Hi Topbanders,
I received some replies about my question about Beverage antennas
over conductive areas/islands and they are summarized here:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>From Milt, N5IA:
> My personal experience at XZ0A was that the Bevs worked extremely
> well on
> the island. However, I did try one at a secluded, isolated spot
> along the
> shore where in some places at high tide the salt water was under
> the
> element. That one did NOT work.
Milt said there were some photos at www.eaars.com/milt (select
XZ0A Slide Show) RX antennas begin at photo #115.
Thanks Milt!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
>From John, W2GD:
> Our West Creek, NJ 160M station features a salt marsh ... the 300 foot
tower
> is surrounded, at a minimum, by 500 feet, by tidal saltwater from
Barnaget
> Bay. Trust me, its wet out there at high tide.
> Likewise, our beverages (6 of them) are deployed over either saltwater
or
> freshwater marshes. Most of them are 800 feet long, the NE bev is a 2
ele
> phased array. We have found they work great - no qualifications
needed,
> simply great. /snip/
Thanks John!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>From Chuck Hutton:
We'd have to define "doesn't work well". The pattern will be basically
the
same, but the signal level will be down a bit due to the higher
conductivity
under the antenna.
My favorite Beverage antenna sites are all on the coast and the antennas
go
all the way to the beach. I know that's not an island, but I've never had
any complaints about signal level. In fact, those sites have produced the
best MW DX imaginable.
Thanks Chuck!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>From Nick, VE7DXR:
I really hate to be anecdotal, but before I "knew better", have used
Beverages partially or completely over salt water in San Diego (along a
pier), and Tofino, BC (over the breakers between rocky headlands). This
was listening for medium wave broadcast DX. Particularly in the latter
case, trans Pacific stations seemed to be coming in at pretty good
strength
at dawn, so the experience was definitely worthwhile.
HOWEVER, I didn''t have another Beverage over non-conductive soil
nearby with which to compare it, so I'm not sure my experience really
means all that much.
Thanks Nick!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>From Herb, KV4FZ
All my Beverages are on an island and
close 1000 feet or so from the water line. I have 6 beverages on a
former hay filed next to my QTH. They all are great antennas. One of
these 535 footers runs west and is terminated in a single 4 foot ground
rod. Well I got "Schmart", as my grandfather from the old country used
to say, and lifted that termination and ran another 500 feet to a huge
40 acre salt pond that connects to the Caribbean. I drove down several
ground rods and 6 bare cooper wires of 50 feet were laid into the water.
I was looking to improve the Beverage performance with a closer to
ideal termination and guess what? The Beverage performance with this
configuration was a wasted effort. The noise seemed to increase and the
reverse pattern signal directly east (1610 Anguilla) increase by 10db! A
better ground at the end of the direction of the Beverage in this case
did not make it work better. Part 60% of additional run ran close and
parallel to a bared wire fence which was on metal posts by about 10
feet. At one point I even tied this into the ground system because it
runs for another 2000 feet with metal ground posts across the salt flat
next to the pond. But no joy. This did not make things any better. I
have since gone back to the classic 535 foot single wire across the hay
field. This RX antenna was super on JA this year although it runs
straight west rather than northwest.
I add this observation because in my case a super ground at the Beverage
end did not make things any better as I thought would be the case.
That which works best, works!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Herb summed that up pretty well I think. Thanks Herb!
So there it is. W2GD, says his Beverages work great at his conductive
location and others say that their's didn't....whatever works for you!
As for a Beverage not "working" on an island, I would ask what the
terrain is like, soil conditions and such, then decide if it's worth
the effort to put up a Beverage. One never knows for sure unless
it is tried.
73,
Charlie
N0TT
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