Topband: Some experiments with a short beverage, not succeeding very well

[John Harden, D.M.D.]

I have never had any luck with short beverages, EWE's, FLAGS, low 
dipoles, etc. Total waste of time.

In 2010 I went to the Hi-Z 3, then the Hi-Z 4, and finally the Hi-Z 8. I 
hear stuff I have never heard before..

Since then I added a Waller FLAG on a 34 ft boom at 95 feet...

Best moves I ever made..

73,

John, W4NU

On 6/30/2020 3:04 PM, Brad Rehm wrote:
> Mark,
>
> I didn't see any mention of a preamp.  Signals from a good Beverage are
> typically 20-30 dB below what you'd hear from a dipole or a vertical.
> Everything else you've done looks good.  Keep it up!
>
> 73,
> Brad  KV5V
> Salado, Texas
>
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 1:57 PM Mark Lunday <wd4elg at outlook.com> wrote:
>
>> "Beverages just want to work" is what I have heard.
>>
>> Not having much luck with that here.  I suspect operator/installation
>> error.
>>
>> I did a lot of reading and I must be doing something wrong.
>>
>>
>>
>>    *   250 feet of insulated wire strung out in 030 degrees direction
>> toward EU, pretty straight, varying in height from 4 to 6 feet, running
>> through thick brush with no metal objects or artificial elements along the
>> run.
>>    *   9:1 transformer at feed point with ground rod
>>    *   300 feet of coax, mix of RG-8, MMR-400 to get to the edge of the
>> woods from the house
>>    *   No terminating resistor
>>
>> On bands 160-40, the signals are very weak. I am monitoring WSPR, FT8.   I
>> can hear signals on 160-40 but they are way down compared to dipoles and
>> inverted L on the same bands. Like 20-30 db down. From what I read, I
>> should NOT need an HF pre-amplifier, right?
>>
>> Signals on 30 and 20 seem to be better and I can copy some DX from EU on
>> FT8.
>>
>> I will try installing a new ground rod, the old one is 10 years old and
>> perhaps not making a good ground connection at the feedpoint.   The
>> transformer is brand new, so that's not an issue.  The coax has tested out
>> fine.  Soil is central North Carolina clay, a bit dry at this time.
>>
>> I am guessing performance is poor on 160-40 because of the short length
>> and that it's bi-directional (no terminating resistor), which I am seeing
>> on 30 meters. But I did not think it would be THIS bad on 160-40....
>>
>> Mark Lunday, WD4ELG
>> Greensboro, NC  FM06be
>> wd4elg at arrl.net<mailto:wd4elg at arrl.net>
>> http://wd4elg.blogspot.com
>> SKCC #16439  FISTS #17972  QRP ARCI #16497
>>
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