Topband: Receiving loops

[Shoppa, Tim]

I want to try a new receiving antenna for the summer Stew Perry. Last winter was my first foray onto 160M and I really felt like an alligator. I could work everyone I could hear, with just 100W. I think that means I need a better receive antenna. If you look at my score in the winter Stew Perry I think I did great QSO-number wise, but my average distance was very poor, I'm guessing typical alligator.

I have tried pennants and K9AY's over the winter with little success. Compared to my transmitting antenna (A "T" with a poor radial system) most signals were still better, S/N wise, on my transmitting antenna. I feel like I must've been doing something wrong. Still the fact that a few signals came in on the loop with by ear much better S/N, maybe I was on the right track and just didn't try hard enough.

I will be trying a small tuned magnetic loop tonight (e.g. the last one at http://www.w8ji.com/magnetic_receiving_loops.htm with the 9:1 transformer) . And maybe a terminated beverage but I'm limited to about 150'... well maybe I could run something longer down the driveway as long as I clean it up before the sun comes up and the neighbors see.

I was fairly impressed with small tuned magnetic loops when I was doing some BCB DX'ing several years ago. I wasn't comparing with beverages or anything.

Tim N3QE