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Author Topic: DGPS Logs from Belgium - nighttime 11/12th of March  (Read 1463 times)

Offline Uli_Bel

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DGPS Logs from Belgium - nighttime 11/12th of March
« on: March 12, 2018, 1239 UTC »
Here are my logs from last night with the very small active powered EWE-ant.

I found the performance is similar than the 10times larger EWE - the missing sensitivity on the small one is compensated by a high impedance pre-amp directly at the feedpoint of the antenna.

2 differences between both antennas, (only when used on 300kHz)
- the F/B ratio on the small antenne is less than with the big one - about 10-12db for the small one, 15-20db on the large one
- the Front/side ratio is bigger on the small antenna - the side signals are about 6db down to the large antenna, while front signals are of same strength

Overall I am very happy with this small EWE-ant. I works as a highly directional antenna up to 15Mhz - above it becomes more and more a broadside, bi-directional pattern 90deg to the horizontal part of the EWE. That can be interesting also, as two deep nulls develope, when increasing the frequency even more...
So it is cetainly not only a great low-frequency antenna, but also works on the high bands.

I compared the mediumwave (broadcast) band with my 170m Beverage antenna as well as with the large EWE.
The small EWE is outperforming the large EWE, because the pattern is much cleaner! Amazing, that it often is very close to the performance of the 170m Beverage antenna

I also used the antenna for listening in last weekend 160m contest - I must say, that there is no big difference to my 170m beverages, which would require that much work to set-up the Beverages every winter and tear them down in spring. Next winter I will skip the Beverages and make 2ele, active fed versions of that small EWE with switchable phasing to steer the pattern by throwing a switch from the radio-room... much more versatile and easier to build-up and maintain...

Ulli, ON5KQ

So here are the results from last night:

Count    ID   ref1 ref2 kHz   Baud City                           Country              Lat      Lon      km     Deg
2        001  001  001  297,5 200  San Carlos Centro              Argentina            -31,967  -60,925  11.136 231
77       269  466  466  310,0 100  Cabo de Santa Marta Grande Lt BBrazil               -28,606  -48,824  10.195 224
16       644  688  689  302,0 200  Hachijo Shima Lt               Japan                33,088   139,869  9.768  35 
12       626  652  653  310,5 200  Bachu Jiao Lt                  China                20,004   110,944  9.472  64 
2        614  628  629  295,0 200  Shitang                        China                28,267   121,617  9.358  51 
30506    652  704  705  302,0 200  Ose Saki                       Japan                32,622   128,614  9.311  44 
40       972  901  902  302,0 200  Miraflores                     Panama               8,993    -79,585  8.728  270

9        771  196  197  294,0 100  New Bern, NC                   United States        35,181   -77,059  6.420  288
6        806  012  013  289,0 100  Driver, VA                     United States        36,963   -76,562  6.254  289
1049     847  058  059  301,0 200  Annapolis, MD                  United States        39,018   -76,61   6.107  291
2        152  494  495  310,0 200  Marbat                         Oman                 16,967   54,751   5.892  110
1755     844  094  095  324,0 200  Hudson Falls, NY               United States        43,272   -73,542  5.610  293
15       772  198  199  306,0 200  Acushnet, MA                   United States        41,749   -70,889  5.539  290
72       929  312  313  296,0 200  St Jean Richelieu, QC          Canada               45,324   -73,317  5.461  295
164      927  316  317  309,0 200  Lauzon, QC                     Canada               46,821   -71,165  5.230  296
1894     935  334  335  312,0 200  Western Head, NS               Canada               43,993   -64,67   4.982  289
3        140  480  481  298,0 200  Bahrain                        Bahrain              26,117   50,65    4.841  106
3273     936  332  333  319,0 200  Point Escuminac, NB            Canada               47,075   -64,8    4.807  293
415      942  340  341  288,0 200  Cape Ray, NL                   Canada               47,636   -59,241  4.412  291
6        946  344  345  299,0 200  Rigolet, NL                    Canada               54,25    -58,5    4.058  300
4485     940  338  339  315,0 200  Cape Race, NL                  Canada               46,661   -53,075  4.052  286
6241     944  342  343  310,0 200  Cape Norman, NL                Canada               51,509   -55,831  4.004  295
2804     342  484  485  308,0 200  Horta                          Azores               38,533   -28,617  2.830  254
52       540  900  901  300,0 100  Kavarna                        Bulgaria             43,417   28,367   2.061  104
633      414  628  629  289,5 100  Raufarhofn                     Iceland              66,45    -15,957  2.046  335
51       405  605  001  314,5 100  Marjaniemi                     Finland              65,033   24,567   2.005  30 
3        513  793  823  286,5 200  Skomvaer Lt, Rost              Norway               67,419   11,883   1.911  11 
22       461  722  722  311,5 100  Bjuroklubb                     Sweden               64,491   21,587   1.861  28 
7873     406  606  001  287,0 100  Klamila                        Finland              60,5     27,433   1.848  45 
89       531  841  001  295,5 100  Narva                          Estonia              59,467   28,04    1.835  49 
2        355  510  001  303,5 100  Rota                           Spain                36,633   -6,383   1.749  210
3129     407  607  001  292,5 100  Haarajoki                      Finland              60,517   25,167   1.738  43 
1153     400  600  001  293,5 100  Porkkala Pilot Station         Finland              59,981   24,403   1.673  44 
781      404  604  001  301,5 100  Turku                          Finland              60,442   22,224   1.596  40 
28       530  840  840  307,0 100  Ristna Lt                      Estonia              58,945   22,058   1.501  46 
41       464  728  728  307,5 100  Kapellskar Lt                  Sweden               59,719   19,087   1.408  39 
12340    454  715  716  287,5 100  Torshavn                       Faroes               62,023   -6,841   1.390  338
11666    468  734  734  298,0 100  Nynashamn                      Sweden               58,946   17,958   1.305  40 
495      361  522  001  294,5 100  Cala Figuera                   Balearics            39,465   2,528    1.260  183
27       363  526  001  286,0 100  Castellon                      Spain                39,967   0,017    1.228  193
49       465  730  001  297,5 100  Hoburg                         Sweden               56,928   18,156   1.191  49 
120      470  738  001  288,5 100  Otterbaecken                   Sweden               58,867   14,1     1.135  33 
12768    444  684  694  295,5 100  Butt of Lewis Lt               Scotland             58,526   -6,27    1.052  329
13773    445  685  695  291,5 100  Sumburgh                       Shetland Isles       59,869   -1,276   1.048  346
3870     460  720  001  292,0 100  Holmsjoe                       Sweden               56,433   15,65    1.032  48 
60208    500  780  810  310,5 200  Faerder Lt                     Norway               59,034   10,533   1.029  24 
443      351  502  001  289,0 100  Cabo Mayor                     Spain                43,4     -4,417   1.002  218
21       366  532  532  313,5 100  Cabo San Sebastian             Spain                41,883   3,2      990    180
7773     469  736  001  296,5 100  Goteborg                       Sweden               57,617   11,967   948    33 
164      432  665  666  293,0 100  Loop Head Lt                   Ireland              52,568   -9,942   926    287
3762     451  700  701  289,5 100  Hammerodde Lt, Bornholm        Denmark              55,31    14,779   922    52 
12141    435  670  671  288,5 100  Tory Island Lt                 Ireland              55,267   -8,25    912    308
1651     453  710  711  296,0 100  Skagen West Lt                 Denmark              57,761   10,605   912    29 
7008     503  783  813  304,0 200  Lista Lt                       Norway               58,116   6,572    844    14 
17167    001  850  851  295,0 100  Obristvi                       Czech Republic       50,301   14,484   799    89 
10803    446  686  696  297,0 100  Girdle Ness Lt                 Scotland             57,142   -2,056   785    336
4007     491  761  721  308,0 100  Gross Mohrdorf                 Germany              54,367   12,917   767    55 
77       336  466  466  310,0 100  Cap Ferret                     France               44,567   -1,25    767    207
13791    443  693  001  285,5 100  Stirling [Earls Hill]          Scotland             56,067   -4,067   758    324
9782     496  766  766  313,5 100  Mauken                         Germany              51,717   12,817   677    77 
7018     495  765  765  314,5 100  Bad Abbach                     Germany              48,933   12,033   666    105
13544    441  681  691  306,0 100  Lizard Lt                      England              49,966   -5,202   602    265
259      334  464  464  307,0 100  Les Sables Olonne              France               46,517   -1,8     600    220
5070     332  462  462  308,5 100  Pont de Buis                   France               48,3     -4,083   593    245
14451    442  682  692  297,5 100  Point Lynas Lt                 Wales                53,427   -4,292   589    303
14354    493  763  001  303,5 100  Zeven                          Germany              53,283   9,25     498    54 
21753    492  762  001  298,5 100  Helgoland                      Germany              54,183   7,883    493    38 
14634    449  689  699  309,5 100  Nash Point Lt                  Wales                51,401   -3,552   476    281
15135    447  687  697  290,5 100  Flamborough Head Lt            England              54,126   -0,091   433    330
7850     494  764  001  293,5 100  Iffezheim                      Germany              48,833   8,117    414    120
14923    439  691  001  291,0 100  Wormleighton                   England              52,208   -1,374   354    298
5802     330  460  001  299,0 100  Heuville                       France               49,7     -1,267   339    251
14679    440  680  690  307,5 100  St Catherines Point Lt         England              50,581   -1,306   318    268
13789    490  760  001  302,5 100  Koblenz                        Germany              50,367   7,583    313    97 
22235    428  655  656  294,0 200  Vlieland Lt                    Netherlands          53,3     5,067    307    24 
30505    426  652  653  302,0 200  Gilze Rijen                    Netherlands          51,617   4,933    152    52 
30256    425  650  651  312,5 200  Hoek van Holland               Netherlands          51,992   4,123    149    25 
15173    448  688  698  299,5 100  North Foreland                 England              51,38    1,457    138    299

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
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

Offline Uli_Bel

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Small, active, mini-EWE's at ON5KQ
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2018, 0820 UTC »
"This is with the antenna described in these posts?"

Yes, however in the beginning, I only had such mini-EWE antenna to the direction Northeast = 90degree off, not for trans-atlantic reception. This first version is excellent for Scandinavia and also Asia.
This last reception report was the result of a second antenna, exactly as the first (2.5m x 5m x 2.5m = 10m wire), but pointed to Northwest.
This new mini-EWE (with active pre-amp at the feedpoint) is exactly in the same direction as the large EWE - so I can quickly switch for comparison ...
This morning however, I tested the small EWE in comparison with my 170m Beverage on the hambands 80m/40m for reception of the north-american WSPR stations (digital modulation with extremely low power, milliwatts instead of kWatts...hi)
It is amazing, that even the 170m Beverage on 7Mhz represents 4wavelength and has a clean, very directive pattern, the measured signal/noise ratio for USA-Stations after sunrise is the same with the mini-EWE....  I can confirm, that the Beverage really works - so the Beverage-reference for comparison is a very very good antenna! So far, I do not really understand, why such small EWE works THAT well compared with the best of the best... (I never had anything better than my Beverages on lower shortwave bands) But this small EWE makes Beverages obsolete, for sure...

In the past for 300kHz I have compared the small EWE with my best antenna on 300kHz - the large EWE. As the 170m Beverage looses it's directive pattern on 300kHz (too short for this band!), I assume, that the small EWE is much better than the Beverage on 300kHz,also. I will test it coming evening/night.

As soon as weather becomes better, I will start planning and errecting the first 2ele beam with the small EWE-elements. Each element will get an individual high-impedance amplifier - I will try to reduce spacing as much as possible to increase bandwidth to high frequencies also (shortwave bands). I think even 10m of spacing will work certainly for shortwave - it will be interesting, to test, if with that small spacing directivity increase on medium/longwave is possible as well.
At least with the pre-amps at the feedpoints of the elements, there is really enough signal output, even for out of phase operation (180deg phase shift)

You can use the LZ1AQ pre-amp at each antenna feedpoint, using the high-impedance input (original for dipole). At my qth no input balun necessary and plenty of signal output even down to 100kHz...

Ulli, ON5KQ

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Re: Small, active, mini-EWE's at ON5KQ
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2018, 1228 UTC »
You can use the LZ1AQ pre-amp at each antenna feedpoint, using the high-impedance input (original for dipole). At my qth no input balun necessary and plenty of signal output even down to 100kHz...

I may need to get a second LZ1AQ amp, the one I have now is used with the crossed parallel loop. It would be nice to be able to switch inputs to it, I could have one mini EWE aimed to Europe, and a second to the NW to stations from BC/Alaska, Record Europe until around 0600z or so then switch to the other antenna, maybe something automated to do the switch.

I know you can switch between two loop antennas with the LZ1AQ amp, but I think there is only one dipole input?
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
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

Offline Uli_Bel

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Re: DGPS Logs from Belgium - nighttime 11/12th of March
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2018, 1503 UTC »
Switching antenna's for the dipole input of the LZ1AQ pre-amp is easy, if you use this second LZ1AQ pre-amp ONLY for dipole input antennas:
- just use some of the remaining FTP cable wires to switch an additional relais
- you do not need all CAT5 wires, if you do not use Loop input
Hardwire the CAT5 cable to the green screw terminals rather than using the RJ45 connector...

Ulli, ON5KQ

P.S.: depending on your local AM-transmitters, you may need to use the input Balun (jumper settings!) for the dipole input.
In my case it is easy - we do not have any local super-Mediumwave station. As long as no signal is above -15dbm ... no problem with IM2 signals on higher shortwave frequencies here..
However you need to check it.
Do not increase the size of the EWE - it will not change the pattern, but only increase signal amount... potentially makes trouble with too much signal, so you need the Balun jumper.
Without balun jumper and good common-mode chokes, you can use the mini-EWE from 20kHz up - very clean!

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Re: DGPS Logs from Belgium - nighttime 11/12th of March
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2018, 1601 UTC »
It would be nice to find another amp that would work for this application. The LZ1AQ amp is excellent, but somewhat expensive to get here, when you include shipping.

Just to confirm, the directionality of the mini EWE is in line with the long axis of the antenna, towards the terminated end?
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
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

Offline Uli_Bel

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Re: DGPS Logs from Belgium - nighttime 11/12th of March
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2018, 2123 UTC »
Directivity of EWE is in line of the plane of the inv.U  - Main direction from the resistor end towards the feedpoint... (opposite of what you know from a Beverage, where the main direction is From feedpoint to resistor.... with EWE antenna it is opposite)
The vertical part with the resistor at the bottom is a reflector to the front vertical, which is directly fed. The horizontal wire is the phasing line... simply spoken...

There are some papers from Chris Trask, who designed excellent pre-amps.
I am in the process to build just for fun the pre-amp of figure 12 in this paper:
http://home.earthlink.net/~christrask/Complementary%20Push-Pull%20Amplifiers.pdf
However this is really homebrewing...
There is also a nice pre-amp similar than Trask's design of figure 5 in the article from a Ham in colorado:
http://www.w0qe.com/Projects/active_monopole_amplifier.html - also excellent design.
There are even PCB's available from the PCB maker in the USA.... check the document of W0QE at the bottom...:
https://www.oshpark.com/shared_projects/kHEriNao

The mentioned designs should be the best pre-amps made in USA to my knowlegde...  Clifton labs is not existing anymore, I think Jack (the owner of Clifton labs) died some time ago, sadly...
He made excellent HF-designs also!

I think the Trask Designs mentioned above are much better than DX-engineering pre-amps...

Good luck.... it is worthwhile to invest into this technology of really top-notch pre-amps I think...

Next night I will compare the 170m Beverage on shortwave 40m in WSPR mode reception with my small EWE... I believe the EWE will be competitive as found out at sunrise this morning... so no recording of 300kHz next night...

Ulli, ON5KQ