I also am new to the top band. Been a ham since 1967 and I suppose I have made
about 5 contacts on 160 since then. But now that I have decided to make 160m
my new challenge I am hooked. I did know enough by speaking with a friend that
unless I had a beverage for receive I had better just forge about even getting
started. So, he helped me install a beverage. We strung out about 550 feet
of wire. I did not terminate the far end. The other end goes to the balun and
is grounded with a ground rod. I have the feed line laying on the ground all
the way to the shack window where it rises about 7 feet to go indoors. I made
the mistake of thinking the braid does not pick up noise and raised the feed
line to enter the house through the roof area. So the feedline was raised from
the feed point over to the house roof. BIG MISTAKE! The noise jumped up so
high that it was only 2 s units better than the 55 foot OCF dipole for 160m I
had to immediately return it to the way it wa
s on the ground, In the evening on 160m The OCF at about 55 feet has a noise
level of about S8 to S9 and when I switch to the beverage the noise is only S1.
It is truly amazing how quiet it is compared. I can tell when I am running DX
who is listening on a beverage on their end and who isn't. Often I can work
all over Europe and get all Q5 reports and answers with just one call. When I
try working someone the same country and they do not come back to my call or
anyone else's for that matter I know they aren't using a beverage. I know for
certain that at least 75% of the contacts I have already made I could have
never made without the beverage. The signals you never know are there come
right out of the noise when the beverage is selected as the rx antenna. I also
use the same beverage on 80 and 40 meters with similar results!! I would have
packed up my idea on playing with 160m if I did not have a beverage. You would
never get anywhere without it in my opinion. S
ure you can make contacts but you will be missing a heck of a lot. I have
done zero scientific tests like WHS, but my ear does not lie to me. I have
heard you K1WHS on 160, good signal into CT. 73 all Lou W1QJ
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Kupps via Topband <topband@contesting.com>
To: Dave Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net>; topband <topband@contesting.com>
Sent: Tue, Dec 15, 2015 1:41 am
Subject: Re: Topband: Noise levels on 160
My daytime noise level from the 160m xmit vertical using your settings is -100
dBm. The S meter on the K3 reads S7 (absolute)... 73 Bob HS0ZIA From: Dave
Olean <k1whs@metrocast.net> To: topband@contesting.com Sent: Tuesday, December
8, 2015 3:30 AM Subject: Re: Topband: Noise levels on 160 I am somewhat new
to 160 meters. I converted an old VHF tower at my house to a 160 M 1/4 wave
radiator in late 2013 and have been active since then on a casual basis.
Recently I started showing symptoms of the 160 Disease, and have been looking
for ways to improve things. The XYL has nixed anything big (no more towers) so
I am stuck with a single radiator, but I can still work on the receiving side.
I just built up an Africa beverage (100 degree az) and was happy with the noise
level on that antenna. It seems extremely low and about as good as my Europe
beverage. Recently, I tried measuring each beverage and the vertical antenna to
nail down the noise floor using my K3 and P3 panada
ptor. I wonder if these numbers are good and how they compare with other
setups. For the record, I set the P3 at the narrowest span, 2 kHz. I used the
preamp ON for the beverages and the preamp off for the vertical. I recorded
these levels on late Saturday evening during the ARRL 160 contest, and then
again, the following Monday during the day. I recorded the following
numbers...ANTENNA NOISE LVL DAYTIMEJA 330 deg -133
-138West 270 deg -125 -130SW 220 deg
-125 -132Africa 100 deg -136 -144Europe
45 deg -138 -142Vertical Antenna -115
-123All measurements were taken with the P3 panadaptor set at 2 kHz span. That
is important. K3 preamp is ON. These numbers taken at night are a moving
target. The noise can vary from hour to hour. I looked across the 2 kHz span of
the P3 and averaged what I saw. I seem to hear reasonably well wi
th the vertical, and in the past used it quite often. Now that I have a few
beverages, I hardly ever listen on the vertical anymore. Both the 220 and 270
degree beverages suffer from power line noise and are 10 dB noisier than the
wires aimed East. I am thinking about maybe nulling out the power line noise.
I am sure that noise is killing my receive. I guess I should make a real
measurement of my noise floor at a specified bandwidth of the receiver. That
would require more work! I took the easy way and set the P3 at minimum span and
looked at the "grass level". What numbers do others see on 160? I live in a
rural area in Maine near the NH border. I have a neighbor across the street
and another two about 1000 to 1200 ft away. I think my location is pretty
quiet, but I do often see interference that comes and goes. I always hear two
electric fences. One is a single snap every second or so. The other is a
pulsing burst of noise that lasts maybe 300 ms that repeats every
second or so. There is also a rather broad drifting signal to my NE that is
about 20 kHz wide and drifts around 1820 kHz. It is about 5 dB above the normal
noise. I suspect it is a mile away, but have not found it yet.Dave
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