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What's it gonna take to transmit DX on 11 meters

You want to work DX? Mother nature controls that as does antenna. It's not about power it's about being in the right place at the right time. A horizontal antenna will help to reduce band noise and noise around your station. You need to get off AM and go to SSB as this helps as well. This site will help you see when the band is open - http://dxinfocentre.com/
 
My horizontal 1/2 wave length wire dipole (for 11 meters) is 15'-16' of the ground. Planned on putting it higher but works fine there and I'm not motivated to put it higher.

First ever contact on it was to Belize from here in NC. Couple of nights ago was talking DX on vertical A-99 to a guy in another state with AT-6666 loafing along at about 1/2 throttle. I flipped switch over to the horizontal dipole and both my transmit and receive improved...same result on his end when I switched.

BUT, it doesn't always work that way...hit or miss.
 
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Thanks for all the responses and discussions, as fun as AM is, don't think it's worth it putting the money it would take to get out there, the advantages of SSB far outwieghs the amount of money needed to DX on AM , I'll be paitient, maybe the 5/8 wave will have enough gain to make some kind of difference for transmit, I know it's a whole new ball game once I got my ham ticket
 
Well, with a Yagi beam antenna, 4w will work just fine. Amps create gain, and so does a beam antenna. Gain makes distance easier to do - true. A Yagi does gain w/o being illegal, and amps are still illegal.

So, there is a way that you can do DX legally, or do it with an amp and be looking over your shoulder . . .
The beam will also give you the receive, thats where my money would go, why pay for just transmit, when you can get both. I talk skip on stock bearcat 980, No trouble getting out when conditions are good. Have had a month of good conditions here, been out almost every day a number of times. I have talked with guys running amps, and and have them shut them down, we still talked just fine, yes there volume dropped but if your making the trip, it's mother nature.
 
Thanks for all the responses and discussions, as fun as AM is, don't think it's worth it putting the money it would take to get out there, the advantages of SSB far outwieghs the amount of money needed to DX on AM , I'll be paitient, maybe the 5/8 wave will have enough gain to make some kind of difference for transmit, I know it's a whole new ball game once I got my ham ticket
All about ssb for me. I have never, ever made a skip on am on a stock radio. If skip is on , the am band here is stacked with big power.
 
To quote my Elmer "I run the minimum amount of power to achieve the desired signal level..and I desire DFQ."
Second Favorite quote " I got a call from my buddy Rilley..he said heard me doing 60 over S9 on 3885 in Tel Aviv..back it down a bit.."
" A pair of 3000's does make a decent driver"
"Had to move because of problems with the public service gas and electric"
 
The beam will also give you the receive, thats where my money would go, why pay for just transmit, when you can get both. I talk skip on stock bearcat 980, No trouble getting out when conditions are good. Have had a month of good conditions here, been out almost every day a number of times. I have talked with guys running amps, and and have them shut them down, we still talked just fine, yes there volume dropped but if your making the trip, it's mother nature.
t

my ground plane has great ears it just won't reach back, there's a yagi experiment in the works , may be a year or so down the road before I tackle that one
 
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