Paul:
I know tower restrictions can be an issue in the USA. I also live on a city
lot....only 100'X60' and am surrounded by houses just packed beside each
other....I can read the label on my neighbours barbeque sauce when he's
cooking hamburgers !! I use a US tower 89' motorized crankup with a 20'
mast. On top now is a small force-12 HF yagi and a homebrew 2 el inductor
loaded 80m & 40m Yagi. I keep the tower down all the time except when I'm
QRV (which is usually after sunset). The neighbours have not complained
once....however....they are absolutely convinced I'm nuts. By keeping the
crankup down during the day the visual impact is greatly diminished.
My experience has been that a horizontal radiator will not only be quieter
on RX but will probably outperform a vertical on TX. I have tried a number
of verticals....from full-size wires, slopers to the CC R-7000 with the 80m
kit (thing was useless). My backyard, frontyard and the sides of the house
are covered in copper wire radials. I think part of the problem with
verticals in the city is all that surrounding ground-clutter....all those
houses with metal siding, flashing, stucco mesh, electrical wiring etc. etc.
When the far field is nice open farmland things are good.....my farfield
(and near-field) is mostly concrete, asphalt and buildings !!
Going to a shortened rotatable dipole made a HUGE difference here. Getting
the antenna up and away from all that noise is good too. I also use various
RX antennas, but still need to accept a high urban noise level which is just
life in a city with a population of almost 1 million. Obviously, I am NOT
saying verticals won't work DX.....VE6LB has accomplished fantastic lowband
results by using a modified HF-2V in a city location.
Maybe a tower is not an option for you, but if it is, don't dismiss even
just a dipole or inv. vee.
some photos of my QTH and antennas are here:
http://www.qsl.net/ve6wz/index.html
de steve VE6WZ.
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