Plotting My Progress

A break from antennas for this post!

It's pretty trendy in magazine reviews today to try and convey an antenna's performance by plotting contacts on a world map.

It's not a bad idea, but it does tend to perhaps exaggerate an antenna's performance, because reviews usually include a bit of CW operating, which is always going to be more capable than voice ('phone) communication.

I'm not a CW aficionado, and really only do 'phone work - I like some kind of idea of what the other operator is like, which CW isn't very good at doing.

But anyway, here's my plot of the areas covered (it only shows a tiny fraction of all QSOs to give an impression of 'how far' these wires can get), using 50-100W, and nothing more than a long wire initially, then a delta loop cut for 20m, and a loop for 15m (also operating on 10m), and a $40 Hawaii Emergency Club end-fed (vertical on a $30 fishing pole, no radials) for 40-10m operation.  One of those ZL contacts was initiated with the vertical; it was continued, with much stronger signals both ways, on the delta.  Long, reliable VK and ZL QSOs are commonplace.

Now, if you saw this map next to a £300 (or more!) antenna, you'd probably not hesitate to conclude, as the magazine reviews seem to hope you will, that it was a 'good' antenna and rush out with your credit card to buy one. 

But remember that my deltas cost no more than about £60, the 4:1 (which you can do without if you use a quarter wave 75 Ohm coax matching line) making up about £40 of this.  Once you're into radio, you will have these things to hand and will cost you almost nothing.

And magazines do, of course, always have to keep advertising income in mind when reviewing products.  As someone who's written a large number of expensive equipment reviews myself (not for amateur radio), I know that if a product is truly rubbish, a review simply won't appear.  There is always pressure with the rest to say as much of the positive and play down the negatives.  So objectivity is always something you have to keep in mind when reading any product review.  A magazine is nothing without its advertising, remember.

So, why not put away your credit card and just try something simple?  I suggest a delta loop is a very good place to start indeed if want to experience some 'real' DX.  You will not be disappointed, I can guarantee you!