Topband: VOA Antennas

[Mike Waters]

The Sterba curtain at the old Bethany, Ohio VOA had 20 dB of gain. I saw it
up close during a ham club trip years ago.

Hams that worked there would sometimes drive out next to it at night, and
connect their mobile transceivers to it for a night of DX fun.

The RF field in front of that antenna was so intense that one could
sometimes hear the program audio emanate from tiny arcs in a low, rusty
barbed wire fence along the road in front of that huge Sterba.

That enormous antenna, fed with huge Collins and Crosley transmitters
re-defined the word "awesome". :-)

Across the road from that fence were a number of newer houses, BTW. Helps
prove that shortwave never hurt anyone, doesn't it?

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com

On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 12:40 PM, dick.bingham <dick.bingham at gmail.com>
wrote:

> What was the gain/beamwidth of these arrays ? The ERP must have been
> incredible given the high power transmitters used plus the antenna gain .
> Migratory Geese could have warmed themselves as they flew thru the region.
>
> 73 Dick/w7wkr CN97uj
>