Dear Mal, LF Group,
At 18:34 17/07/2002 +0100, you wrote:
How could you consider this as an experiment, the outcome is obvious, a big
signal from a commercial antenna installation. This is not amateur radio
experimentation on LF.
If that is the only outcome you are interested in, then that is probably
true. But after a few years of LF operation there is remarkably limited
quantitative information available about LF antennas, although this lack of
knowledge does not stop people loudly voicing their opinions on the
subject. Indeed, in amateur radio as a whole, there is probably more
rubbish talked, and less reliable information, about antennas than any
other subject. This is surprising, because everybody acknowledges antennas
are "the most important part of the station", and real facts and figures
would be much more useful than statements like "I got 599 from a ZY7 the
other day".
Even if no operation were possible from the DLF site, it would be an
interesting experience for the members of the expedition - it isn't every
day you get to play around with "proper" LF hardware! If nothing else, a
big signal from DL would be an opportunity for stations who do not have
good LF receiving capability to hear something interesting on the band -
this was certainly true at the G3WSC Puckeridge expedition. Then there is
the opportunity to make measurements such as field strength and antenna
impedance, which you don't often get to do with this type of antenna. This
would be a valuable addition to the very limited factual information we
have about LF antennas of all shapes and sizes - the fact that the signal
from such an antenna is big is no surprise, but "how much bigger?" is the
interesting question.
Cheers, Jim Moritz
73 de M0BMU
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