TopBand: DX Activity in the ARRL 160M Contest

[Jim Reid]

>Hi Jim, de Joe AA4NN


>I opt for the top loaded Gladiator and just wonder what kind
>of 2 to 1 SWR you get with the TL version.  


Well,  it isn't really fair to say now.  There are so many vines and weeds
over the radials now,  that the added reactance has pulled the
resonance below 1800,  down around 1760  or so,  hi.

So,  I must use a tuner now to get up around 1830,  where I did
have nearly a 1:1 ratio.  BW then was pretty good,  per my tests
right after setting it up as follows:

1800.......1.5:1
1810.......1.2
1820.......1.1
1830.......1.09
1840.......1.2
1850.......1.32
1860.......1.6

I was quite happy with these numbers,  but have lost them now
because of several months of vine and bushes encroachment
on and over the radials on out away from the elevated TL~60
The antenna is on a Radio Shack push up pole,  but only
up about 12 feet,  to get away from the infernal creeping
green menace here,  hi.

73,   Jim,  KH7M
On the Garden Island of Kauai


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