Topband: Small RX Antenna

[Tom Rauch]

On 160 anything is worth a try...but....

> 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.

EWE's, Flags, Pennants, the K9AY... they are all different 
construction methods of having a simple two-element phased 
vertical. If the noise is not coming from a null direction 
that is different than the signal's direction....they can't 
help.

> I could install a small horizontal dipole at 15'. (Easy to 
> do.)

That certainly would reduce groundwave response, especially 
broadside to the dipole where the polarization isn't tilted.

> Alternatively, should I go to the trouble of installing a 
> magnetic loop?

A "magnetic" loop is normally installed vertically polarized 
also (except for response in the null area of the vertical 
loop).Unless the noise comes from within 50 or 70 feet, it 
is E-field dominant. It's only within the first 70 feet or 
less distance on 160 that it is "magnetic".  (Not that it 
matters, because noise or bad signals aren't  "electric" nor 
are desired or good signals "magnetic".)

Certainly any different antenna is worth a try, but I'd 
probably try the dipole first. You actually could try laying 
the loop over flat so it is horizontally polarized in all 
directions. Horizontally polarized signals will not 
propagate along the ground, especially when the ground has 
high conductivity, so this might reduce pick-up of distant 
local noise.

73 Tom