[HCARC] OOPS Wrong Receiving Antenna Link

[Gary and Arlene Johnson]

Dale,

My thinking about things such as Beverrages, K9AY Loops, etc is just in 
thinking about what seems to be the coming SOLAR MINIMUM which is supposed 
to be with us in 2015/16 and for a longer than usual time period.  In fact 
some are predicting another solar minimum on the lines of the Maunder 
Minimum which had zero sunspots for about 80 years or so.  I figure that 
learning to use the 40-160 mhz bands in advance would be something important 
to do.  That, plus soon having the second receiving module in the Elecraft 
K3 would be perfect for connecting a dedicated listening antenna to.  It's 
all moot until I get the Shack built anyway - a process that is a "process", 
and not going nearly as quickly as I would like.  Soon I get to spend a 
weekend with my favorite yard tool - a rental ditch-witch.  How much joy can 
one stuff into one weekend???

Gary J
N5BAA
HCARC Secretary (2013)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dale Gaudier" <dale.gaudier at gmail.com>
To: "Gary and Arlene Johnson" <qltfnish at omniglobal.net>
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 9:19 PM
Subject: Re: [HCARC] OOPS Wrong Receiving Antenna Link


Gary:

There are lots of good designs for receiving antennas that don't take up a 
lot of space. There is the K9AY loop, the EWE, pennant, and several others. 
They will generally get the job done. The tradeoff compared to a full size 
Beverage antenna is some loss in directionality, somewhat lower F/B ratio 
and lower received signal level. Most of these designs do require some sort 
of preamp, especially for the lower bands. They are mostly useful on 160M 
and 80M and, to a lesser extent, 40M. Their biggest advantage is the much 
smaller amount of real estate they require.

They are not magic, but will help in overcoming noise and, for those designs 
that have directional switching, the ability to electronially "steer" the 
receiving pattern to a preferred direction and null out signals from the 
non-preferred direction.

John, AC4CA, put on a program at the club a few months ago about his 
Beverage antennas. He'd be a good resource on the pros and cons of this type 
of receiving antenna. I had a temporary version I used to string up in 
Atlanta for the 160M contests and it worked well, but did take up a lot of 
real estate. I used a EWE design aimed at Europe when I lived in Connecticut 
on a small suburban lot. It worked OK but did need a preamp.

I currently use a K9AY loop at my ranch. It is switchable to to peak signals 
in four different directions (actually, it nulls signals from the 
non-preferred direction). It works fine and only requires an area about 40 
ft. in diameter. I actually have room for full size Beverages, but I wanted 
to get something up quickly for ARRL Sweepstakes and the upcoming 160M 
contests.

You are welcome to come and visit and try out the receiving antenna and 
compare it to reception on my regular low band transmitting antenna.

73,

Dale - K4DG



On Nov 16, 2012, at 2:14 PM, "Gary and Arlene Johnson" 
<qltfnish at omniglobal.net> wrote:

> Here is the proper link, but the other one might be good too.
>
> http://www.arrl.org/files/file/QEX_Next_Issue/Sep-Oct_2012/Bauman_QEX_9_12.pdf
>
> Gary J
> N5"BAA"
> HCARC Secretary (2013)
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