Receive antennas are all about S/N ratio not signal strength. They will be significantly down but should be much quieter.
Cecil K5DL Sent from my iPad > On Jun 30, 2020, at 1:57 PM, Mark Lunday <[email protected]> wrote: > > "Beverages just want to work" is what I have heard. > > Not having much luck with that here. I suspect operator/installation error. > > I did a lot of reading and I must be doing something wrong. > > > > * 250 feet of insulated wire strung out in 030 degrees direction toward > EU, pretty straight, varying in height from 4 to 6 feet, running through > thick brush with no metal objects or artificial elements along the run. > * 9:1 transformer at feed point with ground rod > * 300 feet of coax, mix of RG-8, MMR-400 to get to the edge of the woods > from the house > * No terminating resistor > > On bands 160-40, the signals are very weak. I am monitoring WSPR, FT8. I > can hear signals on 160-40 but they are way down compared to dipoles and > inverted L on the same bands. Like 20-30 db down. From what I read, I should > NOT need an HF pre-amplifier, right? > > Signals on 30 and 20 seem to be better and I can copy some DX from EU on FT8. > > I will try installing a new ground rod, the old one is 10 years old and > perhaps not making a good ground connection at the feedpoint. The > transformer is brand new, so that's not an issue. The coax has tested out > fine. Soil is central North Carolina clay, a bit dry at this time. > > I am guessing performance is poor on 160-40 because of the short length and > that it's bi-directional (no terminating resistor), which I am seeing on 30 > meters. But I did not think it would be THIS bad on 160-40.... > > Mark Lunday, WD4ELG > Greensboro, NC FM06be > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > http://wd4elg.blogspot.com > SKCC #16439 FISTS #17972 QRP ARCI #16497 > > _________________ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
