Add me to the list of diversity operators. I typically have one beverage in one ear and some other directional antenna in the other. For the Stew - this was a 1200 foot beverage towards the East coast and a Hi-Z array (4 directions) in the other ear. I would typically have the 4 SQ also East to help with those QRP stations - and then switch it towards the West when the JAs are coming through. If a weak station calls - I check the 4 SQ to see if they are coming in from the North or South. A lot of my W6 QSOs were with stations using marginal antennas and they are pretty weak when things are pointing East.
At my previous QTH - I had five directions covered by beverages and I could quickly switch directions using a control box with momentary pushbuttons: http://www.kkn.net/n6tr/160/bev/BevBox2.jpg (shown before I got my K3). With the antennas both East - the signals float around inside my head as QSB happens. I typically find that with one antenna - I often miss part of a callsign with QSB - but with two - I can often get all of the call the first time. This is very noticeable on 80 meters when working Japan. Tree N6TR On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 9:18 AM, Eric NO3M <n...@no3m.net> wrote: > What I have found to work well is taking advantage of a radio with dual > receivers, not necessarily "locked", ie. diversity as in the K3, but at > least on the same frequency. The main RX is fixed on the "hot" direction > at the moment, whether that be "NE" during EU peak hours or "W" after EU > sunrise. The sub-RX is connected to either my beverage "group" or the > circular array (8-el BSEF). In either case, the switching controller I use > (homebrew) scans through directions (selectable, usually skip "N" and the > direction already on the main RX), with about a 1/2 - 3/4 sec delay between > switching, pausing during transmit. I have seen comments in the past on > here that scanning was never found to be effective, but I gather much of > this probably had to do with the lack of flexibility in the switching / > controlling system used (ie. scan delays not adjustable, antennas > added/removed from scan sequence on the fly, etc). > > Having a diversity capable rig is helpful if the station is weak, a single > button press on my switching controller ("Track" button) will switch the > opposite receiver selection to an available RX antenna in the same > direction as the one being requested to be tracked, work him, then click > the "Track" button again on my controller and the original opposite receive > antenna selection is restored. > > 73 Eric NO3M > > > > On 12/28/2015 11:47 AM, Art Snapper wrote: > >> Do any of you wish to share your methodology on using directional receive >> antennas during a run? >> >> The inverted-L was way too noisy with the lightning static, to hear weak >> and distant stations. >> >> On the other hand, I am sure I missed some stations, by being on the >> wrong-direction receiving antenna at the time they called. >> >> de Art NK8X >> >> ᐧ >> _________________ >> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband >> > > _________________ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband > _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband