On 6/27/07, Tommy <aldermant at alltel.net> wrote:
> During an international contest, into Europe, what beam heading is best to
> cover the greatest (contesting) ham population?
Usually about 45 degrees or so.
> For the Pacific, obviously for the most contest participants, one would
> point their beam toward Japan, but what about Korea and VK/ZL? Does VK/ZL
> contesting population even come close to that of Japan?
JA's not as active as it used to be in contests, but I'd still favor
it over VK/ZL I think. JA is around 330 degrees, which would take
care of HL. VK/ZL goes from 230 to about 305.
What is your beamwidth? You may be able to get by with splitting the
difference by aiming at W Australia at around to take care of most of
the Pacific and JA.
Also, if you're going with 2 or 3 element antennas, you could rig
switching to turn reflectors into directors and vice versa, covering
two opposite directions with one antenna.
Oh, also sometimes (especially on 10m) the path may be greatly
skewed...such that you may beam SE for EU.
I'd look around on the web for a great circle mapping page that either
has downloadable software or a web applet that will let you draw a
great circle map centered on your QTH. You can then more easily
visualize where you want to aim.
--
Lee Hiers, AA4GA
"Have Dobro Will Travel"
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