[Milsurplus] [Boatanchors] RAK question

[Richard]

E-Field probes aren't bad when properly located.  When they're shadowed 
by trees or buildings they don't hear much.  I put one 200 feet into the 
woods to get away from noise, and it sort-of worked.  I moved it to the 
back of the yard but under trees and it was no better.  Then I put it in 
the middle of the back yard, and it was worse, being shadowed by trees 
and the house.  Now it's five feet above the house and works pretty 
good.  Comparing it to a random wire, performance is about the same at 
MF, but as frequency goes down the wire becomes quieter, and the probe 
soldiers on.  My probe hears SAQ on 17.2 Kc about as well as the 500 
foot Beverage, maybe better.  On the random wire nothing.  I also have a 
tuned loop, 3.5 feet on each side, which works well, but picks up noise 
from the house wiring.  That RF quiet location must be next to the 
Fountain of Youth - may I find both of 'em.

Richard, AA1P


On 12/25/2017 02:03 PM, David Stinson wrote:
> re: Using the LF RAK.
> A random wire as on HF won't do unless you are listening to strong BCB signals.  You'll find a great deal of common-mode and switching supply noise, often to the exclusion of every other signal.  For a beginning, I recommend a tuned loop you can use to null-out noise sources. Not as hard to make as it looks.  I often use just the little Palomar Ferrite Rod Loop with its little loop amplifier. Used to copy the 630 Mtr experimentals with just that on my night stand. Last night, I had the little loop on top of the receiver in the barn and was able to copy the 486 KC carrier on a fade-up with no trouble.  The barn has a tin roof and tin on three sides.  I could hear because the loop nulls local noise.
>
> Others love E-Field probes.  I wouldn't own one.  IMHO, those who praise E-Field probes, do so because they've never been in an RF-Quiet location with anything else, like a ground-running beverage or a tuned loop.  Moreover, E-probes do nothing to reject local noise.  Others opinions will, of course, vary, but I'd bet coffee and donuts if I could take them out on an "LF Dx-pedition" with different antennas, they might throw rocks at the E-Field on LF ;-)
>
> Best of luck with your LF adventures and Merry Christmas,
> Dave S.
>
>
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