Topband: E51D and OHQP

[Don Kirk]

Hi Steve,

During 160 meter contests I often experience situations where I can barely
hear a station calling me on my 68 foot base loaded vertical which I use
for transmit but when I switch to any one of my receive pennant antennas
they are often 20db or much more over my noise floor and this typically
happens when the station is within 150 or so miles of my QTH.  Also they
are just about as strong on any pennant I select (40, 160, or 270 degree
pointed pennant) and when this happens this probably indicates they are
pretty much NVIS which would also explain why I can barely hear them on my
TX antenna which is deaf to NVIS based on modeling.  It really is an
amazing phenomena and I often experience this when operating 160 meter
contests which is my passion.

Just FYI and 73,
Don (wd8dsb)

On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 6:42 PM Steve Maki <lists at oakcom.org> wrote:

> And conversely (not that I'm an expert topbander), it might be true that
> a good DX antenna is more than *adequate* for close in contacts in most
> situations.
>
> -Steve K8LX
>
> On 08/24/23 6:28 PM, Mike Waters wrote:
> > Contrary to what you hear repeated on the bands year after year, what Jim
> > said is *exactly* right! :-)
> >
> > I'll add that NVIS is rarely —if ever— useful for working DX on 160m.
> >
> > 73 Mike
> > W0BTU
> > https://web.archive.org/web/20190827040547/http://w0btu.com/
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 24, 2023, 1:40 PM Jim Brown<jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> ... the optimum height for an NVIS antenna is a quarter-wave.
> >> Higher reduces upward radiation, lower increases ground loss. This study
> >> was peer reviewed.
> >>
> >> 73, Jim K9YC
> >>
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