[Skimmertalk] Antennas for multi-band Skimmer installations

[Pete Smith]

Not naive at all, Wes - we're all in the same boat at this stage.

I have done a few really rough-and-ready experiments comparing the 
active antenna to my transmit antennas, but I'm really not ready to 
make any strong statements.  This much I can say - with an 8-foot 
whip, the Clifton Labs active antenna gets plenty of stations during 
a contest weekend.  My intuitive sense is that it is pretty good on 
40-10 meters, and starts to lose ground on 80 and 160 - of course, it 
*is* an omnidirectional vertical.

73, Pete N4ZR


At 04:22 PM 7/2/2009, Wes Cosand wrote:
>This morning I read Pete's article in the July/August NCJ, "CW Skimmer --
>One Year Later".  This week I have been following the positive comments on
>the QS1R reflector about alpha testing of Alex's multi band Skimmer Server
>software.  From his article it is obvious that Pete believes multi-band
>Skimmer installations will become more numerous among contestors and Alex's
>newest efforts appear to make the computational aspect of that simpler.
>
>But what do we use for antennas?  If these SDRs require an impedance close
>to 50 ohms for reasonable sensitivity, how do we do that for six or seven
>bands without a lot of complexity?  I understand that both N4ZR and K4TD are
>using active antennas from a couple different suppliers.  From the Clifton
>Laboratories website it looks like Jack is putting a lot of work into active
>antenna development.  Is this the way to go?  Will we be able to get the
>same SNR as resonant antennas like a multiband vertical?
>
>I am having great fun with a 40/80 fan dipole a few hundred feet from my TX
>antennas and the multiband SoftRock.  But Alex's work has me considering a
>more capable system.
>
>Forgive the naivete of some of my questions.
>
>Wes, WZ7I
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