Today I checked the 200 meter two-wire Beverage antenna at the station – even after three years, it’s still in the same condition as on the first day – and reconnected it. Over the summer, because of the thunderstorms, I’d disconnected the antenna directly from the field; there’s no need to go looking for danger. Thanks to Jan from hampers.shop for the perfect Beverage boxes, which I can still recommend to everyone even after years of use!
It’s been a very hot summer in Salzburg too, with temperatures hovering around 38 degrees over the last few days and far too little rain. The container’s cooling system is working reliably; I’ve only reached 40 degrees twice, for a few hours each time – the hardware has to be able to cope with that. Overnight, the simple air-cooling system for the container brings the temperature back down to below 28 degrees.
I have now been using two Norton Preamplifiers from QRO.cz – Hamparts.shop – 24/7 for the past 8 months. Jan’s Preamplifier is a rare piece of equipment, a purely professional device that can amplify linearly up to over 1 watt. I didn’t ask him about IP3 or similar data, he just said I wouldn’t be disappointed and that it couldn’t be compared to transistor amplifiers like the RPA-2 from DX Engineering. Even the filtering of the 24 V power supply is perfectly solved on its own. I think Jan just wanted to show what he can do and that it also works with stronger broadcast signals. He has succeeded impressively. Thanks Jan!
I have been using my “SWL BOX” for 10 years now. It is an antenna distributor/filter/preamplifier combination that was custom-built for me, can be remotely controlled via the network and also uses protection filters. A perfect product from Jan Šustr’s Hamparts_shop. Good quality simply pays off! Thank you, Jan Šustr, for this important control unit for my station.
Over the last few days, as far as the cold weather has allowed, I have set up a temporary solution for my AziLoop antenna. It is far from being correctly installed, but you can hear something with it. Perhaps I will be able to erect the new Spiderbeam mast in February.
Today, 400 metres of beverage wire cleared of ice. Mechanically, everything is perfect, nothing broken.
Checking the AziLoop antenna. Everything looks very good, one boom has twisted slightly, but the 10° difference will not be heard by the good SWL. Let’s hope for better radio weather!
Today, antenna inspection on the 200-metre Beverage. Everything is ‘as new’ and has been receiving signals without any problems for two years. Thanks to Jan Šustr for his excellent Beverage boxes. https://hamparts.shop/beverages/
My AziLoop antenna system brings me great joy every day. Especially now in October, when the summer storms are over, the first Asian signals in the mediumwave band from China and India can already be received at around 15:30 UT, i.e. one hour (!) before sunset at my location. At this time of day, there are no interfering signals from Europe, so it is particularly worthwhile searching for stations from Asia.