One of the challenges of AM is that because the power is spread amongst carrier and two sidebands the power transfer from the rig to the sky has to be maximized in order to have quality QSOs as opposed to "Sorry OM dinner bell, gotta go."
Ur Carolina Windom is too low, especially at the ends where you are loosing a lot of power to ground due to coupling. It may seem to be okay because if condx are good and/or you are operating cw or ssb you may be told you are "booming in" by a polite operator but if at that moment you could do an a/b with the antenna Bernie recommends I guarantee you'd probably gain 10 dB. Those C.W. antennas use baluns (another power waster) so you will be far better off with a 1/2 wave 75 m. dipole fed in the center with open wire feed and a Johnson KW matchbox or some other link coupled tuner, i.e. the antenna Bernie described. Get it up at least 50 feet and you will be amazed. Don't get me wrong, it won't be a 75 meter dx antenna; it will still be a cloud burner but the loss to ground will be way lower and with 100 to 200 watts carrier you will have a pretty strapping signal unless condx are really bad (like they have been lately). If you can go higher that's even better. 73 Rob K5UJ On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 7:56 AM, Brian - KF5CCN <bzwie...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > I have a Carolina Windom Dipole I use on AM and SSB, oriented with ends N/S > at about a 30 deg. downward slope and ends 4 ft. above ground. I get good > reception and coverage all around the compass. But on AM I seem to be week on > AM toward Dallas and Oklahoma. I "boom in" on 75 meters in Dallas, OK, LA, > MS, and other states. > Is there a particular antenna and/or antenna configuration that is more > effective on AM? I know RF is RF, but, I am still learning. > > Thanks and 73 > Brian/KF5CCN > > ______________________________________________________________ > Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net > AMRadio mailing list > Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/amradio@mailman.qth.net/ > List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html > List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio > Post: AMRadio@mailman.qth.net > To unsubscribe, send an email to amradio-requ...@mailman.qth.net with > the word unsubscribe in the message body. > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/amradio@mailman.qth.net/ List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Post: AMRadio@mailman.qth.net To unsubscribe, send an email to amradio-requ...@mailman.qth.net with the word unsubscribe in the message body. This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
