Re: [HCDX] K9AY loop installed

[Jean Burnell <jburnell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think I should clear up a small point in Don's recent comments about K9AY
use in Newfoundland:

>I think Walt has made an excellent point here --- the K9AY operates better
>over saturated ground. This may also explain the relatively poor response
>seen by experienced dxers using a K9AY (of home construction) over the bare
>rock of the Newfoundland Coast.
>
>Don
>Oregon

My comments regarding the K9AY antenna experiences in Newfoundland should
not be taken to mean that the K9AY did not perform well here.  **The K9AY
performed very well!**  I was a "believer" in the K9AY before this was a
commercial product. Al Merriman made one (with Vactrol termination) for me
after I'd seen the excellent performace his unit gave during our 1998
DXpedition.  The K9AY was the same as, often  better than, our
European-beam Beverages of ca. 500 m.  For instance, I recall that we had
Yemen 760 kHz with a decent signal on the K9AY whereas the Beverages
provided only snatches of audio.  That is a pretty good endorement!  Where
the K9AY was significantly out-performed was against our Brazilian
Beverage, but that was undoubtedly our best antenna - Byan-terminated, 1 km
in length along the high-water line, pointed at Brazil. I don't think that
it should be at all surprising that the K9AY was second to an antenna 1 km
in length! My own K9AY unit, which I think uses somewhat larger loops than
the commercial units, is not extraordinary on SW. My unit is sensitive to
grounding. I use radials under each arm of the antenna and these are
connected to ground rods. At the DXpedition site the antennas are situated
over water-saturated ground, and the K9AY performance seems pretty
constant. When my unit is set-up at home, where the ground is dry and
rocky, performace is variable. It is definitely better when the ground is
wet.  The K9AY's do pick up a fair amount of electrical noise in suburban
environments. When DXing at home with the K9AY, I routinely attenuate this
noise by phasing, so my K9AY is fed into a modified MFJ-1026. (The ANC-4
will do this job also, as, I suspect, will any reasonable phasing unit.) 

Jean Burnell, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
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