The AM Forum

I have always wondered what a DXpedtion does to prepare for their trip?? Do they research what antenna would serve them well and enable them to make many contacts?? Or is it weight factor, ease of set-up and "hope for the best"?
Knowing that they are not going to be channel masters and the DXers are looking for them and the DXer, in a typical 599 report, could care less that they have a really crushing signal or not?
Then the ads start in QST.......so and so's brand of antenna was used in these DXpeditions, so there must be something magical going on with our product.
What do you think?
Fred

Manufacturers will often donate antennas to a dxpedition so they get used, and then the antenna mfr. can advertise that their antennas are so magical they got used by the "crab island" dxpedition or whatever.

(plastic radios get donated by plastic radio companies as well, for the same reason.)

but the other thing is some of these major dxpeditiions are to islands somewhere, and some of the stations are set up right on the beach, NEAR SALT WATER. a lot of ones like this i've noticed use verticals (of course, due to the very good conductivity of salt water). now the company that made said vertical will advertise that it was used on said dxpedition and claim how good it performed for them. when the unsuspecting ham buys said antenna and installs it and can't figure out why it doesn't work quite as well as the manufacturer claimed, the answer can be traced back to the dxpedition. fred, i would think the would consider weight a factor, but seeing how many antennas some of these groups drag along, they mustn't care too much

Totaly agree...

If you are on the beach or near of, you don't need a fancy antenna, this is a youtube video of me working  the last Japan contest from the beach, I can make 25 qso's with japanese stations using only 4 watts, the antenna was quite simple, a 15 meters vertical quarter  wave made with speaker wire  using a fishing pole as suport...

After all,in  DXpeditons big guns are on the other side  ;D

Regards

http://www.youtube.com/user/XE1YZY?blend=9&ob=5 (http://www.youtube.com/user/XE1YZY?blend=9&ob=5)

On every AM Expedition I've ever been on, we used simple dipoles or inverted vee antennas.

Being near the water each time makes up the difference a manufactured array would offer.

There's also the advantage, when it comes to effective power, of being the station sought, rather than the one doing the pursuit.

ANY Ham worth their salt, (pun fully intended), would/should realize that a vertical operated on a beach is far superior to one say used in Bedrock, (insert Flintstones theme song here ;>)

Aaaaah Run whatcha Brung...an Have fun... :)

73
Jack
KA3ZLR

yea, but the companies that make and market soome of thee verticals must not know that, they try to say they don't need radials either.

That is a very cool video with the waves crashing in the background.

Good connections here. It did come to my mind that most pictures taken of DXpeditions show the operation near water. The magic part of radio.
Fred

" they try to say they don't need radials either. "

well, ya dont need radials.


works like crap, but does werk.

Finally PROOF.

During the Clipperton Island expedition of the 70's Dentron furnished MLA2500 amps. Upon arrival at the island one of the amps took a swim during unloading.
They took the cover off and let it dryout for a day then used it for the duration.
We carted that amp around the hamfest circuit for a few years after that.

The team came to us asking for the donation.