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Author Topic: I finally put up a Beverage antenna  (Read 25929 times)

Offline Rafman

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #15 on: September 19, 2014, 0115 UTC »
I put a beverage up today & am I ever impressed!
It's amazingly quiet! Here is a quick check of results comparing:
~1 wavelength [for 6MHz or 150'L @9'H]beverage [TOP] Elad S1
vs
~Full Wave 7MHz loop [BOTTOM] Elad S2,
While listening to the same exact pescadores on 6925 LSB.
Granted the beverage is beaming to EU but just the noise floor difference is astoundingly quiet in comparison!!!
~
Rafman
Onion Flats [Baskerville] VA USA
[All QSLs greatly appreciated: WIFIDX@gmail.com]
Elad FDM-S1&S2 / SDRplay1 & SDRplay2
Mizuho SX59 & SX3 preselectors / JPS ANC4 Noise Phaser
41m EU beverage / 40m loop / 75m CF Zepp / 41m Sloping Dipole
The "Real FCC" http://bit.ly/2lQDNYm

Offline Pigmeat

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #16 on: September 19, 2014, 1207 UTC »
The first time I used a BOG, Beverage On the Ground, it was so quiet I thought a static charge had taken out the front end of my receiver, lol.

Beverages shine come mid-summer when storm noise is rendering other antennas useless, IMO. They're not too shabby in winter either.

Offline IQ_imbalance

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #17 on: September 30, 2014, 0439 UTC »
Is anyone trying to match impedance, or just connecting direct to coax w/out?  I'm particularly interested in the BOG.....
LOG/NE-SW unterminated BOG/DJ-130/800Mhz Yagi
AFEDRI SDR-Net ICF-SC1 SDS-200 various RTL-SDR
Central MD

Offline Rafman

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #18 on: October 02, 2014, 1105 UTC »
I wound my own 6.25:1 using a Binocular core...
That matches 450 ohms to 75 ohm coax...
~
Rafman
Onion Flats [Baskerville] VA USA
[All QSLs greatly appreciated: WIFIDX@gmail.com]
Elad FDM-S1&S2 / SDRplay1 & SDRplay2
Mizuho SX59 & SX3 preselectors / JPS ANC4 Noise Phaser
41m EU beverage / 40m loop / 75m CF Zepp / 41m Sloping Dipole
The "Real FCC" http://bit.ly/2lQDNYm

Offline RobRich

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #19 on: October 19, 2014, 0417 UTC »
If you want to skip a transformer, try an unterminated BOG, which is actually little more than a longwire on the ground. The tradeoff without termination is it will actually be somewhat directional off both ends. Use a ground rod and/or a small radial field for the RF ground. Wind a 1:1 feedline isolator.

My previous HF antenna of choice was a slight variation of the above. I used 148' of RG-6 coax for the antenna element. The feed point went to center, with the antenna coax shield floating. At the far end, the center was terminated to the shield. RF ground was just a ground rod. It was not very directional, but it was rather quiet for noise. Naturally, a decent preamp is recommended, too.

Moving onto my current antenna-on-ground setup, I have an 148' "shielded" square loop placed right on the ground. I went for capture area due to the ridiculously high ground losses incurred. The loop is built with RG-6 coax. The center conductor forms the loop, with each center feed feeding a 1:1 current bulun. The shields are bonded together at the feedpoint side and tied to a ground rod, then broken at the symmetrical far side from the feedpoint. RG-6 for feed line, with multiple ferrites installed at random intervals.

The loop-on-ground is routinely used for longwave to mid-HF, usually without a preamp. There is a distinct falloff above ~10MHz, even with a preamp. I often use the loop even for listening to longwave broadcasters across the Atlantic, again without a preamp, which I think is decent considering my suburban location.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2014, 0117 UTC by RobRich »
Tampa, FL USA | US Map Grid EL88
Airspy HF+ Discovery | KiwiSDR 2 | 2x Msi2500 Msi001 | 2x RTL-SDR V3 + NE602 | 2x RTL-SDR V4
148' Loop-on-Ground | 31' Vertical | 18' End-Fed Vertical | 9' NCPL | PA0NHC MiniWhip

Offline Antennae

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #20 on: November 01, 2014, 0025 UTC »
I just put up a beverage about 140' long. Just long enough for one wavelength of 6.925mhz.  I have it aimed at Virginia. I figure its the middle of the East Coast and I'll catch stations on either side.   I haven't heard pirates with it yet.

 But there was Vatican Radio from Madagascar last night, on my horizontal loop it came in and the voices were garbled, there was some crackles, and there was noise.  But with the beverage, the voices were clear, and the crackles and noise went away!

With the loop I've become gain shy because the noise gets amplified too.  But with the beverage I can turn up the gain a bit before the noise raises much. 

I've got aligator clips connecting my portable to the beverage. I first connect the positive, then, when I connect the ground the noise goes way down. Its fun to make it vanish.
The ground goes from my roof down the wall into a ground rod. It picks up noise from some LED lights inside the house so I have to turn them off when listening. 
California Coast
Antenna: random wire

Offline Antennae

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #21 on: November 01, 2014, 2112 UTC »
I checked the beverage with an MFJ-259 antenna analyzer:
Frequency     SWR
1.8 - 4 mHz  1.5
4-7 mHz       1.5
7.6 mHz       1
10 mHz        2

After 10mHz, SWR up and down from 1 to 3

California Coast
Antenna: random wire

Offline Rafman

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #22 on: November 01, 2014, 2139 UTC »
Antennae,

What are you using for a transformer?
Termination resistor?
Ground rod at both ends?
How high is the element off the ground?

Just curious... I'll wave at you since it is pointed right at me  :P

Rafman
~
Rafman
Onion Flats [Baskerville] VA USA
[All QSLs greatly appreciated: WIFIDX@gmail.com]
Elad FDM-S1&S2 / SDRplay1 & SDRplay2
Mizuho SX59 & SX3 preselectors / JPS ANC4 Noise Phaser
41m EU beverage / 40m loop / 75m CF Zepp / 41m Sloping Dipole
The "Real FCC" http://bit.ly/2lQDNYm

Offline Antennae

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #23 on: November 02, 2014, 1857 UTC »
I bought a DX engineering beverage antenna kit. DXE-BFS-1

9:1 transformer
470ohm termination resistor
8' terminating ground rod, galvanized 1/2" conduit
9.5' ground rod, same conduit
Element varies 10'-8' above ground.
18 or 20 gauge copper strand element wire

It helped out on some stations Haloween night.

I think this makes my portable receiver the weak point in my system. There was some faint USB stuff the other night and if something was just a little better it would have helped out.
California Coast
Antenna: random wire

Offline Rafman

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #24 on: November 03, 2014, 2349 UTC »
Yes, I would get a substitute receiver, to replace the portable.

My suggestion, an SDR of course  ;)

I just surveyed for a 2nd beverage [S-SW] & an EWE [W-NW]...

Then it will be time to finish my LZ1AQ Active Loop... I'll be finished just before the snow falls [hopefully]

Good Job Antennae!!!

Regards,
Rafman
~
Rafman
Onion Flats [Baskerville] VA USA
[All QSLs greatly appreciated: WIFIDX@gmail.com]
Elad FDM-S1&S2 / SDRplay1 & SDRplay2
Mizuho SX59 & SX3 preselectors / JPS ANC4 Noise Phaser
41m EU beverage / 40m loop / 75m CF Zepp / 41m Sloping Dipole
The "Real FCC" http://bit.ly/2lQDNYm

Offline Jari Finland

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #25 on: November 07, 2014, 1427 UTC »
Meanwhile in Aihkiniemi...

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2211035?start=10m59s

For purposes of exotic it is a Sami language tv news with Finnish subtitles.  ;D

Offline RobRich

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #26 on: November 08, 2014, 0054 UTC »
You probably can forget the antenna analyzer due to the 9:1 balun and the ground losses involved. I suspect it wil show a decent impedence match across much of the HF spectrum.

Since you are running a terminated beverage, if possible, try increasing the length to gain directivity off the terminated end. Beverages are often at multiples of desired wavelengths. Your beverage easily could be like -30dB (or lower) from an isotropic. You either need more antenna gain and/or possibly a preamp to offset the difference. You can build a basic HF preamp for a few dollars, or perhaps even consider a combined preselector/preamp unit from MFJ or similar.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2014, 0100 UTC by RobRich »
Tampa, FL USA | US Map Grid EL88
Airspy HF+ Discovery | KiwiSDR 2 | 2x Msi2500 Msi001 | 2x RTL-SDR V3 + NE602 | 2x RTL-SDR V4
148' Loop-on-Ground | 31' Vertical | 18' End-Fed Vertical | 9' NCPL | PA0NHC MiniWhip

Offline Jari Finland

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #27 on: November 08, 2014, 1516 UTC »
You either need more antenna gain and/or possibly a preamp to offset the difference.

Some thoughts after sauna and during hockey game (Finland-Russia, 2-2, 2nd period)

Preselector was used routinely and extremely successfully with beverages until large bandwith recording with sdr made it obsolete. A good quality (pay attention to S/N ratio) large bandwith preamp is nowadays the replacement. In places where signal strengths are abyssmal, like in Lapland, they sometimes use three preamps in series! It's an ultimate solution and I wouldn't dare recommend it in surroundings where MW stations are actually operating.

Another thing that started ticking in the back of my mind was what Chris said, that he tried to draw the wire vertically as tight as possible. Probably the variety in vertical height doesn't matter at all. If the wire runs over branches at 3 metres, those looser periods where wire hangs on 1 metres or even lower, are meaningless in big picture. I have never found much difference in it, if any. Beverage is, after all, a vertical polarized antenna. (Believe it or not.) If wire goes at some place down to the ground, for sure that doesn't look good and I'd like to avoid that, but fortunately frozen earth is a miserable conductor.

Whee, 5-2.

Offline Antennae

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #28 on: November 08, 2014, 1911 UTC »
Thanks for the tips. I have a preamp by Palomar Engineers. When hooked up today, it was a little better than my built-in gain knob. It gave more middle range audio.
I was playing with it this morning.
11770 Voice of Nigeria    A faint female voice.
11735 Zanzibar Broadcasting Station  A male voice.
With both of these, I again feel I've met the limits of my receiver.  This is a cool antenna, too bad it needs length.  Right now I can extend it another 30 feet.
The longest line I can get would be pointed at Europe which would be fun to try. I don't have coax that long.
California Coast
Antenna: random wire

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Re: I finally put up a Beverage antenna
« Reply #29 on: November 08, 2014, 1922 UTC »
Right now my beverage is about 200 ft (62 meters) long. I primarily use it for 48 meter band Europirates.  I can extend it if I hack a path into the woods. Would adding another say 100 ft help significantly? Enough to make it worthwhile, that is, as it would be a bit of an effort.
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
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netSDR / AFE822x / AirSpy HF+ / KiwiSDR / 900 ft Horz skyloop / 500 ft NE beverage / 250 ft V Beam / 58 ft T2FD / 120 ft T2FD / 400 ft south beverage / 43m, 20m, 10m  dipoles / Crossed Parallel Loop / Discone in a tree