The past few days I got all the parts located for my X7000 antenna. This is a 5m long 2m/70cm/23cm vertical, so it should have a decent performance when used for 23cm alone. Today I got the X5000 (1.8m long) antenna replaced with the X7000. The feed point is a bit lower for this one, but due to its length the top of the antenna is about 2m higher than that of the X5000 was.
I also got a preamplifier mounted close to the antenna, but due to the high cable loss (maybe less than 10dB) the effective TX power is not much more than 1W, and the feed point is rather low, about 4m.
The signal strength of the "local" beacon is a bit higher on average, but not significantly, probably mostly due to the cross polarization loss.
The first experiment was with the usual local stations, and the received signals were not surprisingly well improved. The transmitted signal was improved, too. Progress.
A test with a station a bit further away was a part success. I could hear the station intermittently (sounded like a mobile station with flutter/fading), but no reception of my signal.
More tests are needed when other stations become active and available for experiments.
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