Perturbation

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80 Meter Nights

Posted: 24 Aug 2016 05:31 PM PDT
https://ke9v.net/2016/08/24/80-meter-nights/


Its taken exactly two beautiful nights of low humidity and cool
temperatures to get me thinking about 80 meters. I dont have room for a
decent TopBand antenna so thats out, but 80 is definitely workable.

My HF antenna for the last decade has been a center-fed zepp at thirty feet
that performed well on 40 thru 10 meters. Using the auto-tuner (and a
little patience) I could get the transmitter happy on 80, but it wasn’t
efficient and my results there have always been meager.

I have a K1JEK Cobra UltraLite for 80 thru 10 meters still in the unopened
bag and could easily put it into service for the upcoming low-band season.
I could even get the center support up higher, but the end supports would
remain at 30 feet so raising the apex would only serve to make more of an
NVIS cloud warmer out of it.

Checking the log, I still need a dozen confirmations for WAS 80 CW via LoTW
and any DX worked would be an added bonus. But mostly, my imagination is
stoked by Novice memories of long, cold winter nights spent cozy in the
shack while trolling 80 for solid-copy rag chews and regular weekly net
check-ins.

Besides, a potent station on 80 meters is one way of flipping the bird to
the extended solar minimum that has slowly and permanently settled over the
HF bands and ruined much of the fun we’ve taken for granted since the dawn
of the radio age.

Get ready. 80 meter nights are coming.