I have a public Kiwi at:
http://midtn.dynu.net:8073It is in a noisy environment with a sub-optimal antenna, which puts it low on Chris' survey list.
However, it is there for anyone to use. After the Ken Burns series "Country Music" ran on PBS last fall,
I've seen an increase in connections, world-wide, to WSM 650 AM, which I can hear on a wet string from here.
In an effort to improve the antenna situation, yesterday I set up a MLA-30 from e-bay. I mounted it
on a 10' piece of 1" PVC water pipe, with 1/2" cross arms and found the perfect temporary mount - the
1" PVC fits nicely into the umbrella hole in the middle of the deck table! That also puts it ~the same height
above ground as the present "kinda 20 meter", "kinda dipole" that the Kiwi has been using.
First impressions, totally subjective comparisons from listening around, is: above ~10 mHz, the dipole is better;
below ~5 mHz, the MLA-30 is *mostly* better. Bottom line - the MLA-30 is going into the shed until such time as I
need / want an antenna dedicated to <10 mHz, or I run into someone who has NO antenna and needs something,
anything. In my *never humble* opinion, save your $$$
!
PS - I have read reviews that said the Bias-T system is noisy and I found that it was not bad - except - ~10 kHz - 170 kHz
where it generates noise that is ~30 db above the noise floor. I also tried powering it from the Bias-T connection on my RSPDuo
and saw the same result so I think the noise is NOT due to the switching wall-wart I initially powered it with. At night,
I can copy WWVB @ 60 kHz using the dipole; NO WAY using the MLA-30. --- Just my >2 cents worth!
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