In another recent thread on this forum, ridgescan had mentioned that he lengthened his PAR EF-SWL to about 100' and laid it out in a "L" configuration.
We had a bit of a thaw in the ice cold WX here yesterday so took the opportunity to try a similar thing with my PAR. The antenna has been in use at my QTH for the past couple years or so and has provided good results on LW, AM, and HF, however, always experimenting with antennas here so gave it a go.
The original antenna is about 45' long and runs NE-SW. Added 10' to this and then made an approx. 90 degree turn and ran an additional 45' SE-NW to a tree. Overall length is about 100'... no scientific reason, just happened to be where a convenient tree is located. Used #18 Polystealth which is what was used on the stock antenna. Nice stuff to work with, very strong and stealthy.
Tried out the new antenna early this morning on LW. Logged 134 NDBs in a two hour period beginning at 1000Z. Can't recall ever logging so many beacons in a couple of hours. The action seemed to come from all points of the compass. From my Michigan QTH heard the following DX:
East, 350 DF Deer Lake, 356 AY St. Anthony, and 390 Stephenville all in NL.
North, 208 YSK Sanikiluaq NU.
West, 212 YGX Gillam, 244 TH Thompson, 250 Flin Flon, 305 YQ Churchill, and 370 YBV Berens River all in MB; 317 VC LaRonge SK; and 344 BKU Baker MT
.
South, 248 PQF Mesquite TX (an ATNO for me), 257 SQT Melbourne, 326 PKZ Pensacola, 332 FIS Key West, and 344 JA Jacksonville all in FL; and 415 CBC Cayman Brac, Cayman Is. CYM.
My first impression with this new antenna configuration is favorable. Hey, maybe it was just some exceptionally good propagation Time will tell. Also need time to check it out on the AM BCB and HF.
We had a bit of a thaw in the ice cold WX here yesterday so took the opportunity to try a similar thing with my PAR. The antenna has been in use at my QTH for the past couple years or so and has provided good results on LW, AM, and HF, however, always experimenting with antennas here so gave it a go.
The original antenna is about 45' long and runs NE-SW. Added 10' to this and then made an approx. 90 degree turn and ran an additional 45' SE-NW to a tree. Overall length is about 100'... no scientific reason, just happened to be where a convenient tree is located. Used #18 Polystealth which is what was used on the stock antenna. Nice stuff to work with, very strong and stealthy.
Tried out the new antenna early this morning on LW. Logged 134 NDBs in a two hour period beginning at 1000Z. Can't recall ever logging so many beacons in a couple of hours. The action seemed to come from all points of the compass. From my Michigan QTH heard the following DX:
East, 350 DF Deer Lake, 356 AY St. Anthony, and 390 Stephenville all in NL.
North, 208 YSK Sanikiluaq NU.
West, 212 YGX Gillam, 244 TH Thompson, 250 Flin Flon, 305 YQ Churchill, and 370 YBV Berens River all in MB; 317 VC LaRonge SK; and 344 BKU Baker MT
.
South, 248 PQF Mesquite TX (an ATNO for me), 257 SQT Melbourne, 326 PKZ Pensacola, 332 FIS Key West, and 344 JA Jacksonville all in FL; and 415 CBC Cayman Brac, Cayman Is. CYM.
My first impression with this new antenna configuration is favorable. Hey, maybe it was just some exceptionally good propagation Time will tell. Also need time to check it out on the AM BCB and HF.