Topband: Recommended Antennas for 160M/80M Receiving

[Mack McCormick]

Jim, Tim, and Tim,

Thank you all for some really great advice. Perhaps I should look more
closely at the 8 element receiving arrays. Are most of the 160M contest
stations now using receiving array's vs. beverages? Since I'm moving to a
new QTH I'd really like to have a best practice installation and not have
to experiment a lot.

Vy 73,

Mack
W4AX


Mack


On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 at 9:58 AM, Jim Garland <4cx250b at miamioh.edu> wrote:

> Mack, I use two DXE bi-directional beverages, each 720 ft long, fed with a
> single 300 ft length of direct burial quad shield RG6. The DXE transformers
> and relay switching boxes use high quality weather-proof construction. That
> said, the ladder line caused me nothing but continuing maintenace
> headaches.
> Furthermore, the little DXE plastic ladder line clamps are very flimsy and
> broke within a few months. I finally gave up and replaced the ladder line
> with parallel lengths of WD-1a field telephone wire (the twisted pair
> version), supported on 4x4 posts with ceramic insulators. The electrical
> performance appears to be the same as with ladder line, but it makes for a
> much more robust installation and the field wire is much cheaper than
> ladder
> line.
> 73,
> Jim W8ZR
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mack
> McCormick
> > Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2014 7:12 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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