[Lowfer] lowfer KE

[Douglas Williams]

Zack, I've been using active whips/e-probes for years now, at heights
ranging from 10 feet to 25 feet. I haven't run any actual experiments, but
anecdotally, I have noticed no difference whatsoever between having the
base of the antenna 10 ft off the ground or 25 ft off the ground (in the
same spot in my backyard). Right now, I have it 10 ft off the ground, and
it is working FB. The biggest concern is keeping it away from trees and
noise sources.

One caveat: I live on top of a hill. That may make some difference.

-Doug WB4DW



On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 10:23 AM Zack Widup <w9sz.zack at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have built the AMRAD e-probe antenna but have yet to put it up somewhere.
> I have read that it performs best the highest you can get it, and best
> higher than anything else in the vicinity. How critical is this? I could
> put it up alongside one side of my house, where it would be well away from
> trees, etc. I can put it on a 20 foot pvc mast. The trouble right now is
> that I need an extension ladder to get to the crest of the house roof and I
> don't have one.
> I could put it lower but wonder how well it will perform.
>
> 73, Zack W9SZ
>
> On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 8:43 AM Douglas Williams <
> williamsdoug1966 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > LOL!
> >
> > Kidding aside, KA4SEY, I use an active whip in the backyard and the
> > receiver currently in use is a Kenwood TS-890, which I purchased last
> year.
> > Prior to that, I used an ICOM R-75 and a Winradio SDR, which both
> performed
> > well.
> >
> > The trick to using active whips for LF reception is you have to get them
> > physically away from noise sources, the biggest of which, most of the
> time,
> > is the very house you live in. Common mode chokes on the coax out to the
> > antenna can also help. For a receiver, you want one that is sensitive at
> > LF, and has good IMD characteristics. Also helpful are a frequency
> readout
> > to 1Hz, and narrow CW filters (if you plan to hunt beacons aurally).
> >
> > In the past I have used, with success, an active loop and my old amateur
> > radio dipole with a tuner that I copied from an old Burhans article. I
> > didn't like having to fool with a rotator, and the ham dipole picked up a
> > lot of noise at my QTH.
> >
> > Do you have anything to receive LF with? If you live near beacon KE, that
> > might be problematic.
> >
> > -Doug
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 9:33 PM John Hamer <wilbur0611 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I had one of those when I was a kid.  It was inside a teddy ruxpin
> > stuffed
> > > bear.
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 9:21 PM Douglas Williams <
> > williamsdoug1966 at gmail.com
> > > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 6:27 PM KA4SEY <ka4sey at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Nice captures Doug, Im glad it started coming in. What's your
> recieve
> > > > > setup consist of? It seems like it works pretty well. Thanks.Kasey,
> > > > KA4SEY
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > I use a phased e-probe/magnetic loop/random wire antenna fed into a
> > > > homebrew quadruple superheterodyne direct downconversion receiver
> with
> > > > diversity tuning, similar to what Jay uses with his ONION network.
> > > >
> > > > John Davis could probably explain it better.
> > > >
> > > > 73, Doug WB4DW
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