I live on an average sized city lot here in Washington, DC -- 40 x 140
feet (1/8 acre).
For the CQWW 160 contest, I had three EWE's, one each running W, S, and
NE. I fed them with RG-59 and used 'standard' 9:1 transformers and
terminating resisters as per the original QST articles (for the 80/160
version). In the shack, I used KD9SY's DXpedition preamp box, although
I have used the ICE 135B (with a switchbox), too, all feeding into the
AUX antenna port of my Omni 6+.
At a height of 15 feet, the W and S antennas either (W) cross over or
(S) run parallel and almost touch the neighbor's incoming telephone
lines (I have pictures and drawings of the lot for those interested).
Performance during the contest varied. Nothing earth-shattering (not
that expected that radical a difference), but nothing to write home
about.
I'm anxious to know what I can do -- if anything -- to optimize these
antennas. One obvious issue is the 75 ohm feedline that is between two
devices (transformer and preamp). The other is the proximity of the S
and W EWE's to the neighbor's incoming telephone lines. I suspect there
are other areas I can work on.
Any advice and suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Eric W3DQ
Washington, DC
_______________________________________________
Topband mailing list
Topband@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/topband
|