20 Feb 2015

160m success with the earth-electrode "antenna"

Since yesterday I have been using my FT817 (2-2.5W) into my 12m spaced earth-electrode "antenna" on 160m. Matching was via my ATU feeding a small 42mm diameter 3C90 step-up transformer. In all, 22 unique people spotted me with best DX being EA1FBU (1297km) on TX.  Best reception was 2533km of a station in Russia. The earth-electrode antenna may not be the best 160m antenna but the results prove it certainly works! To be honest, the results of this test surprised me. The current meter was barely moving and ERP must have been in the milliwatt region.

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