Topband: Phasing receive antennas

[Rodman, David]

I have done this with twin SAL-30 antennas.  Spaced about 120' apart.  Difficult to say A/B how much audible improvement is present.  I can say signals are stronger by about 3dB and the improvement on F/B is more noticeable than forward gain.  Not all improvement here is S/N, in my opinion.  Finding the point of best forward gain with the phasing control is approximate, at best.  I just put this up in November, so haven't had time to do significant testing yet.  I plan to phase some of my other antennas with the SAL-30 soon.  Obviously, when I did phase them, both antennas were listening in the same direction.  Construction was detailed so that each antenna was physically as close to the other with regard to orientation, wire elevation above ground and elevation on terrain.  The two antennas were located NE/SW.  The NCC unit seems to be a premier piece of equipment, in my opinion.  Not sure if this is what you wanted to hear, but it is a real world setup.  As far as I know, I am the only person to have this setup, according to Array Solutions.  While I have a Circle 8 array too, beverages are very difficult for me to keep up.  My latest NE beverage was up only 4-5 weeks before a tree fell on it.  I typically get half a season out of them because I have limited clear space at my QTH and the only way for me to have a NE beverage is to go through the woods.  Hence, the reason for my interest in the SAL antennas.  So far, the antennas (I have 3 total) seem to hold up the best of anything I have ever had up, although I was very disappointed when one stopped working after deer ate 2' of one of the pickup lines and chewed through the coiled phasing line (RG6).  Hope this information helps.


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David J Rodman MD
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Ophthalmology
SUNY/Buffalo

Office 716-857-8654