Topband: VK6LK SK
G’day Very sorry to hear of the passing of Robin VK6LK. The passion of Robin and his great friend Mike VK6HD for lowband DXing was an inspiration to me when first arriving in Western Australia in 1989. The old SSB DX window just below 3.8MHz at local sunrise won’t sound quite the same – Robin’s presence there was as regular as clockwork for most of the last quarter of a century. Vy 73 Steve, VK6VZ --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: LU5OM shortened dipole (inverted vee) doing a nice job
G’day One of the great myths about 160m is that low angle radiation is always needed to work DX on the topband. The other is that almost any kind of vertical antenna will always beat a relatively low (in terms of a wavelength) horizontal one for 160m DXing. It all depends on where you live. The best advice I was ever given on antennas was by Les Moxon G6XN, who suggested that some locations predominantly suit a particular type of polarisation and one should always try both. Even better, if possible, have both a horizontally polarised and a vertically polarised antenna for your favourite low-band – and switch between them regularly. In Western Australia, our ground conductivity is so poor that on 160m even vertical antennas over as full-size ground screen lose so much signal in the far-field that a ‘cloud-warmer’ dipole under a quarter wave length high will outperform them. This situation isn’t helped by the south-west of WA having a geomagnetic latitude that suits horizontal antennas at least as well as vertical ones. Mike VK6HD, Western Australia’s greatest topband DXer with around 260 countries confirmed, found a simple inverted vee dipole about 100’ high generally outperformed his quarter-wave inverted-L with an 80’ vertical section over 132 quarter-wave radials. Similarly, in VK6 I have tried a heap of different vertical antennas, over a variety of high-quality elevated and buried radial systems, and have always come back to using dipole antennas, of a similar height to that used by Mike and my friend Phil VK6GX. In my case, this has resulted in 236 countries confirmed. If you have losses in the far field from poor soil conductivity, all the radials in the world and a full-size vertical can’t fix this. ;-) Vy 73 Steve, VK6VZ/G3ZZD (topbander since 1971) I wondered about the inverted-L. My guess is that it had a poor ground system. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Jul 17, 2017 9:22 AM, "K1FZ-Bruce" wrote: There are always exceptions. A few years ago there was someone that had a inverted V that worked well for DX. It was found that it was feed with open wire feeders that acted as a vertical antenna with top loading. If your antenna works well be happy. Ham radio is a great hobby. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: LU5OM shortened dipole (inverted vee) doing a nice job
The inverted L has some quirks that if not managed can impact performance. They don't do well if the bend is supported by a tower, or if there are nearby "weed" parasitic elements from 40 and 80 dipoles/vees lacking the blocking to isolate them on 160. L's don't do well if there are trees inside the bend. Also an L over radials will have quite a bit more current in the radials beneath the horizontal. This unbalances the efficiency of the radials as normally found beneath a T or straight vertical. Comparing an L to an inverted vee on top band is a pretty murky subject. Some would say that arrival angles via grey line propagation can be quite high, and thus a high angle antenna might be a lot more useful if grey line is a frequent mode. There is also a useful NVIS mode that is rarely touted for DX, but would come into play comparing vee's to whatever if shorter distances are important. 73, Guy K2AV On Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 9:36 AM, Steve Ireland wrote: > G’day > > One of the great myths about 160m is that low angle radiation is always > needed to work DX on the topband. The other is that almost any kind of > vertical antenna will always beat a relatively low (in terms of a > wavelength) horizontal one for 160m DXing. It all depends on where you > live. > > The best advice I was ever given on antennas was by Les Moxon G6XN, who > suggested that some locations predominantly suit a particular type of > polarisation and one should always try both. Even better, if possible, have > both a horizontally polarised and a vertically polarised antenna for your > favourite low-band – and switch between them regularly. > > In Western Australia, our ground conductivity is so poor that on 160m even > vertical antennas over as full-size ground screen lose so much signal in > the far-field that a ‘cloud-warmer’ dipole under a quarter wave length high > will outperform them. This situation isn’t helped by the south-west of WA > having a geomagnetic latitude that suits horizontal antennas at least as > well as vertical ones. > > Mike VK6HD, Western Australia’s greatest topband DXer with around 260 > countries confirmed, found a simple inverted vee dipole about 100’ high > generally outperformed his quarter-wave inverted-L with an 80’ vertical > section over 132 quarter-wave radials. > > Similarly, in VK6 I have tried a heap of different vertical antennas, over > a variety of high-quality elevated and buried radial systems, and have > always come back to using dipole antennas, of a similar height to that used > by Mike and my friend Phil VK6GX. In my case, this has resulted in 236 > countries confirmed. > > If you have losses in the far field from poor soil conductivity, all the > radials in the world and a full-size vertical can’t fix this. ;-) > > Vy 73 > > Steve, VK6VZ/G3ZZD (topbander since 1971) > > > I wondered about the inverted-L. My guess is that it had a poor ground > system. > > 73, Mike > www.w0btu.com > > On Jul 17, 2017 9:22 AM, "K1FZ-Bruce" wrote: > > > There are always exceptions. > > A few years ago there was someone that had a inverted V that worked well > for DX. > It was found that it was feed with open wire feeders that acted as a > vertical antenna with top loading. > > If your antenna works well be happy. Ham radio is a great hobby. > > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > _ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: VK6LK SK
G'day Steve, Robin and Mike were great DX friends. Got together usually weekly to talk about DX.. Early on with poor radios they had QRM problem if they both on 160 meters at the same sunrise time. They decided Mike would take 160 meters and Robin 80 meters (75 SSB) this time period.. Robin had two Beverage antenna toward North America, They were arranged and feed in a V Beam fashion, terminated and high enough so a "Joey" would not take them down. Salt water came up to his QTH underground, so he had a system to catch rainwater from the roof of his house and store it in very large tanks for home use.. His vertical antenna(s) radials were very effective over this below ground salt water possibly acting as raised radials. Robin did work other bands including 40 SSB in his later years. Worked him once on 10 meter SSB from my mobile in the early 1990's. 73 Bruce-K1FZ http://www.qsl.net/k1fz/beverage_antenna.html On Mon, 24 Jul 2017 21:01:08 +0800, "Steve Ireland" wrote: G’day Very sorry to hear of the passing of Robin VK6LK. The passion of Robin and his great friend Mike VK6HD for lowband DXing was an inspiration to me when first arriving in Western Australia in 1989. The old SSB DX window just below 3.8MHz at local sunrise won’t sound quite the same – Robin’s presence there was as regular as clockwork for most of the last quarter of a century. Vy 73 Steve, VK6VZ _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: LU5OM shortened dipole (inverted vee) doing a nice job
Hi gentlemen, Way back in time - 1982 - I had my first QSO with Mike which actually was the first QSO on 160 between SM and VK. Still recall his pounding signals. Since then we had a lot of QSO:s , always with good signals. RIP Mike! Len SM7BIC -Ursprungligt meddelande- Från: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] För Guy Olinger K2AV Skickat: den 24 juli 2017 16:22 Till: Steve Ireland Kopia: TopBand List Ämne: Re: Topband: LU5OM shortened dipole (inverted vee) doing a nice job The inverted L has some quirks that if not managed can impact performance. They don't do well if the bend is supported by a tower, or if there are nearby "weed" parasitic elements from 40 and 80 dipoles/vees lacking the blocking to isolate them on 160. L's don't do well if there are trees inside the bend. Also an L over radials will have quite a bit more current in the radials beneath the horizontal. This unbalances the efficiency of the radials as normally found beneath a T or straight vertical. Comparing an L to an inverted vee on top band is a pretty murky subject. Some would say that arrival angles via grey line propagation can be quite high, and thus a high angle antenna might be a lot more useful if grey line is a frequent mode. There is also a useful NVIS mode that is rarely touted for DX, but would come into play comparing vee's to whatever if shorter distances are important. 73, Guy K2AV On Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 9:36 AM, Steve Ireland wrote: > G’day > > One of the great myths about 160m is that low angle radiation is > always needed to work DX on the topband. The other is that almost any > kind of vertical antenna will always beat a relatively low (in terms > of a > wavelength) horizontal one for 160m DXing. It all depends on where > you live. > > The best advice I was ever given on antennas was by Les Moxon G6XN, > who suggested that some locations predominantly suit a particular type > of polarisation and one should always try both. Even better, if > possible, have both a horizontally polarised and a vertically > polarised antenna for your favourite low-band – and switch between them > regularly. > > In Western Australia, our ground conductivity is so poor that on 160m > even vertical antennas over as full-size ground screen lose so much > signal in the far-field that a ‘cloud-warmer’ dipole under a quarter > wave length high will outperform them. This situation isn’t helped by > the south-west of WA having a geomagnetic latitude that suits > horizontal antennas at least as well as vertical ones. > > Mike VK6HD, Western Australia’s greatest topband DXer with around 260 > countries confirmed, found a simple inverted vee dipole about 100’ > high generally outperformed his quarter-wave inverted-L with an 80’ > vertical section over 132 quarter-wave radials. > > Similarly, in VK6 I have tried a heap of different vertical antennas, > over a variety of high-quality elevated and buried radial systems, and > have always come back to using dipole antennas, of a similar height to > that used by Mike and my friend Phil VK6GX. In my case, this has > resulted in 236 countries confirmed. > > If you have losses in the far field from poor soil conductivity, all > the radials in the world and a full-size vertical can’t fix this. ;-) > > Vy 73 > > Steve, VK6VZ/G3ZZD (topbander since 1971) > > > I wondered about the inverted-L. My guess is that it had a poor ground > system. > > 73, Mike > www.w0btu.com > > On Jul 17, 2017 9:22 AM, "K1FZ-Bruce" wrote: > > > There are always exceptions. > > A few years ago there was someone that had a inverted V that worked > well for DX. > It was found that it was feed with open wire feeders that acted as a > vertical antenna with top loading. > > If your antenna works well be happy. Ham radio is a great hobby. > > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > _ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: LU5OM shortened dipole (inverted vee) doing a nice job
> On Jul 24, 2017, at 1:36 PM, Steve Ireland wrote: > > If you have losses in the far field from poor soil conductivity, all the > radials in the world and a full-size vertical can’t fix this. ;-) Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what soil conductivity numbers might define “poor soil conductivity” for low band vertical antennas/polarization losses? Here in central Texas with arid rocky poor soil I suspect the soil conductivity is pretty low as determined from the table in Low Band DXing. With many years of using a 78 ft shunt-fed tower with 12-16 on ground radials on 160m I have no complaints with my results. I suspect it’s a pretty inefficient 160m radiator with high far field losses. However, with using an amp for xmit on 160m my limiting factor for success has been effective receiving. As the same time while I’ve never used an inverted V/dipole on 160m there are 160m DX’ers in this region who have been very successful using inverted V/dipoles at moderate heights also running QRO. 73 Phil NA4M -. .- ….- -- Phil Duff na4m[at]suddenlink[dot]net philip-duff.pixels.com tinyurl.com/Philip-Duff-Alamy _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: (no subject)
I remember working Robin, VK6LK, almost every evening on 3.7 SSB together with SM6DOI, SM7CRW, SM4AAH and many others. He always came up around 9 pm local time, his sunrise. After that I qsy´d to top band and worked VK6HD on cw. That was back in 1985. The good old time! SM6CPY _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
