Message-ID: <28528.200005171129@gemini>
From: "James Moritz" <j.r.moritz@herts.ac.uk>
Organization: University of Hertfordshire
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 12:36:28 +0000
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Subject: LF: Puckeridge Decca station - Big & small antennas
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Dear LF Group,

This weekend, I am hoping to make another expedition to the 
Puckeridge Decca station, which has been made available again 
through the good offices of G3JKV and the Crawley club.

The main motive for this expedition is to do some back-to-back 
comparisons between a big antenna (the 100m Decca mast) and a 
small, amateur-type antenna (an inverted L about 9m high and 50m 
long). The idea is to set the antenna currents so that the same 
effective radiated power should be obtained from both antennas, 
and then see how signal strengths compare.

There has been some vigorous debate lately about the advantages 
and disadvantages of big and small antennas, with some holding 
the view that big antennas have superior radiation patterns to small 
ones, and some holding the opposite is true. The aim of the 
experiment is to put this to a practical test. We did this before 
during the previous trip to Puckeridge, but due to time pressures 
and the dreadful weather, relatively little operating was done using 
the two antenna setup. The results then were that the two 
antennas gave roughly the same results, when transmitter power 
was set for same ERP from each antenna (this meant feeding 
about 500W into the small antenna, and less than 0.5W into the 
main mast!).

For this weekend, I have put together a tuner/attenuator circuit that 
will hopefully allow changing between the antennas with a single 
switch, making the comparison much quicker and more direct. I am 
hoping this will enable lots more people to take part. The level of 
ERP will be very roughly 100mW for both antennas.

The plan for the weekend is roughly this:
Friday evening - Install gear
Saturday morning - get working, and obtain comparative reports.
Later on Saturday - run station at 1W ERP from main antenna
Sunday - open to suggestions; I have notified RA in case anyone 
would like to try 73kHz QSO's.
Sunday afternoon - pack up and go home.

Due to this being a small-scale expedition, I will probably stick to 
normal CW, but might be prevailed upon to drag my PC across a 
field if people are really keen to hear some QRSS.......

Of course, nothing ever goes entirely according to plan, but it 
should be fun. Any QSO's, listener reports or measurements would 
be welcome. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Cheers, Jim Moritz
73 de M0BMU