"Since I am on a 50 x 100 foot lot, it is impossible for me to separate my rx antennas from my tx antenna. "
Hi Rob, my city lot backyard is 50x100 and I worked (CW only) 305 confirmed on 160m from 2006 to 2019, it is not easy but doable to detune your TX antenna. I use a wire skirt around my tower, making it a UNIPOLE, the skirt and the grounded tower works like a 1/4 wave stub, with a high impedance at the base. That way the TX antenna does not interact with the RX antenna. Distance is another like what you want, but 1 wave distance is not far enough ,and It is 525FT for 160m, Detune is not the impedance on the fed line, it is the impedance from the antenna to the ground. If you TX antenna is isolated from the ground a relay can isolate the antenna from the ground. Any cable longer than 30FT should be take care as well., including rotor cables. Doug NX4D lives in 1/5 acre and he worked #315 from 2003 to 2019,. So don't give up. topband is a fantastic band when you can hear the weak signals. 73's JC N4IS -----Original Message----- From: Topband <topband-bounces+n4is=comcast....@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Rob Atkinson Sent: Monday, December 18, 2023 6:14 AM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: NCC-2 antenna pattern? Since I am on a 50 x 100 foot lot, it is impossible for me to separate my rx antennas from my tx antenna. Of course on transmit, preamps and the NCC1 are deactivated, but even so, the NCC1 had internal relay chatter (there are around nine PC board mounted relays inside). Small RF chokes in series with the DC power line to the box eliminated the chatter. I may have added bypass caps inside it but I can't remember if I did that or not. But if so, that wasn't enough. The chokes did the trick. Merry Christmas Rob K5UJ _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector