[Lowfer] How the heck does Ralph receive so well ??

[W5JGV (Ralph Hartwell)]

> Is it the E-Probe ? or maybe the HP SLM ? location ?
> He consistently picks up the same stations over and over,
> including " MP " over 1200 miles, from sunset to sunrise.
> Unbelievable reception capabilities.

Wow!  I'm impressed!  I didn't know it was THAT good. <G>

I think the main answer is that I have a good location.  I took a lot of
time and listening with a portable receiver to pick this QTH.  I am well
away from the city, and the antenna is about 500 feet from the closest
power line and a good distance from the house and ham shack.  The ground
conductivity is excellent as well.

I also took a lot of care in installing the e-probe antenna, and made
sure it has a good ground connection.  I also made sure there was no
conducted RFI over the coax cable to the amplifier at the antenna. It is
powered by a small wall-wart directly from the AC power line.

The local noise on my ham gear often runs less than S1 on all bands.
Power line noise is not often heard, and the worst I have seen is about
S5 to S6.  It is usually a steady corona hiss, during really dry
weather.  The line is only 7.5KV, so corona is not often a problem.

I have several radios connected to the e-probe antenna.  I use a 6-port
TV splitter to feed the various equipment.  I found some splitters
(eBay) that work down to below 50 KHz.  The HP-3586 is not as "hot" as
my ham gear, but it has the advantage of superb stability and a very
effective bandpass filter.  Since it was designed for noise and
distortion measurements, its internal noise is very low.  As a result,
it can suck narrow band weak signals out of the noise much better than
any of my other gear, so I use it on the Grabber.

73,

Ralph   W5JGV - WD2XSH/7