Hi All,
In preparation for the CQ WW 160m CW Contest 2026, where family
commitments precluded serious operating, I conducted a focused receiving
antenna experiment at my farm.
I deployed a directional RX array consisting of a broadside-phased pair
of 220m Beverages, 120m spaced, beaming toward North America (320°), a
200m Beverage on Ground (BoG) targeting Japan (44°), and a 60m BoG
directed toward Southeast Asia (91°). These were connected to two
Redpitaya receivers running Skimmer Server and an SDR-IQ with CW
Skimmer, with all spots filtered through SkimCon software to eliminate
duplicate spots before RBN submission (3V/KF5EYY node).
SkimCon preseves a raw data log with skimmer number associated to each
spot, for analysis.
Subsequent data processing by Excel and VBA produced a radar plot that
clearly visualizes each antenna's dominant contribution in its intended
beam heading, along with the identifiable effects of its side and rear
lobes, providing a real-life quantitative assessment of their
directional performance.
I was impressed by the performance of the Broadside Phased beverages. In
multiple occasions, I was the only station outside North America that
spotted US stations.
The Radar Chart can be found here: https://www.kf5eyy.info/topband.htm
73 Ash KF5EYY/3V8SS
www.kf5eyy.info
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