90-second Desert-DXPedition report: CX were excellent 042815--050215. A LOT of time was wasted on trying to get good F/B on D-Kaz 140 x 22's...until we went back to the basics*** and THEN it really hummed. Two D-Kaz 140 x 22 in Broadside (340-foot separation) produced marvelous results; heard well over a hundred stations not previously copied. The real satisfaction was hearing stations down the bore-sight of the Broadside while the antenna rejected other Co's lots closer but outside of what appeared to be a nice, narrowly-focused main beam.
Experiments with a 1000-foot MW horizontal loop were disappointing (likely, at 25 feet, not high enough). A 1000-foot BOG worked as BOGs usually do...though F/B nulls were not great. Were able to load a 30-foot vertical in such a way as to create a fairly-wide "sweet spot" that increased antenna sensitivity without creating a sharply-tuned situation. At one point we had five antennas up over a few acres of desert and did a lot of comparison recording. We also "pre-swept" some antennas using a RigExpert Antenna Analyzer. That showed us SWR, Reactance, Resistance, Phase etc. Then the winds picked up and that precluded our intended comparisons among two large Super-Loops and some ‘D-Kaz-on-steroid’ lengths with larger aspect ratios. Those are now goals for the next DXPedition. Power this year was provided via solar cells recharging deep-cycle batteries that powered our lap-top-charging inverter. (We were doing so much construction that we had the down-time for re-charging.) At the Ft. Wayne July convention we hope to present a seminar on the RIGHT way to power field equipment for continuous, no-charging, low-noise operation <g> We’ll be sorting the data for months. So far we've published a log of the Broadside catches (ping me if you want an Excel copy). *** We turned up some troublesome results with extended Cat-5 transmission lines that will be the basis for a follow-on report. Cheers! Mark Durenberger _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
