No-one seemed to be available for this sched on this occasion.
It was very noisy indeed for me with thunderstorm activity in my area.

0730z - 0830z Europe - Anzo Net on 14,295 Long Path
From Bill VK4ZD
Thunderstorm activity in the area lifted my noise floor substantially today.
Doug ZL1BFS and I exchanged 57 59 reports
Alain F4GHB was 55-7 and gave me 59
Jean-Pierre F1CFA was an excellent 57 to me and gave me 59
Klaus HB9CQS was 59+5 and gave me 59+10
John and Diana EA/G4HMG and EA/G4MVV were 11 building to 23 and gave me 56 (relayed by Klaus)
Pertti EA7GSU peaked at 57 and gave me 58 initially, peaking at 59+5
John G3OKT was 35, peaking at 46 and gave me 57
John ZL2JPM was 58
Les PA0SDZ was 23 in my noise
Coco YO9BC was 59 and gave me 58-9
Malcolm PA3AHC was 11 in my noise
Orko S51IV (visitor) was 57 and gave me 59

From John G3OKT
QRG initially very quiet here (S1 noise, S2 QRN)
VK4ZD appeared here at 0739 fluttering up to S6 and reporting local QRN at S9+20 from a thunderstorm. By 0742 Bill was 5.7 here and by 0746 was 5.8. However, Bill then went down again to 5.5 at 0755 but returned to S9 at 0830. At this time he said I suddenly came up to 4.6, but I now had my S9 intermittent noise problem. Interestingly at 0832 Bill mentioned “the woodpecker” which I could also hear at S9.
Doug ZL1BFS was peaking 3.4 here as the band was opening, but later reached 4.7 at 0835 when I was suffering the S9 noise!
Both Alain F4GHB and Jean Pierre F1CFA were in the net but could not be heard here.
Klaus HB9CQS was just detectable at 2.2, giving reports which I couldn’t hear. However, by the time the net closed, we were exchanging 5.9+20dB reports and Christmas Greetings! According to Klaus, Bill was peaking 5.9 when he used the 2-element quad. He got a 57.
Pertti EA7GSU was 5.9 all the time and gave Bill 1.1 at 0730 rising to 5.8/9 at 0800.
Pertti got 5.7 from VK4ZD, gave both F4GHB and G3OKT 5.9, gave EA/G4HMG 2.1, and gave Doug ZL1BFS 5.4. By 0808 Pertti got 5.7 from ZL1BFS in exchange for 5.5
John EA/G4HMG was 5.9 here, gave HB9CQS 5.7, gave VK4ZD 5.5/6, gave G3OKT 5.9, and gave both F1CFA and F4GHB 2.2 under his noise.
John ZL2JPM was 5.8 with VK4ZD, but I didn’t hear John.
Coco YO9BC came in at 5.9+10dB here at 0810. He gave VK4ZD 5.8/9 QSB, gave G3OKT 5.8; gave Malcolm PA3AHC 5.5 and HB9CQS 5.9.
I could not hear PA3AHC here.
Les PA0SDZ got 2.3 from VK4ZD under the QRN from Bill’s storm, got 3.2 from EA/G4HMG, but was not heard here.
S51IV, a visitor, called Bill at 0818 with a 5.9 report and received 5.7; he was 5.9+20dB here.
SQ9WNK/M, another visitor, called VK4ZD with a 5.7/9 report; he also got 5.7/8 from HB9CQS
At 0820 Klaus gave Coco 5.9+15/20dB; John ZL2JPM 5.6; had no copy of Malcolm.
At 0823 Diana EA/G4MVV was 5.7 here and wished all a Merry Christmas – a greeting that all returned!
At 0827 Pertti said that VK4ZD was holding 5.9 all the time; gave PA3AHC 5.8; was 5.9 both ways with G3OKT, gave ZL2JPM 1.1, PA0SDZ 5.7 and YO9BC 5.9.
Bill VK4ZD closed the net at 0838 and said that he hoped to be on the 40m net on Tuesday.
At 0840 Klaus HB9CQS said that ZL1BFS and ZL2JPM had both previously been 5.7 but were now both up to 5.9.

0900z - 1000z UK 80-metre Net on 3,694
From John G7OAI who was Net Control.
Initially good conditions, but went off by about 0925, with significant QSB.
Tommy G2FUU, first up, 5x9+15.
Alain, F4GHB with difficulty, 3x6, at best. Stopped for a couple of overs. Tommy heard him a little better than me, but no one else could, so he signed about 0915.
Don, G0JWE, 5x9, but he struggled with others.
John, G3JJR, 5x9+10. Pauline coped well with the Xmas celebrations, but still having 'off' days.
Malcolm, PA3AHC called, but unreadable by me. Tommy copied him 3x6, but he didn't stay.
G0BFJ, Brian in Huddersfield from WAB called in to say hello, and then left.
G3OKT called in and apologised for not stopping, as grand children needed looking after.
The net closed at 0940.

From John G3OKT
I called in at 0930 but left after 5 minutes to attend to family visitors.
I heard G7OAI John at 5.9+20 and G2FUU Tommy at 5.9+20.
John G3JJR was 5.9+20dB with me and said that he could hear Alain F4GHB fading in and out, giving little opportunity to copy. I could not hear Alain here.
Brian G0BFJ, a visitor known to G7OAI, called in from Huddersfield. He was 5.9+10 here and gave G7OAI 5.9.
Don G0JWE was 5.9+10 here and reported that he could hear Malcolm PA3AHC

1200z - 1300z International Net on 14,293

From Bill VK4ZD
I succeeded in getting through on the short path at 1228z
Klaus HB9CQS was 57 and gave me 59 (beaming through Klaus’s mountain)
Pertti EA7GSU was 54 and gave me 57

From Pertti EA7GSU
Interesting net this afternoon.
Mike, N4PF was there and answered to my first call with 57 signal. I
was 4/5 with him. The propagation was weak and Mike had constantly
difficulties in copying me. Klaus joined us but was only 57 here and I
got the same. Klaus had no copy of Mike and he neither of Klaus. Vitor
CT1BJZ called in and got 59 from Klaus but I, as usual had no copy. So
after 15 min struggle I suggested to close the net but we got one
breaker: Bill, VK4ZD was calling short path and was 57 in my rx. Klaus
also had turned his beam around and gave same report to Bill. I got 54
in spite of a mountain in the way. The Quad was found better for sp.
The world seems to be open, we just have to probe it!
Late skip to US is dead and after 1700utc hardly any W's are audible.
Pleasant Sunday evening !

1700z - 1730z UK evening 80-metre Net on 3,692

2000z - 2030z N.AM Transcontinental Net on 14,287
From Bob WB7RQG
We only had 4 check ins and I was net control
The following joined the net; Jack, KF5BD Joe, W0TBC
Fred, W7OSQ a guest from Salt Lake Utah
Happy New Year !

0700z – 0730z Tuesday December 31st NZ 80-m net on 3693

0730z – 0830z Tuesday December 31st EUR net on 7175
From QRZ SFI 143 (136) A 3 (3) K 1 (0) Sunspots 93 Figs in ( ) last week
From Bill VK4ZD
I was only able to hear 4 stations:
From around 0745z when I got adequate propagation:
Pertti EA7GSU was initially 55 building to 57 and gave me 56 at first, building to 58
John and Diana EA/G4HMG and EA/G4MVV peaked at 55-6, initially gave me 32, then 43 and finally 57
John G3OKT peaked at 55 and eventually gave me 57 at 0825z
Les PA0SDZ and Malcolm PA3AHC were 11 to me – I could barely detect their voices on frequency.
Peter VK3KCD spoke to me before the net on this frequency and may have been listening.
A Happy New Year to all

From Peter VK3KCD
I was indeed listening and apart from Bill heard zilch. My prediction software is not encouraging for 7175 at that time and sunset is about 2 hours after this net time so I suspect propagation to Flinders is most unlikely. I plan to be here in Flinders for next Sunday and Tuesday.

From John G3OKT
40m was very noisy this morning; less noise on my Jaybeam vertical but my transmitted signal was much stronger on the horizontal doublet. An interesting net spent juggling antennae! (see also comments by Doug ZL1BFS below)
At 0730 on 7174.8, I heard :
John EA/G4HMG give Pertti EA7GSU 5.9; John heard me at 4.4 and got 5.5 from Bill VK4ZD relayed via Pertti. I was getting John at 5.9 on the vertical!
Les PA0SDZ was 3.6, peaking 5.8 with me; Les was 5.3 with EA/G4HMG and gave me 5.9
Bill VK4ZD got 5.6 from Pertti and gave him 5.5; EA/G4HMG could just tell Bill was there (3.2?); at 0752 John gave Bill 4.3
Malcolm PA3AHC was on his long wire and complained of a lot of noise but was a fine 5.9 with me on the doublet (I couldn’t hear him at all on the vertical); Malcolm gave Pertti 4.4 and got 3.3; gave me 5.9+10dB on the doublet but he couldn’t hear me at all with 300W into the vertical!); gave 5.5 for John.
Pertti had no copy of Malcolm
At 0807 (the time last week when VK4ZD was 5.9 here!) EA/G4HMG still gave Pertti 5.9 but G3OKT had faded down with John. For me, Pertti also faded away on the vertical.
At 0808 VK4ZD gave me 4.4 but he was only readability 1 or 2 under S9+10dB noise and QRM
At 0812 we all heard Happy New Year from Bill who was 5.7 with John.
Les PA0SDZ said he could hear Bill – Les was by now 5.9+20dB with me but he was struggling to hear Pertti under splatter from a 9A3 station 2kHz away!
Diana EA/G4MVV appeared and wished us all well
At 0825 VK4ZD was 5.7 with me and gave me 5.5
PA3AHC was 5.9+ with me and gave Bill 1.1 on a different antenna
I left the net at 0830, also suffering S9+20 splatter from nearby station.
According to John, Brian G3LUW had lost his antenna in storms – so wasn’t able to join the net.

From Pertti EA7GSU
Thank you for the QSO's this morning! Sorry that the patch EA/PA wasn't so good. I maybe on the track tomorrow as -HMG is suggesting.
Wish you all with +Co's
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From Malcolm PA3AHC
But GB/NL was great both ways without LA @ 5/9+ on both my l/w and GPRV (latter poorly connected though - TBD..)
Could just hear a few words from LW - good on ja, mate !
Tomorrow when and where ?

Received on Dec 29th from Doug ZL1BFS about his antenna measurements:
It was good to be able to finally work you (G3OKT) at the end of the Net on Sunday 29th December. During the early part I could just hear your voice, but only readability one.
I undertook some interesting experiments, as I had three aerials at my disposal:
1) My 80m dipole, fed with 300 ohm ribbon, which is what I have been using predominantly for several months now.
2) A (repaired) 20m collinear, comprising three five-eighth wavelength horizontal elements, oriented to favour UK/Spain. It should have had at least a 6dB advantage over the 80 m dipole (but this was evident on a few locations only)
3) A 43 foot monopole, which is a 5/8 wavelength vertical on 20 metres. It has had quite a lot of technical press on QST over recent years.
I had previously tested the monopole versus the 80m dipole to several places, and in general the monopole had 1 to 2 S points lower signal than the dipole on both transmit and receive, but generally had 4 S points less noise than the dipole.
Last night I was predominantly using the co-linear but was experiencing S4 to S5 noise on both the Collinear and the dipole. Both Pertti and Klaus were reasonably strong (S4-5) but readability was only about 2 to 3 because of the noise. However, by using the monopole for receive, even though the incoming signal was a couple of S points lower, readability was perfectly Q5.
That was the arrangement I finally had with you at 0830. Signal strength came up, and I finally could read you 5-4/5 on the monopole, but I was transmitting on the co-linear.
Weather at Whangaparaoa has been good. Warm and dry and sunny, except Saturday night we had 45 mm of rain, which nicely filled up our water tanks and watered the vegetable garden. Sunday was supposed to be thunderstorms, but it looks like they all got trapped in Queensland, and we had a lovely, fine summers day again. Generally temperatures were in the high 20s.
I hope you all had a happy Christmas, and are looking forward to an eventful new year. Just think, it will be a whole year before I work you all again!

That’s all for now,
73’s and may I wish you all a very Happy New Year !
John G3OKT