[HCDX]: South African Beverage experiences

["Vince Stevens" <vince@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings all.
[Beverage Antennas on MW/LW]

An extremely interesting thread, and one I'd like to extend a
little........(hopefully not flogging a dead horse!)

I've run quite a few bev's in the last 12 years at a variety of different
locations: on the coast, in the desert, on tops of mountains and up the side
of mountains. I've yet to come to a definite conclusion regarding height,
length etc,  though.... The problem seems to be the variation in reception
conditions, both local and global. One night brings all kind of low power DX
and the following yields next-to-nothing. My antennas started out as 200
metre long-wires and have progressed to 1 kilometre monsters. Basically I'm
not happy with anything less than 500m nowadays!! Back in '88 they didn't
even run in a straight line and ran half way along the ground and over small
bushes but I still heard some amazing European and N.Am/Caribbean DX. Years
later when I got more professional with bamboo poles, compasses, and one
complete roll of 0.8mm wire (no joins) running in a straight line I heard
just about diddleysquat even at exactly the same location at the same time
of year.

I've never needed to terminate the beverage as I need it to receive from
both directions (Australia in the early evening and USA in the morning). One
antenna does the trick as the two bearings are 180 degrees apart.
(convenient! ;-))..... Plus there are no local stations to worry about.

I can't compare the performance over dry vrs wet ground but I seem to find
that the aerial performs well enough at ground level in desert conditions
(dry & sandy). I still try to raise the first 500m on 1.8m bamboo poles to
prevent any critters from altering the wires' performance close to the
receiver. I used to think that a coastal location was better but my recent
trips into the Karoo desert have challenged that perception.

Obviously at longer lengths like 1Km the "boredom effect" comes into play
where the same DX stations can be heard night after night so lately I've
tried 2 or 3 shorter antennas spaced about 15 degrees apart to cover Europe
and a wider part of the South Pacific in the reverse direction. This sems to
work fairly well, altho' I'm positive I can tell the difference between a
500m beverage and one twice it's length.

Lastly I can tentatively suggest that a gentle slope upwards seems to aid
reception. All the bev's I've tried that go up a hill away from the
receiving end have worked well, but once again this could be
coincidence...(good conditions at the time)

Now, how 'bout a thread on Rhombics and MW Loops (I've done a few of those)
.......

Regards
Vince
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