Fox hunt, I like that!
So at this point, I have gathered a few "data points" using my truck setup (alinco dx70/tarheel II) as a sort of field strength meter and listening on 3.150mhz. A sort of pro/con of this is that the TH can be made more and/or less resonant and the DX70 does have a preamp of sorts so depending on how that's arranged i can tune out any semblance of detecting the station up to flat out overloading the crap out of the radio. That said, I have driven around the nearby area and monitored to see what i get.
To answer the question of whether I am in the direction of max radiation: absolutely yes. my home location is definitely directly in the path. more on that in a moment...
To answer how much "metal" is around me: "yes". I have a 36' rohn tower with a 20' tall ground plane at the tippy top so, tower/mast/antenna is pushing 60' tall vertical structure. Tower grounds are bonded to the "grounding electrode" of the service entrance, if that detail matters. The property is 2.5 acres with roughly 2 acres fully fenced in with livestock fencing that's pushing over 1000' linear feet of fencing that does pass within 50 of the tower. Also, there is a fabi-cobbled-Frankenstein 'random long wire' that follows said fence line for roughly 700' that does have a coax feed into the house. Traditional timber structure house with asphalt roofing, aluminum gutters, so yea, there's a lotta "metal" structures to isolate and work through from that perspective.
As for the 4wheel drive field strength meter: imagine the AM transmitter site as the origin at the center point. on a straight line in the direction of max radiation, at 3.7 miles from the transmitter I was able to detect the station on 3.150mhz. On that same line, at 2.7 miles from the transmitter is my home location.
I have been able to detect the station on 3.150mhz in a few other spots around my home location that, for simplicity sake, i would say are all in line with the stations max radiation direction. When i am 'off axis' from that it seems that i cannot detect anything. When passing just shy of a mile directly perpendicular to the transmitter site i did not detect anything.
My assertion at this point is that I can probably predict locations around my area that ill likely pick up an image in the directed beam path. As for my location at home, i really do think that i have a re-radiating phenomena happening as to why when i pull up to the house the station comes right up on the image frequency 3.150. The weather is breaking, so first order of business at home is to do some inspections on the grounding system and make sure from a safety standpoint there's no glaring issues. and from there, try to make some kinda attack plan to ground/isolate things and see if hit the lotto on a perfectly resonate incidental radiator.
So at this point, I have gathered a few "data points" using my truck setup (alinco dx70/tarheel II) as a sort of field strength meter and listening on 3.150mhz. A sort of pro/con of this is that the TH can be made more and/or less resonant and the DX70 does have a preamp of sorts so depending on how that's arranged i can tune out any semblance of detecting the station up to flat out overloading the crap out of the radio. That said, I have driven around the nearby area and monitored to see what i get.
To answer the question of whether I am in the direction of max radiation: absolutely yes. my home location is definitely directly in the path. more on that in a moment...
To answer how much "metal" is around me: "yes". I have a 36' rohn tower with a 20' tall ground plane at the tippy top so, tower/mast/antenna is pushing 60' tall vertical structure. Tower grounds are bonded to the "grounding electrode" of the service entrance, if that detail matters. The property is 2.5 acres with roughly 2 acres fully fenced in with livestock fencing that's pushing over 1000' linear feet of fencing that does pass within 50 of the tower. Also, there is a fabi-cobbled-Frankenstein 'random long wire' that follows said fence line for roughly 700' that does have a coax feed into the house. Traditional timber structure house with asphalt roofing, aluminum gutters, so yea, there's a lotta "metal" structures to isolate and work through from that perspective.
As for the 4wheel drive field strength meter: imagine the AM transmitter site as the origin at the center point. on a straight line in the direction of max radiation, at 3.7 miles from the transmitter I was able to detect the station on 3.150mhz. On that same line, at 2.7 miles from the transmitter is my home location.
I have been able to detect the station on 3.150mhz in a few other spots around my home location that, for simplicity sake, i would say are all in line with the stations max radiation direction. When i am 'off axis' from that it seems that i cannot detect anything. When passing just shy of a mile directly perpendicular to the transmitter site i did not detect anything.
My assertion at this point is that I can probably predict locations around my area that ill likely pick up an image in the directed beam path. As for my location at home, i really do think that i have a re-radiating phenomena happening as to why when i pull up to the house the station comes right up on the image frequency 3.150. The weather is breaking, so first order of business at home is to do some inspections on the grounding system and make sure from a safety standpoint there's no glaring issues. and from there, try to make some kinda attack plan to ground/isolate things and see if hit the lotto on a perfectly resonate incidental radiator.
