On Tue,4/7/2015 9:51 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
I'm planning to build and deploy 4 receiving antennasfor 160M this
summer - some mix of BOGs, K9AYs, etc.Question is, where would you aim
them, from a QTH 60 miles NW of Washington DC.
I would look at your 160M DXCC list, see what you've worked and what
you're missing. When I moved here, I put together a spreadsheet of the
headings of NA cities (for contesting purposes) and DX countries. I
included distances, then sorted by azimuth. Next, I drew a plan view of
the clearing around my house and ham shack showing the dozen or so trees
that looked like suitable supports work wire antennas.
Based on that study, I figured out that I needed a dipole broadside to
about 50 degrees to work the east coast, EU, and VK/ZL, and a second one
broadside to about 310 degrees to work Asia and South America. I laid
out two reversible Beverages using DX Engineering hardware with the same
headings. I had ACAD on my biz computer, and used that to generate and
maintain the drawings. My property is not very friendly to the vertical
RX arrays that Frank suggested. BUT -- I strongly recommend that you
chase down the presentation on RX antennas that he did last year for
Contest University at Dayton. In it, he observed that some array types
are more tolerant of nearby objects than others.
73, Jim K9YC
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