[UK-CONTEST] CQWW 160 CW-M2D

[johndunnington]

Just to add for the more technical bods around..

<<85 ft vertical with many radials/ground system>>...actually a 250ft square
ground screen with 16000ft of buried wire
                                                     plus a total of 36
135ft radials laid on the ground. It is a 92ft
                                                     top and bottom loaded
vertical to allow the base to be grounded.
                                                     We plan to increase
this to 105ft in the spring and increase the
                                                     top loading.


<<A K9AY rx antenna>>.this is the K9AY Double Loop with 4-directions remote
switched fed via AY Technologies preamp.

The most interesting "find" was to use the full size 80m 4-Square fed via a
KD9SV Front End saver which has Bandpass Filters and a variable gain preamp.
The DXpedition Model has also a selector switch for up to 4-Rx Antennas. So
Vic had the best of all worlds no less than 3-Rx Antennas and Instant
switching between Tx and selected RX Ant. We were both surprised how well
the 80m 4-Square performed with good directivity and good side rejection
patterns. However all options are needed as no one Rx Antenna is always
best..at times the Tx Vertical was equal to any Rx Antenna.

During Vic's sleep periods I spent time doing "Daylight QSO's" best were
VY2ZM @0944z,VO2AC @0849z, UA9CDV @1349Z. Quite surprising the level of
activity during daylight hours. Some heards inc JT1 (1432z), ZL6QH (1556z).

<<plus a very useful outboard audio filter suprisingly>> this is the Time
Wave 599 who's AGC system and Random Noise Filter are quite outstanding even
when hanging into the Orion. Like lots of folks I now live in an area which
has seen noise levels increase from 5-years ago S0-S1 was the norm now it is
S6 or 7 and much higher usually at the wrong time.

I take my hat off to guys like Justin and Vic who can sit there for hours on
end often listening to static crashes and nothing else... I must be getting
old or something..

Cheers

John G3LZQ