Conclusion
17/10/2020
That will not be for the first months yet.
I think I am still short of F/B and we need to take a closer look at this.
To give you a little glimp of the system, I made a movie and posted it on youtube.
The first results are already there, but like I said I still miss F / B
I also made a video of this.
There is also a part where I am using my 80m TX antenna to see if the directions are matching.
First measuring of the SWR from 1Mhz till 30 Mhz.
03/11/2020
New analyzer (nanovna) and this is the SWR from 1Mhz till 15 Mhz
More testing later on and certainly on the F/B which I think there is something small out there that is not right.
07/11/2020
Found the little mistake, actually know something stupid about myself
There was an error in the controlunit in the shack.
Discovered by a simple test.
2 antennas connected to N and Z without the central antenna, if you do this you can only logically receive on 2 ports and I received on 3 ports, so discovered another error and resolved in the meantime.
In the meantime, other measurements have also been taken as you can see below.
Attenuation
attenuation of the ports that are not connected.
So I connected the analyzer to the N port and the other to the W port and I measure an attenuation between the ports of -63Db which is very good.
16/11/2020
I found the problem of the front to back problem!
My control cables are in pieces of about 20 meters, I once made that with the intention if I need an extra piece I just have to connect them together, apparently I have soldered 1 connector in mirror image on an extension piece.
In this case, the front to back problem has also been solved.
After using the RX array for a few weeks now, I can already determine that there is not always much difference in reception between my 80m TX antennas and the RX 9 circle.
You have to take into account my noise level is extremely low, also on the 80m TX antennas.
At 160m I can not really compare because there is not yet a TX antenna at 160m.
The F/B on both bands is very good.
Later more .............
25/12/2020
We are now more than a month further so that I can already do a better assessment on my RX antenna.
If you can hear and work Hawai on 160m then I suspect that you cannot complain.
It may have been with luck, but we are still in the log.
The system works, although I think that by next season I will adjust some things here and there, including the chokes, not that they don't do their job, but I try to use as few solder points and connectors as possible.
The biggest reason is to avoid bad contacts.
We are also going to build a new one and see if I build it even more accurately it might work even better.
In the meantime my Preamp has broken down and I am now working without it until the new parts are received, apparently I do not need that preamp because everything continues to work ......
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Last update
04/01/2021
The system is up and running from 16/10/2020 till this moment on 04/01/2021.
In the meantime, some errors have been found as you can read above,
but everything has been working as it should for a while now without errors or problems.
In the meantime we also started with a TX antenna at 160m to make even
more use of the 9RX and to do as many tests as possible. I think the result is great at the moment.
Being able to work almost 100dxcc on 160m in less than a month, all thanks to the 9rx circle.
When I was able to work on top band K9 for the first time, I thought this is pure luck, in the meantime I have already been in his log three times and these have all been confirmed with LOTW.
In less than a month, almost all states worked on top band and again all thanks to the 9RX.
This system will certainly find its place in my RX system every year.
I suspect I'm coming to an end here too to build an even better system that can beat the RX9.
Here and there I might be able to search for some more RDF, but I don't suspect this could be worth it anymore.
But maybe one day I'll still get so crazy to do it.
My next improvement to my station is to get everything ready for high power, improve the 160m TX so that I will be ready for next season.
Thank you for reading my experiences on this project, as always any comments are welcome.
No more updates on this project except if I made some improvements.
73's The ON7MV
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