Sunday, May 2, 2021

Comparing my Endfed receive against my active antenna.

The first test did not work out well did not connect ant


 When I was at my QTH in Cambridge Ontario (about 7 years ago) one of the antennas was the LF Engineering H-800 active receive antenna. At the time I was using a screwdriver antenna and to go from one band to another to see the condition of the band meant I had to re-tune the screwdriver antenna (the High Sierra sidekick )  I am not even sure if they are still in business.   This antenna was ground-mounted in my backyard and was removable. I was in a very antenna restrictive area so it was very portable and only out when I was using it. 

 The active antenna gave me a fast way to check on band conditions and it worked very well. It was mounted in the attic of my home. Over time I moved from the screwdriver antenna to an attic-mounted Alpha Delta DX-EE antenna. No longer did I have to retune when going from band to band. So I ended up selling the active antenna as I figured I would not need it anymore. Well fast forward to us selling our home in Cambridge and moving to downtown Toronto and having to use an MFJ mag loop to get on the air the good old active antenna was needed again! I purchased it and once again it worked very well for me. 

Endfed decodes

Then it was time to retire and get out of the city as the only reason we moved to Toronto was both Julie and I worked there and we were getting very tired of the 1.5 hours each way commute from Cambridge. We once again sold our place and now we live in Atlantic Canada in New Brunswick. It is amazing here very slow lifestyle, the people are very welcoming and the ocean is just minutes away. 

So here we are in New Brunswick and my antenna is a 56-foot Endfed antenna and I really don't have a need for the H-800 active antenna but it is set up at the back of our home just for poops and giggles.  Today I decided to compare how it receives compared to my Endfed antenna. I went onto FT-8 and did some decoding using the Endfed and some decodes using the H-800. It was early afternoon here and 20m seemed to be doing very well. I did some decoding with the Endfed and then the H-800. I found 2 things.....the Endfed seemed to receive more DX stations but the H-800 did receive some DX but totally different ones than the Endfed did. Now the Endfed is horizontal and the H-800 is vertical so is that the reason? 

H-800 decodes 

Here we go down that road again of whether or not I need the H-800?

6 comments:

MadDogMcQ said...

I guess you already proved to yourself you shouldn't really let go of things unless you really need to lol. They always come in handy at some point and after all, it's a fairly low value item, so it won't hurt to keep it.

Best regards,

Tom, M7MCQ.
www.m7mcq.com

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Given the decodes from SM6DQL I would say that you don't need it. But overall this is not really a good comparisation. You should compare with 2 separate WSJT instances and 2 receivers in the same time slot. Anyway, it is fun as experiment and proof the H-800 is still working well. 73, Bas

VE9KK said...

Good morning Tom and very nice to hear from you, it's very true I have so often in the past let a piece of gear go to only later need it again. I am going to hold onto this antenna but was just wanting to see how it preformed. I may try it in a new location and see how it works.
73,
Mike
VE9KK

VE9KK said...

Good morning Bas, this is very true, but it is the best I can do with one radio. The 7610 does have 2 receivers, but I am not sure how or if you can run two separate WSJT events from 2 receivers in the same rig?
73,
Mike
VE9KK

Paul Stam PAØK said...

Hi Mike, very interesting test. I think polarisation can affect your results. Your new QTH near the coast is a good place to be, near the ocean. 73 Paul

VE9KK said...

Good morning Paul very nice to hear from you I hope you and your family are well? Yes very true the polarization could affect the decodes for sure. Being close to the ocean sure has increased my activity. It's a nice change from downtown Toronto.
73 and have a good weekend,
Mike
VE9KK