For the first time in about 9 months I put my High Sierra Sidekick antenna out on it's mount in the backyard for the QRP-ARIC contest . As time would have it the XYL and I were out most of the day on Saturday purchasing items that we need for our trip to Europe in May. So there was not much time for the contest at all so I thought I would try a little experiment. I wanted to compare how the
Sidekick mounted in the backyard by the
deck did compared to my
dipoles in the attic. It was off to WSPR 30 meters I received and transmitted for 30 minute cycles switching from the Sidekick to the dipole. below are the results click on image to enlarge. So the results seem to show the antenna in the attic does a much better job at least on 30 meters than the Sidekick out at the deck.
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| Sidekick antenna at 2240 UTC |
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| Sidekick at 2338 UTC |
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| Dipole at 2329 |
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| Dipole at 0038 UTC |
2 comments:
Wow, that's quite conclusive! One of the reasons I'm always dismissive of folks who say that attic antennas don't work is that the only outside antennas I've ever been able to use have been in a small back yard like yours. In that situation verticals have always lived up to the reputation of being antennas that radiate equally poorly in all directions.
It would be interesting to try the Sidekick with a bunch of radials in the attic.
Good morning Julian, I had always toyed with the idea of trying the sidekick in the attic. I figured once I put the radials around the attic floor that for sure I would cause RFI to someone. It just seems the sidekick would have a very large foot print. I do want to announce that I bit the bullet the other day and ordered the MFJ 1788. When I come back from Europe in June that will be my project to get that into the attic. Back to the sidekick today if time permits I am going to compare the 20 meter attic dipole and the sidekick on WSPR and see how that works out.
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