Topband: Short Radials / Antenna Update

[Raoul Coetzee]

Eddy wrote:
>It certainly lead me to believe that there is, indeed, hope for guys like
yours truly, who might otherwise be
>intimidated into trying something just a little more competitive on 160
that's perhaps beyond the "...usual fare", in the the absence of
>the proverbial miles and miles (or kilometers, if you're in "VE"-land!) of
copper wire...

~73~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
If you see my 'poor' radial system in my backyard with about 16 odd radials
from 3 meters to 20m meters, and a wire tossed in the swimming pool for good
measure and anything else connected to the radial system that may look as if
it would help,then you would have to agree that there is hope! Yes, it can
be improved and yes one should do the best you can with what you have, but
still it is fun!Ja and VK is very difficult for me and in both cases they
heard me many times before I could hear them and before we had good two way
qso's, proving that my 'poor' tx system was working but my rx was even
worse!

By the way, I had my first 160m eyeball qso with Al Baker, W5IZ and his
charming wife, Josie and my wife, Hannelie,on Saterday evening 28 Oct.06
when we went to dinner in Cape Town.(Al was one of my first USA west coast
dx!) Al is on a non-dx visit to South Africa. Of course the chat between me
and Al was all 160m!
73 and good dx!
Raoul Coetzee
Zs1REC