Topband: directional receive and contests

[Eric NO3M]

What I have found to work well is taking advantage of a radio with dual 
receivers, not necessarily "locked", ie. diversity as in the K3, but at 
least on the same frequency.  The main RX is fixed on the "hot" 
direction at the moment, whether that be "NE" during EU peak hours or 
"W" after EU sunrise.  The sub-RX is connected to either my beverage 
"group" or the circular array (8-el BSEF).  In either case, the 
switching controller I use (homebrew) scans through directions 
(selectable, usually skip "N" and the direction already on the main RX), 
with about a 1/2 - 3/4 sec delay between switching, pausing during 
transmit.  I have seen comments in the past on here that scanning was 
never found to be effective, but I gather much of this probably had to 
do with the lack of flexibility in the switching / controlling system 
used (ie. scan delays not adjustable, antennas added/removed from scan 
sequence on the fly, etc).

Having a diversity capable rig is helpful if the station is weak, a 
single button press on my switching controller ("Track" button) will 
switch the opposite receiver selection to an available RX antenna in the 
same direction as the one being requested to be tracked, work him, then 
click the "Track" button again on my controller and the original 
opposite receive antenna selection is restored.

73 Eric NO3M


On 12/28/2015 11:47 AM, Art Snapper wrote:
> Do any of you wish to share your methodology on using directional receive
> antennas during a run?
>
> The inverted-L was way too noisy with the lightning static, to hear weak
> and distant stations.
>
> On the other hand, I am sure I missed some stations, by being on the
> wrong-direction receiving antenna at the time they called.
>
> de Art NK8X
>
> ᐧ
> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband