I finally got a 160 mtr antenna up yesterday and returned to activity on
this great band after a 9 year absence. I hung a 132' vertical wire
(actually half of a dipole) off the 120' guy ring on the tower with the
other half of the dipole being an elevated radial (unfortunately
pointing SSE). I also have the first 580' beverage up on Europe.
Boy, was I surprised at the activity level! At times, it almost sounded
like 20 mtrs. My first qso with the new antenna was at 0019z with
WA2VUY/VE9 on SSB. Then the following on cw:
0032z G3FPQ
0051z DJ7AA
0138z GM4BES
0252z G3SED
0301z HA8BE
0404z DF2PY
0415z LA1VFA
0431z OH3ES
0439z DL7DF/HR3
0500z OK1AWZ
0503z SM5EDX
0505z G3DBN
I had company, so was in and out of the shack during the evening.
Unfortunately, I missed the 4X4. DF2PY gets the award for the biggest
signal. At times, on the tx antenna, he was peaking +10/S9. Perhaps the
most interesting thing is that, with the exception of DF2PY, I would
probably not have been able to work hardly any of these stations without
the beverage. The beverage works very well on 80 as well as an adjunct
o the 4 square. It even occasionally hears better than the yagi at
130' on 40 meters.
73. . . see you in the test from N0NI,
Dave, W0FLS
Iowa
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