Topband: Best wire antenna for roof top location.

John Davies couperin at hotmail.com
Thu Aug 13 19:58:17 EDT 2015



From: couperin at hotmail.com
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Best wire antenna for roof top location.
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2015 23:55:30 +0000




9V operations are similar to Jakarta, with huge noise problems in an urban environment.
Over the past 15 years there have only been three or four 9V ops on 160. The most successful was Bob 9V1GO who claimed 100 DXCC entities over a few  seasons. However, these were "internet assisted". He tried everything and eventually ended up with a long wire sloper from his high rise apartment down to ground level, using the building water pipes as a counterpoise. His efforts took hundreds or even thousands of hours to achieve.
Another was Pete 9V1PC (SK) who tried an inverted L from a high-rise, with the top section 30 feet above the roof and the vertical section sloping a bit down to the ground. Noise killed him. He tried a 1/4 wave vertical from the roof on a helium balloon but his neighbours threatened to report him to the police, so he gave up after a few nights. Using 1KW he got out fine but could only hear S9 noise. He got many angry emails from ops around the world because he could not hear them.
I was on a few years ago using a full length dipole above the roof, far too low of course, but with 500 Watts it got out OK. Noise again was the problem. I worked 40 DXCC entities but after many nights of listening to static I gave up. Life is too short.
All of us have tried separate small loop receive antennas, both passive and active, with only marginal improvements. Noise cancelling antennas don't work due to the myriad of noise sources in built-up areas. Short Beverages are a waste of time as well.
Bottom line is it is hardly worth bothering. After you have worked the few big guns in EU and the JAs, Aussies  and Russians on top band there is a quantum leap to the rest of the world, all due to noise.
John 9V1VV 		 	   		   		 	   		  


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