Yesterday I reacted to an ad from an amateur less than 100km away, for some 1/2" low loss coax cable.
I got two pieces of close to 20m length. The loss is considerably lower than the previous cable, somewhere around 1.6dB. One of the cables has a set of M/F N-connectors and was ready for use.
Today I got a visit from Kent, OZ2KC, and we got a new experimental vertical antenna setup done. Yes, this is a temporary setup, but good for testing the improvement, and I still need to make the rotatable horizontal antenna. But for some local tests with other vertical/mostly FM stations this is more or less the best I can do right now.
The improvements are as follows:
- The cable los has been improved considerably, a difference of more than 6dB.
- The height of the feed point has been raised a bit.
- The antenna is now essentially free of the branches of the tree next to it.
A test with a local station showed a solid improvement, but more tests are needed with mpore distant stations. The top of the antenna is now close to 11m above ground, and the view from the antenna is relatively free in several directions, like SW to E, less so in other directions. SOme of the neighbour's houses will shade part of the antenna, but very little will shade all of it. This is the best I can do at this location.
The second cable has no connectors yet, and I need to find some, so I can get to mount the horizontal antenna, too.
A different option could be a different antenna setup with the vertical and the horizontal antennas switched. I will have to think a bit more about this, as I would like to use both antennas simultaneously, at least for receiving.
More on the results as the tests continue, and more on the planning for other antennas as I do more thinking.
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