Topband: HiZ 8 circle array 1st impression

[Bob Kupps]

Hi we finally got our HiZ 80 and 160m arrays up and running and the performance appears to be as advertised. We used 6m guyed steel tubes mounted on PVC insulators for the 160m elements and 3m wires inside PVC for the concentric 80m array. Each element has a 1m copper clad ground rod in good soil. The base preamps are inside plastic pop bottles and the feed lines are inside PVC tubing for rodent protection. The rest of the hardware sits in a plastic storage bin at the center on top of the big rolls of delay cable. We used the wireless remotes for control and voltage injectors for power that required 22 VDC at the shack through 100m of RG6 feed line. We ended up not using the included feed line preamps due to our outrageous noise levels but did use a band or low pass filter at the antenna output and the supplied impedance transformers at the shack.
The closest element is about a half wave from the transmit vertical that we did not detune after hearing no change in noise levels with it open or grounded. HS0ZEE is a few dozen wavelengths away but in between two main directions; S9 from the front 2 and S4 off the back 2 directions was the only objective test I could really make. Most DX signals in the Stew could not be heard past one direction either side of peak.

I haven't used the 80m array much yet but its performance appears to be roughly on a par with our 3 el yagi. I am hoping to see an improvement since the yagi is up 3/4 wave and so has a very strong high angle second lobe absent on the vertical array, and a wider beam width. We will see...it's sure easy to check the path compared against a 1/2 RPM beam anyway and it will be interesting to try them in diversity.
Listening on either of these arrays on a second K3 while transmitting on the 160 vertical was impossible due to overload, even cross band although maybe because we only have a high pass filter for the 80m array. We also have issues with computer and monitor noise getting into the rx path on this system. 
HS0ZKX will be operating the station 4 weeks from now in the CQ 160 so we hope to see you in the log. 
73 and good DX in 2016 Bob HS0ZIA