Hi Lloyd and gang,
Because of the ground dependency issue, I really like pennants and flags
which have no electrical connection to ground requirement. Modeling shows
that pennants and flags are influenced very little by ground conductivity
and height above ground (there is some dependency, but minimal in the grand
scheme of things), they just want to work (granted that modeling is not
100% perfect).
The single pennant or flag does not have a sharp forward peak (similar to
what Tim mentioned) and therefore not exceptional RDF value but they do
offer improvement in reception nonetheless (especially if you need to knock
down interference that's coming from the opposite direction of your desired
signal). I find that 3 pennants are adequate for targeting the major
directions of DX from my location due to the lack of the sharp forward
peak. I have also found that pennants and flags can be 50% the size of the
traditional size and still work quite well on 160 meters when used with a
21 dB gain preamp like the W7IUV preamp (might need slightly more gain if
you live in an area where the noise floor is very low).
P.S. I have never found a situation where my 68 foot base loaded vertical
provided better reception than my pennants on 160 meters.
Just FYI,
Don (wd8dsb)
On Tue, Jan 29, 2019 at 9:47 AM Lloyd - N9LB <lloydberg@charter.net> wrote:
> K9AY is a local here in southern Wisconsin.
>
> I put up a K9AY and was disappointed in the lack of directionality at my
> QTH. I spoke to Gary about it at the local Madison DX Club meeting, and he
> told me that because I had very poor soil conductivity at my QTH, I should
> put ground radials under the K9AY antenna to supplement the single ground
> rod. Length of the supplemental radials to be at least as wide as the
> loops
> and at maximum no longer than double the width of the loops. Radial
> placement should be in the ground directly below the loops.
>
> 73
>
> Lloyd - N9LB
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of terry
> burge
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 12:26 AM
> To: topband@contesting.com; terry burge <ki7m@comcast.net>
> Subject: Topband: Found my K9AY by WX0B AX-AYl-4 unit
>
> Hi folk,
>
> Been looking for this for I don't know how long. Had it up out in Keizer
> but
> wasn't that impressed but I'll now try it out here. But going to need to
> get
> it near some trees and possibly power company transformer on power pole.
> Maybe some fencing too. Listening to K4IQJ's DX University talk about K9AY
> style antennas last night on YouTube it sounds like the trees won't be an
> issue. Unfortunately all I can do is try to get a half wavelength our so on
> 80 and 40 from transmit antennas. Just no way to do better on my 1.5 acre
> lot.
>
> If anyone has any helpful experience using K9AY's for a RX antenna you
> might
> send alone some helpful suggestions. One of the things I always wondered
> about is it seems like these might be made to rotate at least a bit or
> maybe
> adjust the loops to favor both NE and E? K4IQJ's talk indicated it could be
> interesting to try 2 or more in an array. 2 might not be too tough here but
> first I want to see one work to know I can get some help on 80 and 160
> meter
> bands. As usual my problem on both those bands is hearing the weak ones.
> Wanting to do better this year in the 160 CQ SSB contest in late
> February.(always)
>
> Also wondered if these can be mounted on the roof of a metal building like
> my large garage? Think they need to be just above ground though.
>
> Terry
>
> KI7M
>
>
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