Topbanders,
Wondered how long it would take for everyone to realise, top loading is the
KEY! Drooping, not drooping, makes little difference. I was in the MW
(medium wave) business for many years prior to my present job, and Tom
(W8JI) is right. If you aren't a tower owner, a BIG tower owner, go for top
loading, ANY kind of top loading. My present antenna is 80 feet up, with
three equal length loading wires drooping to 30 feet above ground. I have
no trouble braking pile-ups....to any place I can hear.
In the early 80's I got DXCC number 269 on 160 with a top loaded vertical in
an English (ground floor) flat complex with a back garden that was postage
stamp size (50 feet by 50 feet)....60 feet up to a tree, three equal length
top hat wires drooping to about 20 feet off the ground, and a mile of wire
in the ground all within 200 feet of the feed point, that was the antenna.
I have worked 160m from all kinds of locations, including EI7IU with a
short.....very short...vertical, but broke the Euro Lid Pile to XZ with a
hundred watts....the secret is TOP LOADING.
As in real estate, top loading..... top loading, top loading...forget
whether it is horizontal or drooping......top loading, good wire below the
feed point, and a copper tube coil of at least 10 inches in diameter works a
treat.
IT NEVER FAILS. Ask VK6HD, W8JI, (all the DXpeditions), and anyone else on
in the summer that hears me....it works! Don't try for perfection, TOP LOAD
and get a good receiver.
Now, how do you use your pennants? Can't hear them, can't work them.
73 de Bob G4VGO
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Bob Marshall-Read CEng
UMTS Consultant
Standards Team
Hutchison 3g
Mobile +44 777 153 0483
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