JC thanks for helping Jamie, I agree with most things you have pointed out however I must take issue with you on never use plastic boxes. I have used plastic boxes on my arrays for many years now and it has been very successful. The decision to use a plastic box or not depends mostly on the signal levels expected in the circuitry. My take on this is that the Waller flags have a very low signal output which requires extreme low noise and high gain amplification. The phased vertical arrays such as I make have a much greater signal output level and have never shown any ill affects using plastic. There is no need for my customers to go on a mission to change all their arrays to metal boxes. As far as DX is concerned I wish my very good friend Dale N4NN from Florida was still around because he and I would compare what you were hearing and what he was hearing. He always reported to me he would hear everything you did with his Hi-Z 8 array. I suspect the difference as you say was he was in the country without a lot of vertically polarized noise where your recording clearly indicate considerable power line noise on your VWF compared to your HWF. Eliminating local noise is quite a process of peeling back the layers one at a time. Without any other tools your best noise finding friend is a small transistorized BC band radio. It is amazing what you hear when you place one near different powered objects in your area. Put one next to your TX antenna and you will find noises and signals that are reradiated. Put one next to your computer monitor and you are likely to faint. The biggest problem we see is RG-6 coaxial cable that has been contaminated and the shield connection is damaged. To a great degree that causes all directivity to be compromised as the array then electrically looks just like a bunch of wire laying on the ground. Interesting that you indicate some say front to back does not affect RDF but this I will assure you, if you have an array that does not show significant front to back you can be rest assured the array will not have much RDF. The writings of Jim K9YC are very valuable for knocking down local noise in any RX antenna. He has addressed this many times. Keep us posted Jamie if you need more information.
Lee K7TJR Hi-Z Antennas Hi Jaime The only way to really improve signal to noise ratio is with directivity. Better directivity better signal to noise ratio. Everything else is just less deterioration or more deterioration. The only thing that makes a difference is how narrow the front lobe really is. Your 40m array plus the integration with your tower and inverted L is giving you a better directivity. Probably if you try another direction the results should be very different. Things that people believe but does not impact signal to noise ratio. 1- Front back. 2- Noise canceling devices , (only help with weak signal it its narrow the front lobe) 3- Vertical array, if you live downtown, or a city lot like mine, 150x 100 ft back yard. The manmade noise is only vertical polarized, vertical array may help you to hear more noise. If you want your vertical RX array to work, it is necessary to detune your TX antenna, and any other vertical structure above 1/8 wave high, even it is 300 ft away. 160m one wave length is 480ft long, don't full yourself. Get common mode out of your RX system input, good shield is a must, never use plastic box for any RX system part. Open frame relay is also a big problem, DC bringing noise to the amplifier, another thing. Choke and shield is your friend, but only works with a good ground. RDF measure directivity, more RDF better reception, but every single wire , cable, tower can deteriorate RDF, you need to control that. You can hear my webinar at WWW.WWROF.ORG >> https://wwrof.org/webinar-archive/n4is-waller-flag-construction/ >> https://wwrof.org/webinar-archive/high-performance-rx-antennas-for-a-small-l ot/ Just an update from that Webinar . NX4D using a Waller Flag from a 1/5 acre lot is now at #311, confirmed on 160m. My Horizontal Waller Flag, HWF, is working very well, I can hear 4K6FO , FR , VU almost every time they are on the band.. I Heard 316 countries on 160m since 2006, but the HWF was operational only after 2010. Now I am at #299 on 160m. This is a thing people only believe when they see it happening. Almost 100 people is using WHF and VWF around the world, all of them delivering excellent performance. However it is a huge project, not plug an play at all, and it works! 73's JC N4IS _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector