Good Day All,
Well, in as much as I might hate to be self-congratulatory & all, I must say,
that I'm just as pleased as punch with the new 3-element tri-angular phased
array here...
Unfortunately, I'm afraid I have very little to offer in the way of "A vs. B"
performance notes, save for some rudimentary empirical observations...and to
that end, no doubt the biggest observation that I might submit forward is the
fact that I can honestly say that I don't believe I've had to wait longer than
one minute to work any DX station that I've heard through any pile-up, since
completing the project.This includes stations in E51, XF4, 8P9, HI9, PY2, and
others.
This was most assuredly NOT the case with the single "L" that I ran last season.
To be sure, there are still far-off stations calling CQ DX that I simply can
not raise --- but then neither can the other Stateside Amateurs that I hear
calling those same stations on frequency, either.
Besides the fact that it has perhaps elevated me up one rung in terms of
Topband station effectiveness / performance, the design, lay-out, and
construction of the project has certainly given me a new appreciation of what
it is that might really make things tick on 160. For example, after repeatedly
coming up with new questions on grounding & ground radials during this effort,
my re-reading of specific paragraphs in both LOW-BAND DX'ING, and the ARRL
ANTENNA HANDBOOK, was like reading these passages for the very first time ---
if necessity is indeed the mother of invention, then genuine curiousity & the
resultant need to learn from doing things "hands on" is the engine that drives
an attentiveness to, and the retention of, what one sees from the work of
others!
I have definitely come to appreciate what some guys have accomplished with
their 4-square arrays, "stone henge" multi-element arrays, etc. etc. What an
incredible investment in time and money --- they are light years ahead of my
humble effort here.
Still, in the final analysis, nothing should preclude the owner of even the
most modest of set-ups from striving for something that's perhaps more
competitive on the band, i.e. something that goes beyond the proverbial
inverted "L" , or inverted "V" antenna. While they'd certainly be nice to have,
one most assuredly does not need the acreage of a national park, nor shares in
a Chilean copper mine, to improve one's lot in Topband life. Armed with a a bit
of knowledge --- and a dream! --- things can only get better...
Now if only CONDITIONS on the band would do the same...!
See you in the pile-ups, & Happy DX'ing.
~73~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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