Hello, Yes, I'm a 160m newbie but have been licensed and active since 1990. I have CW/Phone experience on HF but I'm just getting my feet wet on 160m. I participated in the ARRL 160 CW contest and ha
Mt 2 pence is I'd do the vertical wire to the 100' limb and if possible, get the remaining 30 or so feet out as horizontal as possible to make an inverted L, you have a nice vertical component with 1
Hi Gary, Thanks for the help. I got the new wire in place roughly as you described. It is a few feet lower to give good clearance from the anchoring branch. It doesn't work very well. Last night it w
Hello Todd, my experiences were pretty limited, but I would suggest you about 150' of wire (to 100' height, the rest horizontally), with air variable capacitor in series with the wire to cancel induc
One thing to remember is that one night on topband is not enough to judge an antenna. Condx are to variable to compare from one night to the next. Any antenna on 160 with about 70 or more vertical fe
So, Mirko brings up an interesting point. I can run out far more than 35' horizontally. Should I make the wire a lot longer in that dimension? I was working with the 130' (approx) total length I'd re
My opinion is that it adds unwanted horizontal radiation. Some will argue that the current in the upper part of vertical radiator is increased, but so is the current in the horizontal part, somethin
Hi Todd, I'm somewhat new to serious TopBand as well, but the 2 things that have helped me the most are a good receiving antenna(s) and changing my inverted L to be as vertical as possible. When I in
If your inverted L is any good at all it will suck as a receiving antenna. This is one of the key things to accept about medium wave but many casual 160 m. operators can't wrap their heads around it.
Although licensed for 60 years I'm a relative newby on topband. (I did work VE7 in 1959 but that's another story). I decided to semi-seriously take up the band to acquire my 9th DXCC band award. As
Hi Wes, Once you try a Beverage, you'll realize that those antennas weren't hearing the weak ones that called you. ;-) See http://www.w0btu.com/Beverage_antennas.html. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com ________
I just drove down to the local convenience store and bought some Powerball tickets. If I win, there's a nice 80 acre parcel across the street from me that I would buy. Until then, I'm stuck on a 1.
Hello Wes, I tried 160 back in the early 70's when my brother was active from CO and we skedded on weekends. I used a long wire about 650 ft long for both TX and RX. Working Europe was special w
How about a Waller flag? Better than a Beverage, since you can rotate it! Search for *Waller* or *Waller flag* in the Topband archives. Lots of information there, with a link to the N4IS page about t
Author: Jeff Woods via Topband <topband@contesting.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2018 22:31:18 +0000 (UTC)
Wes, A sure sign that your RX antennas are good enough is when DX stations that are Q5 copy repeatedly CQ in your face. What Mike's saying is true; trying to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear t
Jeff, et.al. 1) Yes, I am on 1.7 acres (2 AC - easements). Some guys would love this much land, to farmers it's just enough room for the barn. Regardless, considering I also have a house, a tower
You may also want to check out the SAL-12, -20 or -30 antennas from Array Solutions. My yard is pretty small, but I was able to put up a SAL-12, and I love it. (I do mostly 49-, 60- and 90-meter SWBC
Shortwave broadcasting in 2018?! I thought there was hardly any English SW stations left, no? 73, Mike www.w0btu.com _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topban
Its fun chasing pirates. I had an SAL-30...worked great for BCB dxing. Not sure whats up at my place but I havent found an RX antenna yet that hears any better on 160 than my inverted L. Used K9AY, S
I was an early participant in the SAL yahoo group and introduced Dan, AC6LA, to the group. He has provided a lot of modeling tools. That said, I lost interest after feeling that the design was too c