Topband: CQWW CW 160m

[Charlie]

I have been challenged to work 160m from my location in NE Ohio EN91 for some time now.  Until recently, my best receiving antenna has been my 65' tall tee transmit antenna fed from a MFJ998RT remote tuner and about 40 65' long radials on ground.  I'm in an HOA, but have over 1.5 acres and tall trees for wires).  I have tried a pair of 200' reversible beverages on ground (RBOG) running NE/SW and NW/SE and a single 36" commercial aluminum loop.  Neither of these antennas have ever seemed to outperform the transmit antenna, although the RBOGs definitely provided directivity, but no noise improvement over the transmit antenna.Prior to CQWW CW, I obtained Aziloop hardware/software and constructed a 27' tall K9AY array to use with it.  This combination has allowed me to see improved performance over my transmit antenna for the first time at this location.  I was able to see traces of many spotted DX stations on my panadapter (FLEX6600) but not strong enough to copy.  The stronger DX stations (and sampling of more local stations) that I was able to work include:
I am encouraged with the performance of this array so far and am going to try experimenting with longer ground radials on the K9AY array (now 4 x 21' on ground, no ground rod) and combining this with my transmit antenna and my DX Engineering NCC-2 combiner to attempt additional directivity and noise reduction.Happy Holidays to all es 73,- Charlie KC9LA
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