Hi Neil,You're fortunate if you have low AC noise at your location, which is especially important for decent LF reception. That's often the limiting factor for many folks who would like to try LF reception. I'm very fortunate both for a low noise environment in this rural setting, most of the time, and for having room to string longwire antennas. But a year or so ago I was experimenting with a remotely terminated EWE antenna, and had also just acquired a Wellbrook ALA100 loop preamp. When the EWE experiments ended, I put the ALA100 in place of the feedline transformer (and removed the other side's remote termination). This was a vertical rectangular 100' circumference loop, which didn't take up much room. I left the ALA100 in place for about 6 months and would regularly compare its performance to the 1600' E/W unterminated longwire. With the loop also oriented E/W, I was astounded to find that it heard the faint Pacific LF beacons almost as well as the longwire, when conditions were good and there was no morning static. So if you have low AC noise at LF, you could try an ALA100 with a 50-100' vertical loop, for LF-HF reception. I found the loop was quite directional; much more so than a K9AY antenna with loop oriented the same direction as the ALA100 loop. The ALA100 is also very robust for resistance to strong-signal overload. I have no strong BCB stations in this area, so overload from BCB was not an issue. (Of course the loop is bidirectional.)
73, Steve----- Original Message ----- From: "Neil Kazaross" <neilkaz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America" <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:06 AM Subject: Re: [IRCA] Some TA activity this evening (25 Mar)
I have also found longer antennas better for LW and noted clear differences between 300 ft BOGs and 600 footers. I rarely get 189 here in IL and the only LW audible (I don't spend much time there inspite of 98% of my line noise now gone as there's almost nothing new from TA land I could log) is 171.73 KAZ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Hall-Patch" <nhp@xxxxxxxx> To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America" <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:06 AM Subject: Re: [IRCA] Some TA activity this evening (25 Mar)At 06:43 AM 3/25/2008, Steve wrote:I was surprised to note some decent LWBC reception from 189 Iceland this Monday evening, 0244 utcI noticed a carrier on 1215 here at around 0300UT, but it faded and didn't return. As for 189....think I'll need a bigger antenna and less local noise....best wishes, Nick ***************************** Nick Hall-Patch Victoria, BC Canada_______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/ircaOpinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officersFor more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx