Dear all,
I've been confined (but not incarcerated) to a 1 acre city lot in Atlanta
since 1985. I have rotateable antennas from 80 - 10 meters and have no
problems on those bands. However, 160 has always been a problem for me in
terms of being able to hear due to poorly performing receive antennas.
I have tried Ewes, pennants, flat-top dipoles, etc. with marginal results.
Early this year I put up two DX Engineering reversible beverages that are
not the optimal lengths. The NW/SE beverage is about 240 feet long and the
NW/SE beverage is only about 180 feet long. Of course I hear extremely well
on 80 and many times I hear better than the M2 rotary at 100 feet.
On 160 I can hear stations that I never could hear before. This antenna
(designed by W8JI) is the best out there from my experience for individuals
who are real estate challenged as I am. I hear chatter on the reflector
daily from other people who have the same problems that I had. Try these
antennas and you will really be surprised in their performance.
I use only the preamplifier in the Orion I and have found that this is all I
need as I have multiple preamps (both homebrew and commercial). I use RG-6/U
quad shield from Home Depot and also the feedline RF choke from DX
Engineering as well as their 4-way switching matrix.
73,
John, W4NU
Atlanta
K4JAG (1959 to 1998)
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