Topband: First attempt at beverage antenna, not working as expected

[Alex Goldenberg]

>My first beverage, I was expecting better results.

 

Hello, Mark and others! 

I agree with others that your BV is too short, but 
.

What is your grounding system? 

How long a grounding rods? What kind of ground surface do you have over
there? 

I would be separating the problems here 
.

 

First one is – half wave BV system should have not too “sharp” azimuth
diagram. 

And the elevation angle should be pretty high 

 

Second problem can be – If your BV system was having  bad ground -  your
antenna looks like piece of wire above the ground.

This wire should have more or less same reception on a both ends –front and
back 
. In this (bad) case you will loss 

expected “gain” on your main direction (45 deg) 
.

 

If that is exactly your situation - I would recommend to work in getting as
best performance as possible  from your “poor” BV  :

-          to arrange good grounding system on a both BV ends by using long
(4 ft or longer) grounding rods or/and grounding radials .

-          to “play” with termination resistor value in order to adjust
Front to Back ratio 
. ( and actuaaly – get the best reception from EU
direction ) 

This process will require a bit more time spent running around your BV ,
than expected 
 But 
.just according my own experience – two waves 

Beverage built “somehow” and not adjusted will beat perfect mounted ½ wave
system 


This is one of the few cases , when “longer” definitely means “better” .:-))

 

Apologies for my “cubical” English .

Good luck !

 

Alex Goldenberg VE7IRU

Mailto: alex(at)minstech(dot)com <BLOCKED::mailto:alex at minstech.com> 

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