Over the pond on Top Band

Well,

You may recall my ramblings about Top Band back here:

http://g0mgx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/well-this-top-band-twig-does-it-work.html

So on-and-off I've been leaving WSRP running on either Top Bank or 30M over night, just to see how far signals are getting, and have been wondering if this may ever happen:

Well, looks like it has!

Fun, egh?

Your are, you're completely Loopy!!

Well,

Following some interesting reading on Top Band RX antennas, here:

http://www.qsl.net/kc2tx/

I decided I might like to have a go at making one of those.... the main reason being that my experiments with my sloper from here:

http://g0mgx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/top-band-what-happens-there-then.html

especially when using it on WSPR, I seem to find that I am being heard by far more stations than are hearing me.... so perhaps a different antenna for receive may help...

So here is this ridiculous concoction:

and as you can see, perhaps not quite as rigid as it needs to be....

but anyhow, it was strapped to a wooden support and connected to the wireless.... result.... local MW broadcast stations significantly weaker on this loop then the sloper, but more interestingly the noise was higher on this antenna than the other.... a total disaster!

So I decided to solder another earth cable onto the existing slopers earthy side and plant some more copper in the garden:

We will have to wait and see if this improves the RX performance...

Here is an interesting image of me in concentration mode:

Cat's weren't much help as normal:

Here the Geddy cat is asleep on my laptop keyboard - not very handy!

Good though, egh?