[PaQSO] Antenna recommendations/Bands

Wed, 10 Jul 2002 19:25:16 -0400

Bob,

Your most important two bands will be 80/75 and 40.  I daresay you will make
the bulk of your QSO's on those two bands under most conditions --  40
daytime and early evening, 80/75 early to late evening.

Next in importance is something to cover the high bands so that you can pick
up multipliers.

Last, though not least, would be an antenna for 160 for late Saturday after
about 0300 Z.  160 activity is definitely on the upswing, but it's still a
tough one.

I have run all sorts of antennas through the years from various locations.
My best successes from Greene and Somerset Counties were with long wires fed
through a tuner.   I've found that my home verticals put me at something of
a disadvantage in this contest, since they tend to "skip" over local (PA OH
WV MD DE DC NJ NY etc.) stations on 80 & 40 -- not a surprise since they're
great DX antennas.  A broken balun forced me to use a vertical during my
last foray to Forest Co, which was also less than successful.  A horizontal
loop should do pretty well if you have enough time and space to put one up.
I also once used a Butternut HF4B Butterfly for high bands, which did OK
considering it was put up in a hurry and not tuned real well.

But conditions will also come into play, so sometimes the "wrong" antenna
will work when it shouldn't because things are a little "off."  So do the
best you can and make notes for next year!

73, ron wn3vaw

"And they give you cash,
which is just as good as money!"
Yogi Berra, AFLAC Commercial, 2002

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>;
<[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [PaQSO] Antenna recommendations/Bands

As a  neophyte in this  contest,  can someone list the bands, in order of
importance for max qso rate, based on past experience.

Id guess  something like 40-75-20-15-10-160 with current iffy propagation on
the higher bands...but maybe Ill be surprised.

My portable site would be  100w to  40m horizontal loop ( for 40-20-15-10)
thru a tuner, and  an inverted V's for  75 and 160,,,but Im still  listening
and learning...from the pros.

de Bob

PS  Go State....8-4 in 02!  then runs at the national title in 03- 04
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