Topband: Loop question
KJ0M
kj0m at mchsi.com
Thu Mar 4 09:00:51 EST 2004
I'm thinking through the improvement of my antennas here for 80/160
and would like a little bit of advice.
I'm currently using a quarter wave sloper off the top of my 72 foot
retractable tower. It works fairly well and has allowed me to attain
a 5BWAZ and 5BDXCC over the years. I've also managed to garner 34
countries on 160 meters, although I've never really put a lot of
effort into that band. The noise is pretty bad with this antenna.
I've been reading lots of interesting tales on this reflector, so I'd
like to change my antennas here. In the next few years, 160/80 meters
is going to be the place to be, I think.
I am in the process of building a BC trapper antenna which I am going
to suspend from a catenary wire running from my tower to a rooftop
tripod on my house. I have great hopes for this as a transmitting
antenna. It gets pretty good reviews and I think in my situation, it
would work quite well for TX, especially if I lay down 30 or so
radials.
The problem comes on receive. I know how noisy my sloper can be on
160/80 meters and I'm certain the BC trapper will be just as bad.
I am on a small lot and don't have the room for a Beverage so I've
really given some thought to a 4 way K9AY loop. The problem lies in
not being able to get more than about 50 feet away from the TX
antenna. Also, my house is covered in steel siding, which will also
blow the pattern of the loops. I understand that. The house siding is
going to cause a big problem with the pattern.
What I'm wondering is this. Would the loops make good listening
antennas even though they wouldn't have the nice cardioid pattern
shown by the K9AY loop? What I am looking for is a nice quiet
listening antenna to go along with the BC trapper and loops seem to
be the way to go on a small lot except for the interaction problems
throwing the pattern off.
With a preamp, will the K9AY loop, or any type of loop for that
matter, be a good listening antenna in my case or am I better off
just suffering with the noise on the vertical?
Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
--
73,
de KJ0M
Jim
._._.
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