Greetings all-
I worked 34 states the first yr I used a 160 meter Isotron with a petty 500
watt amp- and had a lot of 100 watt contacts-
For DX, chalk up one JA and one XE.......so tell me its just a tuned dummy
load- Har! but 1/4 wave vertical- not.........I had it mounted 20 feet up
and 3 feet or so off the side of the house-
They are a bit better than a tuned dummy load and a fun antenna to impress
the XYL........but now I have a Inv L for 160, and 120 acres, so I don't use
it much- but for a backyard/antenna restricted area- it is ok for stateside
stuff....but I would suggest listening on a multiband vertical or something
like one...they high Q of the antenna gave me a high noise level- but I used
my 10-80 meter cushcraft AP8A multiband vertical to listen (poor man's bevg
on 160) and the system worked great considering what I was using- worked 25
states in a ARRL 160 ph contest with that set up-
I had to mess with the feedline lengths a bit- but once I found a good
length- it was great considering it is about the size of a bird cage- I only
got about a 5KHz bandwidth but found it easy to retune- I had an older model
that I think they've modified it by making it on a longer cylinder for the
inductor part of the antenna circuit....................The one I got was
made in 1995 or there-about
I would work guys, and get a 5x5...then I would tell them what I was running
and get 5x1 etc and QSL's telling me what a real 160 meter antenna was all
about- I got plenty of "you just got lucky" remarks- man........its all in
the mind on 160 meters-
p.s. the buzzsaw on 80 meter reports keep coming in....so far, wx radar tests
out of Canada make the most sense to me but who knows- the Mexican fishing
fleet on USB around 3.790-800MHz seem to have cooled their jets for a bit-
but we shall see- 80 meters is really going to heck in a hand basket- wonder
what Art Bell thinks about all this?????
Kind of funny that since I posted the original "Buzzsaw" report a couple
weeks ago- buzzsaw postings are becoming a morning thing on the internet
clusters- gosh, did I start a new craze????
73 Paul N0AH
Wyoming
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