Hi Pete, At this time of year, the sunset terminator at Grayland is roughly at 330-340 / 150-160 degrees, based on my quick check of Geoclock. However, the Wellbrook Phased Array is very broad lobed in the forward direction (with a good null on the back side). Signal pickup at 90 degrees to the axis is greatly reduced, too.
This broad lobe is the reason I can successfully use it for Asian TP DX at the campsite; if the antenna was aimed any further to the North it could pick up RFI noises from the computers, monitors, etc. at my DXing position in the yurt. That happened on my previous visit to site #Y114 at Grayland, and I ended up moving the antenna the next night so it aimed at about 300 degrees. A proper Beverage antenna (not always that achievable at Grayland) would be narrower, and at 300 degrees might miss out on the R. Farda signal as it travelled along the grayline of 330-340 degrees. Going from memory of the antenna plots I've seen, the Wellbrook Phased Array has a lobe of approx. 60 degrees (depending on take-off angle and other variables). So it easily covers a large swath of the horizon, including the Farda signal coming from the North-Northwest. It would be great to know the exact angle Farda was taking as it was received on the coast. Perhaps there was some skewing going on, but my understanding about true grayline reception is that signals follow the terminator closely, from transmitter to receiver. 73, Guy Original Message: ----------------- Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:46:06 -0800 From: Pete Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [IRCA] FARDA, ctd. To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America <irca@hard-core-dx.com> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Guy Atkins recently logged Farda-1575 at 0130 GMT (6:30pm PDT) from Grayland with his array oriented toward 300 degrees. Please pardon my naivete on technical matters but it seems to me that at that angle, the signal would be going through a reasonable amount of daylight before it got here whereas if it were coming from the east, it would be going through almost total darkness. Also isn't the hop to the east a shorter distance? What am I missing? Pete Taylor -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web LIVE – Free email based on Microsoft® Exchange technology - http://link.mail2web.com/LIVE _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com