Topband: Beverages near the ocean

[GeorgeWallner]

On Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:01:35 -0700
  "Robin" <wb6tza at socal.rr.com> wrote:
> I like your definite answer: It Depends!  Truly!
> 
> It unfortunately seems a bit complex to make a rule 
>other than build it and see!  Your experiences match what 
>I would expect, but there seems to be more at work than 
>just distance to seawater.

Robin,

Our experiences match closely.

One key point I tried to make was that whether a Beverage 
will be good or not depends on its distance from the sea 
water. Not only its lateral distance but also its vertical 
distance. If there is sea water under the sand under the 
Beverage, it will most likely not work well. In several 
cases, I have actually dug down to see if there was sea 
water! On Chesterfield, while there was water under the 
sand, it was fresh water! Rain water got trapped between 
the underlying rock and the sand. The Beverage above it 
worked well. It was a reversible Beverage and it had a 
very good F/B. Also, its signal to noise ratio was better 
than our 60' DHDL's. A very similar Beverage that ran 
parallel to the beach did not work: its signal to noise 
ratio was worse than the DHDL's. And, just like you said: 
it was a low noise omni-directional antenna with very weak 
signals. There was salt water under that beverage: the sea 
essentially just continued under the sand.

One now has to ask which is easier? To build the Beverage 
or just dig down 3 to 4 feet to see if there is sea water? 
(I would build the Beverage: I hate digging and like 
building antennas.)


73,

George, AA7JV