Denno wrote in news:1189815507.253313.324210@
19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com:

Hi All. I will be getting my General Class license in the very near
future I hope. Of course, they got rid of CW after I finally had 5
WPM mastered. :-)

I live in New England and a friend of mine lives about 300 air miles
away. He has a 100 foot tower and it's amazing to see him work 20
meters. He also mentioned that he is finding 10 meters is opening more
and is having luck there also.

Unfortunately, all I have access to at this time is a 25 watt 10
meter rig. For my first HF antenna, I would like to be able to
communicate with my HAM friend as a priority, with any further
contacts a bonus. He recommended a full wavelength dipole set up as
an inverted V and experiment with wire angles. I know the inverted V
is much more omni directional than a flat dipole.

So the antennas I have considered which I hope have the proper take
off angles a
Inverted V
Moxon Beam
10 meter extended double Zepp (low radiation angle?)
10 meter vertical loop (experiment with loop angle and feedpoints)
Some type of sloper (dipole, end-fed, delta loop type?)

I'm hoping someone out there has had some luck with medium range
consistency (300 miles in my case) at 10 meters. I have a fairly
large yard but it is heavily wooded. The ground ranges from rich loom
to solid granite. A 44' EDZ is possible but definitely won't be easy,
although I will certainly make the effort. I also have a 10 meter
yagi sitting in pieces but if you think that may work, I will have to
suspend it from trees in a fixed direction.

You will not get a consistent path on 10m of 300 miles without some
pretty expensive antenna hardware and high power. Just cannot be done.
You'd actually get off cheaper trying to do it on 2m SSB (which would
probably work OK if you stacked two yagis one over the other and fed them
with a good amp). Your friend would have to reciprocate, though, as
these forward scatter systems are on the edge at best.

Seriously, what you need for that distance is a wire antenna for 75 and
40m. And 160m if you can do it. They don't have to be all THAT high,
though I'd try for about 50 feet if you can. Use 40m during the day, 75m
during the evening and morning and 160m at night. As the sunspot cycle
improves, you'll find that 75 and 40 between them pretty much cover the
distance, day or night.


--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667