[TowerTalk] 160m Receive Antenna

[Roger Parsons]

Many thanks to all who replied both on the list and
privately.

Several suggested a low dipole as an alternative. That
antenna I already have and whilst it does work well it
is more or less omni-directional. It is also pretty
high angle, and my closest population centre (Toronto)
is some 400km south of me and full of zero pointers!
Nevertheless, there are certainly times when the low
dipole is by far the best receive antenna on DX
signals. 

It seems to me that a directional antenna should give
me a 3dB (or so) improvement in s/n, and so I have
discounted antennas such as loops, which while they
may give some improvement on local noise have a
pattern much like a dipole.

I am not bothered by local noise on the receive
antennas as they are several thousand feet from any
houses or power lines, but of course atmospheric noise
can come from all over.

Andrei, RA6LBS, said that he can switch his Beverages
between 1000' and 500' and notices a dramatic
difference between the two settings. I have used short
Beverages in the past and found them pretty good, so I
think I will go that way, particularly as it is the
easiest thing to do. (I can switch between different
remote receive antennas and have a spare position so
all that is necessary is a matching transformer, some
wire and a termination.)

Thanks again for the input.

73 Roger
VE3ZI


Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com