Mike, W0BTU said:
> Am I expecting too much with just 100 watts? I don't think so; I've heard of
> many hams working DXCC without an amplifier. It was my intention to get a
> transmitting antenna working well at the 100 watt level, and then building a
> legal limit amplifier.
>
The primary problem could be that 100w is not enough power to fulfill your
expectations.
Being new to Top Band (Nov 2008), I am a regular reader of this forum but
seldom a contributor. A new QTH along with retirement created the opportunity
to start from scratch with ham radio, after several years of inactivity. When
starting out on 160, I had no performance expectations. One of my friends,
W8TN, had worked DXCC over a couple of seasons on 160 with a simple inverted L
and a single elevated radial. To get on the air, I decided to try a very
simple, quickly erected, tree supported L, similar to but not exactly like what
Clark W8TN used.
With no antennas for 40 and above, I focused on working 160 meters last season.
My first inv L was installed over a tree, with the vertical portion of about
50' running down the tree trunk and perhaps offset 2 or 3' from it. The
horizontal portion was tied off to another tree. This antenna was 130' long,
directly fed with 50 ohm coax and it used two elevated radials which were
installed about 6' from the ground, high enough to keep the deer out of them.
The radials were floated; no ground rod was installed at the feed point. I
trimmed the 1/4 wave radials to achieve a good match without using an antenna
tuner. My first antenna differed from Clark's in that his only had one radial
and used a coax balun at the feedpoint. My antenna had two in-line radials and
no balun. Working alone, it took about 2 hours to install and adjust the first
inverted L.
I knew that a balun should have been installed at the feed point and that more
radials should have been used. The antenna could have been made longer and a
capacitor used to resonate it. However, I just wanted to see how the most
simple configuration would work, performance-wise. No doubt, this antenna left
many db on the table, but it does not get any simpler than this, if one has the
space.
Running legal limit power, it was quickly obvious that anything which could be
heard could be worked, using this simple antenna. Not only could the DX be
worked, but the thing was sometimes competitive in pileups, depending on
propagation variations. I was amazed!
A group in WVDXA (West Virginia DX Association) became active about the same
time last season on 160 meters. Several folks installed variations of this
simple inverted L. W8HC just completed working 160 DXCC a couple of weeks ago
with his antenna, starting last season. W8OP put up one for this season and is
I think around the 60 or 70 country level already. KC8UHE, who has only been
licensed a handful of years, put up one and is also around the 60 or 70 country
level. Rip, K3XO over in the eastern panhandle, is one of the few not running
power to his L. Not sure of Rip's country total, but I heard him working lots
of DX.
I have tried to work some DX with 100 watts with this setup. Given that many
of the received signals are just above the noise, the ~10 to 11 db gained by
running an amplifier is most of the time the difference in working stations or
not. I am not saying you can't work DX or make DXCC with 100 watts; it has
been done many times. It would just be harder to do and take longer,
particularly with compromise transmitting antennas. In your case, with good
receive antennas and a quiet location, you will be able to hear far more DX
that will be able to hear you with 100w to a simple wire antenna.
I don't have the patience to run 100w on 160, but admire those who do. My
first season on 160 was the best time ever in ham radio for me, but it would
have been one of the most frustrating times if I were limited to 100 watts.
Maybe picking up a few db by optimizing the transmitting antenna would mitigate
somewhat the performance difference between power levels.
With my simple antennas and legal power output, 165 countries and 34 zones have
been logged since Nov 3, 2008. In calendar 2009, 140 countries were logged.
To do this, it was necessary after about 60 days to install some simple
receiving antennas (short beverages). The current station performance remains
limited by the receiving capability, even with these simple transmit antennas.
The results from here and for some of my friends using simple inv L antennas
are given to encourage others who have not tried 160 to throw up some wire in a
tree and give it a shot. You will be amazed at what can be worked. Running
some power makes it much easier!!
The location also makes a difference. W0 probably is tougher for a 100w
station to be successful than my location would be. I am about 30 miles from
the southern Ohio border, about 170 miles directly south or even a couple of
degrees west of Cleveland.
Guess you can tell I am not a QRP kind of guy!!
73 and good luck
Charlie (Chas) N8RR
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