K5CM FMT - July 9, 2008 Results

 

Transmit frequencies in Hz

    K5CM 

    160 Meters -  1847004.096 (10 pm CDT)

    80 Meters late - 3567012.339 (9:45 pm CDT)

    40 Meters - 7067321.337   (9:30 pm CDT)

    

     W6OQI

      80 Meters - 3565002.763 (10:50 pm CDT) 

     40 Meters - 7065001.352 (10:30 pm CDT) 

    


 

Stations copying  2 readings to 10 millihertz or better in the last five FMT's:

    WB9FIP

 

Stations copying  2 readings to 10 millihertz or better in the last four FMT's: 

    W3JW, WB9FIP  

 


 

Stations submitting readings on all possible bands (5):

W3JW, WB9FIP, W1PW, K1GGI, W9TJ, K5BTK, VE2IQ, WB0LXZ, W2FD, W0PHD

 


 

 

Stations copying 3 readings to 10 millihertz or better:

    VE2IQ

   

Stations copying  2 readings to 10 millihertz or better:

    WB9FIP, W3JW,  K6OQK*

 

A look at all readings 10 millihertz or better:

 

      Frequency        Reading       Error
WB9FIP WI 7067321.337 7067321.336 -0.001 1.41E-10
VE2IQ ON 3567012.339 3567012.338 -0.001 2.80E-10
W3JW VA 1847004.096 1847004.098 0.002 1.08E-09
W1PW AZ 1847004.096 1847004.094 -0.002 1.08E-09
VE2AZX QC 3567012.339 3567012.336 -0.003 8.41E-10
W9TJ IL 1847004.096 1847004.100 0.004 2.17E-09
W3JW VA 3567012.339 3567012.343 0.004 1.12E-09
K6OQK LAX 3567012.339 3567012.335 -0.004 1.12E-09
VE2IQ ON 1847004.096 1847004.101 0.005 2.71E-09
WB9FIP WI 3567012.339 3567012.346 0.007 1.96E-09
WB0LXZ KS 1847004.096 1847004.105 0.009 4.87E-09
K6OQK* LAX 7065001.352 7065001.352 0.000 0.00E+00
K6OQK* LAX 3565002.763 3565002.758 -0.005 1.40E-09
VE2IQ ON 3565002.763 3565002.758 -0.005 1.40E-09

*K6OQK is in ground wave/direct, range of W6OQI


 

 

Stations copying all 5 readings to 100 millihertz or better:

      WB9FIP

 

Stations copying 4  readings to 100 millihertz or better:

     WB0LXZ, W9TJ, VE2IQ,

 

   

Stations copying  3 readings to 100 millihertz or better:

     K1GGI, K5BTK, K6OQK*, W3JW, WA2DVU

 

Stations copying  2 readings to 100 millihertz or better:

     K5CM, VE2AZX, W1PW, W2FD

 

Stations copying  1 readings to 100 millihertz or better:

     K6APW/7, W0PHD, WA4FJC

     


N8OB OH It's been so long I forgot what I was doing before. 80 and 40 M were good but 160 was very weak.  Fun as usual.
W2FD WPA All transmissions by K5CM and W6OQI were readable but not strong in WPA. Thanks for the efforts in sending the tests and reporting the results.
W0PHD MN Between the Summer time QRN pactor and SSB fron VE land on 40 makes for a lot of difficulty in nailing a signal down and of course the usual entry errors tell me how rusty one can become. It still is a lot of fun and am looking forward tro many more in the future - THANKS signal makers."
K6HGF LAX X
WB3AKD VA Challenging portable FMT conducted from the back of the Suburban in the Food Lion Parking Lot in Shepherdstown, WV after a very pleasant dinner and evening with friends.  The resolution of the FFT bins in Spectrum Lab, given the sound chip and configuration in the Toughbook, is only 0.17 Hz so my submission to three places is a bit presumptious.  Set up: Master Reference OCXO run from it's own battery for the whole day, trimmed to about 3 parts in 10^9 before departure and rechecked at midnight EDT.  Found to be 4 parts in 10^9 low.  The OCXO controlled an HP3325A which was loosely coupled to an ICOM R-75.  Power for the 3325A was from a RediLine 12V-110V rotary converter running on a deep cycle marine battery.  Very noisy acoustically, (I'll have to move it out of the Suburban) but  electromagnetically rather quiet.  Antenna was a mag-mount active whip of my own design.  Procedure was to tune in the signal and adjust the 3325A signal close to the FMT signal on Spectrum Lab and compare the difference there, then calculate the FMT signal's delta from the 3325's signal.  I used the cursor readout to get the frequency from Spectrum Lab.  Reference in the Lab is a TrueTime GPS Disciplined Oscillator.  Plans for the future include disciplining the OCXO, resisistive splitter for conducted coupling of the 3325A signal, and recording high resolution wave files for off-line analysis.  All this, hopefully, without creating undue EMI.  Signals on 40 and 80 were easy to copy and plenty strong enough, signal on 160 was a little weaker, but well copyable, even with the QRM.  Good job, and many thanks. 73, Tom.  

(good going Tom!!!)

WA2DVU SNJ At 2200 edst doppler error was: 15mhz=.123 high, 10mhz=.031 high, 5mhz=.040 low and 7335 =.040 high. I did not figure it int calc.  Sigs s1 - s4 - lots of qrn.  Fun time!!  Thanks Connie for the test.  73, WA2DVU Cape May, NJ
WA4FJC VA I could not hear anything in VA on 160 M.  Signals were good on 40 and 80.  Used an HP 3586A.
K5BTK MS The K5CM 40m signal was great.  All others were weak to very weak with QSB.  The west coast 80m signal was so far down in the summertime atmospheric noise that the call-up was unreadable.  Here's to an upswing in the solar cycle!
VE2IQ ON good sigs. callups a few mHz lower than these keydowns. Why?
WB0LXZ KS Doppler spread West-Coast signals more than 1 Hz wide here.
VE2AZX QC No copy on 160m. Strong sig on 40 and 80m. Thanks for running the FMT's and for quickly giving the results back. Jacques, VE2AZX
K6APW/7 OR Fast and deep QSB at times. Nil on 160.
W9TJ IL All signals good and above the QRN level.  The 80 meter West Coast run had the wildest phase instability I have ever seen.  Propagation of WC-40 and all K5CM signals was good.  Thank you for hosting this FMT.
W6OQI LAX The K5CM 40 meter signal was S9 in Southern California.  I had difficulty with the K5CM 80 meter signal due to some local QRM that slowly moved across the K5CM signal.  I may have mistakenly measured the slow moving signal which may have covered up the desired signal.  In any event I don't have much confidence in my measurement of the K5CM 80 meter signal this time.
k8jq WV x
K6OQK LAX There was a lot of Doppler spread on Connie's 80 and 40-Meter signals tonight and nothing heard at all on 160-Meters. Glad to see the FMT's are back and runing and that you have your new reference going.  I'm sure we all missed the FMT's.  Again, thanks to you Connie and Pam for great FMT's and commeraderie.  Burt, K6OQK
K1GGI EMA Plenty of qrn, but copied all sigs. Hoping not off by too many Hz this time.
K5CM OK Marvin, good signals tonight. The spread was probably typical for a summer evening.
W3JW VA SIGNAL STRENGTHS WERE BETTER THAN NORMAL WITH MODERATE QRN. WAS EVEN ABLE TO MAKE FREQUENCY COUNTER MEASUREMENTS ON THE 40M WEST COAST TRANSMISSION; USUALLY WC SIG STRENGTHS ARE SUITABLE ONLY FOR SL ANALYSIS. PLENTY OF DOPPLER TO CONTEND WITH ON BOTH 80 AND 40 METERS. TNX FER THE TEST!
WB9FIP WI From those of us that take accuracy serious, thank you Marvin and Connie for a well run FMT.

Thanks!!!

W1PW AZ Using FT-817nd with TCXO, SL and KMIK, a local HD BC station that I believe (hope!) is GPS-Disciplined. Thanks, Connie and Marvin, for conducting these tests!

 

 


 K5CM 160 meter readings ( 1847004.096Hz)

 

W1PW AZ 1847004.094 -0.002 1.08E-09
W3JW VA 1847004.098 0.002 1.08E-09
W9TJ IL 1847004.100 0.004 2.17E-09
VE2IQ ON 1847004.101 0.005 2.71E-09
WB0LXZ KS 1847004.105 0.009 4.87E-09
K1GGI EMA 1847004.110 0.014 7.58E-09
W0PHD MN 1847004.070 -0.026 1.41E-08
K5BTK MS 1847004.060 -0.036 1.95E-08
WA2DVU SNJ 1847004.140 0.044 2.38E-08
WB9FIP WI 1847004.140 0.044 2.38E-08
W2FD WPA 1847003.800 -0.296 1.60E-07
WB3AKD VA 1847002.806 -1.290 6.98E-07
N8OB OH 1847006.834 2.738 1.48E-06
k8jq WV 1847011.200 7.104 3.85E-06

 

 K5CM  80 meter readings ( 3567012.339Hz)

 

VE2IQ ON 3567012.338 -0.001 2.80E-10
VE2AZX QC 3567012.336 -0.003 8.41E-10
W3JW VA 3567012.343 0.004 1.12E-09
K6OQK LAX 3567012.335 -0.004 1.12E-09
WB9FIP WI 3567012.346 0.007 1.96E-09
WA4FJC VA 3567012.300 -0.039 1.09E-08
W9TJ IL 3567012.390 0.051 1.43E-08
K1GGI EMA 3567012.390 0.051 1.43E-08
WB0LXZ KS 3567012.404 0.065 1.82E-08
W1PW AZ 3567012.270 -0.069 1.93E-08
WA2DVU SNJ 3567012.424 0.085 2.38E-08
K6APW/7 OR 3567012.210 -0.129 3.62E-08
K5BTK MS 3567012.470 0.131 3.67E-08
W0PHD MN 3567012.476 0.137 3.84E-08
K6HGF LAX 3567012.100 -0.239 6.70E-08
WB3AKD VA 3567012.672 0.333 9.34E-08
W2FD WPA 3567011.600 -0.739 2.07E-07
N8OB OH 3567010.936 -1.403 3.93E-07
k8jq WV 3567026.200 13.861 3.89E-06
W6OQI LAX 3567043.620 31.281 8.77E-06

 

K5CM 40 meter readings ( 7067321.337 Hz)

 

WB9FIP WI 7067321.336 -0.001 1.41E-10
K1GGI EMA 7067321.350 0.013 1.84E-09
W9TJ IL 7067321.360 0.023 3.25E-09
WA2DVU SNJ 7067321.361 0.024 3.40E-09
W2FD WPA 7067321.300 -0.037 5.24E-09
W3JW VA 7067321.296 -0.041 5.80E-09
K5BTK MS 7067321.390 0.053 7.50E-09
K6APW/7 OR 7067321.250 -0.087 1.23E-08
VE2AZX QC 7067321.429 0.092 1.30E-08
W0PHD MN 7067321.230 -0.107 1.51E-08
W6OQI LAX 7067321.230 -0.107 1.51E-08
K6OQK LAX 7067321.495 0.158 2.24E-08
W1PW AZ 7067321.143 -0.194 2.75E-08
WB0LXZ KS 7067321.550 0.213 3.01E-08
WA4FJC VA 7067321.000 -0.337 4.77E-08
N8OB OH 7067322.661 1.324 1.87E-07
K6HGF LAX 7067318.000 -3.337 4.72E-07
k8jq WV 7067349.300 27.963 3.96E-06
WB3AKD VA 7067247.461 -73.876 1.05E-05
VE2IQ ON 7066991.380 -329.957 4.67E-05

 


 

 

 W6OQI 80 meter readings ( 3565002.763 Hz)

 

 

VE2IQ ON 3565002.758 -0.005 1.40E-09
K6OQK* LAX 3565002.758 -0.005 1.40E-09
WB9FIP WI 3565002.741 -0.022 6.17E-09
K5CM OK 3565002.785 0.022 6.17E-09
WB0LXZ KS 3565002.680 -0.083 2.33E-08
W9TJ IL 3565002.680 -0.083 2.33E-08
K1GGI EMA 3565002.630 -0.133 3.73E-08
W0PHD MN 3565002.900 0.137 3.84E-08
W2FD WPA 3565002.600 -0.163 4.57E-08
K5BTK MS 3565002.580 -0.183 5.13E-08
W3JW VA 3565002.565 -0.198 5.55E-08
W1PW AZ 3565002.279 -0.484 1.36E-07
K6APW/7 OR 3565002.250 -0.513 1.44E-07
K6HGF LAX 3565005.060 2.297 6.44E-07

 

 

 

 

W6OQI 40 meter readings ( 7065001.352Hz)

 

K6OQK* LAX 7065001.352 0.000 0.00E+00
VE2IQ ON 7065001.364 0.012 1.70E-09
K5CM OK 7065001.403 0.051 7.22E-09
W2FD WPA 7065001.300 -0.052 7.36E-09
K5BTK MS 7065001.280 -0.072 1.02E-08
WB9FIP WI 7065001.272 -0.080 1.13E-08
WB0LXZ KS 7065001.262 -0.090 1.27E-08
K1GGI EMA 7065001.240 -0.112 1.59E-08
K6HGF LAX 7065001.500 0.148 2.09E-08
W3JW VA 7065001.131 -0.221 3.13E-08
K6APW/7 OR 7065001.100 -0.252 3.57E-08
W9TJ IL 7065001.100 -0.252 3.57E-08
W0PHD MN 7065001.010 -0.342 4.84E-08
W0PHD MN 7065001.010 -0.342 4.84E-08
W1PW AZ 7065000.777 -0.575 8.14E-08

 

*K6OQK is in ground wave/direct, range of W6OQI

 



 

 

 

 

Marvin's 80 meter signal did not exhibit the normal sawtooth waveform usually associated with signals in the evening hours. Instead there were areas as shown by the arrows that were more representative  of the real frequency. Had I simply taken the average of the four hot spots I would have been right on. Zero on the above spectrogram is 3565000 Hz.

 

 


 

Transmitting equipment used by K5CM for this FMT:

A Trimble Thunderbolt GPS frequency source clocks a HP-3336B. A 10 db transistor amp follows and drives a 12BY7 / pair 6146. Then to the final amplifier, a Dentron 2500 running 400 watts on 160m, 225 watts on 80m, 200 watts on 40m. There are no mixers or any device in the chain of amplifiers that might impact the accuracy of the GPS frequency source.  As a reality check,  I periodically log the frequency source against WWVB.  I monitor each transmission with a completely separate receive system to look for any instability or short term drift. The separate system is not locked to the GPS but calibrated by the GPS system before the FMT.

Antennas:

160 - Vertical

 80 -  Cage Dipole (favors East, West, and North)

 40 - Dipole (favors East, West)

 

 

 

Current W6OQI FMT transmitting equipment:

 

My Transmitting setup consists of a HP Z3801 clocking a HP 3336B which drives a Johnson Viking I transmitter, the output of which is attenuated by a 6 db attenuator, to then drive an Icom PW-1 amplifier to about 500 watts. The antenna is an inverted Vee which favors north and south from the Los Angeles area.

 

 

Note: Because I put the results up quickly, there will be mistakes, so don't hesitate to point them out quickly. 

 

73,

Connie

K5CM

 

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