Topband: NVIS Antenna

[m.r.c.]

Receive only comment.

A low dipole  - 15 feet average, uneven ground - Receive Only - accounted for something like 40% of the 
contacts with NA from XZ0A.  During the first 2 hours at Sunset, the low dipole heard signals that the 
admittedly not all that good beverages could not hear at all.  Site had a pretty good noise floor for 
Asia.  on an island on Diesel power.

This was during a higher portion of the sunspot cycle so the polar oval was quite large preventing most 
of NA from having a clean direct path.  Our signal - 1500W into a elevated radial elevated feedpoint 
full size quarter wave tower - was invariably heard via the SW path when heard east of the Midwest. so we 
were dealing with ducting and greyline bending.

the point is - again - you can never have too many receive antennas.  An NVIS receive antenna can 
significantly benefit your receive capabilities.  YMMV especially based on location.  Equatorial regions 
seem to benefit more from NVIS RX and or Horizontal polarization.

On Transmit it appears the ground absorption negates the benefits for longer haul paths where better 
efficiency is needed - until you get the dipole high enough to stop heating the gophers.

Robin  WA6CDR

XZ0A-XZ1N, etc




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wes" <wes_n7ws at triconet.org>
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2020 13:03
Subject: Re: Topband: NVIS Antenna


> When I decided on the new challenge of working DXCC on 160 for my ninth band, I added some extensions 
> on my 80-meter inverted-vee , (apex at 45') and tied them off on some handy saguaro cacti about head 
> high. You don't climb these :-) I worked my first 80 or so countries with it. And this is from southern 
> AZ, not Maine. K3S + KPA500.
>
> Wes N7WS
>
>
> On 3/15/2020 12:47 PM, Carl Luetzelschwab wrote:
>> For those who are antenna challenged, don't sell a 160m inverted-vee at low
>> height too short.
>>
>> My 160m antenna at the moment is an inverted-vee at an apex of 45 feet.
>> Additionally, the last third of each end is at 90 degrees to the main
>> portion and horizontal at only 7 feet or so off the ground. It's what fits
>> on the property.
>>
>> In the CQ 160m CW contest in January 2017. I came away with 44 states
>> (missed ME, ID, NE and AK), 7 Canadian provinces (VE9, VY2, VE2, VE3, VE5,
>> VE6 and VE7) and 17 DXCC entities (mostly Caribbean, Central America,
>> Mexico and South America, with a few Europeans, a North African and a KH6
>> in the mix). I was seldom #1 in a pile-up, but eventually I usually got
>> through with 800 Watts to the inv-vee.
>>
>> It's better than no antenna.
>>
>> Carl K9LA
>> _________________
>> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
>
>
> _________________
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