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Whats a good beam antenna?

sanjosebay21

Member
May 24, 2013
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i currently have a sirio 3 element beam and can talk from north Carolina to califonia but I haven't been able to hit Hawaii yet I hear them all the time im pushing a little over a kilowatt but no contact I just cant seem to make I out of the USA will more elements get me out farther?
 

Nothing wrong with a 3 element beam . . .

Most operators won't respond to a radio that is very distorted because it makes you hard to understand and respond to. If you are the same operator that lives up on the peninsula in the Palo Alto/Redwood City area; then you are driving your amp too hard and distorting.

Send me a 'Private Message' on this forum and perhaps I can give you a hand and iron out some of these issues you have.
No problemmo . . .
 
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3 element yagi is fine.

Hawaii is not an easy one to snag on DX.

You hear him, what you are not hearing is the hundreds of other stations he is hearing.

Since there is no operator etiquette per say for working DX on 11 meters it is a crap shoot to make any decent contact on a crowded frequency.

Can not really call it a pile up, more like a cluster *uck.
 
3 element yagi is fine.

Hawaii is not an easy one to snag on DX.

You hear him, what you are not hearing is the hundreds of other stations he is hearing.

Since there is no operator etiquette per say for working DX on 11 meters it is a crap shoot to make any decent contact on a crowded frequency.

Can not really call it a pile up, more like a cluster *uck.
On 38LSB; yes that is true.
But not all of them are jokers; a bunch do it right.

On 27.555USB and the freeband zone; that couldn't be any further from the truth. Most - not all - of the freebanders have the technique down pat. They know the ropes and do a fine job. Mostly because all of the DX entities practice proper radio manners.

They might not admit it; but some are Hams. Others have been doing it for many years and are very successful because they know the ropes.
 
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On 38LSB; yes that is true.
But not all of them are jokers; a bunch do it right.

On 27.555USB and the freeband zone; that couldn't be any further from the truth. Most - not all - of the freebanders have the technique down pat. They know the ropes and do a fine job. Mostly because all of the DX entities practice proper radio manners.

They might not admit it; but some are Hams. Others have been doing it for many years and are very successful because they know the ropes.


Things must have improved a lot in the 20+ years since I left there. 27.555 used to be a big free for all dominated by the "Alpha Hotels" :whistle: from the Alpha Tango club and the jammers out of Arizona.
 
On 38LSB; yes that is true.
But not all of them are jokers; a bunch do it right.

On 27.555USB and the freeband zone; that couldn't be any further from the truth. Most - not all - of the freebanders have the technique down pat. They know the ropes and do a fine job. Mostly because all of the DX entities practice proper radio manners.

They might not admit it; but some are Hams. Others have been doing it for many years and are very successful because they know the ropes.

11 meters
26.905-27.405 any other freq is freeband
 
Not saying there aren't any jokers on the freeband. There are a few that try to mess it up for the rest but often fail miserably. But the largest part of them are solid, well-mannered operators. Ask Larry/DXman here on the forum; he has done the freeband thing - for decades - and had incredible success. There are many others here on this forum - too - that are freebanders. The Sugar Delta/Alfa Tango and others are pretty solid groups despite what you might think or what your past memory might tell you. There are still some CDXers (this forum's brand of freebanders) out there - as well.

Again, some of them are Hams . . .
 
Not saying there aren't any jokers on the freeband. There are a few that try to mess it up for the rest but often fail miserably. But the largest part of them are solid, well-mannered operators. Ask Larry/DXman here on the forum; he has done the freeband thing - for decades - and had incredible success. There are many others here on this forum - too - that are freebanders. The Sugar Delta/Alfa Tango and others are pretty solid groups despite what you might think or what your past memory might tell you. There are still some CDXers (this forum's brand of freebanders) out there - as well.

Again, some of them are Hams . . .

ROBB.

It is not only on 11 meters, as you well know there is a share of Alpha Holes on the ham bands also.

I was just making the comment that there is no etiquette on 11 meters to work dx so operator technique is hard to use due to so many ops constantly calling and not letting the dx station respond.
 
Things seem to have strayed from the topic. Absolutely nothing wrong with a 3 element beam. I'd pay attention more to the time difference. When are most operators on? Morning and evening, but not always. :) If you have a good dx predictor, you can use that to help. VOA Prop is a great little program, and 10 meters is close enough to 11 meters to give you a good idea of where DX "should" be. Funny thing is with propagation, I've found I made the trip on my A99 better than I could on my 4 element Maco. That has been both to Hawaii and to Australia. You just never know what polarization is going to do after it flips and flops a couple of times via propagation. And the path that it gets there can be odd too. I turn the beam for strongest white noise, and often times can hear stations that I "shouldn't" be hearing. Like pointing northwest from Texas got me to Australia stronger than by pointing at them. So, you might find the "long path" works better for you than by pointing across the US. VOA Prop shows you long path, too. Just keep trying!

73,
RT307
 
Things seem to have strayed from the topic. Absolutely nothing wrong with a 3 element beam. I'd pay attention more to the time difference. When are most operators on? Morning and evening, but not always. :) If you have a good dx predictor, you can use that to help. VOA Prop is a great little program, and 10 meters is close enough to 11 meters to give you a good idea of where DX "should" be. Funny thing is with propagation, I've found I made the trip on my A99 better than I could on my 4 element Maco. That has been both to Hawaii and to Australia. You just never know what polarization is going to do after it flips and flops a couple of times via propagation. And the path that it gets there can be odd too. I turn the beam for strongest white noise, and often times can hear stations that I "shouldn't" be hearing. Like pointing northwest from Texas got me to Australia stronger than by pointing at them. So, you might find the "long path" works better for you than by pointing across the US. VOA Prop shows you long path, too. Just keep trying!

73,
RT307

Sounds like a good idea going the long way around. I've been hoping to hear Australia,Brussels,Germany,Ireland,Great Britain again in the mornings.
Sounds like a job for a 10/11 meter CP beam antenna to TX/RX all those flip-flopping signals. :D
 
"flip-flopping signals"........i presume that is a technical term

Presume is another term for ASSUME?

Flip flop does sound good though and sort of describes what the signal does for polarization.

Sort of like watching frog legs fry in a skillet.

They FLIP FLOP
 
Presume is another term for ASSUME?

Flip flop does sound good though and sort of describes what the signal does for polarization.

Sort of like watching frog legs fry in a skillet.

They FLIP FLOP

yep

pre·sume
/priˈzo͞om/
Verb
Suppose that something is the case on the basis of probability: "I presumed that the man had been escorted from the building".
Take for granted that something exists or is the case.
Synonyms
suppose - assume - guess - conjecture - imagine - surmise
 

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