DECEMBER 26, 2018

Salt Marsh Vertical Begins to Outperform Reference Vertical • Massive European Daylight Pile-ups • VK7 Eavesdrops for 4 Hours

Good morning. 

Eastern Grayline

The view from the operating position this morning.

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Salt Marsh Vertical Begins to Outperform Reference Vertical

1 to 2 S-units on Long-Haul Grayline Contacts • No Difference Stateside

The experimental salt marsh vertical has begun to pull away from the reference vertical in terms of signal reports received over grayline propagation paths. This appears to be the result of the continuing addition of ground radials in the marsh. When we arrived at 15 radials, the two aerials were neck-to-neck. After that, by 25 radials, South Africa, for example, is reporting 1 to 2 S-units difference. Meanwhile, stateside stations do not report any significant difference, which suggests both verticals exhibiting identical higher-elevation patterns.

Two, massive European pile-ups have thus far been generated since the last update, the first continuing well past daylight in Europe, as detailed below.

Here's the DXSummit data for the EU pile-up the day prior:

Australian Eavesdrops for 4 Hours

QRZ.com reader listens to EU pile-up while working in the shack on a summer afternoon.

During the European Pile-up, Rod, VK7FRJG in Australia, was working in his shack "down under" listening to the fracas for four (4) hours! He was able to break the pile-up a couple times and then sent a nice email, reprinted below. His report gives us a good idea of how the experimental vertical is playing over a period of several hours on the opposite side fo the world. 

Added More Radials to Experimental Marsh Vertical • Station Upgrades

25 Ground Radials At Present • Improving TX Audio • Adding On-Air Recording and Playback Capabilities

Did not have much time at the end of the day to do any antenna work, and only managed to lay down five (5) more radials in the marsh. Did work on the audio quality by replacing the ELECTROVOICE stick microphone with a 1960s UHER M517, requiring external equalization to cut lows. After sundown am configuring soundboard to record and playback signals for posting on The Saltwater Vertical Sound Archive. Check it out.