[catman]

G'day all, this is a good news Ham Radio story about getting 20 m operational from a very Ham Radio 'unfriendly' QTH. A Ham Radio friend of mine formerly from Victoria (vk3), recently moved to Canberra in vk1 and moved into a townhouse arrangement.

In email conservation he was very negative about getting on HF ever again because of a very high ambient noise level and basically almost no place to hang any sort of antenna! He had tried a commercally made 'long wire' with no success.

At his old QTH I convinced him to try a one wavelength delta loop which was highly successful at that QTH. I suggested he try a loop antenna again. He wasn't too optimistic, but said he would try. He eventually strung it up as a slightly sloping horizontal delta loop only about 15 feet above the ground and much to his surprise and delight, the noise had essentially gone and despite its low height, it radiates and receives beautifully even on DX into Europe and elsewhere.

He can't really believe it and is obviously delighted with 100 watts of sideband from his IC-746. We have had solid S9, reliable and good contacts over the last few days. Loops are great antennas aren't they? Yes! Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.