From: steve@hicomb.hi.com (Steve Byan) In a recent post, I asked about Beverage antennas on shortwave. Here is a summary of the responses I received. Many thanks to: Jay Kesterson K0GU, Jorma Mantyla, and Ross Alexander ve6pdq for their replies. I've also included a partial bibliography: "The Wave Antenna", Beverage, Rice, and Kellogg, presented at the Midwinter Convention of the AIEE at New York, February 14-17, 1923 ARRL Antenna Handbook (ARRL) Low-band DXing by John Devoldere (ARRL) NRC Antenna Reference Manual, Vol. 1 & 2 (NRC) Beverage and Longwire Antennas: Theory and Design (NRC) Memorandum on the Beverage Wave Antenna, Wolf & Anderson (IRCA reprint #A87) Fine Tuning's Proceedings 1988, "Impedance Matching a Beverage" (FTSP) Fine Tuning's Proceedings 1989, "Beverage Antennas" (FTSP) Fine Tuning's Proceedings 1991, "The Wave (Beverage) Antenna" (FTSP) Beverage Antenna Handbook, Victor Misek W1WCR I've never read Beverage's original paper, just pulled the citation from other references. I guess the IEEE might be able to provide it. (ARRL) Amateur Radio Relay League 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 USA 1-203-666-1541 (NRC) (a medium-wave radio club) National Radio Club Publications c/o Ken Chatterton, Manager P.O. Box 164 Mannsville, NY 13661-0164 USA The IRCA reprint is of a paper by Wolf and Anderson on the Beverages used for MW at the FCC monitoring station at Grand Island, Nebraska. (IRCA) (a medium-wave radio club) International Radio Club of America Reprints c/o Steve Ratzlaff 1885 E. Bayshore Rd. Sp 90 E. Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA Misek's book is available from CQ's Bookstore; possibly elsewhere. I've never seen a copy myself, but just ordered one today. The fellow at CQ's Bookstore says that a new book "The Beverage Wave Antenna at Low and Medium Frequencies" (I didn't catch the author) is due out in two or three months. Regards, -Steve ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: jayk@fc.hp.com (Jay Kesterson K0GU) Steve Byan (steve@hicomb.hi.com) wrote: : I'm curious about peoples experiences with Beverage antennas on shortwave. : If you use a Beverage antenna, how long is it? How high is it? I have five of them ranging in length from 400 to 700 feet. They start at ground level on each end and go up to around 10 feet high 60 feet away from the ends : What is the highest frequency that seems to show any directivity? They have good directivity all the way up to 21 MHz. But they have very low gain at frequencies above 10 MHz. I some times use them on 14 and 21 MHz with a preamp. The preamp also helps on 7 and 10 MHz. : My 175 meter Beverage at 3 meters height shows good directivity on MW and : low tropical-band frequencies, up to about 3 or 4 MHz. I haven't yet read : Mizek's book on Beverages, but I understand that he or some others have had : some luck with Beverages up to 6 or 7 MHz. I have his book (barely qualifies as a book, more like a notebook). : Do you use a matching transformer? If so, what kind? I use two kinds. The one from Mizek that uses a certain number of turns of wire on a core that is tapped a few turns from the end and a typical 9:1 balun wound on the same type core. : Do you use a terminating resistor? What value? Yes. A 470 or 500 ohm resistor, depending on what I have around. Mizek tells you a way to measure the exact value of a beverage. But I think you will find that around 500 ohms usually works well. : Does the termination seem to make any difference at the higher frequencies? Yes. I find a terminated beverage works better, at least for my needs. I mainly use them on 1.8, 3.5, and 7.0 MHz for static reduction. : Did you adjust the termination value based on F/B ratio, or some other : criteria, or just take pot-luck? Mostly experience, mine and others. : I'm using a remote-switchable 470-ohm terminator. The terminator gives 20dB : nulls off the back of the Beverage on MW (WBZ-1030), but doesn't seem to do : much on the higher frequencies. Switching in the terminator doesn't seem to : show any nulling of the BBC Antigua outlet on 5975 kHz, although it is : within 15 degrees of the back-bearing of the Beverage. Has anyone had good : results in the 3 to 6 MHz range? I get varying results depending on the wave angle of the signal. But I seem to get fairly consistent static reduction. I live two miles due east of WWV. My east beverage (550') drops WWV 20db down from my west (500') beverage on most of the frequencies they use. In the 30 meter ham band when I switch the beverages from east to west you can hear then noise floor come way up on the FT-1000. WWV has a fairly healthy 10 MHz signal at my house :-). : I'm currently improving my antenna switching arrangement, as I suspect : there may be crosstalk that is degrading the directivity of the Beverages. : -Steve Good luck, Jay Kesterson K0GU jayk@fc.hp.com From: tijoma@uta.fi (Jorma M{ntyl{) I have three antennas: 150 meters, 230 meters and 250 meters. Two first mentioned are Beverages with 450 ohm resistors & grounding while the 250 meter antenna is just a longwire. The height is approximately 3-4 meters. My rx is Icom IC-R71E + ant.tuner + preselector occasionally on MW. 7 MHz seems to be the maximum but some effect can be found thrghout SW. The 150 m antenna is directed towards North America. WWV is usually heard on 5 MHz only with this antenna but even on 15 MHz strongest WWV-signal comes from this antenna. On the tropical bands short Beverages work surprisingly well. The 230 m antenna is directed towards 60 degrees. Radio Tanpa, Japan, is usually heard on 3925 kHz only with this antenna. Australian stations on 2310, 2325 and 2485 are heard almost every evening with this antenna while the other two antennas do not give signals at all or 1-2 S-units weaker signals. Stn's from Papua & Indonesia are almost exclusively heard with this antenna. >Do you use a terminating resistor? What value? >Does the termination seem to make any difference at the higher frequencies? I have 450 ohm resistors. It is possible that more directivity & sensitivity could be availabe with carefully tuned & measured resistors. Unfortunately I don't have equipments for that. >Did you adjust the termination value based on F/B ratio, or some other >criteria, or just take pot-luck? My instructions were taken directly from Victor A. Misek's book and from the NRC publication about Beverage and longwire-antennas. Generally I am very satisfied with my two Beverages. They are clearly better than longwires without grounding. On 4920 ABC Brisbane is usually heard only with my Beverage. In the morning latin America and NA on MW is heard better with the 150 m Beverage while the ungrounded 250 m long- wire gives weaker dx-signals and more noise&splash from European power- houses. The difference is about 1 S-unit which is usually what you need to identify weak dx-stns. Today I'll buy a 450 ohm resistor and copper because I want to ground the 250 m antenna which is very uneffetive if compared with my two Beverages. Jorma Mantyla U of Tampere Finland From: rwa@cs.athabascau.ca (Ross Alexander) >If you use a Beverage antenna, how long is it? How high is it? 150m at 3m high. >What is the highest frequency that seems to show any directivity? I've never used it above 75m. It does seem directive at that frequency. >Do you use a matching transformer? If so, what kind? A home-brew 9:1 ferrite toroid balun. >I'm using a design similar to the one by (Devoldere?) in the ARRL book >"Low-band DXing". The Devoldere design is a Ruthroff. A Guanella design will have greater bandwidth for a given low-frequency cutoff point. Have a look at _Transmission Line Transformers_ by Jerry Sevick W2FMI. It's an ARRL book. >Do you use a terminating resistor? No, I want to receive the back lobe as well (I'm oriented NE/SW, Europe and New Zealand (central Alberta QTH)). >I'm currently improving my antenna switching arrangement, as I suspect >there may be crosstalk that is degrading the directivity of the Beverages. It's hard to avoid unless you're in North Dakota ;) regards, Ross ve6pdq -- Ross Alexander,rwa@cs.athabascau.ca,(403) 675 6311,ve6pdq@nebulus.ampr.ab.ca "Arguably worse, the compiler can produce any result it deems fit, up to and including the start of World War III (assuming the right optional hardware has been installed)." -- Fortran FAQ ------------ Steve Byan internet: steve@hicomb.hi.com Hitachi Computer Products (America), Inc. 1601 Trapelo Road phone: (617) 890-0444 Waltham, MA 02154 FAX: (617) 890-4998