[Elecraft] Receiving Antennas

[Jim Brown]

I strongly agree with this, and while I haven't seen that book, I just 
published an applications note about chokes and transformers for 
receiving antennas that includes the concepts quoted from that book.

I often work DX contests running 5W, including most 160M contests. The 
stations that are able to work me are those with good RX antennas. That 
matters a lot in contests like the Stew Perry, where each contact is 
scored by a formula that includes multipliers for distance and for the 
power used on each end.  The guy on the other end of a QSO with a QRP 
station gets extra points for that QSO.

A few years ago, I was attempting to work three DXpeditions that were 
around the Antarctic circle on 160M. I was running legal limit, and they 
could hear me, but the hardest part of the QSO was me hearing them, 
thanks to my local noise. I worked all three of them, but at least one 
of them would not have made it into the log without the Beverage I have 
pointed in that direction.

I also do a lot of contesting running legal limit, and in some contests 
where power is limited to 100W. I have very good TX antennas for 80 and 
40, so a lot of east coast stations are calling me, often with not so 
good antennas. I'm able to hear and work more of them because of the 
Beverage I have pointed in that direction.

Not everyone benefits from RX antennas -- those who don't care to work 
weak stations, and those with very low local noise levels, for example. 
And not everyone CAN install RX antennas -- most of us are lucky to be 
able rig a TX antenna. That was my situation when I lived on city lots 
in the middle of Chicago, and even in the WV city where I grew up!

73, Jim K9YC

On 9/9/2018 5:58 AM, hawley, charles j jr wrote:
> The ARRL recently published a book “Receiving Antennas for the Radio Amateur”. It maintains that “The function of transmitting antennas is to radiate power efficiently, while the function of receiving antennas is to present the best signal-to-noise ratio to the receiver”. It maintains that “using the same antenna for transmitting and receiving roughly coincided with the advent of the transceiver in the 1950s and 1960s.” And “The glaring differences in priorities between transmitting and receiving antennas becomes...well...glaring...when we start looking into the concept of efficiency.” And “some of the most effective receiving antennas are abysmally poor performers when efficiency alone is considered”.
> It’s an interesting book.