On 1 Apr 2003 at 8:16, Bill Coleman wrote:
> OK, I'm going to ask what may seem if not stupid, but an obvious
> question. After over six years contesting with single-element antennas,
> now that I have a beam, I don't always know where to turn it.
Not as easy as it seems, eh? ;-)
> This weekend, on Sunday afternoon, it seemed like signals were coming
> from all directions at once on 10m. Even stations that were out west
> seemed strongest beaming south east.
Entirely possible. Depends on the propagation mode. For good ol'
normal F-layer skip, just pointing toward the great circle bearing
normally works.
But, sometimes (often!) condx don't support the great circle path.
Often, on 10m, to work EU early you need to point the beam to
Africa...then, as the path opens up to EU, you beam more
directly...then as it fades, you may have to point north of the GC
bearing, depending on the location. Sometimes the early skew path
isn't there. Sometimes, that's all that's there.
That's why AL antennas with rotors have an advantage over fixed wire
beams.
> So, where do you point your beam over the weekend? And if you S & P, how
> do you avoid turning the beam for each QSO (other than be like NQ4I and
> have antennas pointing in three directions at once)?
Well, generally go with the GC bearing, unless you know something
else is going on. Usually you figure out something else is going on
if the signals sound "funny", or if there are a lot of people around
you working stations that don't seem to be loud...then you have to
look around and figure out if you need to re-point or not.
But, when condx are good, you can get by without a lot of beam-
turning because the antenna pattern's really not that sharp...unless
you've got huge antennas. Sometimes I'll just point the beam east to
pick up Africa, Carib, and EU stations all at once without doing a
lot of twirling. Then, if I need the extra gain for a big pileup or
weak station, I'll turn the antenna.
For stateside contests, I'll point N to NW to work as much of the
country as possible...again, the pattern's not that tight, and I can
work W6 thru W1 that way...nudging the antenna one way or the other
as needed.
Sometimes condx are so disturbed, or several different propagation
modes are in effect, it really doesn't seem to matter which way you
point the antenna.
The answer is that there is no one answer...just experience with the
station and condx.
Directional antennas do help you work more stuff, but they add
another level of opeational complexity.
73 de Lee
--
Lee Hiers, AA4GA
Cornelia, Georgia
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