6315Khz ... If your listening in USB then you are
probably hearing NOJ, Coast Guard Comsta Kodiak
sending its "clear channel" marker, thats what I hear
when I tune that frequency. 6315 is within the data
assignments for the maritime Coast Station service.
Depending on your propagation you may be instead
hearing UDB. When I owned a Coast station my 6Mhz
assignment was 6325.0 ... 10Khz up the band. The two
tones of the marker have a 170Hz spacing (shift) and
have an ID inbeded in it, if you could decode it you
would see the stations selcall and MMID number. Most
of the stations you here sending this marker also ID
in cw with a tome on their "mark" frequency.

Ron KH6DV
Kaneohe Hawaii

Anyone out there who has done the tuned input mod for the SB200 amp so its more compatable with solid state rigs.  It seem like everyone has data on the values to change the inductors and caps on every Heath amp but the 200.  If you have done this amp I would love to know what values you ended up with, it would save me tons of time.

Thanks es Aloha
Ron KH6DV

Email: KBQRADIO@CS.COM

Yes .... VE refers to canadian stations. The W refers to U.S. stations.  At one time the u.s. calls were all W and K calls, then later when these ran out they went to WA, WB, WC, WD and at some point KA and KB.  Rather than state in the rules "All VE/W,K,WA,WB,WC,WD,KA,KB,NA-NZ,WA-WZ,AA-AZ,NA-NZ,.....well you get the idea, its easier to just say VE/W.  

BY the way, when you get to the part of the rules that have class, SOAB is not the long version of SOB.

Ron KH6DV
"A non VE/W"

Can anyone with an AT-250 antenna tuner manual tell me the value of the motor driven air variable caps, lost my manual in the last move

thanks
Ron Kh6DV

Most people just make on up from the pinout in the kam manual. the patch cable has ptt, transmit audio if your running afsk or keying line if your running fsk. Really easy to make as its only a couple connections.
You will need to id the correct location of several connections from your Kenwood manual.  For afsk I usually use the mic connector on the tranceiver as the connection point so I can use the mic gain control to regulate the tx level. Its all in the kams manual.

Ron KH6DV

Has anyone tried the clear speech unit on cw. I would be interested in the results.  I have seen many reports about the performance on ssb but not alot of these reviews mention cw.  

tnx
Ron KH6DV

Actually there are US licensed amateur stations who are authorized to use voice in the 7075-7100 range.
Stations in ITU region 1 and 3 and those US licensees west of 130 deg west or south of 20 deg north except the continental US ( 97.305(c) and 97.307(f)(11) )

You will hear KH6 and other pacific area US hams and others.  I believe the US Virgin Islands is authorized.

Many US hams dont seem to know this, I cant tell you the number of times I get answers to cq's that consist of some ham telling me Im not allowed to use that portion of 40 meters because its the foreign phone band. They wont sign their calls.  

Ron  KH6DV
Kaneohe Hawaii

steve
Thanks, your correct, the amp reflector at contesting.com was full of items about SB200 and SB220 160 mods.  I dont know why I didnt think of that, I go to that web site all the time, just have never browsed through the amp reflector. I guess a swift kick in the side of the head at this point might loosen up a couple extra brain cells.  By the way, there was a refrence on the reflector of a QST article for the mod, Duuuuuuh

TNX ES ALOHA

Jimbo
The problem is that there is very little basic operating info available from the people who make and sell ham equipment, this at one time was different. These days they tell you to study a few questions, take an exam, and from there on your on your own .... well not exactly ... there are other hams to learn from. This is the true ham spirit, helping others and where the elmer concept came from. There have been elmers ever since the hobby started just like there have been people who will find fault with you because you dont have 20 years of experience from day one. Nobody should find fault with you for being the product of a system of licensing and training that throws you to the wolves. Nobody should find fault with you for having the guts to ask for help. I have been a ham since 1959 and am greatful for those who answered your questions and appoligize for those who thought it ok to get on you about not having all the answers even though your new at this. I suspect from your answers that you know this is true and can take care of yourself quite well however, I felt compelled to comment on the subject anyway, I had a couple elmers and are greatful for all the help they gave me. I know from experience that its much more rewarding to help than to complain about those who dont have all the answers yet, after all who among us had all the answers from day one, other than maybe the person who decided to get on your case. When you have more experience I hope you become an elmer also. You have the kind of questioning attitude and desire for knowledge that tends to accumulate over time that becomes valuable to others ... keep with it.

Aloha
Ron  KH6DV
Kaneohe Hawaii

Anyone out there ever put an SB200 on 160 meters?

I can assume some issues would be the filiment choke, the plate choke, the tuned input, and the tank coil.

The tune and load caps are easy, padd them. The tank coil can be dealt with if there is enough room, the tuned input ... no real problem but, what about the fil/plate chokes?   or am I missing the real problem. Any ideas from you amp guru's out there are very much appreciated.  

Ron  KH6DV

I use the Bencher YA-1 for one reason only, its specs are better than others. low pass filters are multi section design and bencher has one more section than most filters, thus the better specs. Some filters also fall a little short in the warc bands if they havent revised the design for a long time, which many havent.

The last reply, by steve is too the point as anyone can get.  The sweep tubes dont take abuse well and when you have to replace them they are expensive. If you are considering buying this amp "take a pass" and do yourself a big favor.  Its not even a good candidate for conversion.  Most sweep tubes ran on about 800 volts b+ so you would nodoubt have to also rebuild the power supply to provide a higher voltage b+ for any tube you wanted to change to. Considering the size of sweep tubes (much smaller than 811's) there wouldnt be much room where the stock tubes came out, thus reducing your choices to ..... about nothing.

If you looking for a small amp then look for one with 811's or 572B's.  

aloha
Ron KH6DV

I dont want to discourage you however, the other replies that suggest you improve your code speed are correct.  At 10 wpm you are at a well known sticking point in code speed.  Years ago the fcc chose the various speeds for different licenses because of these well known sticking points. 13 wpm for general because it showed you had broken the 10 wpm barrier and 20 wpm for extra because there was another barrier at 17 wpm.
there is also one at about 7.5 wpm.  If you break through the 10 wpm barrier you will have more or less smooth sailing to the 17-18 wpm level. At that point you will have sufficient code ability to enjoy some real cw dx fun. the qsos tend to follow a format and because of this youll find that you can actually work
a contact at speeds above what you can normally copy text at.  I like to stay away from the dx hot spots like 20 meters....to many kw+ stations, instead i find the dx activity on 28, 18, 21 mhz abundant but with fewer big guns snatching all the good stuff up. A couple weeks ago i put a new antenna up and decided to give it a try on 18mhz. one 3x3 cq resulted in three stations calling, ra3, 4x4, and hb9.  That does not happen to me while operating in killowatt alley (20 mtrs)....it also seldome happens while operating ssb on any band....that for me is the main feature of cw dx'ing, and a very good reason to work on your code speed so you can participate in the fun. Go for it, the effort is worth it.

have fun working some exotic places and getting a little enjoyment out of your investment.

aloha de ron kh6dv

I saw dons (kb9umt) note about satscape and decided to have a look at it.  this is a very nice tracker. the more i play with it the more features i like. the sat info panel is a real plus. its nice to have all the info in one place, and on the screen is the correct palce.  you were correct don....this is a nice program. the web page has extra maps you can download if for some reason you dont care for the default maps and the author says he is willing to help users with any maps they have that arent on the web page. there is also a note that a new version is about to be released soon. I joined his email notification section and will be looking forward to seeing the new version.  thanks don for the tip.

ron kh6dv
kaneohe hawaii

Try it youll be pleasently suprised....

for a temporary antenns i installed a loop in the same configuration as jim (kq6ea) mentioned in his reply. results were amazing and not at all what i expected.

my loop is 2/3 the size of jims (93 ft) however i do plan on adding some wire.  the performance on 28, 21, 18 mhz is well beyond anything i have experienced with a dipole. the performance drops off a small amount on 14 mhz but is still very good. there is an additional drop in performance on 7 mhz. the loop is just too small for this band. i have noticed a number of the local hams seem to hear most dx better than i do.

the sgc tuner seems to have no problem working with this antenna. the first band i tuned up on was 18 mhz.
i put out a 3x3 cq on cw and was answered by two stations, a 4x4 and a ra3. when i finished with them i sent a short qrz and was answered by a hb9.  for a temporary antenna i have to say im pleased, in fact it will nodoubt be around as a backup for some time.

i have used resonant delta loops with 1/4 wave matching sections and as expected, they always performed well. this is my first experience with a randome length allband loop with an auto tuner.....
again, try it you may be very suprised.

ron kh6dv
kaneohe hawaii