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Old November 7th 18, 05:58 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated,rec.radio.amateur.dx,rec.radio.amateur.equipment
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Default [KG3V] Getting into the Game on 160 meters


Kg3v Ham Radio Blog

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Getting into the Game on 160 meters

Posted: 18 Dec 2017 07:39 PM PST
https://kg3v.com/2017/12/18/getting-...-game-on-160m/


I have slowly been adding 160 meter Band capability to my Station, mainly
in some recent contests. With sunspots so low, and the high HF Bands
suffering badly as a result, this seems like a good time to do some work on
the Low Bands. I have started trying some antennas and have been able to
work about 35 US States and a couple DX entities. Here is some background
on my 160, antenna work so far:
Using an 80m Dipole on 160m

When discussing basic 160m capabilities, I was reminded by another PVRC
Club member that you can use an 80m dipole to get some exposure to 160m. I
had been using an 80m dipole fed with ladder line and using an
externally-mounted remote antenna tuner. To use it on 160m, I had to tie
the two wires from the ladder line together, and connect that to the
unbalanced antenna connector on the tuner. that was tuned against a ground
connection to a nearby ground rod. This worked well enough to get me
started. The pain was that I now had to change the physical connections of
the ladder line at the antenna tuner, when I wanted to change between 160m
and the other Bands.
A Crooked 160m Dipole

I thought it would improve the situation if I extended the length of my 80m
dipole, so it would work as a 160m dipole. That would allow me to work all
Bands from 160m through 6 meters using the external Tuner, without making
any wiring changes when changing Bands. My lot is not long enough to allow
me to install a full-length 160m dipole. So I added enough wire to make a
160m dipole, then bent the two ends enough to fit it into the lot. I have
always heard that you could bend the ends of a dipole in many ways without
doing much harm to the radiation pattern. With my dipole for 160m at a
height of about 40 feet, all the radiation is going nearly straight UP
anyway.

This has worked fairly well, and has given me access to many more stations
in a number of US States and into Canada. Still very little DX is being
heard, so the next step is to work on Receive-only antennas. I will be
experimenting with Beverage antennas on 160m, and will start posting
results soon.










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