Topband: Newbie report

[Mike Waters W0BTU]

Hi Mark,

I would be very happy to provide details of my Beverage receiving antennas.

I cc'ed this to the Topband list. There are a lot of good people there who also have Beverages, that can help you.


You will hear lots more on a Beverage than on an inverted-L, or even a 1/4 wave vertical. But Beverages require some room. Mine are 580' long. (How big is your property?) You can see some photos at
http://picasaweb.google.com/katie65752/BeverageAntennas#
The photos at the beginning were to demonstrate how incredibly strong the plated steel electric fence wire was. 

I plan to put up more info on a web site, when I get the time and energy. In the meantime, if you have the book "Low Band DXing", by John Devoldere ON4UN (4th edition), he describes the Beverage. I'm not alone when I say that I highly recommend his book.

In addition to 160, I also enjoy SWL DX'ing on the AM broadcast band. On some frequencies, I can pick out four different stations simply by selecting a different compass direction.

If you don't have a lot of room for Beverages, there's alternatives, such as the K9AY Loop.

I suggest you do also a Google search for "Beverage antenna" (with the quote marks) if you want to read more about them. Another good search would be to search the Topband archives for the same thing.

They are incredible antennas. You can't transmit on them, but do they ever pull weak signals out of the noise!


BTW, Your e-mails keep going into my spam folder. Don't know why. You can try to send to another e-mail address, mikewate [at] gmail.com, if you like.

73,
Mike Waters
W0BTU


--- On Sun, 2/28/10, Mark Lunday <mlunday at nc.rr.com> wrote:

> From: Mark Lunday <mlunday at nc.rr.com>
> Subject: RE: Topband: Newbie report
> To: "'Mike Waters W0BTU'" <mrscience65704 at yahoo.com>
> Date: Sunday, February 28, 2010, 4:53 PM
> Thanks, Mike!
> 
> Can you plz send more info on your beverage, and can we
> discuss some
> details?  Obviously the Inv L is not the best
> receiving antenna.
> 
> 
> Mark Lunday
> WD4ELG
> Greensboro, NC - FM06be
> wd4elg at arrl.net
> http://wd4elg.net
> http://wd4elg.blogspot.com
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Waters W0BTU [mailto:mrscience65704 at yahoo.com]
> 
> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 5:38 PM
> To: Mark Lunday
> Subject: Re: Topband: Newbie report
> 
> Hello Mark,
> 
> I enjoyed reading your Topband post. Sounds like you're new
> to 160, as I am.
> 
> I did participate in a 160 contest many years ago, and it
> was one of the
> high points of my life. And I've been listening on 160 (on
> my Beverage
> receiving antennas) for some time. But I only recently
> erected a
> transmitting antenna. Until yesterday (when I modified my
> Heath SB-200 amp
> for 160 meters), all I had was 100 watts. I also worked the
> KL7 with 100
> watts and an inverted-L.
> 
> 160 is a lot of fun! Welcome to the Top Band. There are a
> lot of good people
> here. They don't call it the Gentleman's Band for nothing.
> 
>  
> 73,
> Mike Waters
> W0BTU
> 
> 
> --- On Thu, 2/25/10, Mark Lunday <mlunday at nc.rr.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > From: Mark Lunday <mlunday at nc.rr.com>
> > Subject: Topband: Newbie report
> > To: topband at contesting.com
> > Date: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 9:57 AM
> 
> > ST2AR at 0300 UTC - 559 but intentional QRM and big
> pileup
> 
> > FK8CP spotted as 599 in AR at 0400 UTC, I could not
> hear
> > even a whisper. Maybe chordal ducting (I keep ON4UN's
> book on my
> > nightstand for re-reading each evening at bedtime)
> 
> > KL7RA at my sunrise, first call QSO.
> 
> [snip]
> 
> > 100 watts and an inverted L, let's see what happens!
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Mark Lunday
> > 
> > WD4ELG
> > 
> > Greensboro, NC - FM06be
> > 
> >  <mailto:wd4elg at arrl.net>
> > wd4elg at arrl.net
> > 
> >  <http://wd4elg.net> http://wd4elg.net
> > 
> >  <http://wd4elg.net> http://wd4elg.blogspot.com
> 
> 
> 
>       
> 
>