Topband: Recommended Antennas for 160M/80M Receiving

[Tim Duffy]

Hello Mack

My experience:

I have operated 28 years on 160 meters from the same QTH. I started out with
Beverages - which I thought worked great. The 880 foot one aimed at Europe
was amazing. So I thought.

10 years ago I started experimenting with short vertical RX arrays. Passive
elements at first. The comparison between short RX verticals vs. the
Beverage antennas was encouraging.

Four years ago I installed an 8 circle active RX array (23 ft elements) and
never looked back. Two years ago I took down all the Beverages as they were
never better than the 8 circle at this QTH. Last year I added a RX four
square (same layout as the 8 circle, but just with 4 elements) that is
broadside (500 ft spacing to EU) to the 8 circle. With both in phase - now
achieving 15 dB of RDF. The RX is really good!

One additional data point, Frank W3LPL is no longer using Beverages on 160
meters - just his passive BSEF short vertical arrays.

There are many stations the have great RX results on the Topband with
Beverages. 

73,
Tim K3LR

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mack
McCormick
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2014 9:12 AM
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Topband: Recommended Antennas for 160M/80M Receiving

Friends,

I need to really increase my country count on 160M so I've decided to
installed dedicated receiving antennas. My home is on a 6 acre rectangular
lot so I have room for a couple of 800 ft beverages at 90 degree angles or
an 8 element circular array.

I've been carefully following the discussion about the merits of various 8
element arrays and beverages.

*I "believe" the consensus is that a set of bi-directional beverages will
generally perform better than any 8 element circular array. Am I correct?
I'm specifically speaking about working countries on 160M and 80M.*

I also "believe" the bi-directional antenna choices come down to two
flavors.

The DXEngineering ladder line version or the BevFlex-4 that uses RG-6. *I'm
leaning toward the BevFlex-4.*

I would REALLY appreciate your views on the recommended receive antenna
system if space and money are not big concerns. I'd like to do it correctly
one time and the first time.

Vy 73,

Mack
W4AX
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