I have one here and would not be able
to do much on 160 without it.
Patterns depend mostly on what antennas
you hook to it. I have tried short verts, was
not happy. Now use 2 aperiodic loops which
look toward Europe. They are 100 feet or so
apart. Works well, and I use this setup as
follows.
I watch the baseline on my P4 scope and
adjust the NCC for the lowest baseline, which
is my overall noise level. That often cuts both
local and distant crud. This gives me the best
chance of hearing in any direction and almost
always is a big help. I compare signals between
the NCC2 and a regular K8AY loop setup.
If I had a better location I'd make a set of loops
looking various directions but that is not possible
here.
The NCC2 is great mostly because it is very stable
and can be set for repeatable results. I've messed
with it on local BC stations and what one can do
with it is often amazing, but mostly on ground wave
signals in daytime. Nulls may be deep but arrival of
signals via higher angles keeps things in flux. The NCC
seems to be almost overload-proof.
Yes, if the signal you want is in the same direction
as your QRM/QRN you are working against yourself
so to speak. That's true of all RX antenna setups.
de K8RYU
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