Topband: Cushcraft MA160 Vertical questions

[(N0AH) Bryon "Paul" Veal]

Just set the antenna up this week.  Can see it at www.qrz.com under home call n0ah.

Questions for those who have one.

1.  SWR started at 1:1 without radial of course and now with it tied into Cushcraft 40/80 vertical 60 feet away of 50 underground radials, 20-60 feet long, and 8 additional radials ranging from 20-80 feet, on the MA160V..... SWR is now at 1.8:1.  Has anyone experienced a significantly higher SWR at resonance with a good radial field indicating the true impedence mismatch of coax to antenna?  I’m glad to see our’s rise but was wondering on this antenna, where it might max out- Planning to use an UnUn to match it as we add more radials if needed- My old inv. L went as high as from 1:1 to 5:1 when we got 120 radials under it- 

2.  We are averaging S-9 noise both during the day and at night, expected but wanting to know if others using it also have a higher ambient noise level- Since the antenna is resonant on band, expect the noise level but wondering if our RF environment is over the average in noise-  We live in the suburbs and most of the bands are actually pretty quiet on noise level- so this seems pretty high- We have a electric transformer near the antenna just in a box on the corner of the lot near the antenna but Excel Energy came out and tested it for possible RFI and it was clean- 

3.  Does anyone use the DX Engineering RX antenna array for the low bands on a typical suburb lot for RX with this antenna.  If not, what are you using for a small lot for 160M?  We are using a Alpha Delta B 30-160M sloper which is a lot quiter but even with the high noise of the MA160V, it is hearing much more D in the noise- so we are looking for an alternative 160M listening system but the DX Engineering array seems very expensive- yet we don’t have room for much else- Any suggestions?

Thx for any tips.  We heard several EU’s during the CQWWSSB....was fun! You can see the antenna installed at www.qrz.com under n0ah. 

73 es TU for any responses- 

Paul  N0AH
Anna  W0ANT