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When DX is not running, what is the general level of noise you get on your primary antenna? Mine is a Maco V58 up about 35 feet with a good SWR, no power lines or other antennae nearby, connected to a President Lincoln II V4 and my level never goes below about S5. Quite a bit of the time it is S7. I'm not in a city but in a country subdivision on large lots and no industry close by. Maybe this is just how the atmosphere is nowadays, always somewhat agitated and noisy (just like the human inhabitants).

I remember way back in the day (late 1970s) the airwaves would be so quiet that I could pick up someone whose signal was so weak that they were not moving the signal meter at all. But I could still kind-of work out what they were saying and possibly even talk to them. This would either be on a Radio Shack 1/2 wave or 3 element vertical beam up about 30 feet and the contact was up to 30 or 40 miles away.

I will be putting up a tower and beams in the spring and was thinking about going to something like the Shooting Star so I'd still have a strong directional vertical signal for long-ish local contacts but then I wonder if all that will happen is that my general noise level will just rise to a S9 from the current S5 and the vertical beams would be useless. In which case I might as well save the $$$ and just stick with a horizontal M104C and put the Maco V58 without the ground plane elements above the beams.

<blockquote data-quote="TimmyTheTorch" data-source="post: 806065" data-attributes="member: 64271">When DX is not running, what is the general level of noise you get on your primary antenna? Mine is a Maco V58 up about 35 feet with a good SWR, no power lines or other antennae nearby, connected to a President Lincoln II V4 and my level never goes below about S5. Quite a bit of the time it is S7. I&#039;m not in a city but in a country subdivision on large lots and no industry close by. Maybe this is just how the atmosphere is nowadays, always somewhat agitated and noisy (just like the human inhabitants).I remember way back in the day (late 1970s) the airwaves would be so quiet that I could pick up someone whose signal was so weak that they were not moving the signal meter at all. But I could still kind-of work out what they were saying and possibly even talk to them. This would either be on a Radio Shack 1/2 wave or 3 element vertical beam up about 30 feet and the contact was up to 30 or 40 miles away.I will be putting up a tower and beams in the spring and was thinking about going to something like the Shooting Star so I&#039;d still have a strong directional vertical signal for long-ish local contacts but then I wonder if all that will happen is that my general noise level will just rise to a S9 from the current S5 and the vertical beams would be useless. In which case I might as well save the $$$ and just stick with a horizontal M104C and put the Maco V58 without the ground plane elements above the beams.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TimmyTheTorch, post: 806065, member: 64271"] When DX is not running, what is the general level of noise you get on your primary antenna? Mine is a Maco V58 up about 35 feet with a good SWR, no power lines or other antennae nearby, connected to a President Lincoln II V4 and my level never goes below about S5. Quite a bit of the time it is S7. I'm not in a city but in a country subdivision on large lots and no industry close by. Maybe this is just how the atmosphere is nowadays, always somewhat agitated and noisy (just like the human inhabitants). I remember way back in the day (late 1970s) the airwaves would be so quiet that I could pick up someone whose signal was so weak that they were not moving the signal meter at all. But I could still kind-of work out what they were saying and possibly even talk to them. This would either be on a Radio Shack 1/2 wave or 3 element vertical beam up about 30 feet and the contact was up to 30 or 40 miles away. I will be putting up a tower and beams in the spring and was thinking about going to something like the Shooting Star so I'd still have a strong directional vertical signal for long-ish local contacts but then I wonder if all that will happen is that my general noise level will just rise to a S9 from the current S5 and the vertical beams would be useless. In which case I might as well save the $$$ and just stick with a horizontal M104C and put the Maco V58 without the ground plane elements above the beams. [/QUOTE]

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