Hi All
Dave G3WCB remarked when I worked Frank with the above call he could not
hear the stn who gave me 579 and I gave him 569.
A good percentage of LF operators have a problem on receive, local noise,
loran qrm depending on location and in some cases poor antennas barely
adequate for the job.
The reason that I can hear stns at good strength and they can hear me is
because I have spent a lot of time perfecting my antenna system.
I have the choice of two antennas on RX. A 80metre perimiter vert quad loop
resonated on 137 khz, E/W, top wire at 70 ft and my vertical sytstem at over
100 ft used also for TX.
I have several receivers including a couple of Level Meter type and some are
better than others but currently I am using a RX designed to cover LF
(HAGENUK BLU EE430) this covers 10 Khz - 30Mhz and is very sensitive on 137
Khz and does not need an external preamp with the loop.
Because of my northerly qth I am far enough away from loran qrm coming from
the south, so its not a problem although it is visible on the vertical but
on the E/W loop it is barely detectable.
Although small loops and match box verticals with amplifiers work especially
with good propagation conditions the large antennas with more capture area
will have the edge when conditions are marginal or poor.
The same applies on the other hf bands, the man with a 6ele quad or several
elements on a large boom yagi up at 100ft has an enormous advantage over
those using dipoles or verticals.
I have not been active on LF recently, been away on a DXpedition using HF
and VHF, 6 metres has been good lately.
73 de Mal/G3KEV
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