Having totally struck out raising this topic on Towertalk, I'm bringing it here in the hopes of getting some solid advice.
I have a 20 dB ARR preamp of the type praised by ON4UN in his book. I want to use it with a variety of RX antennas - loops, BOGs, etc. - that have very low output levels. My choice is whether to put it at the antenna end, incurring the added complexity of sending 12V DC to it via the coax, or to put it in the shack. I realize that if this was 2 GHz, there'd be no question where it should go. But for 160-meter purposes, I don't know. I am wondering if putting it at the antenna end might enhance directivity, by amplifying the signals from the directive antenna relative to any pickup on the 350-foot feedline. I will be trying to choke as much common mode current as possible, at both ends, but am not sure how effective I can be. On another topic, I am building a hub for BOGs. Rather than switch at 75 ohms and putting a matching transformer on each BOG, I wonder if it would be feasible/desirable to switch at the high-impedance side and use a single transformer. It would certainly simplify the hub. Any advice would be much appreciated. -- 73, Pete N4ZR The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com, spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 and arcluster.reversebeacon.net, port 7000 _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK