6 Dec 2017

472kHz WSPR last night

EA5DOM (1525km) was spotted 18 times last night using the earth-electrode antenna, even though the direction was not optimised. On TX, with less than 10mW ERP WSPR. I was spotted by 9 unique stations (all G). Overall, I think the compromise vertical is slightly better than the earth-electrode "antenna" on 472kHz, although the earth-electrode "antenna" is surprisingly effective.

On 472kHz it was hard to see a noise peak around breakfast time with the earth-electrode "antenna". I guess it is back to the compromise vertical on 472kHz tonight to see if this is the same. My theory is this is an E-field antenna, whereas the earth-electrode "antenna" is more like an H-field antenna.

A few years ago the external noise on 472kHz was very low (less than S2). Nowadays it is S7.

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