Topband: The band sans noise

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi Greg,

My noise is not S-9 - at least not over the entire band nor constant 
around the clock. I do have some manmade noise issues. In my case a 
mag-loop antenna on receive has been a lot of help. I doubt there is any 
perfect antenna. But it won't cost you a lot to brew a mag loop from 
some soft drawn copper tubing, a half decent variable cap and some wire, 
glue, screws, plastic or wood supports. Just whiz it together for a 
'proof of concept' at your location. If it seems useful build a better 
version or reinforce the one you have made. Things need to be 
weatherproof to live outdoors very long.

The nulls are the main 'feature' of those antennas and can be sharp and 
deep looking through the donut on each side. They are fairly narrow but 
if you rotate the antenna and/or tilt it the nulls will be *OBVIOUS*. 
Due to the size (about five or six feet diameter for top band) the 
signal strength will be less than for a five element yagi at 150 feet. I 
have not needed a preamp with my radios to hear some DX. The tuning is 
very touchy too. Without a reduction gear (or similar) drive you'll need 
a light tough on the tuning cap and you may need to hold your breath to 
get it right. I have a dual gang tuning cap with the reduction gear 
built in and that helps a lot.

So spend an afternoon putting something together on the cheap and try 
it. You won't have much to lose (the materials can be re-used) and it 
may help you.

73,

Bill  KU8H


On 04/20/2016 07:38 AM, Greg's wrote:
> Always I have wanted to permamanently run Topband, but  there is just too much QRM and RFI at BOTH my station locations.
>
> After a late season ice-storm took out power for much of my area last weekend, I was SHOCKED at the activity and weak signals that were now heard. Totally amazing- but also a disappointment -as it proved just  how much of our S9  hash-noise is manmade, electrically generated or supported  RFI from "inferior design" devices, bad power line connections etc. It is not
> just atmospheric.
>
> Are quiet magnetic loops the answer? I can't believe they will come close to providing what I heard ( or didn't hear!) , but am open to advice. Is it worth having a 160m system on standby for those opportune times when an electrical blackout gives me my bands back? I wonder.
>
> Q For you folk in the quiet locations, enjoy and protect!
>
> But it was almost a religious experience hearing a 160 metre band full of signals over an S-0 background noise. Yes. All other bands from 70 KHz to UHF were, equally ethierial! Spectacular experi
> Z
>
>   
>
>   Tthanks for letting me share my awakening.! Oh, if only it were like this all the time!
>
> Greg
> VE3FAX
> FN04
>
>