• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

11 meter is very quiet?

Skip. Wife asked me once if I knew Skip. Said I was always talking to him on radio.

Tonight is first chance I’ve had in two days to turn radio on and I hear Skip. Gonna see if I can talk to him.
well did you finally get to visit skip?
Or is skip short for skippy peanut butter? Or the saying "DAMM SKIPPY"?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2NC995
Seems like 27.555 is at times just another spot to talk about whatever comes to mind. Trucks, politics, pizza, etc. WTF :confused:

Unfortunately.... when .385 gets busy and folks go there for a “quiet place” to ragchew.

Beat you can do is work over the top of them with a good call and a QSY. They’re usually “parked” in one spot and won’t follow or understand what you’re doing.

Sometimes they’ll have a tizzy because you didn’t ask if “frequency was in use”...lol.

Of course if they follow you around the band you can always start ghost talking (China or somewhere exotic), doesn’t hurt to add that you can barely hear another station calling but can’t pull out of the noise. Works especially well if they’re banging you hard at S9+ and really annoying you. Lol.
 
Last edited:
Can’t say I’ve ever heard skip like I’ve heard today. AM-19 or LSB-38.

Distance, and the sheer number of voices.

Parked at the Red River last night. Route today has been IH35N to OKC, then NE on IH44 thru Tulsa into Missouri.

Given:

1). Peterbilt door hinges now bonded.
2). 5’ Skipshooter to replace stolen 5.5’ Wilson 2000.
3). (Rig same as otherwise);
except,

Swapped in Galaxy DX-86v lately bought from CB590 for the 99v2 in use.

I could attribute nearly all the improvement to the radio,
but I’ve never backed down the RF Gain as far as I have today

I
f 1700 on the clock face is OPEN, and 0700 is CLOSED, I’ve had it backed down on a channel other than AM-19 till the last bit of audibility was available (Skip, not other truckers) at clock face 1000

Squelch moved from CLOSED at 0700 to approx 0900.

Had a big truck behind me at two miles (we did marker check), loud & proud, (he backed Mic Gain off an 1/8-turn) and I made last adjustments. Maybe 1100 & 0800 to give local as precedence.

Wow

Still can’t believe it.

Now parked for the night (1520 CDT), and with APU (genset) running, S-Unit noise at Seven (Main Engine Idle = Five; BATT only = Two).

No question my old 99 needs service. Still, . . what a day for skip!

Never occurred to me I could find a day where the cacophony of Voices couldn’t be lessened.

.
 
I finally finished assembling my custom built 45 foot long boom 6 element beam today. I have named it "Locomotive Breath"...lol. An appropriate name for the Trainman's beam. All I need to do is install it on my 20 foot tower. I am not going to use a rotor with this antenna. It will be pointed North orientation and locked down. I have used Kevlar (1 inch flat) for my boom support. It is non-conductive and stronger than steel cable. This antenna is over 20 feet longer than my 5 element beam I talk on now. I just wanted to build a BAD BOY for DXing up North, I will still utilize my flat side 5 element to spin around and my Shockwave scatter stick for vertical.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6004.JPG
    IMG_6004.JPG
    1.2 MB · Views: 21
  • IMG_6005.JPG
    IMG_6005.JPG
    664.1 KB · Views: 21
I finally finished assembling my custom built 45 foot long boom 6 element beam today. I have named it "Locomotive Breath"...lol. An appropriate name for the Trainman's beam. All I need to do is install it on my 20 foot tower. I am not going to use a rotor with this antenna. It will be pointed North orientation and locked down. I have used Kevlar (1 inch flat) for my boom support. It is non-conductive and stronger than steel cable. This antenna is over 20 feet longer than my 5 element beam I talk on now. I just wanted to build a BAD BOY for DXing up North, I will still utilize my flat side 5 element to spin around and my Shockwave scatter stick for vertical.
Unit 75
Can you post element spacing on the boom
 
Murdog....
Element Spacing
From reflector to driven is 78.7"
From driven to 1st dir is 43.3"
From 1st dir to 2nd dir is 61.4"
From 2nd dir to 3rd dir is 114.9"
From 3rd dir to 4th dir is 142.5"
Now, after the 5th element you need a minimum of 9 feet. My 5th is mounted at the end of the boom. Element length is critical.
Reflector is 210.2" long
Driven is 203.1" long
1sr dir is 197.6" long
2nd dir is 193.7" long
3rd dir is 187.4" long
4th dir is 185.0" long
 
I finally finished assembling my custom built 45 foot long boom 6 element beam today. I have named it "Locomotive Breath"...lol. An appropriate name for the Trainman's beam. All I need to do is install it on my 20 foot tower. I am not going to use a rotor with this antenna. It will be pointed North orientation and locked down. I have used Kevlar (1 inch flat) for my boom support. It is non-conductive and stronger than steel cable. This antenna is over 20 feet longer than my 5 element beam I talk on now. I just wanted to build a BAD BOY for DXing up North, I will still utilize my flat side 5 element to spin around and my Shockwave scatter stick for vertical.
That is really nice, I didn't know the gamma could be mounted to the element like that. I will definitely be checking out the spacing and element lengths. I hope to talk to you more when I get my 4 element up.
Chris
 
  • Like
Reactions: Unit 75 and S&W357

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • dxBot:
    Tucker442 has left the room.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    LIVE 10:00 AM EST :cool:
  • @ Charles Edwards:
    I'm looking for factory settings 1 through 59 for a AT 5555 n2 or AT500 M2 I only wrote down half the values feel like a idiot I need help will be appreciated