Let's try 15m...

Another fairly nice evening brought me out with a 15m 1/4 wave vertical onto the hill yesterday.

21MHz from the hill.

I went a little higher up the hill, but to a place that is quite dry and rocky, even though the mineralisation of the ground is very high.  I know from 17m work that it doesn't produce results as good as the wetter ground a few metres lower down, even though it has a much more open aspect in all directions.

All the same, the site produced the goods: KFS heard my 1W at -24dB, but not my vertical delta for the band at all.  The only other UK station he heard came in 8dB weaker than me on a Watt-for-Watt basis; plot is for a full 24 hours' of reception by KFS, which just underscores how few European stations are making it across at the moment:

KFS receptions at 21MHz 05-06 July 2021. 

Reports for the vertical delta loop at home.

Reports for the vertical on the hillside.

Both antennas got 1W across to N6GN/K at 7125km, but with a modest enhancement to the vertical on the hill of 4dB.  But at K9AN, the difference was 8dB - more typical of what we see at 17 and 20m.

Whilst these enhancements might not appear to be enormous, they are certainly significant: a 4dB enhancement turns 5W from a QRP rig into nearly 13W, whilst an 8dB improvement takes us to 20W from the same input.