wrote in message
...

It all depends what freq, type of operation, etc.. But for general
skywave HF, even a fairly inefficient antenna can be quite fine
for receiving in many cases. The level may drop with the inefficient
antenna, but assuming the same basic pattern, the s/n ratio should be
pretty much the same. If you have enough antenna to increase the
background noise when connecting the antenna to the radio, it should
be fine for general gov use.


I always hear that, but it doesn't seem to be that way for me.

I have an off center fed antenna (about 125 feet long) mostly flat at 50
feet. Also a 3 element triband at 60 feet. Both fed by low loss rg8 type
coax. On some of the weaker signals on 20 meters I don't hear signals on
the OCF that are good copy on the beam. Also an 80 meter dipole at the 45
foot level at right angles to the 80 meter antenna will not hear what the
beam does in some cases. That is in a relative quiet location as far as
noise goes. The receive is an Icom 746pro.




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