Topband: Small RX Antenna

[George Wallner]

Dear Reflector Participants,

I need some advice.

My QTH is on a small island 0.5 miles to the west of Miami Beach. My lot is
about 200 ft across. The 70 ft vertical TX antenna is right next to salt
water and it works great for transmitting. (Even the models agree with my
measurements!) Receiving is a problem though. There is a lot of ambient
noise coming from the east and north east -- my principal directions of
interest.

I have built a EWE, which barely works: it has a little bit better S/N than
the vertical. It 100 ft from the vertical and is strongly coupled to it: so
much so that when I change the tuning of the vertical, signals and noise on
the EWE can change as much as 10 dB. Unfortunately, signals and noise both
move in the same direction.

I could install a small horizontal dipole at 15'. (Easy to do.)
Alternatively, should I go to the trouble of installing a magnetic loop?

TKS in advance,

George

AA7JV