RadioBanter - Ship without a sail

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Ship without a sail

Since October last year I have been without my top end antenna, the RF
Systems DX1 Pro. After six years of superlative performance it gave up the
ghost and had to be returned to mommy in Holland for repairs. It was
returned in December, but after only nine days, failed again, and again it
had to go back to Holland at great expense in shipping. So far it hasn't
returned and I am using my standby antenna, the PAORDT mini-whip.

Alas!, the PAORDT is not a great performer at all = very weak signal pickup
and attracts all the neighbourhood suburban noise, so the upshot is that my
Redsun RP2100 on it's internal antenna's nearly outperforms it, and
certainly does as far as noise is concerned. I can't use my Datong as that
has no pickup on LW and MW.

Hence the "ship without a mast", as my lovely Icom is near useless without a
decent antenna. It's just a lesson to all that a great receiver is worth
nothing without a decent antenna. You should not bother buying a tabletop
like the Icom R75 or anything upwards if you can't get a decent antenna
system up and going. You are just wasting your money and going to frustrate
yourself. If you can't get a good antenna then rather spend your money on a
decent portable like an Eton E1 or a Sony 7600GR and forget about a top line
tabletop.

After the DX1 packed up again, I had entertained the thought of ditching it
in favour of a Wellbrook ALA1530+plus, but several DX friends have them and
warned me the performance was likely to be not as good as my DX1, which is
superlative when it works = great signal pickup and extremely quiet. This
performance is in my area's of interest: longwave beacons, mediumwave and
tropical bands.

So in the meantime I wait with foetid breath and my finger up
my............... waiting for the DX1 to return.

--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

Ship without a sail

I'm afraid I agree with your assessment of the PAORDT mini-whip. I
found it very disappointing.

A suggestion: Take advantage of this downtime by doing a little
sleuthing on the web and elsewhere about potential DX targets. This is
always time well spent, and when you get your antenna back you'll be
ready to go hunting!

Steve

Ship without a sail

Well Steve, my main interest is MW DXing and I am always up to date with the
possibilities there. But my home town of Montagu, whilst being a little bit
of paradise, is not a good DX location at all, due to the high mountains
that surround it cutting off the low angle distant DX.

So for decent DX I go to the seaside twice a year with a couple of serious
DX buddies. Mid April we will be going to our Jongensgat DX site. For more
info on that see our past DXpeditions there at
http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/
At Jongensgat I use my Kiwa MW Loop which is an amazing performer

--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

"Steve" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm afraid I agree with your assessment of the PAORDT mini-whip. I
found it very disappointing.

A suggestion: Take advantage of this downtime by doing a little
sleuthing on the web and elsewhere about potential DX targets. This is
always time well spent, and when you get your antenna back you'll be
ready to go hunting!

Steve

Ship without a sail

Steve schreef:
I'm afraid I agree with your assessment of the PAORDT mini-whip. I
found it very disappointing.

I'm happy with mine. Did you put it up high enough, and far enough away
from the house and/or other sources of interference?

This antenna has a few special ways it must be setup, if not followed
well, it will greatly influence its performance. The creator Roelof uses
this antenna exclusively for his LW beacon hunting, and he has an
impressive list.

--
JeroenK

Ship without a sail

Green Acres is on tb now.
cuhulin

Ship without a sail

"JeroenK" wrote in message
...
Steve schreef:
I'm afraid I agree with your assessment of the PAORDT mini-whip. I
found it very disappointing.

I'm happy with mine. Did you put it up high enough, and far enough away
from the house and/or other sources of interference?

This antenna has a few special ways it must be setup, if not followed
well, it will greatly influence its performance. The creator Roelof uses
this antenna exclusively for his LW beacon hunting, and he has an
impressive list.

--
JeroenK

Raising it would not be affective I think where Johns QTH is, he needs the
capabilities of the DX1. Aren't you surrounded by a band of hills John?

--
Regards
B.H.
Brian's Radio Universe
http://webpages.charter.net/brianhill/500.htm

Hill Amplification
http://webpages.charter.net/brianhill/7.htm

Remove your HAT to reply directly

Ship without a sail

John,

Too bad the PA0RDT antenna performs so poorly for you, as it might be a good
backup antenna otherwise.

I think you know of my experiences with the PAORDT on DXpeditions to
RF-quiet, rural areas. When mounted up high (10-15 meters) this antenna
performed surprisingly well.

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA

"John Plimmer" wrote in message
...
Since October last year I have been without my top end antenna, the RF
Systems DX1 Pro. After six years of superlative performance it gave up the
ghost and had to be returned to mommy in Holland for repairs. It was
returned in December, but after only nine days, failed again, and again it
had to go back to Holland at great expense in shipping. So far it hasn't
returned and I am using my standby antenna, the PAORDT mini-whip.

Alas!, the PAORDT is not a great performer at all = very weak signal
pickup and attracts all the neighbourhood suburban noise, so the upshot is
that my Redsun RP2100 on it's internal antenna's nearly outperforms it,
and certainly does as far as noise is concerned. I can't use my Datong as
that has no pickup on LW and MW.

Hence the "ship without a mast", as my lovely Icom is near useless without
a decent antenna. It's just a lesson to all that a great receiver is worth
nothing without a decent antenna. You should not bother buying a tabletop
like the Icom R75 or anything upwards if you can't get a decent antenna
system up and going. You are just wasting your money and going to
frustrate yourself. If you can't get a good antenna then rather spend your
money on a decent portable like an Eton E1 or a Sony 7600GR and forget
about a top line tabletop.

After the DX1 packed up again, I had entertained the thought of ditching
it in favour of a Wellbrook ALA1530+plus, but several DX friends have them
and warned me the performance was likely to be not as good as my DX1,
which is superlative when it works = great signal pickup and extremely
quiet. This performance is in my area's of interest: longwave beacons,
mediumwave and tropical bands.

So in the meantime I wait with foetid breath and my finger up
my............... waiting for the DX1 to return.

--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

Ship without a sail

In article ,
John Plimmer wrote:
Well Steve, my main interest is MW DXing and I am always up to date with the
possibilities there. But my home town of Montagu, whilst being a little bit
of paradise, is not a good DX location at all, due to the high mountains
that surround it cutting off the low angle distant DX.

What's reception like on top of the mountains?

Mark Zenier
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

Ship without a sail