3 Nov 2009

Planned 500kHz antenna changes

Before the end of the weekend I intend,weather permitting, to make changes to my small 500kHz antenna. These changes will be:
  1. The 28MHz halo and 6m long feeder will be replaced by a spiral top capacity hat and a slightly longer vertical wire. The effect should be to increase the effective height of the antenna a bit.
  2. Move my TV antenna away from the pole carrying the 500kHz wire. At the moment this is on the same pole, so is probably absorbing energy.
Taken together, I expect another 2-3dB improvement in antenna current and ERP. If these improvements work I'll give it an "on-air" test for a week or so. After this, I'm not planning any further 500kHz improvements as I'll have run out of "keep it simple" options.

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