[Skimmertalk] WW160 RX ant pattern

[Ashraf Chaabane]

Hi All,

In preparation for the CQ WW 160m CW Contest 2026, where family 
commitments precluded serious operating, I conducted a focused receiving 
antenna experiment at my farm.

I deployed a directional RX array consisting of a broadside-phased pair 
of 220m Beverages, 120m spaced, beaming toward North America (320°), a 
200m Beverage on Ground (BoG) targeting Japan (44°), and a 60m BoG 
directed toward Southeast Asia (91°). These were connected to two 
Redpitaya receivers running Skimmer Server and an SDR-IQ with CW 
Skimmer, with all spots filtered through SkimCon software to eliminate 
duplicate spots before RBN submission (3V/KF5EYY node).
SkimCon preseves a raw data log with skimmer number associated to each 
spot, for analysis.

Subsequent data processing by Excel and VBA produced a radar plot that 
clearly visualizes each antenna's dominant contribution in its intended 
beam heading, along with the identifiable effects of its side and rear 
lobes, providing a real-life quantitative assessment of their 
directional performance.

I was impressed by the performance of the Broadside Phased beverages. In 
multiple occasions, I was the only station outside North America that 
spotted US stations.

The Radar Chart can be found here: https://www.kf5eyy.info/topband.htm

73 Ash KF5EYY/3V8SS
www.kf5eyy.info