Topband: Small loop Performance

[Dennis]

GM to the group...........for what it is worth, I have had the fortune and 
opportunity to work DX on 160
from the Midwest to the West Coast of the State of Washington and back to 
the mid west and now in
SC on the East Coast.  It took me 27 years to work 125 countries on top band 
using ONLY the TX ant
as also my RX ant.  Yes, I did have a 10' diameter loop made of hardline 
when I lived in the Seattle,
Wa area in Auburn, Wa.  It worked great and worked even better after Mike 
VK6HD sent me an amp
for it.  Things started to look up and the DX started to roll in across the 
loop.

Moving from the west coast back to the midwest didn't really change things 
that much other than the
mean run of JAs was not as good as it was in WA but still plenty of 
opportunity.  Speaking of Opportunity,
I think it is important to mention that many DX station operate through what 
I like to call the Window
of Opportunity which is simply a time frame when they come out of the noise 
peak to a maximum level
and quickly drop out.  This windows sometimes can be as long as 4 to 5 
minutes and as short as just
a few seconds depending on propagation.

I have since explored the realms of many of the various types of RX antennas 
from the BOG to the Pennant,
EWE, FLAG, 2-turn shielded loops and short beverages.  A limited space city 
lot is not exactly the place
to experiment with these antennas, but I have a case where there is a wooded 
area on the back side of the
property line and extends for nearly 3/4 of a black for 180 degrees and 
allows me to put up and try
these antennas.  After much experimenting, I finally settled with the K9AY 
antenna and getting the boards
from Far Circuits and the other hardware and enclosures from Ten Tec and 
Home Depot I built my own K9
assembly for under $125.00 and it is the best answer to a city dwellers DX 
chasing adventures.  It allows
one to hear the DX stations when they come on which is the answer to working 
any DX ,  YOU CAN'T WORK
WHAT YOU CAN'T HEAR & YOU CAN'T ALWAYS WORK WHAT YOU DO; HOWEVER, IT SURE 
CHANGES THE
ODDS ON THINGS WHEN THE GOIN GETS ROUGH.  Without the K9AY antenna system I 
wouldn't have heard or
worked many of the new DX-peditions that showed up this past year on Top 
band.

Just remember this, there are three things that make up an effective and 
efficient top band station.  By far, they
are not Power in the form of KWs, nor Expensive Equipment or 
Cheating.................it is the Following:
1--the antenna
2--The Antenna
3--THE ANTENNA---------------the antenna can't be over exaggerated when it 
comes to performance and efficiency.
Like anything else in life, you get out what you put into the efforts and 
then you reap the rewards of the same at the end.
An efficient transmitting antenna along with an efficient receiving antenna 
will put you into the reward section
a lot sooner than calling for hours to a DX station you simply can't hear. 
The cluster reports that he is active; but
it doesn't mean you are going to work them if you don't have the knowledge 
or equipment to do so.

I see as much as 34 and 30 db of nulling on signals from the back side with 
my K9.  I check it against AA1K, W4ZV, N4IN and
several others statioins to include W8JI and mid west stations just to make 
sure it is still performing.  Being laid up with
and fighting Cancer now for 6 years as well as being retired affords me the 
extra time to do the things I enjoy and still able to
talk about them.   I hope this little excerpt hasn't offended anyone and I 
certainly hope that it has shed a different light on the
less knowledgeable and will create an incentive for them to strive for 
better systems at their locations.  73s all, and see you in the
pileup or whatever.

de 
K4CKDennis........................................................................................

-----Original Message----- 
From: Gary and Kathleen Pearse
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 9:42 PM
To: topband List
Subject: Re: Topband: Small loop Performance

Well, my Wellbrook might work as well yours, as I too have worked CE/K7CA 
with mine on 160 from the Black Hole of KL7. More than once as well.

For me the magic isn't directional gain, it's the improved S/N and the 
ability to null local single point QRN.

If I were able to extend a Beverage or three I'd do so. Unfortunately the 
city snow plows would allow none of that.

Gary NL7Y

>
> However, in terms of pulling
> in DX, again, one loop is generally as good as another.
> Using the loop design I wrote up in the National Contest
> Journal, I've heard DX such as CE/K7CA on my loop, but other people
> have built the same loop design and not gotten such good
> results.  Assuming they properly duplicated the design,
> it is just one of those Your Results May Vary situations.
> It would be very unlikely that the Wellbrook or some other
> loop would produce significantly different results.
>
> Rick N6RK
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK

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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK