Hi Neil,
You're fortunate if you have low AC noise at your location, which is
especially important for decent LF reception. That's often the limiting
factor for many folks who would like to try LF reception. I'm very fortunate
both for a low noise environment in this rural setting, most of the time,
and for having room to string longwire antennas.
But a year or so ago I was experimenting with a remotely terminated EWE
antenna, and had also just acquired a Wellbrook ALA100 loop preamp. When the
EWE experiments ended, I put the ALA100 in place of the feedline transformer
(and removed the other side's remote termination). This was a vertical
rectangular 100' circumference loop, which didn't take up much room. I left
the ALA100 in place for about 6 months and would regularly compare its
performance to the 1600' E/W unterminated longwire. With the loop also
oriented E/W, I was astounded to find that it heard the faint Pacific LF
beacons almost as well as the longwire, when conditions were good and there
was no morning static.
So if you have low AC noise at LF, you could try an ALA100 with a 50-100'
vertical loop, for LF-HF reception. I found the loop was quite directional;
much more so than a K9AY antenna with loop oriented the same direction as
the ALA100 loop. The ALA100 is also very robust for resistance to
strong-signal overload. I have no strong BCB stations in this area, so
overload from BCB was not an issue. (Of course the loop is bidirectional.)
73,
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Kazaross" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America"
<irca@hard-core-dx.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Some TA activity this evening (25 Mar)
I have also found longer antennas better for LW and noted clear differences
between 300 ft BOGs and 600 footers. I rarely get 189 here in IL and the
only LW audible (I don't spend much time there inspite of 98% of my line
noise now gone as there's almost nothing new from TA land I could log) is
171.
73 KAZ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Hall-Patch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America"
<irca@hard-core-dx.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:06 AM
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Some TA activity this evening (25 Mar)
At 06:43 AM 3/25/2008, Steve wrote:
I was surprised to note some decent LWBC reception from 189 Iceland this
Monday evening, 0244 utc
I noticed a carrier on 1215 here at around 0300UT, but it faded and
didn't return. As for 189....think I'll need a bigger antenna and less
local noise....
best wishes,
Nick
*****************************
Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, BC
Canada
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