Dear Topbanders,
I am less than a greenhorn that finally has the acreage to put up a
great Topband system for contesting (ie. perhaps 60-80% of the target
qso's from here will be Europe!). My mind has naturally turned toward
considering the bigger things in options for an exceptional tx and rx
antenna system.
For tx the four element phased cardioid array 1/8 x 1/2 wl spacing, with
7 db gain over a single vertical over great ground, looks very
attractive compared to a traditional 1/4 x 1/4 wl spaced four square.
But with a 60 degree 3 db beamwidth one will want to be pointing it
toward the best azimuth bearing for the conditions that prevail toward
EU the greatest percentage of time during contest season.
Having never operated the band before I was intrigued by the section in
Low Band DXing describing the commonly favored arrival of RECEIVED
signals perpendicular to the terminator...away from the auroral oval
thus away from the signal's expected short or long path great circle
bearing.
Nothing was really said about the favored bearing of ones transmit
signal, though.
Does this described phenomena translate into a reality that one is
better arranging transmitted peak gain at 90 degrees azimuth
(perpendicular to the terminator) rather than, say, 55 degrees azimuth
centered on EU from my qth?
Or, despite the phenomena, is one better transmitting peak gain centered
on the great circle bearing for EU then letting the ionosphere do
whatever magic it does at the time?
maybe the real answer is to have two of the four tx verticals on car
chassis like W5UN's EME array...a "rotor" for a vertical array?
I look forward to hearing a myriad of opinions!
73, Scott W3TX
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