Topband: Which 4 directions?

[Jim Brown]

On Tue,4/7/2015 9:51 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
> I'm planning to build and deploy 4 receiving antennasfor 160M this 
> summer - some mix of BOGs, K9AYs, etc.Question is, where would you aim 
> them, from a QTH 60 miles NW of Washington DC.

I would look at your 160M DXCC list, see what you've worked and what 
you're missing. When I moved here, I put together a spreadsheet of the 
headings of NA cities (for contesting purposes) and DX countries. I 
included distances, then sorted by azimuth. Next, I drew a plan view of 
the clearing around my house and ham shack showing the dozen or so trees 
that looked like suitable supports work wire antennas.

Based on that study, I figured out that I needed a dipole broadside to 
about 50 degrees to work the east coast, EU, and VK/ZL, and a second one 
broadside to about 310 degrees to work Asia and South America. I laid 
out two reversible Beverages using DX Engineering hardware with the same 
headings. I had ACAD on my biz computer, and used that to generate and 
maintain the drawings. My property is not very friendly to the vertical 
RX arrays that Frank suggested. BUT -- I strongly recommend that you 
chase down the presentation on RX antennas that he did last year for 
Contest University at Dayton. In it, he observed that some array types 
are more tolerant of nearby objects than others.

73, Jim K9YC