Ken Wilson wrote:
Very interesting post's on this subject so far. Sure is nice to have
some topics that are about DX & radios.

I did a bunch of CW contesting back some years ago & am very familiar
with W8JI's station. All of the best ops in the country wanted to run
his station during the ARRL 160 cw contest. BIG signal & could work
stations most could not even hear.

My point is I am sure he "knows his stuff".

With that said....I have 2 hf antennas up right now. A wellbrook K9AY &
a wellbrook ALA 1530. The 1530 is mounted at 6ft off the ground
strapped to a wooden fence.

The K9AY always has a signal that shows more s-units. However many
times the 1530 will give a better s/n ratio.

It took me a while to "get over" the lower s meter reading & realize I
was hearing the signal better because of the better s/n ratio.

My location is in a housing project with several houses within 300 ft
of me so the loss in gain was not hurting me since my noise floor was
higher.

Now If I were located out in the wide open spaces with no man made
noise for miles then the 1530 would have no where near enough gain.

All of these are my opinions of course


Ken KG4BIGY


Perhaps my local noise floor is "good enough" that whatever benifit the
Wellbrook offers is lost. I am trading the newly aquired ALA 1530 to
an acquaintance who lives in downtown Lexington for a Datong
AD370 that was only used for a few weeks.

He is aware of my doubts about the ALA1530's ability but says he has
nothing to loose. When I get a copy of the WL1030 built we will test it
at his condo.

Terry